Coastal Kits specializes in display bases for models and has a wide ranger covering aircraft, armor, ships, railway and even sci-fi. From their website above, the bases are pre-printed with high quality imaging on a laminated wipeable matt vinyl surface which, unlike paper products, will not raise or bubble and are mounted on a durable 3mm foamex base. The base for this review is the Ship Display Base #4 which is 12” x 17” in size and printed with a nice ocean scene. It is an excellent size for 1/700 large ships or smaller ships in larger scales.

Looking at what is in the package, it is a beautifully printed base on one side attached (as advertised) to the foamex board. The board is fairly flat but I suggest attaching to an even firmer board and taking the time to frame the edges for better finish.

In recent years Italeri has been re-releasing their models with decals for special camouflages or retirement schemes. And I kind of like that. It is a way to get access to kits that otherwise is difficult to get and also to find special decal sheets as part of a regular box.

Italeri’s Tornado has been around for quite some time and the molds hold well. There is no flash anywhere to be found in the review copy and all the surface detail is very sharp and well defined. Panel lines are recessed and well defined. Cockpit detail is raised and will accept dry-brushing really well.

Opening the box you find 3 main sprues, a clear one and a small sprue with a couple of special drop tanks. One of the sprues includes some weapons, which are not applicable to this version of the model, so you get extra parts for the spares box. Total part count is a bit over 100. You also get two full decal sheets, which are glossy and in perfect register.

SAC once again provides a very nice set of cast metal gear to help your model stand out in public places.

This set is the usual SAC total replacement of the kit items, with improved assembly and ease of installation.

The major benefit In this case is the axle assemblies are metal verses plastic. No broken off axles after a hard landing (just bend the gear back into place)

Consisting of 9 cleanly-cast metal parts replacing the 9 structural parts for the kit, the SAC gear just requires a bit of inspection, a swipe or two with a sanding stick to clean up any mold parting marks, and painting. The detail is fantastic on today’s scale landing gear, and it’s obvious to me SAC have been listening to their customers. The only difficulty for just about ANY gear is the scale size can be a bit fragile, even for metal. Don’t try carrier landings with it… .

Note: There is an additional photoetch set for this- BRL48081 (Product Link) which includes a much better seat, vents, and plates.

The Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka was one of Japans last ditch Kamikaze weapons. It was a purpose-built, rocket-powered human-guided aircraft. The model 22 was to be powered by a TSU-11 thermojet (pulse jet) engine that increased the effective range of previous Ohka’s. This also reduced the size of the warhead to 600kg. The intent was to launch this from a P1Y3 Frances bomber and sink shipping. These never saw action but were produced and one now sits in the NASM.

Tomasz J. Kopański authors the latest in Mushroom Model Publications’ series of aircraft used in the Polish Air Force. Tomasz has done several volumes in the Polish Wings series, including Volumes 3, 7, and 17 in addition to several other Mushroom Model Publication books. This includes MMP’s Barbarossa Victims: Luftwaffe Kills in the East (2001), Kosciuszko Squadron 1919-1921: American Volunteers against the Bolsheviks (2003), PZL P23 Karas (2004), PZL P.11c (2013). He has also worked with Kagero, writing the Legends of Aviation 3D on Fokker D.VII: The Lethal Weapon (2012).

Janusz Światłoń, a native of Krakow Poland, is an aviation history enthusiast and military modeler. He has retired for the Polish military after serving with the 6^th Airborne Brigade. He has a long history of being published as an illustrator and as an author for many magazines and books from publishing houses as Osprey, Kagero, AF Editores, Chevron, and Mushroom Model Publications.