I won’t go into the history of the Mk.IX Spitfire, but let’s get right to the kit. It comes packaged in a sturdy large box with a flat black cove complete with a beautiful gold Spitfire sporting two beer barrels under the wings. On the sides are full color renditions of all the decal options. The box top itself is a piece of art that would look really good framed next to the Bf-109E box top.

Nowhere in the world has the clash of East vs. West hardware been more hard fought than the Middle East. Soviet arms were first supplied to Egypt in the 1950s. Since then, Soviet hardware as flourished throughout the region. This hardback, detailing such Soviet-supplied arms in the form of warplanes, is printed on high quality paper with over 375 photos, most being in color. The book is broken down into chapters by country, including Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel (yes, Israel too), Jordon, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, UAE, and Yemen.

During WWII, the French could not design a good-looking aircraft to save their nation; however, that changed in the post-war years. The delta wing Mirage series are beautiful aircraft based on delta wing research from Germany. Utilizing the powerful J79 engine the Kfir was a powerful fighter bomber. The C2/C7 had canards for added maneuverability, as well as more powerful avionics.

This is my first Kinetic kit, and I must say upon opening up the sturdy two-piece cardboard box I was impressed by the presentation. The kit is molded with over 180 light grey plastic parts with finely engraved panel lines. Kinetic seems to have captured the looks of the real thing. Besides the two different versions of the aircraft, there are other options – flaps up or down, canopy open or closed, airbrake opened or closed. Then there are the armament options – cluster bombs, Mk-82s, Python air-to-air missiles, fuel tanks, and all the pylons to hold them.

This is without a doubt the best aircraft kit I have ever built. Wingnut Wings has produced an absolute wonder of a kit in this Sopwith Snipe.

Upon opening the sturdy box, one finds six grey sprues, one clear sprue, and a photo etch fret. In addition, there is a very colorful and complete 23-page book of instructions with color photos and actual WW I photos of several Snipes.

To begin, I assembled the cockpit which consists of over 30 parts, not counting the rigging wires. When complete, this is a real gem that should really be displayed alone. It is a shame that it has to be shut up inside the fuselage as not much can be seen once installed. I hope that Wingnut Wings will produce kits of just their cockpits. The instructions for the cockpit are color drawings and color photos of the real cockpit. Can’t beat that.

Next came the 13-piece engine. This also is a real beauty.

History Brief

Designed in 1944 by Kawasaki, the Ki-148 was a World War II Japanese guided air-to-surface missile. In a nutshell, it was a radio-controlled bomb powered by a rocket engine capable producing 330lbs of thrust for up to 80 seconds. Approximately 180 were built. Luckily, none saw service by war’s end.

The Product

My sample arrived in a somewhat flimsy box. The box top featured a helpful rendering of the missile. On the reverse side, three decal options were presented, with the latter two being what-ifs. The plastic is a short run offering and lacks the finesse of standard production run kits. The kit includes plastic for one missile and one trolley cart. Also included are one small photo-etch fret, an instruction sheet, and a small decal sheet.