After a near decade long hiatus, the Detail and Scale series is back up and producing modeler focused references for some of our favorite aircraft subjects. In this volume, number 13 in the new series, the authors follow up volume 12 by completing their examination of the FJ Fury series of Naval fighter aircraft. The book opens with an introduction to Burt Kinzey and Richard “Rock” Roszak. I found these bios helpful since I missed collecting the original series having taken a modeling hiatus of my own. A recap of volume one backfills what the reader missed if they don’t have volume 12. The focus of this volume is primarily the FJ-4 and FJ-4B with brief coverage of the FJ-4F. A history of development and employment of each type follows. Color profiles done by Mr. Roszak highlight colors and markings of various units and a complete list of the unit assignments is included.

Scale Aircraft Conversions now has over thirty years of experience supplying resin and white metal parts to model builders, and their product listing continues to expand. This is the twelfth landing gear set from SAC that I have reviewed, and once again, they have provided an excellent metal option for kit-supplied landing gear. This set is intended for the 1/32 scale F4F-4 released by Revell and I happen to have kit 85-6876 that was released in 2004 in my stash. The purpose of this replacement set is to provide stronger landing gear that is adjustable, if necessary, to obtain the proper angles. Even with no previous experience in using white metal parts, this set will provide an upgrade that most modelers will have no issue installing.

This set supplies drop-in replacement wheels for 1/72 F-16 C/D Block 40 and later kits.

As you would expect from Brengun, the wheels are very finely cast featuring realistic tread pattern, raised lettering and other markings on the sidewalls and sharply detailed brake pads and wheel hubs. I compared them to the wheels of a Tamiya F-16CJ kit and as shown in the photos, the detail on the Brengun parts is a vast improvement over the kit wheels. Each tire also has a flat spot to simulate the weight of the aircraft on the tires; however, it is not overdone so that the tires look flat.

I painted the wheels Tamiya NATO Black and the rims/brake pads Tamiya Flat White, with a black wash to bring out the details. I used a white colored pencil to highlight lettering and markings on the sidewalls.

The wheels have round mounting holes on the back side, so they should be adaptable to just about any 1/72 F-16C/D Block 40 and later kit.

Highly recommended.

Kagero brings us another of their “Camouflage & Decals” series books, this time showcasing the Republic P-47D Bubbletop Thunderbolt. There is no text, other than a brief caption of each aircraft and the unit/pilot assigned.

The color profiles are mostly pretty exciting and colorful, with many featuring gorgeous nose art of the time. This makes the book a helpful resource for the modeler, if you have the correct decals in your files.

Bregun has provided a better option for the flare dispensers that are either blanked off or poorly represented on most kits in this scale. The AN/ALE 39/47 dispenser system is used on the F-16, F-18 as well as some helicopters and transports. The real system can accommodate mixed decoys in the same pack. These are programable, to release in predetermined or automatic order. Brengun duplicates the canister boxes in resin and the frame of the mounting boxes in PE. The canisters are molded fully loaded with 30 decoys. Installation consists of opening a 4x9mm hole for the resin parts. The PE frames fit precisely over the canisters. The resin is typical of Brengun meaning it's easy to work with. The cut outs need to be very precise since the PE frames won’t cover any overcut. While not an easy installation, this set offers an improvement over most of the kit molded options out there.

Thank you to Brengun for providing the sample and to IPMS for letting me have a go at it.