Reviews of products for scale aircraft models.

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Italeri
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$129.99

Italeri has released a brand new mold F-35B, the STOVL (short-take-off and vertical landing) version of the F-35 family currently in use by the Italian Navy, Royal Navy and US Marine Corps.

Current military planning assumes that in any conflict, stealth capabilities are needed during the first few days of combat which will see action against enemy radars and later on aircrafts can trade-off “stealthness” for payload by using external pylons. When the F-35B is carrying a full payload -ie with external pylons-, it is known as “Beast” mode and Italeri provides you everything you need to have your model in “Beast” mode, even adding a couple of trolleys to show the extra ordnance in a mini-diorama or vignette, but no figures are included.

Review Author
Gino Dykstra
Published on
Company
Red Fox Studio
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$12.70

I don’t think I’m alone in the feeling that when building an airplane kit, the most challenging aspect (at least in terms of painting) is inevitably the cockpit. And within the cockpit, the most challenging aspect is almost always the instrument panels. Over the years I’ve developed a pretty steady hand at this kind of work, but that doesn’t mean I actually enjoy it. It’s usually with a sigh of relief when I can set down an instrument panel with a full paint job on it.

Red Fox Studios, a company out of Hungary, has come up with a product line that I am now head over heels in love with. They are releasing a series of detail sets which include not only full-color instrument sets for various aircraft, but fully three-dimensional instrument panels at that, with every instrument and button fully realized. I have literally never seen anything like them before, and I am mesmerized.

Review Author
Paul Bradley
Published on
Company
Red Fox Studio
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$12.00

Red Fox Studios are a new company to me. Based in Hungary, they are a producer of resin upgrades and decals, including a range of 3D instrument panel decals, of which this review item is one.

Designed for the Kinetic 1/48 F/A-18C Hornet kit, this product has a plastic, non-flat surface with a 3D effect. It is best glued with cyanoacrylate, but PVA or other glues can also be used. The product can be washed with both oil-based and acrylic paints. It can also be minimally bent or sanded.

Having started the kit, I first painted and decaled the pilot’s cockpit using the kit-provided decals. I used setting solution to help these settle over the kit’s nicely-moulded in detail. These looked OK and would have been perfectly suitable under a closed canopy.

Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Hauler Brengun
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$11.25

Hauler has provided another addition to the 1/72 aircraft weapons arsenal with these World War two Depth Charges and bomb rack.

The detail quality is great. Be very careful when removing the fin end of the Depth Charges as they are very fragile, and I broke one. The parts once removed from the mold base are ready to assembly. There is also a small Photo Etch sheet with some very delicate parts that need careful removal and added to the assembly

The Assembly is quick and easy. The final part is painted Olive Drab and looks great as an addition to any 1/72 Aircraft

Thanks go to Hauler/Brengun for providing this kit to review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it for them

Review Author
James Kelley
Published on
Company
ICM
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$56.69

History

The Junkers Ju 88 is a German World War II Luftwaffe twin-engined multirole combat aircraft. Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works (JFM) designed the plane in the mid-1930s as a so-called Schnellbomber ("fast bomber") that would be too fast for fighters of its era to intercept. It suffered from technical problems during its development and early operational periods but became one of the most versatile combat aircraft of the war. Like a number of other Luftwaffe bombers, it served as a bomber, dive bomber, night fighter, torpedo bomber, reconnaissance aircraft, heavy fighter, and at the end of the war, as a flying bomb.

Review Author
Michael Novosad
Published on
Company
Hobby Boss
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$60.99

Brief History From Wikipedia

The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II is a single-seat, twin-turbofan, straight-wing, subsonic attack aircraft developed by Fairchild Republic for the United States Air Force (USAF). In service since 1976, it is named for the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, a World War II-era fighter-bomber effective at attacking ground targets, but commonly referred to as the "Warthog" or "Hog".[4] The A-10 was designed to provide close air support (CAS) to friendly ground troops by attacking armored vehicles, tanks, and other enemy ground forces; it is the only production-built aircraft designed solely for CAS to have served with the U.S. Air Force.[5] Its secondary mission is to direct other aircraft in attacks on ground targets, a role called forward air controller-airborne; aircraft used primarily in this role are designated OA-10.

Book Author(s)
Gerry Manning
Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Casemate Publishers
MSRP
$24.95

This is the 5th volume of a new Key Books Series Historic Commercial Aircraft. This covers the Airliners worldwide from 2000 to 2010. This covers all types of aircraft across the global airlines flying in this period. The book contents consists of many photos with individual captions describing the details of the aircraft and the operators.

During my Airline interiors career I work on the interiors for a lot of the aircraft shown on this book and is a great collection of Aircraft types and Liveries.

All the photographs and write up in this book really help to show the variation of aircraft and airlines using then during this period.

I recommend this book to everyone with an interest in Commercial Aircraft and or Airlines. Also great for commercial aircraft modelers. After reading this book I look forward to adding more of this series to my library.

Book Author(s)
Michael John Claringbould & Peter Ingman
Review Author
Keith Gervasi
Published on
Company
Avonmore Books
MSRP
$46.95

Volume Five of this series chronicles aerial warfare primarily in the New Guinea theatre in the critical period between September and December 1942. It can be read alone or as a continuation of the previous four volumes which span the first nine months of the Pacific War.

By early September the strategic picture in the theatre had changed markedly within just six weeks. From their new Buna beachhead the Japanese Army commenced a Papuan mountain campaign which threatened the Allied bastion of Port Moresby. Meanwhile the battle for Guadalcanal was raging, with the outcome of the wider Pacific War in the balance.

Against this background a strengthened US Fifth Air Force took the fight to the IJA with direct air support. While this was being conducted by P-39s, P-40Es, A-20As and B-25s, raids by B-17s against Rabaul aided US forces in the neighboring Solomons. RAAF Beaufighters, Beauforts, Bostons and Hudsons also contributed substantially to these efforts.

Book Author(s)
Dan Sharp
Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
Company
Mortons Books
MSRP
$45.00

Mortons Media Group was established in the 19th century and has been producing book-length publications since the early 2000s. The company established a dedicated books division in 2019 and Mortons Books has already earned a reputation for publishing high-quality titles by authors who are true experts in their field. For the best reads on rail, aviation, nostalgia and history, look no further. This book is part of their imprint: Tempest Books addresses all aspects of aviation history are covered in authoritative detail. The aviators and aircraft of the Second World War are profiled by our titles alongside more modern fighters, bombers, reconnaissance aircraft and transports. 'Secret projects' and experimental designs are also an important part of the Tempest Books portfolio.