Kagero has come up with another winner if you’re a Panzer IV nut, like I am. The book is soft cover with heavy stock and full color art on the front and back covers. This book covers the Panzer IV J. The strength of the book isn’t the text, unless you read Polish. The 1/35 scale drawings are beautiful showing all the angles of the tank, in all twenty seven pages. The drawings do have some text in English, so you know what variant you’re looking at. The reader does know which production version is being represented. Included are exploded drawings of the different muffler systems, return rollers, idler wheels, road wheel assemblies, treads, muzzle brakes, cupolas, and armor skirts. There are also four pages of 1/48 and 1/72 scale drawings. Thirty-one pages in all. Add to this there are four pages of full color prints. They come with two tanks on each page.

Background

In the decade following the end of World War II, aircraft performance and design advanced at a dizzying pace. Proposed in 1951 and first flown in 1953, the North American F-100 Super Sabre followed in the footsteps of legendary P-51 Mustang and F-86 Sabre, and was the first American production fighter capable of flying at sustained supersonic speeds in level flight. Although intended as a clear-weather daytime air superiority fighter, the “Hun” saw its most notable service during the Vietnam War as a fighter-bomber. The quantum leap in performance over previous fighters was accompanied by an unprecedented accident rate, as Air Force pilots with supersonic experience were few and far between outside of the flight test community. In order to curb the high accident rate, North American developed a two-seat trainer variant on its own nickel, and the design rapidly evolved into a two-seat variant of the F-100D, designated F-100F.

Eduard’s FW-190s are some of my favorite models. One ‘nitpicky’ thing is that you have to cut open the wing root gun covers so that the kit parts will fit in a closed position. Sometimes this results in a less than perfect fit, depending on how well you cut them. Well you don’t have to do it anymore. Loon Models provides the two covers with the trailing edges suitably thinned so you no longer have to cut into the wings. This will make that whole process so much simpler and ensure a perfect fit.

Molded in light yellow resin that is blemish free these are easy additions to the kit.

Highly recommended.

Thanks to Loon Models for the review copy. Tell them IPMS/USA sent you. Note: Loon Models is the “house-brand” for Roll Models, Inc.

Every now and then a product comes along that represents a giant leap forward for the modeler. This is one of those products. Aires has released the Wheelliant Weighted Wheels set for Tamiya’s F-14A Tomcat in 1/32 scale

The product is packaged in a clear plastic bag that allows one to view all of the parts prior to purchase. The package contains parts for all four tires, both the main gear tires and nose wheel tires. Also included are the rims, or wheels, for all four tires. A length of copper wire is also included. This wire can be bent and added to the main struts to simulate pneumatic lines.

Sometimes fate just sets you up for something great without you realizing it. I keep an F-14 Tomcat (of VF-84) on my desk at work, and not long ago I noticed that I, or someone, had bumped the case it was in, thereby separating the Alpha probe from its place on the nose cone. Before I could remember to take in some glue to make my repair, an offer came out to the IPMS-USA Review Corps to evaluate this very item from a new Polish manufacturer called Master (typically referred to as Master-Models on other internet sites). I immediately requested this particular item, and was pleasantly surprised when I was given the ability to perform this review.