The Cold War produced a number of unusual weapons systems, and few were more unusual than the M50 Ontos (a Greek word meaning “entity” or “thing”). In the aftermath of the Korean War, The M50 Ontos and its cousin, the M56 Scorpion, were developed to fulfill the role of Tank Destroyers, a service corps left to languish following the end of World War 2. Both the Army and the Marine Corps had been disappointed by their difficulty in stopping Russian made armor in Korea, and the prospect of thousands of Soviet tanks flooding across the plains of central Europe gave rise to the re-establishment of the dedicated tank destroyer concept.

Introduction

The StuH.42 (Sturmhaubitze 42, Sd.Kfz 142/2), was used to support armor and infantry. They were fitted with a 10.5cmStuH.42 L/28 howitzer offering greater destructive firepower than the StuG III that had a 7.5cm StuK 40 L/43 cannon. The 10.5cm StuH was modified to be electrically fired and fitted with a muzzle brake. The StuH 42 used the chassis from the StuG.III Ausf.E/F. Alkett, a major manufacturer of armored vehicles for the German war machine, produced 1,299 StuH 42 from 1943 to 1945. Additionally, the vehicle weighed over 26 tons.

Want an easy upgrade to any 1/48 North American B-25 Mitchell? Step right up to the new Quickboost B-25 Mitchell landing lights set that provide a beautiful replacement to what is supplied in the kit. The supplied instructions identify where new Quickboost replacements go but it’s quite easy to understand where the parts go. The parts are packaged in the standard Quickboost re-closable packaging with a paper stiffener along with the instructions.

Osprey Publishing is well known for its softbound, mid-length book (80 to 100 pages) covering a specific topic. This book stands on its own category, with over 300 pages and hardbound. It speaks quality all around, down to its dust cover.

And the quality does not stop at the book binding, this is a carefully and thoughtfully researched book on a military operation that never was: Sea Lion, the invasion of Great Britain.

While the Battle of Britain has been covered in multiple books and encyclopedias, the number of books on the Operation Sea Lion is limited, in comparison. If you only want to read one book on this topic this is the one.

Eduard has released a new mold (with the correct wingspan) of the 1/48 Bf-109G-6 (early). In the Profipack package you get 5 sprues (including a clear one), a color photo-etch fret, two decal sheets for 5 markings (all Luftwaffe) and a mask set for the canopy and the tail wheel. No flash anywhere and very sharp, recessed panel lines are a signature of those sprues.

Whlie you get 5 sprues, you also get plenty of unused (spare) parts, like 3 different propellers (only 1 is appropriated for this G-6), different wheels, some weapons, different rudders, air intakes, oil coolers and even extra canopies, so you should be able to get some “extras” for other 109s in your collection.

As expected, construction starts with the cockpit and it is a very straightforward and well-designed subcomponent. You make it look even better by adding photoetch belts plus a provided fuel line in clear plastic, which when masked and painted looks outstanding!

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engine heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). The B-17 was primarily employed by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) in the daylight strategic bombing campaign of World War II against German industrial and military targets. The United States Eighth Air Force, based at many airfields in central and southern England, and the Fifteenth Air Force, based in Italy, complemented the RAF Bomber Command's nighttime area bombing in the Combined Bomber Offensive to help secure air superiority over the cities, factories and battlefields of Western Europe in preparation for the invasion of France in 1944. The B-17 also participated to a lesser extent in the War in the Pacific, early in World War II, where it conducted raids against Japanese shipping and airfields.

Rubber tires on models have always been a problem for me, largely because of the unstable nature of rubber and vinyl. I’ve had numerous tires (and treads) crack with age, melt plastic hubs, or otherwise wreak havoc on lovingly-made models which I’d hoped to remain pristine for years.

That being said, I must admit that Trumpeter’s 1/32^nd scale Sturmovik comes with a very nice set of rubber tires. They feature a detailed and realistic tread and certainly look good in and of themselves. So why purchase the Aires set?

First, they ARE resin rather than rubber. Consequently, they will last over time much better than the rubber tires, which will outgas and eventually fail in one spectacular manner or another. That’s just the nature of the material, alas.

