The Curtis SB2C Helldiver was produced to replace the “Slow But Deadly” Dauntless with a larger, faster aircraft. Unfortunately, the plane suffered from many handling issues and a shorter range leading to the nickname “The Beast” being applied by its crews. The Helldiver served aboard carriers for the last 2 years of the war including participating in Operation Iceberg, the Battle for Okinawa.

Academy’s latest Special Edition version includes markings for three aircraft that participated in this operation. A tri-colored plane from VB-3 off the USS Yorktown and two gloss blue aircraft, one from VB-16 off the USS Randolph and the other from VB-84 operating from the USS Bunker Hill.

The kit contains 84 grey parts molded on two sprues, 6 clear parts and 28 photo etched parts for the dive brakes. The molding is very nice with decent panel lines and good interior detail for the cockpits, gear wells, and bomb bay.

The Weekend Editions and the Overtree editions of Eduard’s kits are really good value for the money. One thing that I’d like to add to mine is the photo etch instrument panel and some other bits and bobs. Lucky for me Eduard answers those prayers, sort of.

If you’ve never heard of the LEPT sets they are smaller pre-painted photo etch frets and have what I think are the ‘essential’ photo etch items. They are only available through the Eduard website. The reason I said sort of earlier is that these sets are typically only available for a limited time to accompany the Overtree kits when they are released. After that you have to buy the complete PE set for the kit, which while having more items, may contain things that you may not want to use. Then of course you may want to, but this fret is the essential items and included in those full PE sets.

The weekend edition of Eduard’s Bf-109s are for those that don’t want to spend a bunch on their kits. Eduard has started to include markings for two aircraft per weekend edition. This particular release covers the Bf-109G-6 manufactured by Erla. The two aircraft are flown by Hptm. Heinrich Ehrler or Hptm. Gerhard Barkhorn. Erla G-6 are unique in a few ways. The first is that they typically had the extra bulge on the right engine cowling, typical of the G-5 or G-14 variants. Another difference is the ‘sawtooth’ camouflage pattern on the wings.

This is Mushroom Model Publications’ seventh book in their Maritime series. A video trailer of the book can be seen on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQq9l4pRwjk. I counted 183 black and white photos and woodcuts, two black and white line drawings, and 33 black and white line ship profiles. Additionally, there are 13 tables and twelve maps. The cover painting is by Grzegorz Nawrocki and is what I believe to be of the Russian armed steamer Vesta and her running battle with the Turkish ironclad Feth-i-Bulend near Constanca on July 22, 1877.

Scale Aircraft Conversions has produced white metal replacement landing gear for the recently issued Italeri H-21 “Flying Banana” kit. I have reviewed several of these sets, and purchased a few more on my own, because in all cases they have been superior to the kit items. The white metal gear typically provides a much greater weight tolerance than kit-supplied plastic parts.

These white metal replacements are a clean drop-in for the kits’ plastic parts. The set includes main gear and nose gear struts and supporting hardware. Detailing has been improved over the kit parts (mold lines removed, etc.). The supplied items also include all main and nose gear braces, the nose gear oleo scissor assembly, landing lights and a pitot replacement.

The USS Yorktown (CV-5) is one of the important US Aircraft carriers of World War II. Her level of participation in our Pacific Theater of operations is immeasurable in terms of giving as well as taking. With the vast distances involved in the Pacific, it was clear to the military planners of the day a new strategy must be devised. One of the key components of that strategy would hinge on fast carriers and support ships to sustain the island-hopping campaigns that would bring our forces closer to the Emperors front door. Yorktown played a significant role leading up to and into the early days of the war. As the first purpose built, from the keel up aircraft carrier the designers started with a clean sheet of paper and incorporated many of the lessons learned on preceding carriers.

This book traces the early history of Ju-52 combat units and operations. The book is broken up into six chapters.

Chapter one covers the development of Junkers Ju-52 from the lifting of the ban imposed by the Treaty of Versailles on the production of commercial aircraft in 1922. Beginning with the all metal F-13 and moving through the A-20 and on to the G-24 leading up to project “EF 30”. This was essentially a single engine Ju-52 and eventually progressing to the now familiar three engine design. There is a brief discussion of their use by Bolivia in the war with Paraguay that was very interesting. Discussion is also present on the civilian use of the Ju-52 noting that by March 31,1936 839 Ju-52s had been built and orders came from all over Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa for this sturdy airliner.

Mission Models has a new line of ‘airbrush ready’ acrylic paints. These paints are odorless, spray easily to a nice, hard, even finish, and have less ‘tip-drying’ than other acrylic paints. The paints come in 1 oz. dropper bottles to facilitate measuring and contain a BB to help mix the paint.

MMP paints include the following:

PJ Productions from Belgium makes great aftermarket and figures in resin for aircraft modelers in all scales. This set is a resin Mirage Pilot wearing of the 1960's wearing the white suit named "habit de lumière" and the Garneau helmet T312 or the high-altitude helmet EFA T12. The figure is designed to fit either the Mirage IIIC or early IIIE in 1/32^nd scale.

