How often have you wanted to build a FW-190A only to discover that your subject aircraft didn’t carry the ‘normal’ type of prop? It has happened to me a few times. You can either live with it, which I did at the time, or you can shelve that particular aircraft until the new props become available. Well that time has come courtesy of Ultracast.

Like most of Ultracast’s products, this set is packaged in a small zip lock bag on the cardboard backing. The resin is a light caramel colored with no blemishes anywhere. There are no pour blocks on the blades. There is a minimal amount of flash on the spinner and cooling fans. All of which will be cleaned up easily and quickly with a new blade.

The latest installment of the Yellow Series from Mushroom Model Publications is devoted to the iconic Mig-15. This book clearly is written with the modeler in mind, as well over 100 pages are devoted to pictures, drawings or color profiles of the airplane.

The book is divided in the following sections

• Introduction
• Development
• Development Versions
• Series Productions of the Mig-15
• Production in other countries
• Detail photos
  • Fuselage
  • Wing
  • Cockpit and Canopy
  • Undercarriage
  • Engine
  • Armament
• Color Profiles (69 of them)

The first few sections are concise in detail (mainly what was changed in each development version) and most of the versions have an associated 72nd scale line drawing, or at least those that had an external modification.

This is another fine set of replacement details form Quickboost, this set for the Tamiya 1/72 Ilyshin IL-2 Shturmovik. The details include replacement gun barrels and pitot tube.

The Tamiya kit details are nice, but the Quickboost details are more refined and have no flash. The gun barrels and pitot tube are thinner than the Tamiya parts and don’t require any cleanup other than removal from the casting block.

The Quickboost details will add nicely refined detail to the Tamiya kit and are a great value for a low price.

Thanks to Quickboost for their continued support of the IPMS review program and for providing the review sample. Thanks also to the great IPMS review staff for letting me review the details.

The Aircraft

The BV-40 was one of those ideas that never came to full operational capability. It was conceived in 1943, when the bombers were hitting all over the Reich, day and night. The concept was to build a small, light wooden aircraft which didn’t use much in the way of strategic materials but could shoot down bombers. Its small size would make it very difficult for bomber gunners to hit it. The armament was to be 2X 30 mm MK108 cannon, one in each wing root. The pilot lay on a mat in the armored cockpit. The BV40 was to be towed to altitude, above the bombers by a Bf-109, then released. The BV would then dive on the bomber stream and do as much damage as possible, then glide home. The wheeled landing gear were dropped on take off to save weight, and there was a skid under the belly.

Background

Embraer is an aircraft manufacturer located in Brazil. They started building some private and military aircraft but have found their niche by developing a line of smaller regional airliners. They started with a twin turboprop airliner named the Bandeirante and then the Brasilia. This was followed by a couple of twin jet airliners using some of the same airframe components, the ERJ-135 and ERJ-145. The engines on these aircraft were mounted at the rear of the fuselage. Following success with these products, Embraer started their E-jet series which featured larger fuselages and wing mounted twin jet engines. The initial production version is the Embraer 170. Over 1000 E-jets have been delivered as of September of 2013 and the airplane is well received by airlines around the world.