Pathan Rising tells the story of the large scale tribal unrest that erupted along the North West Frontier of India in the late 1890s; a short but sharp period of violence that was initiated by the Pathan tribesmen against the British. Although the exact causes of the unrest remain unclear, it was likely the result of tribal resentment towards the establishment of the Durand Line and British ‘forward policy', during the last echoes of the ‘Great Game', that led the proud tribesmen to take up arms on an unprecedented scale. This resentment was brought to boiling point by a number of fanatical religious leaders, such as the Mad Fakir and the Hadda Mullah, who visited the various Pathan tribes calling for jihad. By the time the risings ended, eleven Victoria Crosses would be awarded to British troops, which hints at the ferocity and level of bitterness of the fighting.

Bill Yenne has authored over 75 historical books and ten novels to date. He grew up inside Montana’s Glacier National Park where his father was the supervisor of back country trails. Bill is also a nationally recognized artist and illustrator with his work being showcased in many national magazines and some of his paintings on display in the official collection of the US Air Force. Bill graduated from the University of Montana in 1971 and founded the American Graphic Systems company. He later graduated from the Stanford University Professional Publishing course in 1989. The AGS BookWorks division has produced some 200 large-format, illustrated books. He has contributed to encyclopedias of World War I and II (for you youngins, this was Wikipedia before the internet came along). He has appeared on The History Channel, the National Geographic Channel, the Smithsonian Channel, C-SPAN, and ARD German Television.

The Toldi I tanks entered Hungarian service about 1940. They were used by the Hungarian Army against Yugoslavia in 1941. They were mostly used against the U.S.S.R. between 1941 and 1944. Their primary role was reconnaissance, due to their light armor and good communications equipment. They were not effective against the Soviet T-34 when they encountered them in operation Barbarossa.

When I opened the box I found: one small bag of resin parts, one small bag with photo etch parts, a die cut clear plastic sheet used for the headlights, and the instruction sheet.

All of the parts are molded in a grey/green resin, and are crisp, very well molded, and have excellent detail. The replacement mufflers are a sight to behold, and will look excellent when installed. There are also two nicely-molded resin tool boxes for the fenders, and many other small detail parts.

Many people don’t know that I am half English. I use that as an excuse to love some of the more interesting British aircraft. One such plane is the famous Avro Vulcan. Just something about that big bat shaped wing appeals to me. I have never had the good fortune to see one fly in person but I have seen video and have been able to view a few in the flesh.

This, of course, means that I have the old Airfix 1/72^nd scale kit in the stash. To say that this kit needs some loving attention to build right is probably an understatement based on some of the builds I have seen online but one day I will tackle her and mark her up in as one of the bombers used in the Falklands.

One thing you may not know is that the Vulcan fleet had had their refueling probes removed prior to 1982 and the maintenance crews had a hard time tracking down probes to get aircraft ready for action even resorting to taking probes off museum planes.

The movie Top Gun, love it or hate it, raised a lot of interest in the Navy Fighter Weapons School, and that interest was not lost on modelers with the markings of the Adversary planes standing out. Furball has given us an enormous sheet of markings covering twenty-two different schemes covering both the F-5E, F-5F and the T-38A between 1976 and 1986. There are options for twelve F-5Es, four F-5Fs, and six T-38s. As noted in the header, there are separate sheets for the 1/48^th and 1/72^nd scale planes and both cover the same subject. AND, there are complete markings for all 22 planes!

Here’s a complete rundown of the aircraft that are included in this set:

One of Trumpeter’s latest releases is a somewhat odd choice. After all, only one version of the SU-101 self-propelled artillery vehicle was ever manufactured, and it never made it past the trial stage. Still, with a number of “paper Panzer” kits out there, it’s not always too surprising to see what choices model companies provide. Also, with the increased interest in online video games like World of Tanks, there seems to be a new interest in these proposed, or prototype versions.

