Thanks again to Ross at SAC for providing IPMS USA this review set, one of what must be by now hundreds of sets he provides for the modelling community. I’m a prolific convert to them!

The Italeri B-57 series, released in the late 1980’s, was a serious jump forward for the modeling community. The only other kits at the time were modified from existing British Canberra kits with the “fish bowl” canopy. The introduction of the B-57 with it’s front and back canopy for the U.S. variants was most timely.

The only problem with the kit was the nose gear was a bit too far extended for ground operation, as the B-57 has a “nose down” attitude when at rest, loaded or not. In order to correct this, one had to cut part of the oleo out, and re-glue the gear together with epoxy or superglue. Some even resorted to installing a pin through the strut, which worked well.

Aerobonus, a new company (new to me, anyway) under the Aires umbrella, has come up with a novel approach for providing flight crew for modelers who want to add a little more life to their aircraft. In these new, very highly detailed sets, the ejection seats are molded with the pilots in them, eliminating the usually imperfect fit of trying to place pilots into empty seats.

Each issue of Scale Aircraft Modeling follows a basic design and format. There are usually two Feature Articles, an Aviation in Profile piece, industry news and a series of Compact Build Reviews.

The Feature articles for this issue covers a Ex-Adversaries Reunited and A Model 1/72 Mil-Mi-10 Heavy Lift Helo. The Ex-Adversaries build is Tamiya 1/48 Spitfire Mk Vb and FW190A-3 built in after war markings of the Turkish Air Force. The build covers weathering and construction and uses TigerHead decals for the markings. .

The other Feature article takes A Models 1/72nd Mi-10 which is super detailed. This build, by Brain Wakeman, makes the entire issue. First, he started with a limited run kit which presents issues for modelers. Second, there is a fair amount of scratch building and advice and making gems of limited run kits. in the end, the kit is eye-popping and his 500 hours of effort shine in the photos.

• Aerobonus; Wing pylons for F-4B/N/J/S (U.S. NAVY version); # 480055; $8.95
• Aires; F-4B/N Phantom II wheel bays; # 4579; $21.95
• Aires; F-4B/N Phantom II auxiliary air intake; # 4578; $12.95

Aires has released several nice detail sets for the new Academy F-4 series, and these three sets go a long way to enhancing the look of the Academy kit. With each of these pieces, as with all Aries work that I’ve ever come across, the engraved lines are petite and the detail is crisp.

Aerobonus latest release is the LAU-3 US Navy Rocket Container. The LAU-series was generally used by the fixed-wing aircraft of the Air Force and Navy. The -3 version delivered 19 air-launched 2.75 FFAR rockets either individually, in sequence, or all at once. This set depicts the Navy version. Looking at various planes, I found pictures of the F4J Fury and Skyraider with these rockets on the pylons, and I am sure there are more, including Phantoms.

This set contains 10 resin parts to make 2 pods. There is also a small decal sheet to cover the markings. There are tail cones and nose cones included. Research shows that these were not in use towards the end of the war. Color is white for Navy use, with the front and back plates being unpainted steel.