The Academy Mig-21 kit is a nice kit. However, the parts breakdown of certain pieces is a pain. This is apparent especially on the kit gun pods. The kit part has a seam right down the middle which will be difficult to fill. The kit pod also has minimal detail and some shape issues. The Quickboost resin cannon pod has exquisite detail. The vents and fasteners are perfectly represented, but the best feature is the drilled-out gun barrels. I’m sure I could not drill them as well as Quickboost because these things are so small that I’m sure I would have just made a mess of it.

The single piece is molded perfectly in light grey resin. Removal is quite easy and adding it to the belly is easy enough as long as you don’t cut off the mounting stubs. The Quickboost pod has a more accurate shape, especially around the front portion.

Highly recommended.

Thanks to Quickboost and IPMS/USA for the review sample.

Seeing laser guided bombs in action seems to be a staple of the western news stations. What we don’t get to see is the employment of the Soviet equivalent. Well, of course the Soviets have the same technology.

These bombs are molded on a single light grey resin pour block with two large bombs and the laser guidance warhead. There is also a very small clear pour block with the laser detectors. Aerobonus also provides you with decals for the bombs. In this case, they were perfect and did not stick to the protective paper.

Removal of the bombs from the pour blocks shouldn’t prove too difficult as long as you take care on the bomb fins. Because the laser trackers are separate, you can articulate them if you’d like.

Highly recommended

Thanks to Aires and IPMS/USA for the review copy.

The controls on the F-16 have a variety of switches and buttons on the control sticks. Plastic can only replicate this so far, plus on the kit parts there are mold lines. Quickboost has cleaned this up and added some really crisp detail.

Molded in light grey resin, you get four control sticks that are perfectly cast. Adding them will be simple enough, as there is a casting stub on the base. Really, all these little gems require is a good painting.

Highly recommended.

Thanks to Quickboost and IPMS/USA for the review copy.

Kagero’s limited edition (Red Series) 1/32 scale Pacific P-51D/F-6D Mustang decals is welcome news for large-scale Mustang fans. This is part #1 of what I assume will be a continuing series of beautiful sheets offered by them. Evidently, this sheet is sized to fit the Tamiya kit, but it’s not mentioned in the documents. The decals were printed by Cartograf and are crystal clear and look outstanding. Because of my slow progress building my own Mustang, I didn’t try to apply them. I didn’t think applying decals on bare plastic would really be very effective, although it did seem to work when I was 6. Anyway, the 8 page color documents are first rate. The artwork shows large, color profiles of both sides of the fuselage and the top and bottom of the wings. Also included is a brief history of each aircraft, accompanied by sketches of the pilots.

If you are looking for a definitive account of the Battle of Britain, this is not it. If you are looking for inspirational paint schemes and the decals that go with those schemes, then this is your book.

Kagero has always released really nice books with interesting paint schemes and this one is no different. There are eight aircraft depicted, six Bf-109s, one He-111, and one Bf-110. Descriptions of each aircraft and its pilot accompany the three- and four-view full color profiles. The descriptions are written in English and Polish. Each description gives the color callouts and a little bit of history of each pilot who flew it. Particularly interesting is the He-111, which has tail and fuselage artwork. The 109s all show unique paint schemes with the description documenting the changes in the camouflage paint schemes. The profiles are first rate and really well done. They are definitely inspirational.