Italeri recently released the first ever kit of the Mirage IIIC in 1/32^nd scale – an elegant and iconic aircraft of the cold war that served (and continues to serve) in a variety of air forces around the world. Now they’ve come out with the Mirage III E/R variant. This version of the full-size craft was first marketed in 1964 and featured a slightly longer fuselage - about a foot - in order to increase the size of the avionics bay situated aft of the cockpit. This also had the consequence of increasing the internal fuel capacity a bit, which was good as the Mirage III was always known for its relatively short range. All this bumped the cockpit forward a bit, and the difference shows in that the rear of the cockpit just aligns with the top lip of the intakes, whereas it sat further back on the IIIC.

This is an excellently done photo etch set for the cockpit interior of the new Airfix Bristol Blenheim Mk. 1 kit. Although appearing to by small, the sheet provides just about everything you could want in the interior of the Blenheim, and since the glass canopy of the kit is very nicely done, any interior detail will be plainly visible. Some parts, such as the control wheel, some of the engine and flap controls, and some sidewall panel detail should be removed and replaced with the PE parts. Other parts can be added to existing structure, such as instrument panels, seat belts, etc. There are a few parts to be added to the rear turret, and one rather large piece of metal is to be placed on the right cockpit sidewall, and although there are no instructions as to color, it probably should be painted interior green.

This is a highly detailed and intricate kit in its own right, and makes a definite improvement in the flaps provided in the Airfix kit. Since the Blenheim, and many other aircraft types of the era as well, had flaps with only one exterior surface, the inside detail is quite visible when the flaps are lowered. This kit provides a set of metal flaps, which are to be held together with superglue, and a very detailed set of instructions. I have done landing flaps for other kits with Eduard accessories, and they are well designed and easy to assemble. However, for the reasons I gave in the Airfix Blenheim kit review, I chose not to use these for my Airfix kit, and will probably adapt them to a Frog kit shortly. However, I have no doubt that if you do decide to build a Blenheim with the flaps in the “down” position, these flaps will be a definite improvement over those included in the kit. Highly recommended if you choose to add this feature to your model.

The Boulton Paul Defiant was a British interceptor aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War II. The Defiant was designed and built by Boulton Paul Aircraft as a "turret fighter", without any forward-firing guns. It was a contemporary of the Royal Navy's Blackburn Roc. The concept of a turret fighter related directly to the successful First World War-era Bristol F.2 Fighter.

I started out with this small, bagged resin and Photo-Etched brass kit, thinking it would be a quick, enjoyable build. What I found was much more complicated.

The kit consists of 1 Photo-Etched Brass sheet containing the Acetylene Torch/Welding cart and two different welding guns, depending on your preference, and 1 resin sprue consisting of the welder figure, two spoked wheels, two very fragile axles, and the gas tanks.

Initially, the parts removal and flash cleanup are fairly easy, however, this is in 1/87 scale (HO), so everything is very small as seen in this photo with needle nose pliers and #11 Xacto blade for scale.

Up until this point, the build went relatively well, bending the cart into shape, and fitting the axle and wheels to the cart. However, My mistake was not gluing the gas tanks to the cart before I fitted the axle and wheels.

As a result, my fat fingers applied too much pressure and I completely destroyed the cart/axle system.

Eduard Models continues to expand its Brassin line, this time with a drop-in replacement for the Hasegawa Mc 202 (also applicable to the Eduard Folgore #1132).

The parts are casted in grey resin, with no bubbles or surface imperfections. Please note that the parts are handed (i.e., they are left and right parts).

The exhaust ends are hollow (big improvement over the plastic part) and the sides of the exhaust are very thin, much closer to scale. The parts also include a beautiful weld seam.

You can see from the pictures that the resin parts certainly improve the look of the model and because they are a drop-in replacement it takes no extra time to install them. They fit perfectly!

Highly recommended.

I would like to thank Eduard Models and IPMS/USA for the review sample.

