A little history

This Aoshima kit represents a spacecraft that was launched at 10:31 a.m., Sept 14, 2007, from the Tanegashima Space Center. The launch vehicle was an H-IIA, the subject of another Aoshima kit, (Aoshima 151-23000). The spacecraft was named “Selene” which is a representation of the descriptive phrase, “Selenological and Engineering Explorer”.

From a company, although 10 years old but brand new to injection molded kits, comes a brand new model of the T-6 Texan II. To the best of my knowledge, this is a first-time release of a never before kitted aircraft in 1/48th scale. First, a little about the Texan II, a modified version of the Pilatus PC-6. My stepson was the lead A&P mechanic of Hawker Beechcraft that was able to obtain the USAF blessing by certifying the various modifications in San Antonio, Texas. During this time, I was able to become quite familiar with the bird, but alas, couldn’t get permission to get any “stick time,” being of civilian status. The Texan II has quite an impressive flight envelope, with the performance figures being closer to that of a P-51 Mustang than that of the original T-6. In short, “this ain’t your father’s Oldsmobile”. Oh well, enough wool gathering and on to the kit.

This book is the third in the "Under the Gun" series from Australia’s Firefly Books from the Oliver Publishing Group, which must bring their title list to around a dozen titles by now. This edition has more than 50 black and white photos. “Images are from the US National Archives and Record Administration (NARA) collection, showing captured or disabled vehicles; many of these have never been reproduced – 21 different vehicles are depicted in the color illustrations created by talented Chilean artist Claudio Fernandez.” With only one to three large photos per page, all with excellent captions, the reader can actually see the details the author refers to. How many times have you scratched your head trying to identify details an author points out, that he may have been able to have seen on his 8 ½ x 11 pre-publication glossy that became virtually invisible when shrunk to the small published size?

The A-6 Intruder is the twentieth model in Hasegawa’s Eggplane series. Several of my friends have finished these cute little models, so I jumped at the chance to try one myself. The box top showed a drawing of the model along with a typical manga character cheering the model. The kit consisted of thirty crisply molded parts plus a transparent canopy. A fairly extensive decal sheet was included covering markings for two aircraft: a Navy Intruder with VA-115 from the USS Midway and a Marine Intruder from VMA (AW) 242.

The instruction sheet shows two exploded view steps. This requires the modeler to plan the assembly steps and, more importantly, the painting steps in advance but is not a major problem. The basic egg consists of two parts for the front half and one part for the rear. Careful gluing is required but the parts fit well. Some minor filling was required between the intake scoops and the rear fuselage, but that was all.

This is a follow-up to Michael Novasad’s earlier review on the 1/48 sheet, but this time it’s the 1/72 sheet. Aviaeology provides well-researched decals on four RCAF Beaufighters covering the changing markings during the service careers of these aircraft. Each subject is complete with narratives on time period and painting suggestions. The instructions and diagrams are provided on four photocopied sheets, but an email request to Aviaeology will get you a promptly sent color PDF of the instructions which will prove helpful. The PDF can be printed or sent to your tablet for reference in your model workshop. You can magnify the profiles as recommended by Aviaeology to identify the subtle shades of extra dark sea grey to aid in weathering your Beaufighter. You also get a tutorial of the rocket projectiles and the rails used, with complete painting guides for them. Listed below is a breakdown of the subjects: