Short History:
Luftwaffe benchmark fighter, 'Gustav' 6 variant with up-gunned MG 131 cowl MGs and characteristic 'Beule' blisters over the gun breeches.
Among modern aircraft modelers, if they want colorful and interesting paint schemes the aircraft of the Japanese Air Self Defense Force (JASDF) have always delivered. One of the most attractive, and sleek looking aircraft is the Mitsubishi F-2. Having origins within the FSX program in the late 1980’s, it was birthed out of a cooperative effort with Lockheed Martin after selecting the F-16 as a basis for study into a new support fighter. It wasn’t until the mid 2000 that flight test were concluded and delivery started in September of the same year. With a 25% larger wing, longer fuselage, advanced avionics, and 11 hard points it is a F-16 on steroids and provides the JASDF with a 21stcentury fighter and trainer.
Packaged in the standard sized resealable envelope you find one yellow precut mask set along with a folded one sided placement sheet and a backing card. The set covers the canopy and searchlight. Simple and easy best describes using these Eduard mask sets; however this set could be a little confusing if you do not carefully follow the placement guide. I always do a light pencil rubbing to reveal the cuts. Remember patients will be your reward. Eduard has a knack for doing these things very well and I was a little disappointed to discover the wheels were not included. The budget minded modeler may have a little ‘sticker’ shock shelling out 11 bucks MSRP so I would suggest shopping around.
My thanks go to IPMS/USA and Eduard Model Accessories. I highly recommend this set.
P. S. Look for my following review on the Kinetic S-2F.
Among modern aircraft modelers, if they want colorful and interesting paint schemes the aircraft of the Japanese Air Self Defense Force (JASDF) have always delivered. One of the most attractive, and sleek looking aircraft is the Mitsubishi F-2. Having origins within the FSX program in the late 1980’s, it was birthed out of a cooperative effort with Lockheed Martin after selecting the F-16 as a basis for study into a new support fighter. It wasn’t until the mid 2000 that flight test were concluded and delivery started in September of the same year. With a 25% larger wing, longer fuselage, advanced avionics, and 11 hard points it is a F-16 on steroids and provides the JASDF with a 21stcentury fighter and trainer.
Quickboost just keeps adding to their great line of quality resin aircraft accessories. The latest addition is for the Hasegawa Focke Wulf TA-154 A-1/ R1. It is up to their usual standards; molded in grayish resin, smooth, seamless and bubble free. They come off of the mold block easily; I just cut the doors loose with my sprue cutters.
The doors that come in the Hasegawa kit are okay but just lack the level of detail that the Quickboost covers have. The Hasegawa instructions have you cut the edges of the doors. Quickboost has already made these cuts for you. The Quickboost covers are superior and add just that much more realism to the finished kit. The resin parts are very easy to install and can be used on any other brand kit that is similarly molded.
The Aires set arrived in the standard blister pack we all have come to recognize. The multimedia mix includes cast resin pieces in varying shades of gray finely cast and flawless they are beautifully done, my sample came with a couple broken pieces from the delicate control stick and was easily repaired. The photo etch instrument panel fret also includes seatbelts and other fiddly bits all renderings are very nice. Topping off the mix is the infamous Aires acetate sheet with the printed dial faces.
The instructions are well thought out pointing out where modifications are required. This mainly consists of removing raised detail and thinning the plastic. This may seems old school to a lot of us modelers but remember fundamentals are what make a great model. All in all this is a great improvement over the Hobby Boss parts and is well worth the time and effort needed for a proper fit.
General Atomics’ MQ-9 Reaper was conceived and birthed as a super-sized version of the MQ-1 Predator, which had met with great success in the time-critical-targeting (TCT) role in the late 1990’s and early part of this century. Despite Predator’s utility in the TCT role, it was limited by the size, quantity and diversity of payload it could deliver, as well as by limited range and service ceiling. As a result, “Predator B” was developed to leverage the success of the “Predator A” design, while minimizing development time, risk, and cost. The final product was a weapons system capable of carrying 3,750 pounds (an increase of nearly 800%), including GBU-12 Paveways and GBU-38 JDAMs, in addition to AGM-114 Hellfires, and a 50% increase in range and altitude. Given the significant increase in capability over the legacy Predator design, the MQ-9 was redesignated “Reaper.”
Editor: This review updated 24 July 2011 with book author's e-mail address corrected
This is the 6th edition of this publication, published in 2010 and printed in May 2011. I reviewed the 5th Edition, published in January 2009. For those of you who may have missed the previous review I will include some of the original comments in this updated review.
When the previous An Aeronautical Engineer’s View….The Vought F4U Corsair and its Contemporaries first arrived for my review I scanned through the pages and the only picture I found was that of the author. I need reference pictures, lots of pictures, of the Corsair, wheel wells, the cockpit, details, markings and so on. I thrive on line drawings. Nonetheless I had an obligation to review the publication, and the only way to do that was to read it.
Thanks once again to Quickboost, and Aires Hobby Models for providing IPMS USA review items; more cool stuff for us!
This is a “well-then” item for me. I wondered why, and learned soon. Enclosed in the upgrade are propellers, spinners, and a jig to make sure the props are properly aligned. This is a cool set, and here’s why: in the side-by side pictures, you will note the kit items have a split spinner, with front and back parts. The props are ok, but could use a bit of “tweaking”. These are ok if you don’t mind a seam through where the props attach. I’ve built a few of these kits, and always had a bit of filler required to finish the spinner.
Includes 2 resin AIM-26B missiles with separate exhaust nozzles. Designed for the Revell/Monogram kits (Note: these missiles are also included in the resin detail parts of the Encore F-102A kit).
The AIM-26 Falcon was a larger, more powerful version of the AIM-4 Falcon air-to-air missile built by Hughes. The AIM-26A, with the nuclear warhead, entered service in 1961 with the Air Defense Command F-102 Delta Dagger interceptors. It used a radar proximity fuse and a radar guidance system. To date, it is the only guided U.S. air-to-air weapon ever to carry a nuclear warhead. Considering the issues with using nuclear weapons over the US homeland and friendly territories, the missile was eventually converted to a conventional high explosive warhead and designated the AIM-26B. These were carried by the F-102s, F-106s, and the J35 Draken (designated as RB27).
