History

When Ernst Udet brought back two Curtiss Hawk biplanes to Germany in the middle thirties after witnessing dive bombing demonstrations by US Navy pilots, he started a trend that resulted in the development of dive bombing aircraft for the Luftwaffe that eventually resulted in the development of the Junkers JU-87. Capable of nearly vertical dives retarded by very effective dive brakes, bombing accuracy improved dramatically, and during World War II, the Germans, along with the Americans and Japanese, developed dive bombing to a fine art. The Ju-87 was an early attempt at a specialized dive bomber, and although progressively developed during the war, could never keep pace with or coexist in an environment with enemy fighters unless a strong friendly fighter escort was present, a luxury the Germans didn’t always have.

This is a set of resin exhaust stacks for the new Eduard Bf-110E kit. The advantage in using these units is that they are drilled out, whereas the kit parts are not. They fit perfectly, and were a welcome addition to my model. They are to be installed after painting the basic structure, allowing for such detailing and weathering as you desire. These are worth getting to upgrade your model. Recommended.

My thanks to Quickboost and IPMS/USA for the opportunity to review this item.

Prominent on the nose of the Mig-23 Flogger is a pitot tube. From a modeling perspective a nose pitot presents several challenges. First you hope that the part is not bent, broken or molded out of round. Surviving that, you then need to remove the pitot from the sprue, remove the mold lines and ensure that the cross section is round. Lastly, a nose pitot tube becomes a transportation liability during model shows and displays. This Quickboost product provides a safety net to the modeler who has had difficulty with any of these issues with the Trumpeter Mig-23 kit (or for that matter the Italeri/ESCI or Hobby Craft kits).

Prominent on the underside of the Mig-23 is the twin GSH-23 twin barrel 23mm cannon which can be used air to air or air to ground. The Trumpeter 1/48 Mig-23M and Mig-23MF kits provide multiple parts to create the cannon – the L34 for the fairing, PE parts 2 and 3 for the shell ejection chutes and part C2 which consists of the twin cannon barrel. Once covered by the fairing, the only portion of the GSH-23 are the muzzles of thee barrels with their distinctive finned shaped. This offering by Quickboost is a one for one drop in replacement for kit part C2, providing a more accurate pair of muzzles that are physically separated, unlike the kit part which has the muzzles connected. My guess is that the kit muzzles are that way for easy of injection molding. The resin replacement is not only separate provides smaller more realistically sized gun bores.

One of the planned builds in my stash is the Mig-21 F-13 the USAF obtained from the Israelis that became the secret “Have Doughnut” project. I discovered this aircraft in an article in an old Air Force Association Magazine my Dad gave me. The photos of the ungainly looking natural metal beast with stars and bars markings were intriguing. When I saw this book offered up on the review list, I asked for it thinking it would contain all the reference photos I needed to supplement those in the magazine to complete that build. I was wrong. There were few photos of the aircraft in the book.

What I did find, though, was the fascinating story of the creation of one of our country’s greatest defense assets over the past few decades. Author, and former F-4 Phantom driver Gail Peck (Col., USAF, ret’d.) details the story of the USAF’s aggressor training squadron from inception to its’ current status as the opposing force team for the best trained pilots in the world.