When Steve Collins and Dick Montgomery announced that the 1/72 T-28B was available for review, I jumped at the chance. I have seen T-28’s flying, at Keesler AFB, Mississippi, when I was there in 1967, and my Guard unit flew T-28s in 1957-58 between the F-51s and the F-84s. Alas, both of these were T-28A’s, not B’s. But when I saw the back of the box, I immediately knew I had to build the one from VT-27, as it was based just down the road at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, Arizona, in 1983. Some day I’ll find out what the Navy was doing flying out of DM.

THE AIRCRAFT

The North American Aviation T-28 Trojan is a piston-engined military trainer aircraft used by the United States Air Force and United States Navy beginning in the 1950s. Besides its use as a trainer, the T-28 was successfully employed as a counter-insurgency (COIN) aircraft, primarily during the Vietnam War. T-28s were built from 1950 to 1957.

Thank you to Bruce Herke of Osprey Publishing and the IPMS Reviewer Corps for allowing me the opportunity to review this in-depth and sobering history of the Army Air Corps’ operational role in the D-Day invasion. Author L. Douglas Keeney provides compelling descriptions of the challenges, dangers, and slim survival odds of European air operations.

Another addition to MiniArt’s ever-expanding portfolio of World War II diorama shells is their Normandy Crossroads kit, depicting a crossroads in the ill-fated city of Caen, ravaged by Allied aerial bombardment in a vain attempt to dislodge entrenched Nazi defenders in June and July of 1944.

Well, being an armor builder, I decided to try the Dragon Leichte Funk Pz.Kpfw.I Ausf. A, or, as I simply call it, “The Funk Wagen”. This was the first armor kit I have ever built that doesn’t have a gun. This review should be titled, “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.”

Dateline: February 11:

Review package from IPMS/USA (Dick Montgomery) arrives. After looking at the items, I realized there was an item in the box that I had not wanted. I immediately fired off an email to the Review Delivery Man…

"Dick,
I got my package today and I think there may be an upset reviewer out there! Inside my KODAK carousel box were the three Plusmodel items and an AERO line 1/48 F-105 pilot. Send me an address and I will mail it tomorrow to the rightful owner."

His quick and concise reply…

"Mark,
Well now....I was under the impression that you said you'd review those items assuming that no one else asked for them. There is no one awaiting them...they were meant for you."

DOH!!!!!! I have learned a VERY valuable lesson today! I need to be more SPECIFIC when volunteering to review items!!!! I have learned my lesson, OBI-WAN!

Plusmodel is one of my new favorite model companies from the Czech Republic. This kit consists of 50 parts which completely surprised me with the thinness and extreme quality of the resin castings. Every part was cast perfectly – no bubbles, warping, or unsightly defects in any way. These are all signs of a well-thought out casting process.

The furniture built extremely easily; all the parts fit together with little to no trimming or sanding. I wanted to go the extra mile, however, and experimented with India Inks for the wood grain. There is no wood grain texture on the parts – what you see is done entirely with paint and ink. I added a 1:35 gangster figure from another great resin company, Evolution Miniatures, from Brazil. I scratchbuilt the diorama entirely from plastic, using Grandt Line O-Scale window castings, and painted everything with Badger Minitaire acrylics, some Vallejo Acrylics, and Dr. PH Martin's Bombay India Ink for the wood grain.

The Kit

The kit for the AMC Gremlin X is a reissue. It can be built two ways – either stock or as a pro-stock dragster. This kit has a lot of detail and is very nicely done, very true to the real Gremlin X. The model is nice and heavy and durable.

The instructions are well drawn and easy to read. The instructions have all the parts numbered, but the parts are not numbered on the part trees. You will have to figure it out by the drawings.

The Build

Construction begins with the motor, which can be constructed stock or as a drag motor. Whichever way you choose, it’s highly detailed and true to the real thing.

