The kit comes in a sturdy top opening box – great for holding the parts as you work on the model. There are thirty-eight light grey plastic parts and two clear sprues, one being from the Minicraft C-47/DC-3 kit that uses only the Astrodome part. The small decal sheet (1¼” by 4½”) manages to include three schemes, one Navy (the only named aircraft) and two Marine.

As I found the PBJ with the radar nose interesting, I decided to make that one. With a little research I found a right rear-quarter picture of the aircraft in the Osprey Combat Aircraft #40 “PBJ Mitchell Units of the Pacific War” book on page 82. This picture and others in this book show that many of the PBJ’s had no fifty cal. package guns on the fuselage sides, so one of the first jobs was the removal of these guns.

I appreciated that the glass nose on this radar-equipped aircraft was painted blue, saving a lot of tiny window frame painting.

Quickboost has added another resin aircraft accessory to their aircraft line. This time it is the tail cone and tail wheel to convert the Hasegawa Brewster Buffalo F-2A-2 into a Brewster Buffalo 339. It is up to their usual standards; molded in grey resin, smooth, seamless, and bubble-free. One thing of note is that they are really easy to remove from the mold block because of a nice perforation.

The Brewster Buffalo 339 was an export version of the United States Navy Buffalo F-2A. The 339 was modified from the naval version to have a lower rpm engine and a larger tail wheel and cone. It was sold to Finland, France and Britain to help bolster their aircraft at the start of World War 2.

Quickboost just keeps adding to their line of resin aircraft accessories. The latest addition is for the Spitfire. This time they have put out the correct antenna for the top of your Spitfire instead of the usual straight stick that comes in so many kits. It is up to their usual standards: molded in grey resin, smooth, seamless, and bubble-free. One thing of note is that they are really easy to remove from the mold block because of a nice perforation, but still be careful because they are very small and delicate.

In addition to the little “nubs” at the top, the antenna has a recessed groove in the side. Having never seen a Spitfire up close, I don’t know if it’s 100% accurate, but it sure looks good!

This set comes with 3 antennas, which is nice because you can add one to the kit you’re working on and update a couple of other Spitfires you’ve built previously.

Conceived and born of a Soviet requirement for a dedicated anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopter in the mid-1960’s, the Mi-14 was patterned after the American S-3 Sea King helicopter and leveraged components from existing Soviet equipment, such as the Mi-8, to expedite development and delivery into service. In 1976, the Mi-14 entered service with the Soviet Navy. Three variants of the Mi-14 covered a range of missions, including ASW, Search and Rescue, and minesweeping. As with other Soviet aircraft designs, the Mi-14 was exported to Warsaw Pact and other allies, finding its way into Polish service in 1981.

For those who wish to build a first class model of the Tornado, Eduard has some items that will make the interior of the Tornado come alive with detail and color. Eduard is offering an excellent set of photo etched parts to replace some of the molded cockpit detail found in the Hobby Boss Tornado kit, and the Eduard parts are “self-adhesive”. It is necessary to remove the molded detail on the instrument panel and side consoles of the Hobby Boss parts. While doing so goes against the grain for most modelers, rest assured that the appearance of the cockpit will be improved once the Eduard parts are installed.