The Sukhoi Su-34 Fullback is the latest publication from Duke Hawkins Books and is the twenty-ninth volume of a series of books that they have recently published highlighting modern aircraft. This series got its start with The Sepecat Jaguar in July 2017 and has been quite successful. There is also a special limited edition on the Belgian Air Force F-16 and on the Juan Carlos I Aircraft Carrier. This series of publications fall under the name of Duke Hawkins, but it is not clear exactly who Duke Hawkins is. If you check out other retail sites on this series, you can find Robert Pied and Nicolas Deboeck listed as authors, but there is not much additional information on them. One of the bylines goes like this:

The A-20 G of this kit was built by Douglas under the company designation DB-7. 7478 were built, with nearly a third of them going to the Soviets. It served in many theaters, operated by the English, French, Americans, and Soviets. It had a crew of three, with its first flight being January 23, 1939 and being retired by the Brazilian Air Force in the late 1950s. A P-70 night fighter variant was built as a stop-gap until the P-61 Black Widow became available. The A-20G had a top speed of 317mph, and a cruise speed of 280mph. It was powered by two Wright R-2600 engines with three-bladed Hamilton standard propellers and had a wing span a little over 61 feet with a length of almost 48 feet.

The F-117 was the world's 1st stealth fighter, and operated by the USAF from 1983 to 2008. The aircraft had a unique appearance, combining complex planar shapes and its surface was coated with radar-absorbent material. Powered by 2 F404-GE-F102 turbofan engines, its exhaust ports were positioned above the fuselage, and featured slots designed to dissipate heated air and eliminate radiant heat. The "Skunk Works", known for developing various experimental aircraft, was responsible for the design and engineering, creating excellent stealth capabilities. The aircraft's combat debut came in the 1989 Panama invasion. Later in the 1991 Gulf War, the aircraft achieved great success by leveraging its stealth capabilities in a night attack on Baghdad military facility.

The Convair B-36 Peacemaker was an enormous bomber built in the early days of the Cold War as a deterrent to a Soviet attack. The largest piston-driven production aircraft, the 384 Peacemakers built were in service from 1948 to 1959.

Richard Marmo’s book is an excellent reference on the dismantling and preservation of B-36J III Serial Number 52-2827. This is the last Peacemaker built and is named “City of Fort Worth” in honor of where the factory was located. This is Volume 2 of a planned multi-volume series. Part 2 primarily involves removing the 6 massive piston engines, the ailerons, and the outer wing panels.

Detailers will also like this book as it has many hard-to-find images taken during the dismantling process, such as a good view of the Pratt & Whitney R4360 both installed in the nacelle and by itself. Also covered is the General Electric J-47 jet engines in the wing pods.

A new 1/144th scale aircraft kit from Platz, however, the molded parts are from F-toys with markings for 2 aircraft and one of them is for a 2022 Ferris paint scheme.

In the Box

This is a two (2) airplane kit boxing. The parts are molded from another company, F-toys, and is noted on the website. Each jet is collected in its individual bag. Parts are molded in light gray with 3 sprues, an upper and lower fuselage-wing halves, and a bag with clear parts for the canopy and nose radome. The panel lines are recessed and considered wide and soft for 1/144th scale. There is flash on several parts so sanding will be necessary to remove the excess plastic.

On the underbelly of the fuselage there is a large rectangular slot with nothing in the instructions to fill this area. One can only assume it is a connecting point for a stand to be inserted and allow the plane to be displayed in flight. But no stand is provided.