If you attended the Nationals in Omaha and had occasion to stop at the National Office Managers Table, you have probably seen these on display with a notice that they were soon available. Well, soon is now. Fellow IPMS member Ray Beyers has beautifully crafted this set of markings to fit the 1/32nd scale Trumpeter F-100D in both schemes (P32-025 for the 1965 show season and P32-026 for 1967). Each set of markings comes with 4 separate sheets and a partial containing the extremely complex flag markings, as well as the Thunderbird logo. Even a pilot’s helmet decal with the logo and scallops is included. These decals are custom-printed by Microscale Decals.

In Model Art No. 828, September 2011, the ever-popular Takao class of WW2 Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) heavy cruisers in 1/700 scale is featured. Pages 12-45 are filled with a comprehensive review comparing commercial kits and aftermarket sets, along with very detailed build information on super-accurizing each ship in the class (Atago, Chokai, Maya, Takao). Builds range from straight out of the box to superdetailing with aftermarket photoetch. Pages 50-52 are a history of Chokai. Except for this history, the non-English language is not a problem for understanding the builds and modifications. If you want to build 1/700 ships of this class, this magazine is a must-have.

In 2003, Polar Lights re-tooled and re-released the classic 1966 Aurora kit in a larger 1/8” scale. This 2011 re-release includes 31 parts molded in blue and clear styrene. Parts had no flash and includes a new face sculpt, giving you the option of 2 different faces within the kit. This release also includes a newer comic book cardboard back highlighting a scene from the included comic book instruction manual where through the flames of war behind Captain America, visions of Bunker Hill and Iwo Jima can be seen among other American icons.

The overall construction is very simple, the comic book instruction manual has color instructions presented in the classic Aurora style. The Manual suggests that different sub-assemblies be constructed and painted separately, but I felt this method was too complicated for such a simple kit.

For years I have wanted to replace the old Aurora kit of the Orion III that I lost years ago but the cost was too high and the old Airfix kit has several accuracy issues. But now my wait is over as Moebius has released their second kit from the movie 2001 and it is a beauty.

The new kit of the Orion III Space Clipper is very simple to build with only 12 white plastic parts and 5 clear parts (and that includes 2 pieces for the stand). The parts are well packaged with the tail parts extra protected for the tail prongs. Unfortunately, one of mine was bent but a little finger pressure put it back in line. The fit is pretty good though I still had a little trouble matching up the fuselage seams and there were gaps between the upper wings and fuselage. I used some styrene strip to fill the later.

This is my first experience with Model Art publications. This issue is dated August 2011 and titled Model Art “Auto Modeling” No. 827, Vol. 24. Its main focus is on the spectacular race cars of the ’70’s Formula 1 series. The first few pages are an index of topics and noted cars of 1973-78 in succession. The first noted car is the ’73 Tyrrell Ford from that year’s championship, driven by Jackie Stewart. The kit supplied and meticulously reviewed is a Tameo Kits 1/43 white metal kit. It’s not a common scale for autos, as most are 1/24, 1/25, 1/20, or 1/12. This is the first offering I’ve ever seen in this scale for autos that is a complete white metal cast kit. The next 40 pages cover the same format of various kit offerings from Tamiya, Studio 27, Hasegawa, and E.Jan conversion kits. Each includes detailed pictures of kit components and steps in assembly. Pages 43-50 cover specs on the vehicles, including blueprint-type drawings.