Airscale. You might know this company for their really fine instrument dial decals and cockpit placard decals. I have used these decals on every model I have built that included an instrument panel or dashboard since these products came out. Now, Airscale has included another great product which also works in conjunction with their own decals, as well as decals supplied with kits.

Dragon has released the fourth in its series of German anti-aircraft Flakpanzers, this one sporting a molded-in coat of zimmerit, an anti-magnetic layer of paste added to the glacis, hull sides, and hull front and rear plates. Based on the PzKpfw IV Ausf.G chassis, the Wirbelwind (Whirlwind) utilizes Dragon’s highly acclaimed 2cm Flakvierling 38 four-barreled main armament.

The Kit

As usual with Dragon kits, once you open the box and take out the contents you will find it very difficult to get everything back in. Thankfully for modelers, this is a good thing! As this is one of many PzKpfw IV-based kits produced by Dragon, many of these parts will go unused and into your spare parts box.

The kit comes in an attractive box with a profile of one of the marking options on the box top. This is a special limited edition and includes a very nice gold colored coin that is packed separately in a fancy red box similar to what you would get a piece of jewelry in. I am not sure what the parts count is, but I'm sure there are well over one hundred parts. The parts are molded in a medium blue-grey color and they have a slightly rough texture. The plastic is a little on the soft side, so care must be taken when sanding and cutting. There is a small photo etch fret with seatbelts and other detail parts. I did not use all of the PE parts because some of them were so thin that they came apart when I cut them from the fret. There is also a small bag of resin parts comprising oxygen bottles, various boxes, and some things that look like duffel bags. The molding on the resin parts is not up to the standards of Aires or CMK, but it is decent.

Airscale is relatively new to scale modeling and has come out with decals in popular scales to aid in detailing instrument panels, and which can also be used for dashboards along with placards, which is another added touch to instrument panels and dashboards. I’m sure that anyone who has bought these products has used them some way in every model that they have built since purchasing them.

The Seafire Mk.Ib was basically converted from the Spitfire Mk.Vb. The kit follows the heritage of the actual subject, being a “regular” Hasegawa Mk.Vb with a resin plug for conversion into a Seafire Mk.Ib. Be aware this model is a conversion; that means you will have to cut and replace some parts of the plastic fuselage with the resin replacement parts. But as conversion goes, this is an easy one to get your feet wet in the world of conversions.

The boxing includes decals for 4 different finishes on 3 different airframes. The instructions only list 3 camouflage styles, but actually there are markings provided for two different finishes (blue gray/green/sky) of the same airframe (MB 345), before and after being assigned to the HMS Formidable. The other two finishes are for a training unit (blue gray/green/sky) and another one in an overall glossy sea blue, for operations in the Pacific with SEAC roundels.

Quick and easy. This kit can be described in those two words. This kit was assembled over a period of 3 days, spending no more than 30 minutes during each of the 3 modeling sessions. And when one considers that most of the time was consumed in painting the parts, that tells you that the actual construction process was….quick and easy.

The Parts

The kit consists of 33 parts, 6 of which make up the display base. There are two versions of the Himawari that can be built. An earlier version will use the 8 antennas (parts 15) while the more recent Himawari does not need those parts.

This is a five-figure set of a World War II Soviet tank crew. The first figure is an officer who is sitting and smoking a cigarette He is wearing a blue jacket and khaki pants, but does not have any headgear. The second figure looks like a commander, since he fits into the commander’s hatch of the Trumpeter KV-85 that I am also reviewing. There are two options for his left arm. One is extended with his hand resting on the turret top, while the second one is crossed in front of him and is resting on the split hatch.

The third figure appears to be a loader or gunner, since he sits perfectly on this open hatch. The box art show him with a pistol and a cross-chest belt, but that is not on the actual figure. The next figure is the driver, who is posed as actively driving the tank with both hands on the control sticks. The fifth figure is a crewman who is holding his helmet and has a foot propped up on something in a casual pose.

The book Ferdinand/Elefant: Detail In Action by David Doyle is a nice addition to the library of any German armor modeler. It is packed with 80 pages of drawings, photos, and information on the Ferdinand and Elefant tank destroyers. This book also contains a small part in the front covering the Porsche Tiger, which was the predecessor of the Ferdinand/Elefant. In fact, Ferdinand Porsche designed the suspension of these three behemoths.

My favorite part of these In Action books is always looking at the pictures of the actual vehicles during the war. From these photos you can get a sense of how used these tanks were, and how the paint schemes look as compared to the museum specimens. I enjoyed looking at the photos of these giant monsters. An interesting comparison is the photos of the damaged Ferdinand #501 as seen during its capture and, later, in modern times at the museum.

This is Model Art Magazine’s special quarterly issue that focuses on naval subjects. As with the regular Model Art Magazine, this is printed in Japanese with some English subtitles.

In this issue, the main focus is on the IJN Unryu-class aircraft carrier. There is a multitude of color and black and white photographs that show both models and period photos of the ships in this class.

The rest of the issue is a series of smaller articles mainly dealing with IJN subjects. One of the other articles covers models of three Japanese Coast Guard vessels by Pit Road Models. The last non-IJN article covers Revell’s USS Flasher, Growler, and Lionfish submarine model kits. This is not three different kits — it’s the same one marked differently over the lifespan of its molds.

Overall if you have an interest in naval vessels, especially IJN subjects you would find this issue interesting.

This is one of two new sheets Lifelike Decals has released covering the Nakajima Ki-43. A quick check of Lifelike’s website reveals that this latest addition to their line is only available in 1/48 scale at the moment. The website is definitely worth a visit, as they not only list their products, but from time to time also give updates and corrections to existing decal sets.

The instructions consist of two sheets of paper (approx. 8 1/2” x 11”), each printed on one side and folded together, resulting in a small booklet. One sheet is printed in full color and provides profiles of the aircraft, while the second features in-depth text describing each subject. Clearly, a lot of time and effort has gone into the research on this sheet. 13 different reference books (or websites) are listed and cited throughout the individual aircraft descriptions.

The Nov/Dec 2012 issue of Windsock Worldwide concludes Volume 28 and serves as further proof that Albatross Productions continues to publish the best WW I aircraft modeling magazine available anywhere. This issue of the bi-monthly publication provides a number of exclusives for WW I aircraft model builders and historians. The cover photos provide a look at two of them: Wingnut Wings’ new Fokker D.VII kits, and TVAL’s third full-size replica, an Albatros D.Va.

Inside, the first regular column; the READER’S GALLERY, presents six featured models in 1/48 and 1/32 scale…with one, a Roland D.II cleverly constructed from LEGO pieces. Then, LOGBOOK ENTRIES reviews a new book titled Nachtflugzeug! German N-Types of WW I, and the latest issue of Cross and Cockade International (Vol.43, No.3). Following that, photo coverage is provided of one of the subjects on the cover, TVAL’s replica Albatros D.Va.

Hasegawa has released their 1/72 F-15E Strike Eagle kit several time, and this latest release (kit#01569) does sport three new sprues and one sprue from their JDAM weapon set that provides the Lantrin pods. Comparing an earlier release to this one, I did notice that some smaller parts are beginning to show fine flashing, at least on this kit that I have. However, the recessed panel lines are still as sharp and fine as ever. You may ask if with these new parts, does this F-15E finally build into the ultimate F-15E? You'll have to read the review to find out, but I will tell you that the new J sprue provides new CFT's, correct pylons, bulged main gear doors, bulged gun door, and two proper instrument panels; the K sprue provides a new arresting hook; and the new M sprue provides the final two CFT pylons. The existing G sprue (clear parts) has been modified to include the wide HUD found on F-15E's (part G6).

Have you ever struggled over a problem or edited your own writing, only to have someone look at it and see the thing that you couldn’t find or solve in seconds? That’s how I felt reading this book. The Greeks dominated the fourth and fifth century BC battlefields with the Phalanx form of warfare, which combined the use of specially armed and armored soldiers (or Hoplites) in specialized formations. As the title implies, the author has taken a fresh look at old evidence of ancient Greek writers and artists and coupled that with modern research, primarily in the form of re-enactors who put on the Panopy, (or armor) and the weapons – in this case, the thrusting spear of the Greek solders – and tests his theories of methods and tactics. In the process, some interesting and groundbreaking developments emerge that shed new light on just what the ancient writers meant and how much artistic license was used in creating the vase paintings we envision when we think of this period of history.