At the 2012 Orlando IPMS Nationals, Model Rectifier Corporation made a special decal sheet of multi-nationals roundel insignia available for giveaway at their show booth. I was lucky enough to receive one of those sheets from the IPMS Reviewer Corps.

This sheet contains national markings for USA modern aircraft (color stars & bars), Japan, Australia, Russia, Soviet Union, Germany, China, Italy and Canada, in various sizes and scales from relatively large to tiny.

I built an old Starfix 1/72 T-38 for my father’s career aircraft collection, and the decals were unusable. I found some USAF lettering in my spares box, but used the stars and bars from this sheet. They went down smoothly, and with a touch of Solvaset, nestled down into the re-scribed surface detailing I applied. They made a mediocre kit look good. I will keep this sheet on hand to use in similar situations.

The Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik is perhaps one of the most famous aircraft of World War II, especially since more IL-2’s were produced, 36,163, than any other military combat aircraft of this era. Appearing in numerous versions, including single and two seaters, the IL-2 was probably the best close support and anti-tank aircraft used during the war. Any serious modeler should be aware of this plane’s history, so I won’t repeat it here. The model presents a rather unusual variant, the one with 37 mm. NS-37 cannons mounted in streamlined fairings underneath each wing. Flying characteristics suffered, caused by the CG shift rearward because of the cannon installations, but the aircraft was available in adequate numbers for the Kursk Battles, resulting in the destruction of many German tanks and other vehicles. Shortages of cannons kept production numbers small, and previous variants with the Way-23 mm. wing mounted cannons were by far the most common types.

Quickboost has issued this set of 12 Compressed Air Cylinders for the Great Wall Hobby P-61A/B. There are 12 cylinders perfectly case in grey resin and attached to a single carrier at the bottom. Cast guards are in place to make sure no damage is done. Removal is simple in just cutting the cylinders from there base with a sprue cutter and removing a few faint seam lines.

The Fokker D.XXI single seat fighter was developed in the late thirties to replace the Fokker biplane fighters serving with the Dutch Army Aviation Branch. Although used in relatively small numbers by the Dutch, and quickly overwhelmed by the Luftwaffe during the German invasion, the type was also adopted by the Danes, but its major operational use was with the Finnish Air Force in the Winter War and afterwards . Faced with shortages of Bristol Mercury engines, the Finns also produced a variant powered by American Pratt & Whitney R-1535 Twin Wasp Junior engines. These aircraft had some additional modifications, and were operated on both wheels and skis, quite successfully against the Russians, who didn’t fare too well against the highly trained and experienced Finnish pilots.

Volume 111 in Osprey’s Aircraft of the Aces series presents the interesting story of Russian Aces of World War I. The 96-page soft cover book is the result of author Victor Kulikov’s lifelong interest in Imperial Russian aviation in WWI. He is a recognized expert, having written articles on the subject for Windsock International, Cross & Cockade, Avions, Aero Journal and Over the Front, and co-authored Flying Machine Press’ massive hard cover book Imperial Russian Air Forces. In Osprey’s Russian Aces of World War I, Kulikov draws from recently sourced Russian military and private archives to detail the exploits of each of the aces in a thoroughly researched and well-written narrative combined with a number of previously unpublished period photos.