A new item recently sent to the IPMS/USA for review by the folks at Squadron is the fourth release in their Squadron at Sea series, and this edition covering the USS Saratoga (CV-3). The book is dedicated to “the crew of the Saratoga – the Ship of Happy Landings – who helped pioneer naval aviation in peacetime, fought valiantly in wartime, and who brought many of the comrades safely home…” The publication is 160 pages long, and as one would expect from the publishers at Squadron, it is filled with many black-and-white photographs as well as a few color pictures and some color drawings. Author David Doyle once again does an outstanding job of telling the story of the Saratoga, from her beginnings in New York Shipbuilding in Camden, New Jersey, to her current resting place at the bottom of the Bikini Atoll. I would highly recommend this book as both a reference and, as well, as a historical telling of the life of the third aircraft carrier of the US Navy.

Osprey Publishing provides many different lines of aircraft information books for the enthusiast. These include the Aces series, the Elite series, the Dual series, and others. This latest series, Air Vanguard, seems to combine the best of the other series and really seems to be aimed at the modeler as well as the aviation enthusiast.

Thanks first to Judy and Jerry Crandall of Eagle Editions for providing IPMS USA these great decals; as fellow IPMS members, we always appreciate your support by providing us review items!

If you have never used Eaglecal decals before, now is your opportunity. The Revell Uhu is an absolutely fantastic build, and the kit decal sheet is comprehensive. However, Eaglecals has decided to provide more options, as usual…and very well done indeed they are!

Three aircraft are included in this decal sheet: an He-219A-0 (which will require a bit of antenna scratchbuilding on the Revell kit to depict the additional radar array), an He-219A-7 with a bit of different camo on the upper side (RLM 76 mottling over RLM 75, with RLM 76 lower surfaces), and an He-219A-2 with RLM 76 uppersurfaces, RLM 75 mottling, and satin black undersurfaces.

No introduction is needed for the subject that would carry these wheels! The B-17 has long been a favorite among modelers, and many remember Shep Pane’s diorama using the Monogram B-17G. Revell also released the B-17F, and now both molds have long been reissued many times. Needless to say, it’s still the only game in town for a quarter-inch scale B-17, and overall is still accurate in shape. However, the finer details show their age.

Eduard has been releasing lots of very useful resin upgrades that can add a little extra life to some older kits. These new resin wheels for the B-17 are no exception, and are little jewels to support your detailed B-17 project properly.

History

The Nakajima Ki-44 “Shoki”, code named “Tojo” by Allied intelligence during World War II, was rather unusual by Japanese standards, since it violated the traditional Japanese design emphasis on maneuverability at the expense of nearly every other performance attribute. Appearing shortly after the Ki-43 “Oscar”, the Ki-44 stressed speed, heavier armament, and rate of climb over other factors, and was intended as a high speed interceptor. The first flight was in 1940, and by 1941 several prototypes had been tested, these eventually being sent to China and later Southeast Asia for combat evaluation. Initial response by Japanese Army pilots was negative, but after they became familiar with the type, they achieved some successes, resulting in further production of the type. Production models were equipped with more powerful engines, and the type entered service as the Type 2 Single Seat Fighter, Model 2, or Ki-44-II Otsu, with four 12.7 mm machine guns.

Scale Aircraft Conversions makes various landing gear sets out of lead-free white metal. Some come with the wheels attached if needed, like this set for the Buccaneer, where the kits wheels are molded onto the struts. Others might have the wheel bay included to help with added weight, but most only come with the new landing gear struts. I had the Airfix model so I don’t know how the CMR wheels are molded.

The detail of the metal parts is much crisper and looks flawless. The advantage to these parts is their strength and that they won’t warp under the kit’s weight over time. They will also hold up well while you work with them – no accidentally snapping them apart. To attach the new landing gear, you will need to use CA glue. On their web site they recommend a thicker gap-filling CA glue so that you can position them the way you want and then use an accelerator to bond the parts instantly.

Introduction

As a long time fan of the original Star Trek TV series (I watched it during its original run on NBC), I remember anxiously waiting for the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979. After seeing how far Hollywood had come with special effects on the Star Wars series, I thought The Motion Picture (TMP, in fan lingo), with its great story lines and history, had the potential to be a great movie. Then, there in the opening sequences, were the three Klingon K'T'inga ships on the big screen with all the additional hull detail, approaching the big, unknown cloud-ship. Shoot first, ask questions later, right? Klingons...

This product review will begin with a general introduction to GasPatch Models. GasPatch Models is located in Athens, Greece. GasPatch was founded in 2011 and produces plastic model kits and an excellent array of aftermarket parts intended for WWI aircraft subjects. One gets a sense of the professional nature of this enterprise by visiting the GasPatch website. The website is first-rate in appearance, navigation of the site is intuitive, and finding specific items is simple, easy, and quick. In a word…the site is an excellent site and reflects well on GasPatch as a company.

At the time of this writing, GasPatch has three variants of the Salmson 2A2 in the planning stages, all in 1/48^th scale. This review, however, focuses on some GasPatch products that are already available. GasPatch produces a line of turnbuckles and air speed indicators in 1/48^th and 1/32^nd scales. This review focuses on these turnbuckle accessory packs.

