Academy has re-issued their 1/72nd F/A-18C this time as a “Special Edition with limited availability” featuring a striking decal set –printed by Cartograf- to show the aircraft “300” from VFA-82 “Marauders” known as “Aflac” for obvious reasons.

When opening the box you find 4 grey sprues, one for the main fuselage parts, another for the wings and tail area, plus a duplicate sprue which comprises mainly the underwing stores. There is also a single clear sprue, for the canopy that can be posed either closed or open.

The sprues are molded very cleanly and there is no flash anywhere to be found. The recessed panel lines are sharp and thin. There is also delicate rivet detail in the different access panels.

The instructions are very clear and easy to follow; with a total of 16 steps (some have a few substeps). Color callouts are shown through the overall construction for all subassemblies and minor parts.

Master Model produces finely crafted small detail parts for models which have been damaged or may be subject to rough handling. Their collection of antennas and pitot tubes are invaluable for the modeler whose friends (or former friends) handle models less than carefully. There’s a picture below, which appeared as a cartoon in an early IPMS Quarterly. This particular set is for the cannons of a Spitfire IXc.

The C wing had either one or two cannons in each wing, and possibly two more .303 machine guns outboard. The kit includes two sets of cannon and one set of stubs, so you can do either of the C wing cannon options, depending on how the aircraft you’re modeling was armed.

According to our friends at Wikipedia, the Vympel R-40 (NATO reporting name AA-6 'Acrid') was a long-range air-to-air missile developed in the 1960s by the Soviet Union specifically for the MiG-25 interceptor, but can also be carried by the later MiG-31. It is the largest air-to-air missile in the world to ever go into production with a length of over 20 feet and a speed approaching Mach 5.

Scale Aircraft Conversions specializes in white-metal replacement parts. Its line of replacement landing gear has been expanded to include a set for the 1/48 Kinetic Super Etendard.

The set includes 8 parts with the following breakdown: two main landing gear struts; a two part nose wheel, plus actuator arms; and a nose wheel fork. The parts are finely molded in white metal. These parts are drop-in replacements for the plastic parts.

I should say that these parts are more than just drop-in replacements. Many of the white metal parts actually are the equivalent to several plastic parts, so you have an easier job of assembling the landing gear, for instance, as you have fewer parts to deal with.

This is my first Great Wall Hobby kits and I was very curious to see if they are as good as I have read. Well from the moment I held the box you can see the box is high quality and that was just a taste of what was come. The kit inside the box looked great and very well molded and a super finish.

This is a kit of an early production version of the T-33A Shooting star and comes with markings to build a US, German and Spanish Air force machine

In the box is:

• 10 x light grey sprues
• 1 clear Sprue
• 1 decal sheet
• 1 instruction booklet
• 1 revision instruction sheet (corrections to the instruction sheet)

All the sprues are extremely well molded and great detail; the instruction booklet is a fold out type and has a loose front sheet showing the Sprues