The Mk. 20 Rockeye is an unguided cluster bomb weapon and has been used since 1968. With this kind of longevity and the fact it is used by Navy, Air Force and Marines, it is not unusual to find this under the wing of many types of planes including A-10’s, F-15E’s and many others.
The Portuguese Air Force might have been modest in size before the jet-age, but certainly was rich in the variety of fighter airplanes they flew. Their fighter aircraft inventory included French, British and American designs, some of them acquired and pressed into service through very colorful circumstances!
The book has chapters for each aircraft type in detail, including an introduction to the aircraft type and their service in the Portuguese Air Force, before having a section on camouflage and markings for the given aircraft being depicted in the chapter. After the section on camouflage styles and markings, the main feature of each chapter follows: numerous and gorgeous color profiles (sometime even 3-view) of different aircrafts, next to a historical picture of the airplane.
This book covers the end of World War II in Europe from the campaign level. There is little examination of tactics or individual heroism; instead it looks at the challenges and opportunities faced by the top-level military leaders as the Third Reich neared its end.
Until I read this book, I had the concept that the Western Allies (US, Britain, France) had a pretty easy time after stopping the Ardennes Offensive in December 1944, and moved up to the Elbe River line to wait for the Russians. At the same time, I thought the Russians were pretty much beating up on the Germans and making their way toward Berlin and eventual victory. I was pretty much wrong.
Furball Aero Designs continues its fine efforts to bring modern, current plane markings to the masses with their latest release, Air Wing All Stars: Super Hornets Part II. This set includes six markings for the F/A-18E Super Hornet and one for the F/A-18F. The set is printed by Cartograf and is in perfect register.
The markings included are for the following air frames:
First up, a "Heavy duty" THANK YOU to the Furball Aero Design team for this Mask set, and thanks also to IPMS USA leadership for sending it to me to use and review…. As always we appreciate the generous support of our smaller companies who provide us great things we never knew we needed or could use, but now find harder to do without!
Masking of canopies before airbrushing is one thing I still do the hard way; apply tape, burnish down with a toothpick, and cut around the canopy. Either kabuki paper tape or Scotch magic frosted tape have been my standard mask for years. I have tried masks from vinyl from other companies, and have had limited success, mostly because they tend to be in flexible, too stiff, aggressively stick to the plastic when I don't want, and don't when I do, or just don't fit. You know…
The Loach, tiny, maneuverable and deadly to the enemy. This little helicopter was loved by its pilots, crew and maintainers. The mission was deadly serious and many helicopters never made it to their first maintenance inspection.
This sheet from AOA is a welcome addition for the Dragon/Italeri kit and the anticipated Kitty Hawk Loach. Having only flown in this legendary helicopter once with a Vietnam hero, Hugh Mills, I can say that this sheet is awesome. While Hugh Mills and the Dark Horse aircraft have been done a lot for their colorful sharkmouths it is refreshing to see some new markings. Vietnam aircraft sported some colorful markings and until recently they have gone unnoticed. Thanks to AOA that is no longer the case.
Ross at SAC just keeps cranking these thinks out… THANKS VERY MUCH for sending IPMS USA another of your expansive line of metal landing gear, and thanks also to IPMS USA leadership for sending it on to me to review….
This is the now-expected, much improved upgrade to the kit plastic. Consisting of 15 metal parts directly replacing the kit items, they are an easy addition to improve the longevity of your kits as they sit on display…
With the T-28, like their 1/48 counterparts, the nose gear is particularly vulnerable to damage; it is not a fork-mounted axle, but an offset arm, and this weakness usually results in strut sag/failure within a year on bigger models. …
Not much to say on this one; I glued everything together and installed on the mostly-finished airframe in about 30 minutes. The gear worked as advertised, and after adding some VERY tiny SAC details which were included for the set, it looked good and was very strong.
This book is very unique in the sense that it covers one century of aviation history, but selected in a particular way: French airplanes in Peruvian Service. Let me be clear, from reading the book you learn -in great level of detail- not just about that topic in the title, but about the overall history of Peruvian Air Force (PAF), with a strong emphasis on French airplanes in the PAF.
The book is broken down in four main sections
The first chapter covers mainly the history of aviation entrepreneurs and fledging military aviators in Peru. Well illustrated with period photos it helps to set the tone for the book. The second chapter covers the 1930’s years, after the Peruvian-Colombian war, a period of high tension and military readiness.
TanModels is a new company from Turkey and I believe this is their first model in 1/48 scale. They choose the RF-84 as the subject for their first boxing, an airplane often overlooked but that has a proud service history with several NATO air forces, which means many options for camouflage and decals.
Before opening the box you will find “Remove before construction” red stickers (keeping the box closed), which make for a fun experience. As soon as you open the box you find yourself looking at several sprues of very cleanly molded parts, with no flash anywhere to be found.
One of the best looking aircraft of WWI, in my opinion, is the Albatros series of fighters. This streamlined plywood aircraft was widely used during the war. Flown by many of the great aces such as Manfred von Richtofen it proved itself a worthy warplane. Despite this, the Albatros had a fatal flaw, in that the lower wing would twist and occasionally fail.
The kit contains two sprues of light grey plastic. The plastic has fine engraved panel lines and raised access panels. It is beautifully detailed. There are two frets of photo etch. One is pre-painted, and the other is brass. There is also a set of masks to aid in painting the wheels, an oil cooler, and the red surround on the tail surfaces, should you decide to use that marking option. Decals are printed by Cartograf, so you know they are perfect. There are markings for four aircraft, plus lozenge decals for the wings, along with a sheet of stripes for the ribs.