A Brief History

Had someone come to me even 5 years ago and said that in the near future, we modelers would be seeing kits of relatively obscure WW2 Hungarian tanks on the market from main stream injection manufacturers, I would have asked him what happy juice he’d been drinking. I would have demanded to be given a glass! We are, indeed, living in a Gold Age of modeling!

The 38M Toldi light tank was derived from the Swedish Stridsvagn L-60, produced in Hungary by the Hungarian Weiss Company under a licensing agreement from AB Lansverk. Three versions of the 38M Toldi were produced, with total production reaching 202 vehicles from 1939 to 1942. The tanks were first used by the Hungarian Army during fighting against Yugoslavian forces in 1941, and later saw action against Soviet forces during Operation Barbarossa. They were utilized mainly in reconnaissance, as the tank was no match in tank vs. tank battles against the likes of the Soviet T-34.

The Russian T-34 was the mainstay of the Red Army during World War II, with about 50,000 produced. The Russians produced numerous variants of the T-34 throughout the war. This Dragon offering is the T-34/76 (for 76mm gun) with the pressed steel turret. This turret was made out of 45mm steel, which actually had better protection then the 52mm turret it was based on. The commander’s cupola was added in the summer of 1943, so this kit falls into that variant timeframe. Many of the sprues are from earlier Dragon T-34 kits and we only use about half the parts. We get 24 sprues with 644 parts, including 85 photo etched parts, three clear parts, a wire tow cable, and two bags of Magic Track links. The joy of stocking your parts box is included with this kit.

• Hobbyboss F4U-4 Corsair, # 80387, $55.99
• True Details Propeller and Cowling Set, #48552, $12.99

Huge thanks as usual go to our friends at MMD Squadron for providing us these great kits and manufacturing the accessories to improve them. We at IPMS USA appreciate your support (and thanks, Dick and Steve, for trusting my questionable skills to execute a review!).

This kit brings yet another Corsair to the stable. In the box is, of course, an excellent F4U-4 kit with minute, delicate surface detail. Multiple options such as antennas, folded or extended wings, and an open canopy are offered. A decal sheet with two Korean War marking options is provided, and a full-color “here’s what it should look like” paint leaflet is also there. All parts are individually bagged and protected; the cowl and clear parts are separated from the main parts by a cardboard divider.

Airfix is releasing all sorts of interesting/strange subjects in their current burst of productivity and this is one of them. It's an old kit that originally dates from 1972, at one point was motorized, and is now billed as part of their Museum Collection. I selected it thinking it would be a fun diversion from my more "intense" projects. Wrong. This is not a simple build. You need to pay attention to what's going on and what goes where and, because it's a cutaway, what needs to be painted before you do anything. There are leftover parts when you're done that I can only assume were once part of the motorization, and some of the rest of the parts are similar to each other, so you need to pay attention to parts' numbers. Be careful during assembly, as some parts need to go together in a certain order and in particular orientations.

Bottom Line

An ultimate and highly detailed modeler’s guide to building IJN Haruna in late 1944 fit. Targeted to 1/350 scale, but suitable for all other scales.

Kagero has produced over a dozen books on WW2 warships that use computer graphics in 3D to provide superb detail. This latest book on the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) battlecruiser/fast battleship Haruna is once again an ultimate resource for knowing what the ship looked like in late 1944. Other time periods are not depicted. This book is an ideal companion to 1/350 kits of the Haruna (Fujimi), but is also an ultimate guide to other scales.

First off, I’d like to thank Osprey Publishing for offering this book up for review and to IPMS/USA for allowing me to do the review.

Many, many books have been written about the great warships of the two World Wars. The library shelves are full of stories about the great sailing ships as they traded and fought their way across the world’s oceans. However, not much has been written about the warships of the ancient world. That's simply because there's not much remaining in the way of artifacts to tell the story and very little remains of the written word of those times.

Adrian K. Wood, in his newly released book Warships of the Ancient World, tries to shed some light on this subject. He acknowledges the scarcity of verifiable resources and the confusion caused by sources that are thousands of years old. However, using what’s available, he makes an excellent case for the information he presents in his book.

This aircraft need little introduction, being one of the two major fighters of the German air force in World War 2. The Bf-109E-1 was the first of the Emil versions and lead to the F through K versions. The Emil was also the basis for the ill-fated carrier fighter for the Graf Zeppelin.

Items in the box

The model is made of injection molded plastic, gray in color. The instructions were made up in book form printed both sides. Clear plastic parts were also included, along with two small sheets of photo etch details (brass material).

• 16" - SM-700-033, $7.00 (9 barrels)
• 6" - SM-700-034, $5.00 (12 barrels)
• 4.7" - SM-700-035, $4.50 (16 barrels)

Master Models is a company in Poland that must employ elves, incredibly small tool and die makers, and/or people with exceptional eyesight. They make replacement gun barrels for aircraft and ship models out of brass, and some of these are incredibly small and all are exquisitely detailed. The subjects of this review were selected because they would enable a modeler to replace all the main weapon gun barrels on either a 1/700 HMS Nelson or Rodney. The 16" were only used on these ships, but the 6" and 4.7" could also be used on other Royal Navy ships with these weapons. For example, since 16 4.7" barrels come in a packet, you could replace all the main guns on up to 4 destroyers, depending on the class of the ships. Let me be clear, each caliber barrel packet is a separate item and is priced as such.

