Photoetch is not really my thing but I have seen some stunning details created by it so guess it is time I broke down and joined the 21st Century.

This set is designed specifically for the new Airfix kit which has pretty good detail to begin with so what is on the fret.

Scale Aircraft Conversions has released replacement gear for the Zvezda 1/48 Sukhoi Su-2. The supplied items include two main gear legs, four main gear retraction struts, and one tail gear / wheel. (Photos 140916_1002, 140916_1005, 140917_1015)

This replacement set will provide stronger landing gear that won’t sag over time, and is somewhat adjustable if necessary to obtain proper alignment. Even with zero previous experience in using white metal parts, this set will provide an upgrade that most modelers will have no problem installing. Scale Aircraft Conversions does not use lead in their white metal mix, so the builder does not have to be concerned with that perceived hazard.

There are no supplied instructions; you simply swap out the kit provided plastic parts with the new white metal items

No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. It is an F-15C with conformal fuel tanks.

By 1984, the USSR had amassed a considerable submarine launched ballistic missile capability which complemented their already powerful ICBM force. The vast majority of the Soviet SSNB submarines, known as ‘boomers’, were based at Archangel and Murmansk. Their pre-launch stations were usually in the White Sea sector. Because of this, the US Navy devoted a large portion of its SSN submarines or ‘hunter killers’ to located and then follow the movement of all Soviet SSNB boomers in the White Sea. To perform this task, US SSNs ran through the Giuk Gap in route to their patrol areas. To counteract the Americans, the Soviet navy began a pattern of deploying an ever increasing numbers of modified Bears, call sing ‘F’, in an effort to track the US SSNs boats before they enter the Sea.

Often you get a great aftermarket decal sheet for 3 or 4 aircraft, but they don’t include enough insignia for all of them. The solution: Enter a insignia decal sheet, like the one recently released by Furball Design

This set contains 95 correctly proportion modern (post 1947) US National Insignia (the one with the blue border and red stripe).

You get (14) 10" insignia, (25) 15" Insignia, (14) 20" insignia, (10) 25" insignia, (8) 30" insignia, (8) 35" insignia, (8) 40" insignia, (8) 45" insignia, which should cover from small drones, to larger bombers in the last 7 decades of USAF service.

I want to point out the decal design is correctly proportioned, as the star points do not reach the edge of the circle, but stop at a distance equivalent to width of the blue border.

The decals are independently printed and they are very glossy in the sheet. I would expect them to adhere really well to a glossy surface (Future coat or similar) in your model.

Yellow Wings Decals has added two new sets to their line for 1/48 scale Curtis P-6E Hawks. Set number 48-085, or Part 2, provides colorful markings for two Langley Field based USAAC aircraft of the 8th Pursuit Group:

• P-6E #15 of the 33rd Pursuit Squadron
• P-6E #61 of the 36th Pursuit Squadron

The instructions show that in 1933, 8th Pursuit Group P-6Es sported Gloss Olive Drab #22 painted fuselages with Orange-Yellow #4 wings and tail surfaces and by 1936 fuselages were finished in Blue #23 with Orange-Yellow #4 wings and tail surfaces. Markings are provided for all national insignia, rudder stripes, aircraft numbers, fuselage bands and squadron markings as shown in the photo below of the decal sheet. An instruction sheet is included that also provides information about all paints that were used with Tamiya color matches.