For years, I’ve been fascinated by what has come to be known as the 1946 Luftwaffe, or Luft ’46 – the seemingly inexhaustible blizzard of drafting-table designs the German aircraft industry produced before and during the Second World War for aircraft that were never built. The what-iffyness of these proposals that could have been flying against the Allies had the war continued for one more year has always deeply intrigued the science fiction fan in me. I first became aware of the phenomenon in 1967 when I bought Aireview’s German Military Aircraft in the Second World War, which included a series of line drawings of aircraft I’d never heard of before. As the decades passed, more and more information about these fanciful designs has come to light from declassified government files.

Quickboost now provides a seat with safety belts for the A6M2b Zero among their line of resin aircraft accessories. This is a tiny seat, but the details are excellent. The seat is molded in gray resin that is without flaws – no problems with seams or bubbles. The mold block attaches to the bottom of the seat, thereby making clean up easy, particularly as the attachment point will not be visible once the seat is installed in the cockpit. I removed the mold block with a jewelry saw and smoothed the surface with a few swipes of a sanding stick. Several of the lightening holes in the seat back had some flash, but that was easily cleaned with a sharp knife blade.

Introduction

SkyGrid Studio / Aviaeology Publishing is located in Canada. The website is easy to navigate and intuitive, and products can be purchased through the website. Prices shown on the website are in Canadian dollars. SkyGrid Studio / Aviaeology accepts Pay Pal and a handful of credit cards. Aviaeology produces excellent decals, but SkyGrid Studio / Aviaeology Publishing does not limit its line of products to decals. Visit the website and you will note that there are some rather attractive book titles shown, as well as some prints.

The samples being reviewed arrived in a very sturdy cardboard container which protected the product nicely. There is more to the product that the customer receives than meets the eye. We will get to the bonus item in a minute, but first, let’s look at what is in the ziplock baggie that one receives.

The Decals

Please reference the image, labeled “aod72009mdisplaycontent” below to view these items.

Introduction

The Sikorsky Sea King first flew in 1959 and entered service in 1961. It served in many roles, including SAR, troop transport, and perhaps most memorably as the helos that recovered the Apollo missions after splashdown. These were not the missions the S-61 (company designation) was originally designed for. As the cold war developed after WWII, the US Navy was concerned about the expansion of the Soviet submarine fleet. They needed helicopters capable of pinpointing subs with a mobile sonar unit. This kit represents that version of this highly useful aircraft. Twin turbine engines gave the Sea King the ability to carry impressive payloads (including a sonar unit) over practical distances. Cyber-Hobby has graced us with no less than four versions of this great machine. Two are Westland-built versions used by the UK’s Royal Navy and Air Force. The other two, including this kit, are US Navy birds.

History

The B5N2 Kate entered service in 1939, replacing the B5N1. The B5N2 was given a more powerful engine and streamlined a bit to try and make it capable of outrunning enemy fighters. The B5N2 was replaced by the B6N Tenzan starting in 1943, but continued to serve right through to the end of the war.

The Kit

After opening the box, I was impressed by what I found – 8 sprues of medium grey and 1 sprue of clear injected plastic, 1 small (but very nice!) fret of photo etch, and, in the bag of PE, 4 white metal parts (for the folded wings). Also, for some reason, the cowling is on a sprue by itself and attached in a most peculiar manner. The plastic is flash free, the clear pieces are very nice, and the detail is above average on this kit. There are a few pin marks but nothing that is un-fixable.