Squadron Signal’s latest Walk Around title deals with the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk. The book is presented in its typical 80-page softcover landscape format. You can also get the book in hardcover format for an additional $10. It is chock full of clear and well presented color and black & white photos which provide not only overall long-shots, but the typical Walk Around up-close detail shots. All photos are accompanied by descriptive captions, although I did find an error to the caption of a photo on page 58 which describes the photo as a Marine loading an Mk-82 Snakeye, when in fact, he is loading ammo for the 20mm gun. Otherwise, all seems in order.

I’d like to thank Osprey Publishing for offering this book to be reviewed, and I’d like to thank IPMS/USA for allowing me to review it.

Model builders who have plans to build Tamiya’s 1/48 Dewoitine D.520, Pacific Coast Models’ 1/32 Hawker Hurricane Mk.1 or Hobby Boss’ 1/32 Spitfire Mk. Vb should obtain a copy of Kagero’s SUPER MODEL INTERNATIONAL, No.3. before they remove many parts from the sprues. That’s because number 3 in this series devotes the whole issue to building and finishing these three models. Expert model builders Tomasz Chacewicz, Michał Rosiak and Tomek Wajnkaim combine their rather impressive skills to show what can be achieved with these three kits.

The 80 pages (including cover) of this all-color issue are divided into three sections in which each of these builders share how they created their respective masterpieces from these three kits in a modicum of text and a lot of photos…each one a high quality image that adds much to the value of each builder’s instructive chapter.

What’s Inside

The interior set is comprised of 2 PE frets (one is pre-painted and has some self-adhesive parts), a small clear film, and a 5-page instruction sheet. There are just over 80 pieces to this set, and it is pretty nice if I say so myself! The instructions are broken down into manageable sections, starting with the cockpit floor. The radio operator’s seat support is replaced, along with the rudder pedals. They also give you the observation window between the rudder pedals (not sure why Italeri didn’t have this). Next are the side walls of the cockpit with 28 pieces. There is not a lot of cutting so far, which was nice, but, you should sand some of the raised detail off to help the self-adhesive parts stick better (notably the fuse panel and trim wheels). Not having used an Eduard set in a while, I was surprised there was no throttle quadrant, just some very small tabs to put on the levers.

Background

Arguably Germany’s premier fighter of World War I, the Fokker D.VII quickly won acceptance by its adoptive aircrews as it began to enter service in the summer of 1918. A well-balanced and stable gun platform with exceptional maneuverability and reliability, the D.VII demonstrated significant performance improvement over prior German types, including its famed older brother, the Fokker Dr.1 triplane.

In order to meet wartime demand, Fokker licensed production of the D.VII to Albatross. Albatross cranked out the D.VII at its Johannisthal (Alb) and Schneidemühl Ostdeutsche Albatros Werke (OAW) facilities. Multiple models were manufactured, incorporating running changes and three distinct powerplants – two of Mercedes origin and one from BMW.

By war’s end 2,800 D.VII’s had rolled off of the production lines.

Scale Aircraft Conversions specializes in white metal landing gear replacements for scale models. This was the first time I’ve used one of their replacements and I have to say that it was very easy to use them and that I like it a lot.

This aftermarket set is designed to be a drop-in replacement for the Meng Messerchmitt 410 landing gear. You don’t need to modify any parts to make them fit to your airplane. The fit is perfect and the breakdown of the parts mimics the breakdown of the plastic parts. The replacement landing gear has good surface detail, very similar to the level of detail of the plastic parts.

The white metal parts are actually very easy to work with. I did not need to clean any seams on my parts, nor modify them in any way. They took Model Master Enamel paint very well.

Scale Aircraft Conversions makes various landing gear sets out of lead-free white metal. Some come with the wheels attached, if needed, while others might have the wheel bay included to help with added weight, but most only come with the new landing gear struts. This set comes with the forward wheel bay included so there is added weight up front. I’m pretty sure you will still have to add weight to the nose, but this is a great help.

The detail of the metal parts is crisp and looks flawless. The advantage to these parts is their strength and that they won’t warp under the kit’s weight over time. They will also hold up well while you work with them – no accidentally snapping them apart. To attach the new landing gear, you will need to use CA glue. On their web site they recommend a thicker, gap-filling CA glue so that you can position them the way you want, and then use an accelerator to bond the parts instantly.

According to Dragon Model’s web site, this model represents “a vehicle whose main function was combat supply on land and in water. It could tow an amphibious trailer, or alternatively it could work in tandem with another Panzerfahre as a floating ferry platform capable of carrying a 24-ton load.” However, other than the prototypes, no other vehicles were manufactured. Yet we get a lovely injection-molded kit of this weird vehicle!! The Golden Age of Modeling, indeed!