Boeing's B-47, the first American jet bomber, was ordered in April 1946, and first flew in 1953. Although thought to be a good-looking plane, it had a few shortcomings that shortened its service life, including limited weight movement due to its landing gear configuration and uncomfortable crew conditions.

Hasegawa's B-47E kit comes in a big box with a nice painting on the top, and it includes decals for two aircraft of the Air Research and Development Command. The plastic is light gray, and as this release is a reissue of a vintage kit, it sports raised rivets and panel lines. There are many sink marks, including ones on the seat backs, wing roots, wheel wells, bomb bay doors, and fin. The kit features a one-piece canopy plus a positionable boarding ladder, crew door (with nothing behind it), and bomb bay doors. A bomb load is also included.

Aires continues it release for the recent bounty of 1/32 Skyraider with a cockpit set for the Trumpeter AD-4 kit. The set consists of 7 gray resin parts, all of which are perfectly cast. One of these, the gun sight, is not used for the Trumpeter kit. The set also has a photoetch fret with 26 pieces with the instrument panel and seat belts making up the majority. Lastly, there is a film sheet with the instruments printed on it and having parts for a gun sight which is also not used.

Background

Platz, out of Japan, has been involved in the 1/144th modeling community for a while. They have produced many of their own kits and have teamed up with another Japanese company called F-Toys. F-Toys produce various subjects, among them being 1/144th scale aircraft kits. These kits from F-Toys are typically pre-painted, mostly assembled, and somewhat snap together. Many 1/144th scale modelers will take these pre-painted F-Toys kits strip them down, add details, repaint, and decal them. However, now we are seeing Platz take those same F-Toys kits and produce them as traditional model kits. This Mitsubishi MU-2 is a prime example of that venture; first, it was released under the F-Toys name as a pre-painted kit, and now it’s released as a traditional model kit.

Introduction

June 6, 1944 “D” Day was the day when the allied armies crossed the English Channel en mass and landed on the beaches of Normandy to begin the slow march across Western Europe This battle was the start of the allies invasion which ended in Berlin with Hitler’s surrender. 2014 marked the 70th anniversary of this monumental event. Each day, we lose more of those who participated or lived through this battle. Kits, like this one, help us (and especially the younger builders out there) remember what happened on that day and why it was so important to the course of WWII. The P-51 has been covered by many other sources, as has the “Bluenose” 352nd Fighter Group based in Bodney Norfolk, UK.

The P-40B kit from Airfix has been pretty popular because of good detail, accurate interior and a great price. But for those of you who want to add that bit of extra something, this set is for you.

You get eight pieces of nicely cast resin just as we have come to expect from Aires. The pieces fit inside the fuselage behind the cockpit area and are not replacement parts for any kit parts.

Construction looks fairly simple once you cut off the casting blocks. Removing the radio door molded on the left fuselage shouldn’t be too hard, drill a hole and then use files to clean up the corners. The only other modification to the kit is to remove one of the kit alignment tabs on the right fuselage.

Then it is simply a matter of adding the interior piece and the radio parts. Attach the supplied door in the open position after painting and you are done. Test fitting looks like you may not even have to shave down any of the inside fuselage for the interior piece.