The SAC landing gear for the Trumpeter 1/48 T-38A Talon kit is a direct “plug and play” replacement for the kit gear with one minor change. The nose gear is one piece for the SAC gear whereas the Trumpeter part is a two piece affair (the nose gear attachment point is separate from the strut itself). I am not sure why Trumpeter did this but to me it seems like it would add a natural weakness in the structure and that joint has to hold the nose of a fairly large aircraft up. The SAC gear cleaned up nicely, with just some minor cutting and filing of excess metal. The top of one main gear had a bit of a pour plug that came off with a sprue cutter and a file.

The UMM Micro Mitre Box is a useful little tool if you’re scratchbuilding or adding detail to a model. Made of aluminum, it’s designed for cutting wood, metal, or plastic using their JLC razor saw. As an aside, it also works with other brands of razor saw, so long as they’re not over .12” thickness. This version of their box allows cuts at 45°, 60°, and 90°. They have recently released an updated version of the box (Micro Mitre Box II) which has a brass rule imbedded in the box that is marked in 1mm increments. There is an adjustable stop device that is screw-mounted in the bottom of the box. It has a flat end and a slanted end to be used to hold the material in place. There are several screw holes to allow the stop to be almost infinitely adjusted for length.

The Special Hobby IL-10 is one of those relatively obscure kits that one would never think you’d find many after marked parts for. While the kit has its own particular set of build issues, it does come with a fairly complete package of resin detail parts. The level of detail on those parts varies widely, and the oil radiator is a prime candidate for substitution with something better.

As with everything that I’ve received from Quickboost, their replacement IL-10 oil radiator is highly detailed and crisply molded with no flash or surface imperfections anywhere to be found. The screen mesh that makes up most of the surface of the radiator is nicely represented; it’s a far cry better than the smooth surface of the kit’s resin radiator part. The radiator can be prominently seen on the aircraft‘s belly, so this new part enhances the realism factor considerably.

This is a large, beautiful coffee table style photo-essay book. As the son of a D-Day veteran I was most anxious to read this book. 450 of the photos included are from the combat in Northern France. Some will seem familiar to the reader but many have never before been published. I especially like how in many cases the author has shown the original WWII photo and then beside or below that he has placed a modern photo of the same place taken at the same spot.

The book is divided into eight chapters! The are: The Buildup, From the Air, From the Sea, On the Beached, Point du Hoc, La Fiere, Graignes and Aftermath. Each is filled with photos that show everything from the men, equipment and geography to the carnage of battle.

The Me-262 requires little if any introduction, however reference material for it is always sought after. This book is intended to cover all the marks and variants of the single seat “A” series, including some obscure prototypes.

The book is very logically broken down in a section that describes the technical characteristics of the airplane, the production blocks, and several tables with details covering prototypes from Werk Numbers, to Me-262 aces.

The next section has period B&W pictures and 1/72nd scale drawings of all the different variants of the A series, including details on their armament, if applicable.

After that there are no less than 58 color profiles, including a few top/bottom views of the Me-262 in the fighter and bomber configuration, plus color profiles of captured examples and post-war examples in Czech service.