Moebius Models has been a great boon to modeling especially those who like Sci-Fi, Monsters and Super Heroes. A while back they started producing figures based on the 1966 version of Batman. Currently Batman (Adam West), Cat Women (Julie Newmar), The Riddler (Frank Gorshin), Robin (Burt Ward) and The Penguin (Burgess Meredith) have wonderfully detail kits out. To really celebrate these, Moebius has issued their Batgirl kit as a 1/5^th scale resin kit. The kit represents the late Yvonne Craig in all here glory with the red wig and green contacts as she was on the 1966 series. The kit is made of resin and housed in a beautiful box with each part in an individual Styrofoam slot so there is no rubbing or issues with broken parts. The finished kit is 16” tall and there are great instructions and painting references. The kit was sculpted by Jeff Yagher and Tony Cipriano, two of the best out there today. A base and nameplate are also included.

Gaining momentum on this side of the pond is a model company out of Taiwan called Ding-Hao Hobby, a sister company to AFV Club, that specializes in subjects not well covered (or not covered at all) in injection molded plastic. Their kits are short-run, multi-media affairs mostly aimed at advanced modelers. I first came across Ding-Hao Hobby from a pilot friend of mine who brought me a German Büssing Nag L4500S truck sporting dual MG151 triple machine gun mounts (DH96003). I have since purchased several more DH kits before deciding to review their U.S. Army T77 Multiple Gun Motor Carriage.

The T77 is based on a modified M-24 Chaffee chassis with a specialized turret studded with no less than six U.S. M2 Browning 50cal machine guns – a frightening prospect for anything that would have the bad luck of straying into its line of fire.

Robert Forsyth, born in Berkshire, England, has studied the history and operations of the Luftwaffe since his school days. Based in East Sussex with his wife, he runs an aviation and military publishing business full-time. He has written articles for the magazines Aeroplane, Aviation News, FlyPast, and The Aviation Historian, and is a member of the Editorial Board of the latter publication. He is the author of several hardbound books, including: JV 44 – The Galland Circus (1996), Battle over Bavaria – The B-26 versus the German Jets (Classic, 1998), Mistel – German Composite Aircraft and Operations 1942-1945 (Classic, 2001), Messerschmitt Me 264 Amerikabomber (Classic, 2006, with Eddie Creek); He 162 Volksjäger (Classic, 2009, with Eddie Creek); Heinkel He 111 (Crecy, 2014); Junkers Ju 52 (Specialty Press. 2015, with Eddie Creek).

The one thing that is a visual interest in a cockpit are the seatbelts and shoulder harnesses. Regardless of what type of aircraft the first thing you see when you look inside the cockpit are the seatbelts.

Eduard has been trying to perfect the use of photo etch seatbelts from the very beginning. Their latest efforts are really nice. This fret includes enough seatbelts for FOUR single engine Luftwaffe aircraft. The STEEL seatbelts are very thin and bendable. The fret is .002 thick and realistically pre-painted. The paint is shaded and looks very realistic. I was able to bend them without the paint coming off which can sometimes be an issue with thicker belts.

If there is a downside, it is that the belts are only painted on one side, but depending on how you bend them they won’t be an issue.

This is the photoetch fret for Eduard's 1/48 SE.5a. It is listed for the Wolseley Viper Version of the kit, but can also be used for the Hispano-Suiza Version of the SE.5a. This is the same photoetch fret included with Eduard's Wolseley Viper, and with the Royal Class edition as R0015-LEPT 1. It can also be purchased separately from either kit. The photoetch fret is not required for completion of the kits, but adds more accurate scale detail than the kit parts.

The steel fret is about 2-3/4 x 2-1/4 inches and includes photoetch pieces for the seatbelts, instrument panel and gauges, machine gun magazine upgrades, several different cockpit levers, brackets for the exhaust pipes, cables and stanchions for the control surfaces, bomb rack, and frames for the wing pulley observation panels.

The Imperial Japanese Navy entered the Pacific War with the most advanced ship-based attack bomber in the world, flown by the most experienced aircrews of any service. First flown in 1937, and introduced into squadron service during the Sino-Japanese conflict in 1938, the Nakajima B5N was faster, flew farther and carried a heavier payload than either of its British or American contemporaries (principally, the Fairey Swordfish and Douglas TBD Devastator, respectively). When used as either a level bomber against stationary targets, or as a torpedo bomber against ships, the “Kate” (as it came to be known to the Allies) would wreak havoc against Japan’s enemies for the first year of the war.

Introduction

Much has been published on the Tamiya 1/48th scale F-14A Tomcat already. Finally an F-14A kit that is fun to build, with outstanding detail, fit and engineering. By itself, out of the box, the kit build will result in an amazing model. However................many of us cannot leave well enough alone and need to add some aftermarket accessories. Eduard offers aftermarket accessories that are hard to resist no matter the quality of the base kit. With the Tamiya F-14A they have done it again.

Personally I prefer to add add photo etch and some resin aftermarket items to many of my builds. When I aquired my Tamiya Tomcat I began to purchase several aftermarket items. When the opportunity arose to volunteer to review the Eduard Big Ed set of photo etch, canopy mask and seat belts I could not resist.