Most of the time, Figures in small scales, such as HO (1:87) are armed with weapons that roughly represent their 1:1 scale real-world counterparts at best, and more often than not, look like sticks or worse.

If you have any 1:87 scale WW2-era Soviet troops that need improved weapons, this is for you.

The kit is composed of 1 sheet of photo-etched brass, containing 10 WW2-era Soviet Small Arms, and 1 instruction sheet

The small arms are very highly detailed, historically accurate, and are folded in half to represent both 3D sides of the weapon. Iron sights and bolt-action levers, as well as magazines, and even triggers and trigger-guards are represented very well on the models.

As seen in the picture below, I have assembled the Mosin-Nagant standard infantry bolt-action rifle.

This is a photoetch bomb bay upgrade set to for the Revell Ventura MkII which has very simple molded details in the kit part and really needs them. One reason I put off buying the Revell kit was my disappointment in the bomb bay detail, this set make it very simple to really improve the kit.

In the packet is:

• 1 large photoetch steel sheet
• 1 instruction sheet

Summary

This is a fantastic set and the kit really needs this as it’s a major improvement. The set does require a lot of work removing the simple molded details on the kit parts especially part B6. But it’s well worth all the effort. The set also includes the bomb fins and spinners. I really loved the finish look of the bomb bay once this was done. If you have the Revell kit you have to get this set!

Thanks go to Eduard for providing this set to review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it for them.

Last we left off, the airframe was together with the parts and we were ready to paint. In preparation, I added the landing gear. To me, this allows the plane to sit up off surfaces while drying and these were sturdy and fit perfectly with the best attachment points I have seen. To start, I used Tamiya acrylic high gloss white thinned with lacquer thinner and sprayed the bottom and slightly up the sides. I masked off the intakes as they had a great demarcation line from the previous painting and the great design. I also shot the flaps, the rudder on the tail and all the landing gear doors. This dried quickly and I masked off for the Gull Gray. I masked around the edges and the rudder and used my Gyrocut to get some wavy lines. Tamiya yellow tape was used for all masking. I sprayed the top with Xtracolor thinned with lacquer thinner and set the plane aside to dry for a few days. I also gave both horizontal stabs a coat of gloss white.

The movie Top Gun, love it or hate it, raised a lot of interest in the Navy Fighter Weapons School and that interest was not lost on modelers, with the markings of the Adversary planes standing out. Furball has given us an enormous sheet of markings covering thirteen different schemes covering 12 different of F-5Es and F-5Fs between 1976 and 1986. Note that this is different from the smaller schemes as they just couldn’t fit the T-38’s on the sheet. There is great news in that the markings included are all airframes so you could build all thirteen planes included.

The schemes included are:

The Panhard VBL is a French light armored reconnaissance vehicle developed by the Panhard company with a steel-armored body and bulletproof glass. The VBL can also run on water with a propeller which is part of the rear axle. This version of the VBL includes a roof mounted Milan Anti-Tank Missile Launcher. This kit is a reissue of Tiger Model's kit of the Panhard VBL light armored reconnaissance vehicle with 7.62 mm machine gun, #4603. Tiger has also produced a version with a 12.7 mm M2 machine gun, #4619.

All six of the kit’s vehicle hatches can be modeled open or closed. The kit includes a complete interior with weapons, gear, and communication equipment. The tires can rotate. The kit also includes a metal tow cable and missile launcher with six spare missiles. The roof mounted missile launcher can rotate. The kit does not include an engine or transmission. A roof-mounted machine gun is provided with the kit parts, but not used on this version.

Aerobonus has been releasing new figures at a remarkable rate. They continue to offer figures to go with your aircraft model. They are now starting to offer more helicopter related figures. There latest is available in 1/48^th and 1/32^nd scale, a US Army Helicopter Pilot from the Vietnam War between 1960-1975.