Second, they have been crafted with a very nice flattened area that reproduces weight on the tires realistically. The rubber tires simply don’t reproduce this feature as well.

More metal gear from Ross at SAC; another winner… 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 SAC-standard metal landing gear improvement over the kit plastic. Roden, bless’em, makes kits nobody else does. WE NOW HAVE A 1/144 C-141B thanks to them! Buy them up so they can finance other models (Hint: a decent 1/144 C-5A next we hope… the “R” re-engined version with the CF-6 can come later!)

I’m impressed with this kit; fit is ok, few locator pins, but the exterior is definitely the right aircraft with the right appearance. The engine intakes are very well done, with positive installation for the nacelles into the wing. The ‘141B is a simple aircraft. I’m going to contemplate making an interior for this kit, as the clear cockpit windows scream for detail instead of a flat area painted black. We’ll see…

THANK YOU to our friends and suppliers at Aires for this excellent improvement set for the Revell tornado! And thanks also to the reviewer corps leaders for making them available to me to review….

Revell continues to be one of the companies that provides excellent value for modelers; any addition to their kits is worthwhile in that the basic kit is a canvas for improvement. Revell’s 1/48 Tornado kits are perfect examples; a bit complex, and you have to work carefully as they tend to be a bit modular, but at the end of the day you have the best of the lot, if you will, of the 1/48 Tornado series by price, value, and finished product.

THANK YOU to our friends and suppliers at Aires for this excellent improvement set for the new Revell 1/48 Tornado! And thanks also to the reviewer corps leaders for making the set available to me to review.

This resin upgrade takes the kit and adds a simple electronics bay improvement. Included in this six-part set are two electronic bays, two bay brackets, and two doors. Detail on everything is superb, and is just the thing for a diorama or servicing display on the Tornado.

Use of this set requires the modeler to remove the avionics bay doors molded on the side of the model, and install the bays. As the kit was already assembled, I had to devise a way to Install the bays from outside the opening and cement the doors in place afterward.

Tony Buttler was born in 1956 and joined High Duty Alloys in Redditch in 1974 as a metallurgist. For nearly 20 years he was closely involved in the testing of aluminum and titanium airframe and engine components for many of the world’s most important airplanes. It was during this timeframe that his interest in military aircraft grew into a passion. Since 1995, Tony has been a freelance aviation historian, with this book being his twenty-sixth major release. He has also written many titles for the Warpaint series of monographs as well as many articles for most of the popular historical aviation magazines.

The cover painting by Daniel Uhr depicts the Miles M.52 in flight ahead of its chase plane, a Gloster Meteor. This painting is reproduced again after the title page, pristine, without all the titles. I counted 112 black and white photographs, 18 color pictures, 20 tables, and 16 tables on 160 glossy pages.

The TS-11 Iskra (“Spark”) is a single engine two-seat primary jet trainer designed and constructed in Poland for the Polish Air Force. It was also used by the Indian Air Force. As the aircraft was not used by many countries, it was mostly overlooked by model manufacturers until recently. I am aware of two kits in 1/72 scale, the recent Arma Models kit and an older kit by Master Craft models. I picked up the Master Craft kit last spring at a model show as I like odd looking aircraft, so of course shortly thereafter Arma released its new kit of the Iskra. As I have not yet acquired the Arma kit, the comparison photos are to the Master Craft kit.

My, but I do love a good Stuka. I’ve been playing with 1/32^nd scale Stukas ever since Revell first released their kit back in the 1970’s. I’ve built theirs dozens of times, then the 21^st Century version, and now finally Trumpeter’s kits, which have filled in important gaps in the history of this fascinating aircraft.

One slight problem with the Trumpeter kit, however is the exhausts, which are molded as a solid piece. The exhaust outlets are tiny indeed, and having frustrated myself with trying to ream these out with miniature drill bits, I must admit I was quite pleased to receive the Quickboost replacement parts.

As simple, drop-in resin replacements, these really can’t be beat. They feature the relatively miniscule exhausts and are beautifully molded with excellent resolution and no molding flaws which I could detect. No modifications to the kit parts need to be made – just slap them in place when you’re ready for them.