History

Much has been written about the Gloster Gladiator, and information is available everywhere, so this sketch will be understandably brief. The Gladiator was designed to a 1930 Air Ministry specification, and the prototype first flew in 1934. A development of the Gloster Gauntlet, the Gladiator differed in having more power and an enclosed cockpit, along with other aerodynamic improvements. The initial production order was for 23 aircraft, but eventually a total of 378 Gladiators was built between 1936 and 1937. An improved version, designated Gladiator Mk. II, has a three bladed fixed pitch Fairey-Reed metal prop and detail differences. 270 Mk. II’s were built between 1938 and 1940, when production ended.

Background

Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) produces white metal landing gear for various aircraft models in 1/144^th, 1/72^nd, and 1/48^th scale. Most sets are direct replacements for the kit parts.

The Parts

The Revell F-89D/J has been around since the early 1990s (my boxing has a copyright date of 1992). Revell of Germany has recently re-issued this kit, and no matter which boxing you get, it is a nice model of the F-89D/J. The SAC landing gear for the F-89 are direct replacements for the kit parts. The white metal parts have some mold lines that will need to be cleaned up, but are otherwise is great condition. Due to the nature of the material used, I do feel that some of the finer details of the landing gear are not as crisp as their plastic counterparts. However, after some paint and weathering this should not be an issue.

Quickboost provides a very large array of aftermarket detail parts, uniformly outstanding in quality and fidelity to detail and scale. This QB product is just one of several that can be used to detail the Tamiya A-1H kit.

Tamiya provides a rather simple part in their A-1H kit ( # 61058) that represents the Boot Enclosure in its stowed position. The Tamiya part in question is Part A6 which is added to the airframe in step 11 in the Tamiya instructions.

In a side-by-side comparison of part A6 and the QB Boot, the boot has the proper length and width and matches the length of part A6, or that bit of A6 in question. All that is necessary is to clip off the “hood” area of A6 and replace it with the QB part.

In under a minute one can improve the appearance of the cockpit significantly by using this QB product.

ICM has released a great value kit of a V3000S half-track with a Pak 36 anti-tank gun in the same box. Upon opening the box you find a total of six sprues (one of them clear). One sprue is devoted to the anti-tank gun, while the other five sprues relate to the vehicle. Actually, I am pretty sure you have all the parts in the box to build the vehicle as a typical 6-wheel truck or the half-track version.

You can see from the pictures that the surface detail is very good, both fine and restrained. The connection points to the sprues are small and should be easy to clean up the parts with a sanding stick.

The vehicle includes a full engine, suspension and transmission and the grille is hollowed. The cab is nicely detailed, with the instrument panel provided as a decal. The truck bed is well detailed with subtle wood grain. The tracks are of the link-and-length variety and care should be exercised when removing them from the sprues, as these parts are very delicate.

When Windsock Datafile No. 161 arrived in the mail, I was reminded of that classic Monty Python lead-in line: “And, now for something completely different” because the subject of this Datafile is a somewhat little known WWI aviation escort fighter with a most unusual appearance. Although serving with some distinction, the fact that it was introduced into the conflict in limited numbers in the closing months of the war precluded a definitive assessment of the value of the Caudron R.11, and no doubt contributed to its place somewhere in the shadows of aviation history.