The FuG 220 Sn-2b radar antennas were installed on Bf 110 and Ju 88 night fighters during World War. These radar antennas are the focal point of any night fighter kit. Model Master from Poland provides us with turned brass antenna struts and antenna dipoles to enhance the look of our next night fighter kit.

The turned brass parts mean that no mold line is present and that alone is enough of a reason to consider upgrading your kit. The other advantage is that antenna struts and dipoles actually have a circular cross-section.

Assembly is straightforward and simple. The instructions recommend soldering the parts together for assembly, but my soldering skills are not very good. I’ve used super glue instead. It worked OK, but I managed to knock off the dipoles in a few occasions during construction.

This is a British product, the first of a series, providing a very nice set of 1/32 scale decals and an accompanying booklet, featuring three aircraft flown by Polish pilots flying with the French Armee de l’Aire during the Battle of France in 1940. Two versions of this issue exist, one in 1/32 scale and one in 1/48. The decal sheet and booklet are provided in one unit, and cannot be purchased separately.

The booklet, a rather large publication of 16 pages plus cover, measures 13 by 9 ¼ inches, and consists of detailed information on the colors and markings of each aircraft. A short history of the pilot and his operational career is included, and these make interesting reading. The booklet is filled with excellently reproduced photos, mostly from German sources, as many of the photos show Luftwaffe personnel examining the abandoned French aircraft.

Fine Molds continues to add to their great line of WWII Japanese Armor – this time with a variant of the Type 3 “CHI-NU” Tank. This up-gunned long barreled version of the Type 3 was a paper-only project. The variant was expected to go into production in 1946, but as we know the war ended before then. It was thought that the gun on the Type 3 would not be sufficient to knock out US Armor at long ranges, so plans were drawn up to fit the Type 3 tank with a long barrel 75mm gun.

This kit is exactly the same as the other Type 3 “CHI-NU”, with the addition of the sprues for the longer barrel, and turret parts. In fact with this boxing, you will end up with some extra parts for your stash, as some of the parts from the earlier release are included, but not used. The kit’s 203 parts are molded in tan, with a sprue of clear parts, and nicely done ‘rubber band’ tracks.

The F-86 Sabre Jet happens to be one of my all time favorite aircraft so when John Noack put this kit up for review, I just had to jump on it.

The cockpit set is for the Kinetic 1/32 F-86F of which I have three. The kit cockpit is pretty nice but this Aires kit is the frosting on the cake. It consists of 11 very finely cast resin parts, two clear parts (actually the instruments are in clear and black), and 21 photo etched parts.

I primed the parts with Duplicolor Light Grey auto primer as I do with most of my models. I then used several books for detail research. I painted the details with Model Master acrylic paints. Once the details were painted, I removed the parts from their casting blocks. The major parts fit by interlocking the parts. The only thing left to do was to glue the parts to form the complete cockpit. I did not glue the seat in as I still have to put the photo etched seat belts.

Air Modeller’s latest issue, #31, contains some of the best looking models I’ve seen in quite some time. The cover photo alone is really impressive, a well worn and weathered F-100. Typical of the magazine, this one contains 64 pages of brilliant color photographs.

The first model highlighted is a highly detailed two color scheme F-104 built by Diego Quijano. This is actually the second part of the build, continued from the previous issue. It in no way detracts from the beautiful job. The scratch building is impressive and the weathering is outstanding. The weathering is explained thoroughly and will help any modeler improve their model.

The next model is part one of multi-part builds of 1/72^nd scale Hasegawa B-26 by Andrea Vignocchi. This highly detailed model is displayed in a beautiful diorama. When you see the amount of work inside this model you will be astounded. I know I was.