The RQ-7 Shadow is a UAV used by the US Army and Marine Corps for surveying the battlefield for damage assessment and just about anything else. It is made to be compact and portable. It is launched by a pneumatic track and recovered with arresting gear similar to what’s used onboard aircraft carriers. Academy has offered a great diorama of this UAV. I could call it a kit but it comes with a base, two choices of pneumatic launchers, and two complete figures, so the term diorama is accurate. Also included are two sheets of decals – one with markings for the UAV and the second with digital camouflage for the figures.

This book looks at the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver in French Service. In need of aircraft after WWII, the French Navy received the first 56 of what was to be a force of 110 Helldivers in 1949. Already considered obsolete by the US and not so affectionately nicknamed “Son of Bitch 2nd Class” by US personnel who operated it, the French Navy set about putting it to use in Indo-China.

This book is a brief overview of Helldiver operations by the three Flotille so equipped. Each is presented in a short “newspaper article” style, followed by some very brief coverage of Helldiver use by second-line units. The text section concludes with a listing of aircraft and personnel lost on operations.

New to the Scale Aircraft Conversions line is a set of gear for a Revell F-18E/F. The set comes in five pieces with the three main gear and two small retraction links all cast in sturdy white metal. I included pictures of the gear with its plastic counterparts and the detail is good. One issue I have had building F-18 kits in 1/48 or larger scale is there sometimes is a tendency to sag based on the way the main landing gear are configured. The attachment points on this gear have a key the attaches it to the fuselage via three points of contact and, being white metal, this should prevent any long term issues. I included some shots of them on the Revell kit for reference and fit is very good.

One thing to note – these are for the Revell kit. They could be made to fit the Hasegawa offering but don't bother, just purchase set 48005, the correct gear set for Hasegawa kits.

This is a set of lots of US weapons that will be useful for dioramas or as stowage on vehicles. There are two bags of weapons with a complete set in each bag, contained on three sprues. There is also a sprue of canvas bags.

I built up the M2 .50 cal machine gun on a tripod, the 60mm mortar, and a bazooka. The machine gun has 20 parts and most are pretty small. But we get a highly detailed gun and very nice belt- fed ammo. The mortar has 13 parts and a couple of rounds for it. The barrels are hollowed out, but a little more drilling is needed. The stowage is as good as resin pieces, and the M1 helmets are the best I’ve seen in plastic. The only problem I see is a bent M1 carbine barrel, since there are three sprues packed in one plastic bag.

Here is a listing of what you get:

Hot on the heels of the release of Kitty Hawk Models’ 1/48 F-35B is Scale Aircraft Conversions’ metal landing gear set. The set consists of 11 pieces of white metal to replace the entire landing gear structure on the F-35. There are three gear struts, three torque links, three retracting arms, and two retraction cylinders. As you can see from the pictures, the metal castings are excellent.

For review, I installed the parts on the kit (which I am in the process of reviewing) and they fit like a charm. In one picture, you can see the nose gear torque link has snapped and, thankfully, SAC to the rescue. All it takes is a little clean up and they drop into place, providing a sturdy base to the kit. You can also polish the metal where the silver parts are and leave them bare metal for a realistic look.