Although not mentioned on the box, the Shiden-Kai was known by the Allies as "GEORGE". The SHIDEN (Violet Lightning) - KAI (Variant or Improvement) was essentially a redesign/conversion to a land-based fighter from the floatplane N1K Kyōfū, codename "REX". The Shiden-Kai entered service in early 1944 and, in the hands of an able pilot, could easily compete with the Corsair or Hellcat. The Shiden-Kai was extremely rugged and carried four 20mm cannon but, to its detriment, was plagued by mechanical problems.

My jumping on this review was primarily for one reason; I had not had a chance to build a 1/144 scale aircraft and this looked like a good model to start with. I can honestly say that in no way, shape, or form was I disappointed with the kit. Building 1/144 scale fighters from this era without a doubt forces the builder to tackle the project with a slightly different mindset than your typically larger scale kit.

Eduard provides a complete set of parts to enhance the appearance of the ejection seats for the Hobby Boss Tornado ADV with this product, Eduard’s Tornado ADV Seatbelts Set, # 49547. The Eduard set is colored so no painting will be necessary.

A PE “bender” is not required to use the Eduard set. The Eduard parts can be easily manipulated and re-shaped with a pair of tweezers. Some of the parts are quite small, so a modicum of caution must be exercised not only to prevent the parts from becoming one with the carpet, but also to prevent any unfortunate accidental bends being introduced to the PE parts.

First: Extreme thanks to FineMolds for having dared to finally provide an injection molded kit of this famous weapon. If you have never built a FineMolds model, please understand that they are one of the top-notch short-run companies out there. The first FineMolds model I built was their all-resin and metal “Tony” kit, back in 1992; it heralded in all-resin kits for me, fit great, and cost (at the time) about $100. A very “Princely” price, but it lasted for 15 years after I built it. Not bad for a model to survive three military moves with the lowest-bidder moving companies… Enough talk, on to the “Okha”!

Well, it’s November and Ross McMillan and his elves appear to be busy as ever with six new SAC releases. These range in scale from 1/72nd through 1/32nd and, as always, are welcome additions to his ever-growing list of metal replacement gear. This month’s releases are as follows:

• #32057 – Dewoitine D.520 Landing Gear – replacement for 1/32 Azur - $ 14.95
• #48152 – Mirage 2000 Landing Gear – replacement for 1/48 Heller, Eduard - $ 16.95
• #48153 – Yak-38 Landing Gear – replacement for 1/48 Hobby Boss - $ 16.95
• #48154 – P-61 Black Widow Landing Gear – replacement for 1/48 Great Wall - $ 16.95
• #38155 – FW 190 Landing Gear – replacement for all 1/48 Hasegawa - $ 16.95
• #72038 – Ju-52 Landing Gear – replacement for 1/72 Italeri - $ 12.95

Most highly recommended.

Make sure to visit their website to see these and a list of other gear available at quality Hobby Suppliers, or you can order direct.

This is the 2^nd “book” in this series. It has an ISBN number (978-83-61421-54-2), but it really is not a book. What you get is a shrink-wrapped folder (made out of glossy, stiff stock) that contains a large set of decals and 4 separate sheets approximately 8 ¼” x 11 3/4” in size (which I understand is “A4” size in Europe). Each of these sheets has glossy, high-quality printing on both sides and is of nice, thick stock.

The first sheet shows all stencil markings on a set of generic Bf109G-10 line drawings (stencils are shown in their respective colors, where appropriate). The verso of this sheet has the requisite “book” publishing information, as well as RLM color chips (printed, not painted chips) with matching FS numbers. Also on this side are 9 line drawings of Bf109 rudder variants.