History

Windsock Datafiles has probably become the premier publisher of detailed studies of specific World War I vintage aircraft, and they have recently branched out into aircraft subjects about which little has been published before. This publication is no exception, as the Spad VII and XIII, while famous in French, American, and other services, was also used by the Italians, although not in great numbers, and many were kept in postwar use until the mid twenties. Although the first French Spads were sent to Italy in 1917, the Italians declined to produce the plane in Italy and imported limited numbers from France, some without engines, rather than relying on Italian production which was often inadequate. As a result, other fighter types provided the majority of combat aircraft for Italian fighter units although the type was used until 1924, and many civilian examples were flown well into the thirties.

VFA-195 is one of the naval F-18 squadrons people usually don’t remember until either one of two things happens. First, they are called the “Dambusters” after their successful destruction of the Hwacheon Dam in North Korea. Even more recognizable is their “Chippy Ho” scheme of green and black with the large eagles head. They have been carrying some form of this scheme on the CAG aircraft for about 25 years. The squadron was formed many years ago flying Avengers but worked their way up to F-18’s in the 1980’s and to the newer F-18E/F Super Hornet in the 2010. The Dambusters are based at NAF Atsugi, Japan

Scale Aircraft Modelling is an excellent monthly publication focusing on modeling scale aircraft. Averaging just under 100 pages, SAM is filled with build articles featuring some of the newer kits on the market, as well as projects based on old favorites. Printed on glossy paper in full color, this magazine is a treasure chest of information about modeling techniques as well as a great source of information on new products.

The cover article in this issue is entitled, “Classic Cat” and refers to the F7F Tigercat. The kit being spotlighted is the Italeri 1/48th scale “Cat”. Author/Modeler Philippe Roger presents a Masterclass in scratchbuilding additional detail for the Italeri kit. There are seven pages of detailed text accompanied by a series of detailed images. The lessons put forward by P. Roger are not limited to the F7F but are easily applicable to other aircraft.

The first jet airplane I ever saw was in 1948 at the opening ceremonies of Idlewild Airport (now J.F.K.). I was only five years old and while most there covered their ears, I just ate up the sound of jet noise. I never got over it. In the over 60 years, I have been building models, I never got around to building a P/F-80 until now.

The kit I am reviewing is the Special Hobby F-80C in 1/32 scale. Upon opening the box, one is impressed with the size of this aircraft. It is molded in light grey plastic on some very heavy sprues. The molding is nice and crisp with recessed panel lines. The canopy parts are in a separate bag for protection and are just beautiful.

Eagle Editions has released a 1/32 scale sheet for the pending HK Models B-25 “Strafer” which represent the 345th Bomb Group, the Air Apaches. For those who don’t know, the Air Apaches were a Bomb Group based in New Guinea in WWII who flew the B-25J. They flew missions against shipping, ground emplacements, and flak positions using the B-25 bomber not only for its intended purpose but also for strafing almost anything. One thing they also had was very distinctively marked ships. The tails were marked with stylized Indians and the planes marked as bats, parrots, and many other things with great nose art. A modeler’s dream come true.

HK Models’ B-25J Strafer is reviewed here at http://web.ipmsusa3.org/content/b-25j-strafer . The kit is now arriving in the US and these decals give the builder three markings for this kit: