History and Facts

T-90MS is a modernized version of the T-90 main battle tank (MBT) built by Uralvagonzavod. The tank is being proposed for the Russian Army and potential export customers. The tank was first demonstrated during the Russian Expo Arms in Nizhny Tagil in September 2011. The capabilities of the T-90MS were also exhibited at DEFEXPO 2012 in New Delhi, India, as well as IDEX 2013 in Abu-Dhabi, UAE. The T-90MS tank will deliver enhanced combat capabilities. The tank offers superior fire power and protection than that of its predecessor.

Fly Model is a new company to me, but you’ll probably hear from them more in the future. They offer a number of interesting and off-beat models in all the popular scales. They have a 1/32 Hurricane Mk I, a 1/32 Westland Wessex, a 1/48 BAC Jet Provost, three different 1/72 Messerschmitt Bf-108s, and about 25 different 1/144 DC-9s. This list only scratches the surface. You might want to look at their web site. They have an interesting resin kit of an “Abstosswagen” in 1/35. It took me some looking, but it’s a railroad flat car for hauling tanks. Never heard of that before!

The DC-9-50 Kit

The kit comes in a pretty plain black box labeled DC-9-10/20/30/40/50 with a sticker which tells you which version of the DC-9 and which markings are included.

Dariusz Karnas is a skilled modeller and amateur aviation historian. He lives in Przemyśl, Poland. He has authored or contributed colour plates and / or scale drawings for over one hundred publications. These include MMP’s Polish Wings, Scale Plans, and Inside series as well as books in the MMP Yellow series: Fieseler 156 Storch 1938-1945 (2012) and Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-15 (2004). You can find Dariusz Karnas on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/people/Dariusz-Karnas/100008987326348 .

This is the third volume of the “Inside” series of books featuring the instrument panels of various Polish WWII aircraft. MMP Books previously released Vol 1 which covered the Bf-109F-4, Bf-110E, Fi-156 Storch, Fw-190A-3, Hs-123, and the Ju-88A-4. Volume 2 featured the Bf-109E, Me-262A, Ju-87A, He-111, Hs-126 and the Do-17.

The M36 was a late war tank destroyer based on the M10A1 tank destroyer hull and a new turret to carry the 90mm gun. The M10A1 was based on the M4A3 Medium Tank hull with the Ford GAA 8-cylinder 500 HP engines. In early 1944, the Army had 600 M10A1 hulls ready, so they diverted them to be used with the new 90mm turret to become M36s. Towards the end of the war, M10 tank destroyer hulls were used and these became M36B2s. This hull was based on the M4A2 Medium Tank using two conjoined 6-cylinder GM diesel engines to make a 12-cylinder engine. This kit offers both versions to be built by having different engine decks, exhaust and rear engine plates.

Development of the F-86 actually started before the end of WWII, initiated by North American Aviation. Using captured data from the design of the ME-262 showed that a swept wing was the only way to fulfill an Army Air Force requirement for a 600 mph speed for the new design. Progressive modifications led to the fighter that effectively countered the threat of the Mig-15 during the Korean War.

The kit comes as three sprues of light gray plastic, along with one clear sprue. Parts are cleanly molded, with engraved panel lines and no flash. Cockpit detail consists of raised details on the instrument panel and side consoles, a three piece pilot seat, and a control stick. There is nice detail on the wheels, wheel well interior, and the inside of the speed brake wells. The interior of the wheel well covers and speed brakes themselves also have well detailed surfaces. Rounding out the details are several pieces that complete the interior at the rear of the canopy.