Bronco continues their series of GPWs with one that now tows the M3A1 37mm AT gun. After the War Department determined that Willys couldn’t meet the governments demand for vehicles, Ford was given a contract to license build the GPW version of the Willys MB (Jeep). The GPW differs from the MB in a few areas. The front cross member under the grille is a tubular piece on the Willys while on the GPW it was an inverted “U” channel. Ford also introduced the familiar stamped front grille which was then adopted by Willys. Another difference is the lids on the tool boxes on either side of the rear seat. The Willys’ tool boxes have plain flat covers while the GPW’s lids are embossed. The vehicle itself is listed as a Mod. 1942, and correctly has the Ford logo stamped on the rear panel, as both Ford and Willys had their company name stamped on the rear panel. This practice was ended in July of 1942 by order of the War Department. Thus, only the first 2000 vehicles had the Ford logo.

Each issue of Scale Aircraft Modelling follows a basic design and format. There are usually two feature articles, an “Aviation in Profile” piece, industry news and a series of “Compact Build Reviews.”

The feature articles for this issue cover the build of a Trumpeter 1/32 Mig-17 in Cuban markings and a 1/32 Revell Bf-109G-6. The Mig-17 build, by Brian Wakeman, covers the construction and painting of one of Trumpeter’s early efforts. He modifies the kit with five Profimodeller sets and one Eduard set. The kit is then finished with a bright Cuban paint scheme and great weathering.

The other feature article is from Jay Laverty, and covers building the Revell 1/32 Bf-109G-6 (early and late) kit. Mr. Laverty concentrates on painting and weathering with some aftermarket being used for both the cockpit and the decals used for adding Swastikas. Weathering is done with oils, and shows excellent methods of getting streaks and subtle weathering.

Achzarit – (“Cruel” in Hebrew with female inflection) is the name given to one of the IDF’s newer Armored Personnel Carriers. The other is Namer and based on the Merkava Chassis. The Achzarit is based on the Russian T-54/55 chassis that the IDF captured so many of in the previous wars with her neighboring Nations. No matter what name the IDF gave it, it could not describe near perfection. The Israelis are the ONLY Nation that has ever put crew protection and survivability forefront in the design of armored vehicles. The Achzarit is referred to as a heavy APC and rightfully so. It weighs in at 44 tons and is designed to transport the troops into combat and also survive confrontations in urban scenarios. It carries a dismount squad of nine and three vehicle crew members. It mounts three 7.62 FN Mags and another FN Mag mounted in a Rafael OWS for the vehicle commander.

This is the canopy mask for the Eduard 1/72 Bf-110G-4 Night fighter. It’s recommended for the Weekend kit, which is reviewed here: Eduard Bf-110g-4 weekend kit The ProfiPACK kit comes with the mask.

You get the mask and a very good set of instructions.

The mask is die cut on Kabuki tape, nice and thin and it sticks marvelously.

I have one trick. It’s very hard to see the edges of the mask items when they’re on the backing sheet. I slather on a tiny bit of acrylic black, like what’s used for weathering, and it picks out the edges nicely.

Upfront, I want to thank Aires and Quickboost for providing these fine aftermarket bits for our beloved models and to the IPMS USA a big thank you for allowing me to review this Quickboost product.

Admittedly I am proud of the fact I love the stubby World War II fighter. The Rita, Buffalo and certainly the Grumman Wildcat. I have several in my stash including the Hobby Boss 1/48 wildcat and it’s a good looking kit. I snagged the Quickboost exhaust stubs for the wildcat before even looking at the plastic parts. In all honesty, when I finally looked at the original parts, I didn’t think you could improve on them. I was wrong! The original parts are well molded and due to the large diameter exhaust, even the kit parts have an open exhaust. NO need to drill out the opening. Well, where I think the Quickboost parts shine, is the fact the wall thickness is more in line with a scale thickness. The original kit parts are certainly way too thick.