Thanks to Neil at HK models for providing the IPMS/USA with this pre-release kit for review. We appreciate and value your contributions and look forward to more releases from your company. Thanks also to the IPMS leadership for trusting me to get this thing done!

As a pre-release kit, I received the HK Models Do 335 without instructions in a basic shipping box. This was a bit of a daunting challenge; could I do it? Of course I whined when I found out the engine compartments and some of the interior were a bit more complicated than I thought. I was subsequently sent a PDF of the basic instructions from the fearless reviewer corps leader, Dave, and I began to breathe again.

Osprey Publishing keeps expanding its Combat Aircraft series with its latest book, F9F Panther Units of the Korean War. I personally think that the F9F Panther is among the most beautiful jets of the early era—together with the F-86 Sabre—so I might be a bit biased on this topic.

Clearly, from the beginning of the book you realize the author, Warren Thompson, is extremely well versed in the Korean conflict, and he is a great researcher. The level of detail and accuracy in his narrative is outstanding. He is really good at combine first hand narratives and mission reports to allow the reader have a sense of the pilot experiences, as well as the overall combat record of each unit, and the strategic situation in the Korean Peninsula during the conflict.

This book, being from Osprey has plenty of pictures; about half of them in color. The book also has 24 gorgeous color profiles by Jim Laurier.

The book is divided in the following chapters:

Thank you to Bert Kinzey and Rock Roszak for bringing back a tremendous resource for the modeler, this time in digital format. Thank you to the IPMS Reviewer Corps for allowing me to test out this new and exciting method of researching the F9F Cougar.

Overview

This review of an exciting new format of a familiar product will take three parts; 1) content coverage, 2) how effective and useful the digital e-book format is from a modeler’s perspective, and 3) evaluation of a kit using the modeler’s section. I certainly would expect the first question a reader would ask is, "Why do I want an e-book format?" I like reading through traditional books as much as anyone else, with the page-by-page discovery of storyline or new information. I also have tons of books in my library, mostly residing on stoic-looking bookshelves. This new publication format provides many advantages for the modeler, with few disadvantages, as described below.

Master Models has started to issue static dischargers in all scale and types. As a bit of background, static dischargers or static wicks are used on aircraft to allow the continuous satisfactory operation of onboard navigation and radio communication systems during precipitation (p-static) conditions. if you look at any plane, they have these on the back of the wings, tails and horizontal stabs.

This particular set is made for Sukhoi jets and in 1/32 scale. This would fit Su-27 and Su-7 for example. The set contains 14 pieces of very small (7mm or so) almost hair thin machined brass. As you can see in the picture, even the end is cupped out. Installation involves drilling out the appropriate spot and gluing the part on. To demonstrate, I used a Trumpeter Su-27 and you can see by the comparison, it is NO comparison. The Master Model parts are a world better, more accurate and look all around better.

Hot on the heels of their 1/48 scale release, Master Models has released a 1/32 scale version of the GAU-8 Avenger gun tip for the Trumpeter A-10. Also included is a corrected pitot tube.

The set is straightforward with a sheet of photoetch for the front and back of the gun barrel, a turned brass center post, seven turned gun barrels, a brass main gun housing and a turned pitot tube. I included several shots of the main gun housing with its holes as it is a work of art. Finely made and with the holes made perfectly.

Assembly is done by adding the back plate and gluing the brass center post into its hole. The only tricky part is next when the front cap is added- you must make sure the holes align for the barrels. I did this by adding the end cover and holding it up to light and making sure things were straight. Let that dry and then slide the barrels through and secure them. The pitot tube is a direct replacement.