With the success of its A320/321 Airbus has proven a worthy competitor to the Boeing 737. This set replaces the gear parts in the Revell A321 New Engine Option (NEO) kit. Six parts are provided and the casting is directly from the kit parts including runners with kit part numbers on them. No doubt, there are advantages to metal parts supporting a model of this size but there are some issues. Removing the parts from the sprues was difficult to do without distorting the parts. The metal used is very pliable so they can be straightened out. In this scale, I don't know how precise the parts prep would have to be but the sample had some offsets in casting that needed a lot of material removal to make level joints. Once the struts are glued to the main gear, it makes a pretty stout assembly. I did not have the kit to compare too but photos references do match the parts fairly well.

The United States Marine Corps were a major operator of the F-4 Phantom during the Vietnam war flying both the B and J versions.

AoA’s very comprehensive set covers six Marine Fighter Attack Squadrons with more than 15 possible schemes. There is also a full set of stencils included for one aircraft.

The squadrons are:

• VMFA-115 Silver Eagles which include some neat looking metallic eagles
• VMFA-212 Lancers
• VMFA-232 Red Devils with their distinctive squadron markings
• VMFA-314 Black Knights
• VMFA-323 Death Rattlers which also includes helmet decals
• VMFA-334 Falcons

There are left side profiles and top views for all aircraft and multiple pages for the stencils which cover all sides of the aircraft. There is also a small sheet that covers details for each airframe including paint specifics and instructions if certain decals need to be applied before others.

ICM has continued its series of MiG-25 “Foxbat” kits with probably the ugliest variant of all, the two-seat trainer. Unlike the other trainers built by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau where the trainer version was created by extending the cockpit aft to make room for an instructor’s seat and controls, for the MiG-25 trainer an entire new nose section was added in front of the existing cockpit along with a separate canopy for the instructor pilot.

Scale Aircraft Conversions, located in Texas, is well known to be a source of high-quality white metal landing gear sets for aircraft. Visiting the SAC Home Page on the internet, SAC states that,

“We manufacture a line of white metal landing gear for 1/18 to 1/144 scale aircraft. Some sets consist of the main gear only while others include the nose gear, tail gear and/or adjacent related components. Some inaccuracies in the original kit gear have been corrected but the mounting points remain identical to the factory parts. With numerous sets we have not sought to duplicate non load bearing component parts where the factory plastic parts are reasonably accurate. “

SAC also notes that they have been in business since 1990, offering white metal and resin parts. The SAC website features a page that will help the “first-timer” to successfully install the white metal parts of the model. Look for the navigation link labeled, “Using White Metal”.

The title of this publication is, “British Aircraft of World War One: A Photographic Guide to Modern Survivors, Replicas, and Reproductions".

It is, indeed, a photographic guide. Every page of the 128 pages in the book contains at least one photograph. Some of the images are of aircraft that date back to World War I, those being the Survivors. Also covered in text and photographs are replica aircraft and reproductions. In the “Author’s Note, definitions of these three types of aircraft are provided. In short, original aircraft are those which contain a “significant number” of original parts, although much of the aircraft may have been restored. “Reproductions” are defined as newly build aircraft which were constructed using similar materials and building methods. A replica appears to be an original aircraft but on closer inspection has parts and gear that are fairly modern, and certainly not original.