Osprey’s latest publication is this study of the types of tanks shipped to the Soviet Union starting in late 1941 and continuing through the end of the war under the Lend-Lease Program. Due to their armor losses following the success of Germany’s Operation Barbarossa, the Red Army desperately needed replacements and turned to their allies for help.

Coastal Kits was founded in 2011 and is based in Blackpool, Lancashire, UK. It is a family-run business that originally retailed model kits and their associated supplies. Coastal Kits began marketing their own range of display bases at the end of 2012 after their bases were well received at Telford’s Scale Model World. The Business soon decided to concentrate solely on their display base product line. The range currently exceeds 220 bases in multiple scales and subjects. They also provide custom bases upon request.

The display bases are manufactured from 3mm Foamex board which is a rigid, waterproof plastic. Laminated matte vinyl is used to print the subject with the latest odorless latex ink providing a permanent and waterproof finish. The benefit over alternatives like paper-based products is that the display will not fade, lift, or bubble.

If you want to add some great looking seatbelts to your next U.S. Navy fighter of the Second World War, you need to look no further than Eduard. This is my second review of Eduard Steel seatbelts, and I am still amazed at what the company is producing in photoetched products. The belts are easy enough to install for those with some photoetch experience, the only challenging part is installing the clasp on the left side seatbelt, but I would still highly recommend this set!

Plus Model was established in 1990 in the Czech Republic. Their product range is comprised primarily of 1/35th scale resin kits, conversion sets, and accessories which are vacuum cast from polyurethane plastic. The company also has a line of quality dioramas made from a special hardened gypsum. Additionally, Plus Model sells styrene sheets of varying thickness and a wide range of printed-paper 1/35th scale accessories such as scale posters, road signs, rations boxes, tents, etc..

The subject of this offering is a 1/48th scale Shed. The kit consist of laser cut wooden parts, a small sheet of card stock, and five resin parts. The resin pieces are two Jerry cans, a spoke-wheel, a fifty-five gallon drum, and a toolbox/crate. The detail on all the resin pieces is superb. The laser cut wooden sections comprise the sides, top, and floor of the shed.

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 Hasegawa Mc 202 (also Eduard “Folgore”), and at least for the main landing gear, it can be used with the Hasegawa/Italeri Mc.205 “Veltro” as well. Perhaps the tail wheel, but I’m not sure.

The set includes 5 parts with the following breakdown: two main landing gear struts, actuator arms, and a tail wheel. 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. Some of the white metal part would be comprised by the equivalent of several plastic parts, so you have an easier job of assembling the landing gear due to having fewer parts to deal with. In addition you don’t have to deal with cleaning seam lines.

The Kit

Joining Trumpeter’s growing fleet of prime movers, this kit is their latest addition. The AT-T is a tracked vehicle, sharing the same components as a T-54. The kit and markings are for one vehicle. The color call out sheet shows this as a parade vehicle, white rims and markings of the Soviet flag. I chose to make it a grubbier vehicle with the Soviet red star (ironically enough, left over from another Trumpeter kit). Molded in the now customary grey Trumpeter plastic, there are ten sprues in the kit of which three are the tracks and two are the rubber road wheels. It includes one fret of PE, clear parts and one sheet of decals. The parts are nicely molded, but there are some prominent mold lines on some of the smaller parts that must be taken care of.

History

Created to replace the piston-engined B-26 Invader, the twin jet engine tactical bomber B-57 Canberra was produced by US aircraft company Martin in the 1950s. Derived from the British aircraft EE Canberra it was produced in several versions to perform not only bombing but recon, electronic warfare, ground attack and dive bombing duties. The B-57B, developed for bombing missions, was the main version produced. It was characterized by the adoption of a new cockpit with two crew members arranged in tandem and under-wing hardpoints able to be armed with a wide range of weapons. The first units produced were armed with eight 12.7mm machine guns installed within the wings and later substituted with four 20mm cannons.

Shortly after Trumpeter released its new Su-33 Flanker D kit, Scale Aircraft Conversions released a replacement set for the kit landing gear. The set is comprised of five parts: two main landing gear legs, the nose strut, the nose strut retraction actuator, and the scissor link for the nose gear strut.

As with Scale Aircraft’s other sets, the parts are drop in replacements for the kit parts. After removing a slight molding seam on the parts, I polished them using a wire wheel in my battery operated Dremel tool at low speed. This works very well and results in a nice uniform finish to all of the parts.

The Jeep

The original Jeep was built by Bantam, but Ford and Willys also bid on the original contract. Due to financial problems at Bantam, the other two companies were given contracts to build Jeeps. Bantam called theirs BRC-40 Willys was the MB, the Ford was called GPW. The Jeep was a ¼ ton all-wheel drive vehicle, with a wheelbase of 80 inches and a track of 47 inches.

Willys produced 363,000 Jeeps, Ford made 280,000. We gave 51,000 to the Russians. They were used in every theater of WW2.

The Kit

The base kit is one very nicely cast piece of resin, which is almost the entire Jeep. There is a PE fret, of which 3 parts are used. There’s a decal sheet with all the markings you need. You get enough in the envelope to build two Jeeps, with PE and decals for both.