Aircraft History

The EA-18G Growler is an electronics warfare aircraft developed in the 2000s for the US Navy as a replacement for the ageing EA-6B Prowler. It shares 90% of its components with the F/A-18F Super Hornet, saving time and money in development, construction and maintenance for the fleet. The Growler has been in operational service since 2009, and saw combat for the first time over Libya during Operation Odyssey Dawn in 2011. In addition to the US Navy, the Royal Australian Air Force has also recently announced plans to acquire 12 EA-18Gs.

The Sept/Oct 2013 issue of Windsock Worldwide is the fifth issue of Volume 29 and it continues the publisher’s ongoing commitment to provide model builders with accurate and diverse information about WWI aviation. The cover image of a highly detailed Wingnut Wings DH9a also continues the publication’s practice of focusing on that manufacturer’s line of impressive 1/32scale kits. But, this issue presents a rich blend of modeling articles and reference material that extends far beyond the new kits offered by Wingnut Wings.

Quickboost provides a very large array of aftermarket detail parts, uniformly outstanding in quality and fidelity to detail and scale. This QB product is just one of several that can be used to detail the Tamiya A-1H kit.

Tamiya provides a rather simple part in their A-1H kit ( # 61058) that represents the Boot Enclosure in its stowed position. The Tamiya part in question is Part A6 which is added to the airframe in step 11 in the Tamiya instructions.

In a side-by-side comparison of part A6 and the QB Boot, the boot has the proper length and width and matches the length of part A6, or that bit of A6 in question. All that is necessary is to clip off the “hood” area of A6 and replace it with the QB part.

In under a minute one can improve the appearance of the cockpit significantly by using this QB product.

Background

Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) produces white metal landing gear for various aircraft models in 1/144^th, 1/72^nd, and 1/48^th scale. Most sets are direct replacements for the kit parts.

The Parts

The Revell F-89D/J has been around since the early 1990s (my boxing has a copyright date of 1992). Revell of Germany has recently re-issued this kit, and no matter which boxing you get, it is a nice model of the F-89D/J. The SAC landing gear for the F-89 are direct replacements for the kit parts. The white metal parts have some mold lines that will need to be cleaned up, but are otherwise is great condition. Due to the nature of the material used, I do feel that some of the finer details of the landing gear are not as crisp as their plastic counterparts. However, after some paint and weathering this should not be an issue.

Couple of thank you notes up front; to Hornby for bringing Airfix back from the abyss and turning it around; an Injection-molded 1/48 Javelin is one we could only dream of in the past, and here it is! And to Hornby America, who provided IPMS USA this great model of an iconic British cold war fighter. (And thanks to Dave and Dick for the build opportunity!)

The last time I built a “flatiron” as these were called, was the old Dynavector 1/48 vacuum molded kit about 15 years ago. It had a wealth of detail, and was actually very easy to build. The kit is still viable (I have another one sitting on the shelf waiting to e built), but the Injected version is far better in the full-Monty detail realm. The only tricky part was installing the forest of vortex generators on the wings, as these were brass tiny brass tabs with small spears to push into holes on the wing… surprisingly enough, they worked well on the soft plastic and were very durable. Ah, the old days….