Ever have to rob a perfectly good kit for just the bombs? I have and I regretted it later when I either wanted to build it or sell it. Italeri has a solution to this problem, bombs and lots of them. The latest release contains two identical sprues of 53 parts each and the decals that go with them. You can build AB70, AB-250, AB500, the ER-4 Bomb rack, <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 /??>ETC 50 bomb rack, PC1400, PD500, SC50, SC250 with Dinort fusing, SC500, SD250, SC1000, SD1700, Pfeife Geraete, 300 and 900 liter Fuel Tanks and WB81 gun pods from the kit. That is a lot of ordnance. There are multiple aircraft that can be armed with this set. Included in the instructions are the load out plans for various aircraft such as the Ju-88, He-111, Ju-87, Hs-129, FW-190, and Me-262. As an example, you can use the bombs and gun pod on Italeri Stuka.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to Minicraft Model Kits for providing this kit to IPMS/USA and to them for allowing me to review it.
In the mid-1930s United Airlines decided they needed a larger plane than the DC-3s they were using. They contacted Douglas Aircraft to develop such a plane. Douglas designed and built a large aircraft they called the DC-4E (E for experimental). It flew for the first time on June 7, 1938. More than twice the size of the DC-3 (138 ft. wingspan and 97 ft. long) the cabin had a wide pressurized cross-section, a tricycle landing gear, and triple vertical stabilizers similar to the Lockheed Constellation. With its four Wright R-1820 engines developing 1450 hp each, it could potentially fly nonstop from Chicago to San Francisco.
Editor's note: P/N U72-110 = $7.50; P/N U72-109 = $5.50
It was with great anticipation that I awaited the release of the Hobbyboss 1/72 Westland Lynx HAS.3. When it hit the street, I was not surprised to learn that it was a nice kit with some curious accuracy issues as this seems to be typical for this manufacturer. Pavla has addressed two of the major hiccups with these two resin sets and I jumped at the chance to incorporate them in my build for this review.
The first shortcoming addressed by the two sets reviewed here is the lack of BERP rotor blades applicable to this variant. The kit includes the older straight style on a separate sprue just for the rotor blades and this is particularly frustrating as other boxings of this kit have the correct BERP rotor blades – a simple mix up that should have been easily avoided. The second issue addressed in this review is more of a design flaw as the shape of the sponsons is inaccurate and simplified.
The cockpit set comes in four cream colored pieces – tub, seat, stick and panel/coaming. The parts are nicely detailed and well-cast, if only a tad rough on the surface. The texture was not an issue with parts this small and I did nothing special to prepare the parts for painting, including skipping the washing stage often recommended. The parts were prepared simply by cutting them from their casting blocks.
Quickboost just added another fine addition to their list of after market parts. This time they have done the much needed and awaited correction to the Hasegawa B-24 Liberator, the front undercarriage doors. It is up to their usual standards; molded in a cream colored 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. It only takes a couple of minutes with a saw blade and a gentle touch to remove them. Just make sure not to get too over zealous or the part may snap.
Contents
- Cover Article…"The Perfect Panther”" – F9F-2 by Zdenek Sebesta on the Trumpeter 1/48th scale kit.
- Hurricane MK1(early) – Pacific Miniatures kit by Jamie Haggo
- The Martin Baltimore Special Hobbys 1/72nd kit by Andrea Vignocchi
- Photo Gallery of the Baltimore by David Doyle
- Hellenic Air Force T-2 Buckeye (2Bobs 1/48th kit) by Periklis Salessiotis
- Bell P-39 Airacobra (MPar 1/32nd) by Daniel Zamarbide
- Air Born…A listing of New Releases
- SM79 “Sparviero” (Classic Airframes 1/48th) by Jean Barby
I have always been interested in aircraft colors and markings. My library is full of books from Karl Ries, Monogram, Ducimus, Harleford and many others. I had expected this book to be a similar tome devoted to three view drawings, color call-outs and marking drawings. The authors would provide the data and then choose a photo to illustrate their information.
This book is different. It is a collection of very interesting photos, most from the Newark Air Museum. The Photos illustrate a great variety of color and markings of the four covered aircraft, during the target timeframe. Aircraft that are covered include the Hunter, the Canberra (part 1), the Valetta and the Vampire T.11. All of the photos appear to have been taken in the UK and the aircraft are primarily RAF aircraft.
This publication is edited in the UK and is dedicated to airplane models, as the title implies. It is 65 pages and printed in full color. There are 65 pages in an issue, this one in particular having 6 pages devoted to product reviews and the remaining 59 dedicated to the 7 outstanding models featured in the issue. It is printed on high quality heavy weight paper with a glossy finish. The cover is on heavier bond paper and should hold up well with repeated viewing.
This issue features the following builds:
For those of us who love nothing better than trying to figure out where all of those flying wires go to and how to attach them, New Zealand’s Wingnut Wings has been a blessing and the best thing that has happened to our hobby in many years. 1/32ndscale is a fantastic scale for WWI aircraft, yet they don’t take up a lot of display room. The quality of the Wingnut Wings’ releases is still hard to digest, especially at their very reasonable price and free shipping, to boot. To complement their fantastic kits, they have now started releasing some equally stunning decals, all of which are printed in Italy by Cartograf. The registry is without fault; they are thin, and Wingnut Wings even recommends that a hair dryer be used to get their decals to conform to the model’s surface, instead of setting solutions. Amazingly, it works. Why, I don’t know, but there’s no cleanup afterwards.
Editor's note: Sheet no.s 30001 and 30002 - $12.50 each; 30005 - $7.50
For those of us who love nothing better than trying to figure out where all of those flying wires go to and how to attach them, New Zealand’s Wingnut Wings has been a blessing and the best thing that has happened to our hobby in many years. 1/32ndscale is a fantastic scale for WWI aircraft, yet they don’t take up a lot of display room.