History Brief

The Westland Whirlwind was a British heavy fighter. Designed by Teddy Petter from the RAF's specification drawn up in 1937, the Westland Aircraft Company produced a single-seat, twin-engined monoplane, prototype which flew on 11 October, 1938 with Whirlwind production starting early the next year.

It was the RAF’s first single-seat, twin-engined, cannon-armed fighter and a contemporary of the Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane. The aircraft’s small tube fuselage with its 'T'-tail was an advanced design for its time and the entire plane was built of stressed-skin duraluminium2. The pilot was seated in one of the first 'bubble' type canopies, giving the pilot an almost 360 degree view, and the low forward position of the wing gave the pilot excellent visibility.

This boarding ladder is one of those spiffy little accessories which can add a lot to the presentation of a model. In this case, it’s being added to an old Attack kit of a Pakistani Shenyang JJ-5 trainer (based on the MiG-17).

I cut the ladder itself loose from the PE sprue, and I also cut out the ladder pads. These are very tiny in 1/144, so be really careful.

I bent the sides of the ladder using a “high-tech” tool, namely a pair of “duckbill” pliers. The pliers have a decent grip and good straight sides. I took a photo of the ladder with one side bent, then the other. I spent a few minutes getting the sides trued up and made sure the ladder steps were square with the side rails.

Once the ladder was trued up, I applied a spot of thick CA to one of the ladder pads and touched the ladder top to the CA. I then trued up the pad with the ladder top. Same with the other ladder pad.

To start, my thanks to Aires for providing IPMS/USA with this figure to review! One of six in this review series, each shows a passion and dedication Aires have to providing the finest resin products. We appreciate your support, with the usual nod to IPMS/USA leadership for allowing me to review these figures.

Produced under the Aerobonus branch of Aires, this 1/48 scale figure is a Russian pilot sitting in a KS-4 ejection seat. The pilot, consisting of a torso in the seat, two separate arms, and a separate head/helmet, can be assembled in many ways. As designed, the head is supposed to be looking left, the right arm and hand are positioned for a grip on the control column, and the left arm is where the throttle would be. Also included with each set are painting instructions in color!

Thanks to Aires for providing IPMS USA this wheel well set to review… We appreciate your support, and thanks to IPMS USA leadership for allowing me to review this item.

OK, so does the Hobbyboss P-51D kit require a new wheel well? I’d say yes, due to the low cost and relative accuracy of the kit. In the photos you can see the side-by-side comparison, of which I say “There is no comparison”.

There will be modifications required on this kit even if you don’t have AMS.

The Aires item makes a difference! If you have the Hobbyboss kit, buy this upgrade! There is nothing else to say here…

Thanks again to Aires for providing this review package to IPMS USA!

First: Thanks to Aires for providing IPMS USA this pitot tube to review! We appreciate your support, with the usual nod to IPMS USA leadership for allowing me to review this item.

A simple upgrade for the Kinetic KFIR; it is a direct replacement, complete with the forward part of the under-nose fairing tip. Superglue one of the three pitot tubes into place, paint it, and call it a day! This was literally a three-minute install.

I tested one of the spare pitot tubes for “twang” durability; I held the end in my hand, bent it back about ¼ inch, and it sprung back into shape. It will NOT bent back totally on itself; that results in a bent or broke tube. That said, unless you run the model off into a wall or stick it in your buddy, this should last a long time.