Osprey Publishing has released another new title in the ever-expanding Aces series, Morane-Saulnier MS.406 Aces.

As the title reveals, this time around the subject is the French Morane-Saulnier MS.406 and the aces who flew it. This book is slightly different than most others in the series, as it covers not only MS.406 aces of the French Air Force, but also those flying for the Finnish Air Force. Additionally, as several MS.406 pilots went on to become aces while flying different aircraft with the RAF or the Russian Air Force, this area is also touched upon.

Number 59 in Osprey’s ‘Duel’ series provides a trip back in time to an era when flying machines began serving as platforms for continuing warfare above ground level. In this volume of ‘Duel’ author Jon Guttman presents the story of how exchanging rifle and revolver gunfire rapidly evolved into aerial duels between aircraft mounting machine guns. War in the air became serious business when, in the summer of 1915, the Fokker E1 appeared on the scene with a forward mounted machine gun and interrupter mechanism that permitted a pilot to aim and fire upon an enemy without concerns of shooting off his own propeller. The result of this game-changer was a period that became known as the ‘Fokker Scourge’. In an attempt to counter this technological advantage and level the playing field, the Brits introduced various pusher Scouts and the French mounted forward firing machine guns on the top wings of nimble Nieuport Scouts that fired above the propeller arc.

Last released in 1970 by MPC, Round2 has re-issued this classic kit. You may remember that the original MPC kit had parts for the flying version. I remember the cardboard tube for the central rocket cylinder used to hold a small rocket motor, thinking that the plastic parts would not survive more than just one launch. I never put that to the test and I still have that original 1970 MPC kit sitting in my display case.

The Round2 release does not have those parts for a flying model, although the launch rail brackets are still present. There are some other items still in the box from its “flying” days but they can be ignored.

During this project I did not fill seams and I did not conduct any research to achieve an accurate paint scheme. I sanded down the more obvious “steps” during assembly, and chose a very basic White/Gray paint scheme, painting some Vostok components to make them pop out a bit in the images accompanying this review.

Master Model has turned out quite a few turned-metal parts in the last few years. They’ve recently sighted in on some common US Navy guns with three new turned-metal barrel upgrade sets as part of their Sea Master line of products:

• SM-700-37- 1/700 USN 16in/50 Mark 7 barrels (9 pcs) - Iowa and Montana battleship classes- $7.00
• SM-700-38 - 1/700 USN 14in/45 (12 pcs) - New York (B-34), Nevada (B-36) and Pennsylvania (B-38) classes - fits to USS Arizona model - $7.00
• SM-700-39 - 1/700 USN 5in/51 (22 pcs) - many USN warships - fits to USS Arizona model - $5.50

Both the 16” and 14” barrel sets are an excellent replacement for kit parts. The barrels are hollow and the shapes appear dead on. The 5in/51 barrels are fantastic, but they will require a modeler of extreme skill and determination to use thanks to their small, but accurate, size in 1/700 scale.

Master Model, maker of some amazingly detailed metal replacement parts, offers a new turned-metal barrel upgraded set for the 1/350 scale Zvezda kit of the HMS Dreadnought. The set consists of ten turned-aluminum 12in main gun barrels and twelve turned-brass 12-pounder secondary gun barrels. Both barrel sizes are spectacularly cut.

Using the Master Model barrels couldn’t be easier, as they feature a small mounting peg at the breech end of the barrels. Simply remove an existing kit barrel, drill a small hole in its place, and insert and secure the Master barrel’s mounting peg into the hole with a bit of CA glue.

Like many of the Master Model barrel sets, this set is not only limited to use with the HMS Dreadnought, as both the 12-inch and 12-pounder guns were found on many other British ships before and during WWI.