First: Thanks to Aires for providing IPMS USA this figure to review! One of six in this review series, each shows a passion and dedication Aires have to providing the finest resin products. We appreciate your support, with the usual nod to IPMS USA leadership for allowing me to review these figures.

Produced under the Aerobonus branch of Aires, this particular figure, a USAF fighter pilot in vietnam with equipment appropriate to 1960-1975, has outstanding detail and fidelity; consisting of four resin parts (main body, left and right arm, and flight helmet). The pilot is wearing the standard “Overseas hat”, which will require a deft hand for painting the silver piping and rank. The wearer does NOT have the obligatory “ducktail” in the back, so this guy can’t be a real fighter pilot; he must be a McPeak clone. (Had to say it…you old AF guys like me know what I am going with that comment).

The Albatros, with its torpedo shaped fuselage is one of the more iconic German aircraft of WWI. Not without its shortcomings, it never the less gave the German air superiority mid-war and remained a mainstay of the German and Austrian air forces to the war’s end. To meet the demand for aircraft, production of the D.III was seconded out to three other companies: Johannisthal, OAW and Oeffag. This outsourcing allowed Albatros to focus on D.V production much like what happened with Grumman Corp. in World War Two – where General Motors took over production and development of the F4F-4 (FM1) and Grumman pursued the F6F Hellcat. Like in the case of the Wildcat and General Motors, Johnannistal, OAW and Oeffag continued to build and refine the D.III and turn it into a more effective and reliable aircraft. As a result the Albatros D.III never faded away when the Fokker D.VII entered service and soldiered on past the war’s end.

First: Thanks to Aires for providing IPMS USA this pitot tube to review! We appreciate your support, with the usual nod to IPMS USA leadership for allowing me to review this item.

A simple upgrade for the Kinetic KFIR; it is a direct replacement, complete with the forward part of the under-nose fairing tip. Superglue one of the three pitot tubes into place, paint it, and call it a day! This was literally a three-minute install.

I tested one of the spare pitot tubes for “twang” durability; I held the end in my hand, bent it back about ¼ inch, and it sprung back into shape. It will NOT bent back totally on itself; that results in a bent or broke tube. That said, unless you run the model off into a wall or stick it in your buddy, this should last a long time.