The kit represents Prime Minister Josef Stalin’s personal Packard V-12. I found it difficult to get information on how this car was acquired. It was rumored that we (the US) gave him dies to make the car, but it’s unknown how true that is. I was able to get a few pictures, but my computer was giving me a fit, trying to get on a Russian site (not ICM’s), so I stopped.

The V-12 engine was a very durable engine. Packard had modified these to adapt them to marine use in our PT boats. Rolls-Royce licensed Packard to build the V-12 framed Merlin, which powered many British and Canadian aircraft, including our own P-51 Mustang, for better performance at high altitude than the Allison engine.

I like this kit, and in the hands of a modeler with greater ability than mine, this car could really sing. There are some problems that need to be addressed, though.

Good news – Hasegawa has re-issued its Skyraider kit, too long absent from the hobby store shelves. Their first boxing comes with decals for an aircraft of VA-65 from the USS Enterprise – featured on the box art – plus optional markings for the CAG aircraft of VA-165 aboard the USS Oriskany. You’ll see two models in an accompanying photo, but note there’s only one model in the box – I thought it’d be a nice comparison to show off the alternate decal markings provided in the kit by building a second A-1, pulled from my kit stash. There’s only one set of common markings in the kit (insignia, wing walks, instrument panel, etc.) so I used these items from the second kit’s sheet.

Comparing the sprues, the re-issue is identical to the first release I built when this nice kit first appeared on the market many years ago. The clear parts are packed in their own separate poly bag to prevent scratching them.

Model Art Modeling Magazine is a Japanese publication that is released monthly. The text is mainly in Japanese with some English subtitles throughout. One attractive feature about these magazines is the high quality of the photographs and the models that are used.

The March issue of Model Art Magazine is slightly different from their normal monthly issues. This issue consists of new kit reviews. They review a little bit of every type of kit to encompass all modelers. For instance, they review the Italeri 1/72nd scale Sunderland Mk. I and the Trumpeter 1/48th scale A3D Skywarrior as an example of some of the aircraft that were reviewed. For the AFV folks, there is a review of the Meng 1/35th scale A39 Tortoise and the Cyber Hobby 1/35th Super Heavy Tank out of the 4 AFV kits that were reviewed in this issue. For the ship folks, there are two reviews, and one review for the car guys – a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes MP4-27.

Initial construction of the ZIS-5 truck began in 1933, and ultimately the Soviets produced a million examples of this cargo truck. Wartime shortages of raw materials necessitated much of the truck body to be made from wood. The normally stylish/rounded fenders were simplified to the simple, squared-off examples represented here. I’m sure many of these trucks made the grueling winter crossing of Lake Ladoga to keep Leningrad supplied during the three-year siege by the Germans.

Thank you to John Tintera of Osprey Publishing and the IPMS Reviewer Corps for allowing me the opportunity to review this very intriguing aspect of U. S. Navy history. Author Linda Kush is a superb writer, bringing an excellent balance of engaging stories to historical facts.

The Rice Paddy Navy is the unofficial name for the 3,000 or so USN sailors, officers, Marines, and a few other branch members detailed to the Sino-American Cooperative Organization, also known as SACO. Author Kush’s father was a SACO veteran, and this is the first description of this little known operation since the memoirs of the commanding officer, Captain Milton “Mary” Miles, were published in 1967.

This is a neat set! You get enough resin ammo cans, laser-cut wood, brass wire, and decals to make three crates. You can also build the crates empty and use the ammo cans separately to fill an even wider scene or vehicle load. The laser-cut wood is well defined and even has engraved sections describing what is contained inside.

Construction began with removing the resin ammunition cans from the pour lugs; a small swipe of a sanding stick and they were ready. Like all resin, it is best to give the parts a good soap and brush cleansing to ensure all mold release agents are removed. Remember that resin particles are hazardous and you should always complete these tasks using water to keep the dust down and wear a cheap doctor’s mask to keep the particulates out of your lungs.