Spoiler alert – if you don’t want to know what I think, go to the next paragraph. This is THE only book you will need to own for reference on the P-39 Airacobra. Printed on high quality gloss paper, this paperback book is printed on A5 size with 160 pages chock full of information. Modelers will love the information included in this book.

The very first thing you will notice upon opening the book is four view drawings of the P-39F and Q in 1/48th scale and the P-39Q in 1/32nd scale. If you build 1/72nd scale, fear not – there are plenty of 72nd scale drawings throughout the book. OK, 1/144th scale guys, there are drawing in the book for you as well.

This book covers Aces of the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). It appears that Osprey will be publishing an additional volume or volumes covering naval aces of other countries. When I heard of this book, I assumed that it would probably cover Raymond Collishaw and other Sopwith Triplane pilots of Naval 10. I was pleased to find that, although Naval 10 was well covered, the history of the RNAS in WWI was surprisingly broad. When we think about British aircraft during WWI, we usually think of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC). However, we must remember that the Royal Navy was called the Senior Service. Both organizations were formed in 1912 and it appears that they both developed in parallel until they were combined in April of 1918. Seventy nine pilots of the RNAS achieved the status of Ace along with another forty seven RNAS pilots who completed Ace status while flying with the RFC.

#32732 – 1/32nd Tamiya Early P-51D gun bay photoetch set, includes pre-painted ammo belts, door placards, gun placards, plus all the goodies to create a winner should you decide to open the bays. Very well done and engineered. MSRP - $ 33.00.

# 32731 – Prepainted seat belts for the 1/32nd Tamiya P-51D. Not much to be said here that the image doesn’t show, except that Eduard is and has been second to none in this arena. If you haven’t used one of their belt sets, you owe it to yourself to try one. MSRP - $ 23.00.

Most highly recommended. Special thanks to Eduard for supplying the review samples and to IPMS for allowing me to review them.

Quickboost has released a set of 3 pitot tubes applicable to F-104s produced by any manufacturer. The pitot tubes are scaled nicely, which means that they are very small in diameter with a nice taper leading to a very delicate tip. A great feature provided by Quickboost is a molded mounting pin, about 16th inch in length, that will fit into a hole in the nose of the model receiving the pitot tube. This mounting pin provides sufficient surface area at the point of attachment to secure the tube in a snug fashion.

Quick, clean, and easy to use, requiring no cleanup, this Quickboost product will add to the appearance of any F-104 on the market.

The product is highly recommended. Thanks to Quickboost for providing this sample item to IPMS, and to IPMS for the opportunity to review this very fine accessory.

IN THE BOX

The kit replicates the back engine housing/afterburner assembly used on the F-14A Tomcat. Material is made from resin and is gray in color. Also included is a photo etched sheet of afterburner nozzles. All the parts were in excellent condition.

CONSTRUCTION

Initially, I trimmed the engine housing exhaust and afterburner housing. The end sprue material was not needed. I painted the interior prior to the assembly of the fan blades, can interior, and afterburners. Note: the F-14 kit I used did not have a “kit part” as noted in the instructions. I was able to adapt this exhaust nozzle kit to the F-14A Testor’s kit. It worked just fine – I did have to make some adjustments, however.

FINISH

The paint used was store-bought spray primer (gray), ModelMaster enamel (steel), and on the outside exhaust housing I used acrylic (steel).

COMMENTS

This kit can be assembled by any age model builder. The plans are very easy to follow.