Introduction

The F-106 was a direct development of the F-102 first conceived of in 1951. This supersonic all weather interceptor had a number of advanced features for its time including fully enclosed weapons bay and a delta wing platform. The F-106 further developed the concept with a more powerful Pratt and Whiney J75 engine and the unique area rule or coke bottle fuselage that enabled the F-106 to reach twice the speed of sound. The F-106 was equipped with the first guided missiles used by the USAF. The Aim 4E was semi radar guided and the Aim 4G was a heat seeker. The aircraft could also carry nuclear weapons. The F-106 never saw combat but did intercept countless Soviet bombers over the course of its career. They served over 20 years with the USAF and 16 years with various ANG units. Notable is the fact that the F-106 finished its run with the lowest single engine aircraft accident rate of any USAF aircraft.

This is a complicated kit to assemble and requires adjusting and fitting lots of parts. This is not a kit that will fall together out of the box on a Sunday afternoon, but approached as a challenging craftsman type kit, experienced modelers will produce an excellent model.

Diamond T 969 was a vehicle recovery truck based on a 4 ton 6X6 chassis, powered with a Hercules RXC six-cylinder gasoline engine, and equipped with a five speed overdrive transmission and a direct and under drive transfer, manufactured from roughly 1940 until 1945 by the Diamond T Motor Car Company in Chicago. From 1943 on most trucks were fitted with an open cab. This model includes the hard top. Mirror also has a model of the soft top version, as well as a Diamond T cargo truck.

The Academy family of F-4 Phantoms are impressive kits. I absolutely love them. They are very detailed, but as always there is room for improvement. Enter Quickboost.

Packaged in typical Quickboost bottom opening package with a cardboard stiffener. Two pour stubs of light grey resin hold eight resin pieces that are blemish free. They contain beautiful detail on both sides. They are easy enough to remove from the pour blocks and are direct replacements for the kit parts.

Check the “What’s in the Box” prequel to this build review.

Ever wonder what kind of condition your airbrush needles or nozzles are really in? It’s tough to tell without some magnification help (more than your garden-variety optivisor) and some good lighting. As part of its expanding line of cleaning accessories, Iwata has introduced a 30/60X magnifier with LED lighting to provide a one-tool solution to satisfy that need.

Although my sample’s internal switch was a bit touchy (had to jiggle the assembly a bit to get it to stay on), the quality of the test subject images was exceptional at 30X and 60X under both the white and the blue lights.

Upon concluding my tests, I took a couple of minutes to determine battery type and accessibility. After disassembling the outer case (snap fit), it was apparent that the batteries were of the wrist-watch variety and could be accessed by removing 4 tiny phillips-head screws from the inner case.