Krzysztof Dabrowski from Poland has a lifelong interest in the subject of military aviation, and has written dozens of articles on a variety of related subjects for printed magazines and the ACIG.org/ACIG.info, AeroHisto and The Boresight websites. His particular area of interest is the air warfare during the Cold War, the aircraft involved, and the experiences of their crews. This is his first instalment for Helion and he is working on a second title (Dropping the Big Ones: Live Testing of Soviet Nuclear Bombs, 1949-1962) for release in 2021.

This kit was a ‘Limited Edition’ kit, released at the 2025 IPMS/USA National Convention in Hampton Roads, Virginia. It was quickly sold out on both Eduard ‘s online store and at the 2025 Convention. The instruction booklet contains 23 pages, including some color guides for the weapons, masks and overall aircraft decal markings.

I was initially impressed with several aspects of this Eduard repackaging of the Kinetic F/A-18C, including the surface details (including recessed panel engraving), the placement of panels along the surfaces, the wing fold details, the beautiful box art, and especially the kit decals. As I began to dry fit the various subsections, the novelty wore off. From what I expected to be a beautiful kit, I quickly realized I had purchased a total rehash of the original Kinetic kit, along with what I consider to be numerous major fit and finish issues.

I have to admit that I don’t have a copy of two earlier monographs on the Saab 105: Saab 105 by Sven Stridsberg and Emil Lindberg (2013), and Team 60 by the Swedish Aviation Historical Society. Both of these are fantastic books, but both are in Swedish. This is the first English language monograph on the Saab 105 that I am aware of. This full-size square back soft cover book [A4: 11.5” by 8.3] comes in at 296 pages. The front cover features a color photograph of an Austrian Saab 105OE in Tiger Meet livery. This is s/n 105426 [c/n 2025] coded RF-26 and was the third Austrian 105OE painted to celebrate 40-years of service with the Austrian Air Force from 1970 to 2010. She was delivered to the Austrian Air Force on January 21, 1972, and last flew on August 16, 2018. She is preserved by the Heeresgeschichtliche Museum in Zeltweg, Styria, Austria, but has reportedly been loaned out to Gloggnitz, Niederösterreich, Austria.

This is an 8.5 x 11.5, soft-bound book with a glossy heavy card stock cover enclosing 112 pages of glossy heavy weight paper. Along with the test, there are 161 black and white photos and 22 color photos, including 4 color photos on the front and back covers and front panel. Also included are five tables covering technical specifications, Helldiver squadrons, aircraft production numbers, and foreign operators, plus a chart of tail and wing markings used between January 27 and July 27, 1945. This coincides with the period of highest use of the Helldiver.

The first chapter is a detailed history of Curtiss Aircraft from its beginnings through 1951. It goes into some depth of the troubles the company had with corruption and poor quality during the pre-war and war years.

Kagero’s newest books are designed around the modeler. These small booklets are really nice. The cover is thick cardstock and contains 26 pages of information.

The pages have one or two large photos per page on high-gloss heavyweight paper. In addition to the thirteen great pages of photos, there are two full-color profiles inside and one on the back cover. There are six pages of line drawings starting with the G-3, G-5, and G-6 variants. The drawings are in 1/72^nd and 1/48^th scale.

In addition to the great photos, profiles, and line drawings is a decal sheet that features the Bf-109G-6 on the cover, which is also one of the four-view color profiles inside. The decals are in both 1/72^nd and 1/48^th scale.

Quality large photos, full color profiles, and line drawings, along with the decal sheet make this another great offering from Kagero. If you have a small budget, these are a good value for the money.