Scale Aircraft Conversions has released a set of white-metal front and rear main gear for the Academy CH-46 in 1/48 scale. The set includes three parts, a front gear strut and two main rear struts. These three parts are direct replacements for kit parts A-18, B20(r), and B21(l).

There are two deficiencies in the kit gear that are alleviated by the SAC replacements. First my kit gear had a pin hole in one of the rear supports with significant shrinkage around it. The kit front gear had a large pin ejector mark prominently in the middle of the piece. Replacing with the SAC gear eliminated having to deal with these issues.

This set is of 3 figures and a zeltbahn (tent). These figures are in a rest area and are shown just settling in. The box art and instructions are on the back of the box and shows the figures in a completed state. This illustration by Ronald Volstad is a fairly accurate representation of the 3 figures and a great depiction of the camouflage on the tent.

This set had very minimal flash, and no ejection pin marks. What mold lines that were there were easily removed with a sharp blade. There are no decals, and the painting instructions are just for the major items. The paint colors are coded only for Testors and Mr. Color.

In 2003, Iliad Design’s first decal offering was a 1/48 scale set for pre-War Hurricanes. Flash ahead 11 years and Iliad has added a 1:72 scale version of that set to their ever-growing line of decals. But this set is more than a scaled down version of the four subjects found on the original 1:48 scale set. Iliad’s 1/72 scale set provides markings for seven Hurricanes in RAF service during 1938 and 1939.

Six of the seven aircraft featured in this set sport upper surface camouflage of Dark Green and Dark Earth (in both A & B schemes, which are clearly illustrated) with a variety of underside colors that were employed during the pre-war period. But, the scheme for the seventh aircraft offers a striking contrast.

The seven subjects included are:

Every once in a while a book shows up on the “available for review” list which grabs my interest. This book is one of those. I was able to convince Dave Morrissette to send it to me because I have a personal interest in the KC-97. It was a KC-97 which took me on my first military flight, from Peoria Air National Guard Base to Lackland Air Force Base to begin basic training. I’ve had a lot of rides in various aircraft types since then, but there’s only one first one.

Bill Yenne covers the entire life of the Boeing 367/377 series, from the first airliners to the C-97 to the KC-97, then back to the mature airliner and the mature KC-97, and the last of the series, the Guppies. He does a very good job of tracing the lineage of the series from the B-29 and the B-50. The 367 was the C/KC-97, the 377 was the airliner.

History Brief

During the mid 1950's the U.S. Navy's need for an aircraft that could attack both ground and sea based targets in any weather, day or night, attracted a lot of proposals. In 1956, eight aircraft companies submitted at least twelve designs. Grumman Aerospace A-6 Intruder answered the call, design number 1280 was the winning entry and a contract was issued on March 26,1959. The aircraft was originally designated the A2F1, and the first flight of BUNO 147864 took place on April 19, 1960. The first A6A entered service with VA-42 in March 1963.