Arriving in a small zip-lock bag stapled to folded card wearing Canadian maple leafs, we find a pair of beautiful seats, complete with molded cushions and the unique “Q” type harness belts, keeping with their high standards Ultracast has produce a high quality resin castings that correctly represents a accurate seat for these two aircraft during the mid to late war time period.

The Typhoon and Tempest, lucky day you score two for one on this deal since you get two seats in the package you can use both of them for the two offerings that are available.

First the Hasegawa Typhoon, and yes it is a beautiful kit, but the kit seat part is weak and featureless to say the least, even photo etch harness belts would not help, in fact years ago Hasegawa themselves released the Typhoon in a “Super Detail” boxing with a complete resin cockpit upgrade produced by “Jaguar” very nice to say the least, well good luck finding one of those (and yes, I have one).

Review copy courtesy of Osprey Publishing.

When Steve Collins announced that this book was available, I asked for it to review, because at one time I worked in AF Intel, and got intimately involved with aircraft identification. Especially when a Breguet Alize taxied right past my office window and parked a few hundred meters away. Made my week.

I expected this book to be a comprehensive listing of a lot of aircraft which a lucky person might encounter on a good day somewhere like Oshkosh Airventure or Farnborough International Airshow, or a military base.

I also expected some 3-view drawings and a rather truncated description of the aircraft’s origin, subtypes, and identifying features.

SAM, or more precisely Scale Aircraft Modelling, is an excellent monthly publication focusing on modeling scale aircraft. No surprise there. And if you are a long-time fan of SAM, then it is also no surprise that I state that SAM is one of the best modeling magazines focused on aircraft that money can buy.

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. In the August issue (Vol 34, Issue 06), a number of featured articles span subject matter from World War I to modern jets, both military and civil.

James Ashton’s article features the Special Hobby Ba.65 Two Seater. James uses oils to produce some excellent weathering techniques. The color images reveal that the technique James uses is very effective.

Quickboost has provided the modeling market with a whole series of useful aftermarket items that give a little extra detail or convenience without breaking the bank. These small sets tend to focus on one aspect of a model needing improvement - thus, the modeler can choose where to spend their energy, and money, on kit improvements. This small set from Quickboost improves the look of the open auxiliary air inlets on the side of the F-5 series of aircraft by AFV Club.

In the Box

The bag with card hanger comes with fourteen resin parts. Of those, twelve are the individual louvers and two are the drop-in fuselage plugs. Casting is perfect, with crisp detail. The fuselage plugs show more depth and detail than the kit parts and will be a marked improvement.

I must admit that I had not carefully examined any 1/72 Lifelike decals before I received two sets to review. When they arrived, I realized I’ve been missing something…something rather impressive. If Lifelike set # 72-020 is typical of other sets (and the other set I received indicates it is)…they will almost make you want to peal the stretch wrapping off a new kit box and start clipping parts.

Lifelike decals appear to come from people who know something about the subjects they cover, are focused on delivering high quality…and, who have figured out how to do it right! The sets include careful research, the original artwork looks accurate, the print registration is excellent, the colors are vivid, the film is very thin and the subjects covered are most appealing.