Volume 103 in Osprey's Aircraft of the Aces series details the interesting story of the Nakajima’s Ki-27 and the pilots who prevailed while flying the little fighter. The “Nate,” as it became known to most Westerners, contributed to a prevailing myth among aviation experts during the early years of WWII that Japanese aircraft were almost impossible to best in a dogfight. The nimble aircraft was fast enough and agile enough to give well-trained Japanese pilots the edge over almost any adversary as quickly as the fighter could be supplied to the Japanese Army Air Force (JAAF).

Aires continues its rich tradition of detailed aftermarket parts with a wheel set for the Kinetic S-2 Tracker. This set contains two front wheels and two main wheels as well as a masking set for the wheels to help painting. The set is cast in Aires’ usual gray resin and has no defects or issues.

The set is simple to use. The wheels can be trimmed from the pour stubs. One thing you will need to do is to sand the mold seam off and rescribe the wheel treads. Total prep time is maybe 5-10 minutes. You will also need to drill the hole slightly deeper to allow the axle to slide fully into the wheel.

The kit wheel has a separate hub and a two-part wheel. To build it, you paint the hub and glue the two wheel parts over it. This leaves a seam that needs sanded down and then painted. The Aires set wheel is a single piece with better detail. It also has a masking set, allowing the wheel to be painted and then masked and the hub painted.

You want your Flogger to stand out on the model table? How about opening up the entire nose section? Now we are talking. What can be cooler than complete electronic bays? Normally the whole process would be hours of research, and then hours of scratchbuilding. Thanks to Aires, this will be significantly easier.

You get 25 high-quality light grey resin pieces that feature bulkheads, access panels, and radio/radar equipment. Unlike most Aires sets, this set does not come with any photo etch parts. Everything is rendered perfectly in resin. The bays are deep and have the equipment added from behind. Just exquisite molding.

You think you have to wire the electronics? Nope; miraculously, Aires has even molded the wiring. All the modeler will need to do is artful painting.

The Trumpeter F-100 series of models is nice. If you are like me, it is really tough to get rid of the mold line on the round parts such as the refueling probe. I can get rid of the mold line, but keeping it round is not my forte. Quickboost offers a quick and easy upgrade. This set provides three pieces of resin molded perfectly in light grey resin.

The probe comes in three pieces. One is the fuselage mounting point with a perfectly hollowed out tip. Then there is the long probe itself. I was amazed at how straight this part was and, best yet, no mold line. The part is removed from the base. Then the final part is the probe end. This is really a nice looking piece. It is an accurate representation. It will require a sliver of resin to be sanded off the end, but that is an easy operation.

While designed for the F-100, the probe tip can be used on any US aircraft that has an in-flight refueling probe.

These are two of the most iconic fighter aircraft that came out of World War II. They’re the Mitsubishi A6M Zero-sen and the Grumman F4F Wildcat. This book covers the ways in which these two contemporaries, with very different design influences, each possessed its unique strengths and weaknesses. The book includes information on the pilots who flew them and technical data including performance specifications. The author explains in plain English how each of these aircraft was developed in a side-by-side chronology. He further explains how these two enemy aircraft existed in the harsh, war-ravaged Pacific Ocean and jungle island environments.

The book itself is well printed with a hearty gum binding. The print is easy to read and the photographs are very clear. The artwork and cutaway illustrations are colorful and honestly represented. The maps and charts are rendered so that any layperson can understand them.