Resuming after a holiday break, I finished the model on January 2. Once the fuselage was closed and the wings and undercarriage were glued, the major work involved rigging the undercarriage, wings and control wires.

Castor Oil, Grim, Mud, Dirt and Goo

Reference photos show that once an Eindecker went into front-line service, it rapidly became stained, oily, and dirty. The two main factors were the dirt and grass airfields, which soon became muddy during most months of the year (except when they became snow-packed ice fields), and the engines which threw off their lubricating fluid as they operated. My understanding is that this was primarily castor oil, or some similar substance that was ubiquitous to all rotary engines. Consequently, I had no choice but to dirty up the wings and fuselage. Fun!

From the Philippines to Okinawa, the unthinkable Kamikaze generated surprise and fear across the US Pacific fleet that outweighed the actual combat effectiveness of these Special Attack units. The new title in the Osprey aces series focuses on the Navy, Marine, and USAAF commands that confronted this new threat. The IJN and IJA lost some 900 aircraft in these mass attacks. 91 pilots from the Navy, Marines and USAAF became aces during these campaigns (most aces were from the Navy).

Edward M Young walks you through the development and first use of the Special Attack units right up to VE day. The Navy’s response and tactics to counter this new threat is very well chronicled. Each ace is covered with his individual tallies and the circumstances of each victory.

This book looks at the RAF and Britain’s air defense, post-World War II. More specifically, it looks at the defense of Britain from nuclear strikes.

This book is broken down into ten chapters, beginning at the end of WWII when the British defenses were set up to protect her from massive raids by piston-engined bomber aircraft and the post-war realization that the advent of the V-1 and V-2 missiles and the jet engine had rendered all of this obsolete. Add the atomic bomb to this, and the RAF was scrambling to devise new defenses.

The author does a good job of discussing the Soviet threat, as well as all of the various programs that were being devised to deal with it. Those that made it to reality, as well as those that never made it off paper, are all covered. All of the aircraft projects, as well as those involving missile defense, are discussed, with coverage even given to dealing with hijacked airliners.

The kit comes in an attractive box with a profile of one of the marking options on the box top. This is a special limited edition and includes a very nice gold colored coin that is packed separately in a fancy red box similar to what you would get a piece of jewelry in. I am not sure what the parts count is, but I'm sure there are well over one hundred parts. The parts are molded in a medium blue-grey color and they have a slightly rough texture. The plastic is a little on the soft side, so care must be taken when sanding and cutting. There is a small photo etch fret with seatbelts and other detail parts. I did not use all of the PE parts because some of them were so thin that they came apart when I cut them from the fret. There is also a small bag of resin parts comprising oxygen bottles, various boxes, and some things that look like duffel bags. The molding on the resin parts is not up to the standards of Aires or CMK, but it is decent.

Airscale. You might know this company for their really fine instrument dial decals and cockpit placard decals. I have used these decals on every model I have built that included an instrument panel or dashboard since these products came out. Now, Airscale has included another great product which also works in conjunction with their own decals, as well as decals supplied with kits.