This is one of those detail sets that you don’t know you need it until you need it. It is a pre-painted fret of US straps and tie downs. Packaged in a typical Eduard re-sealable package with card stock to protect the contents. This pre-painted fret utilizes the new steel media to produce a thin and accurate strap. The straps can be manipulated fairly robustly without the paint chipping.

There are five different types of straps. The first one has a clip on the end that will have to be folded. There are three of them. The second one is a strap in tan that can be added to the first one to ‘lengthen’ it. There are two of these straps. The third strap is a ‘leather’ looking strap that can be added to one of the other straps. There are two of these straps. The fourth one is another tan/canvas style of strap, that again can be used to lengthen the others. The fifth strap is another leather style strap. There are three of them to use.

The Nakajima B5N2 'Kate' was the most numerous Japanese torpedo bomber of the Second World War, and while primarily operated from carriers, it also saw service as a land based bomber. A single engine monoplane, it was defended by just one rearward firing machine gun, operated by the radio operator, and its relatively low speed left it vulnerable to enemy fighters. Kates performed well at Pearl Harbor and went on to have success during the early battles of the war.

This is a diorama set which observes the 25th anniversary of the Gulf War. The kit comes with 4 - 1/72 models; The US AH-1 Cobra, the US M-1A1 Abrams, the Iraqi Mi-25 and an Iraqi T-62.

Because there are 4 models in the set, and we have time limits, the helicopters are built by Mike Hinderliter, and the armor by Jim Pearsall. The review will appear in 4 parts, as each of the 4 kits is finished.

MiniArt has released a nice set that would look great in your WWII dioramas in their Buildings and Accessories Series. MiniArt provides twelve trees representing the crates composed of eleven parts per tree. The crates appear to be molded in light brown soft styrene as the parts are somewhat flexible and are easily cut. The twelve trees for the two different styles of wine bottles contain sixteen wine bottles out of a transparent green and transparent brown styrene. The transparent plastic seems to be a bit harder than the styrene for the crates. The waterslide decals provided offer markings for French and German wine companies for both the crates and the bottles. Packaging is quite nice with the finished product depicted on the top of the box and the contents / instructions / paint guide on the back of the box. The total parts count is 324 parts. I would recommend that you wash all the parts while they are still on the sprues to remove any remaining mold release.

This is a photoetch undercarriage upgrade set to for the Revell Ventura Mk II. The set adds a great deal of detail to the kit.

In the packet is:

• 2 x large photoetch steel sheet
• 1 instruction sheet

Summary

This is a fantastic set and the kit really needs this as it’s a major improvement to the land gear and the landing gear bays. The set does require some work removing the simple molded details on the kit parts. The set was simple and easy to install, the only issue I had was one part had some damage due to the photo etch process but this is the first time I have ever seen this. If you have the Revell kit you have to get this set!

History

The Bf-109G-10 aircraft is rather unique by the fact that it was somewhat of a ‘Frankenstein’ aircraft put together with available resources at the time. The airframe consisted of a standard G model and incorporated a DB 605 D-2 engine. The reasoning for this was an attempt to create as little disruption to factory production of the Bf-109K’s.

Other external differences from the standard G model were deeper air cooler intakes, wide blade props, larger rudder, a Morane antenna, larger main wheels, and an extended tailwheel to provide a slightly better forward view.

There was a total of 2600 G-10 built after 1944 and one lone survivor resides in the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.

The L-29 Delfin was a jet-powered trainer airplane that was designed by the Aero Company of Czechoslovakia. An excellent kit of the Delfin has recently been released in 1/72 scale by AMK. Although this kit, in my opinion, is very good, our friends at Aires/Quickboost have found some areas to give modelers some additional options.

The L-29 Delfin was produced in several variations, including a photo reconnaissance version. This was accomplished by installing a specific conversion package under the fuselage. This version was used by the Czech Air Force and other Warsaw pact countries as well as by several export customers including Egypt and Vietnam.