This volume continues the story of Supermarine Spitfire MK IXs used by Polish pilots in Britain during the years 1944-1946, both in Polish and RAF squadrons and auxiliary units. Information on aircraft and crew losses and officially credited victories is included.

There are over 200 photographs (about half of which have not been published before) and about 30 color profiles (plus top and bottom views for two representative aircraft). In several instances, full color renderings are included alongside period images of the aircraft. Very nice touch.

Wojtek Matusiak, the author who lives in Warsaw, Poland, is a well-known Polish aviation history author. He is a specialist on the Spitfire and has published both in English and Polish.

Background

The trouble (at least for me) with pitot tubes as furnished in most aircraft plastic kits is they are normally the last part installed and the first part broken off. I build 1/48th scale aircraft and will replace the kit pitot tube with lengths of aluminum or brass tubing. I use the kit part for the proper dimensions, but do allow at least ½” extra length in the main shaft for a secure mounting within the model’s wing or nose cone.

The Company

The company Master is located in Poland, and the owner is Piotr Czerkasow, who is also a modeler. By vocation he is a mechanical engineer. The product line includes aircraft and naval accessories in several scales.

The products are distributed worldwide, including the United States, with Sprue Brothers being one of the sources.

The FW-190A-7 was one of the last versions that Eduard had not covered directly, the other being the A-9. You could always build one from their Royal Class kits but never as a standalone kit. Well, Eduard has stepped up to the plate and has hit another home run.

I’ve built the A-5, F-8, A-8, and D-9, so I have some experience with this series of kits. That said, this kit is just as good as those kits and why shouldn’t it be? It contains the same parts.

The kit contains six sprues of RLM 02 plastic with minimal flash. One sprue of clear parts, two frets of photo etch, one of those being pre-painted, and a set of masks rounds out the parts. Of course, there are two decal sheets which contain markings for four aircraft. The instructions are printed on high quality paper stock. I found the instructions to be easy enough to understand.

Moebius’ latest is the Iron Man Mark VI armor, as seen in the 2012 film "The Avengers", and also in the previous film "Iron Man 2". The kit was made directly from the film's CGI files, so is a 100% movie-accurate kit. Iron Man is dynamically posed and ready to fire his hand energy weapon. The pose is very well done, including the undeniable swagger and stance that Robert Downey Jr. puts into the character on-screen.

47 parts are molded in Red and white on six sprues. The kit is sold as a Skill Level 3 kit, not because of the complexity of the construction, but because a good working understanding of advanced modeling techniques, especially gap and seam-filling, are required. Absolutely no flash or imperfections in the kit were found at all.

History

This could be classified as a “paper” airplane, since it only existed as a design. The project was initiated as a search for greater performance and alternative power sources. Germany provided assistance on the project and research progressed quickly and it is assumed that design of the Katsuodori took place in the middle of the war. The Katsuodori had a tailless fuselage with a sharply swept wing. The plane was to use four solid fuel rocket boosters to propel the aircraft to speed, and then switch on the ramjet propulsion system. The plane could use a droppable dolly for a land take-off or it was planned to be carried by a bomber with removable struts. When the Me163 design and production was complete, it killed further research on the Katsuodori, as the Me163 was a proven design, flying in Germany.