This H8K Emily was certainly an eye opener for me as it to date is the largest model kit I’ve built and in 1/72 scale that is simply amazing. In scale, the wingspan of the Emily is 0.53 meters (20.75 inches). To give you an idea of its true size, the Emily is just a couple of meters smaller in wingspan than a C-130 Hercules. The first boxing of the H8K by Hasegawa in 1/72 dates back to 1967 and was in need of an update. Fast forward to 2017 and thanks to the good folks from Hasegawa we have a simply amazing new tool replacement to their earlier release. As a nice little bonus, Hasegawa includes a poster of a cutaway view of the fuselage with this boxing of the kit. This may only be a limited run bonus, so check the box top for the bonus item markings.

This book goes into great detail of what I consider the best X-Plane of them all, the X-15. This X-plane was the last of the Manned Rocket planes, it went beyond Mach 6, and if the project had continued, would I am sure have passed Mach 7. The X-15 reached the edge of space at 380,000 feet altitude. The project was the first by North American, as they won the contract over Bell and Douglas, who had until this been the main developers of the X-Planes.

There is a lot to the story of the X-15, and this book goes into a lot of detail in an informative and entertaining way. The book draws you in and keeps your attention. I read the book in one sitting and enjoyed it greatly. The book covers all the issues and problems, alongside the great steps forward, the X-15 helped achieve, and the advances in systems, airframe, engines, and materials.

The British Royal Navy entered the Second World War with 160 destroyers, ranging from some holdovers from the Great War to recently commissioned vessels of vastly improved capability. In this volume, naval historian Angus Konstam describes the attributes of over a dozen classes of destroyers.

The opening chapter gives a general developmental history of the early destroyers of the Royal Navy, their design and development, roles and uses, weapons and general modifications, as well as their appearance and habitability. The author then goes on to describe, in as much detail as is possible within these limited 48 pages, the various classes of inter-war build vessels from earliest to latest, including:

All the way from the Emil to the early versions of the Gustav, Bf-109 wheel hubs had support spokes in the hub. These are very deep and are very difficult to replicate in plastic form. Eduard has done a superb job of capturing this feature in their Brassin line.

Contained in a plastic blister pack are two main wheels of the proper size, 660 x 160, the tail wheel strut, and two spoke assemblies which are protected by foam backing. Also included in the kit are a set of masks to use on all the tires. The instructions are easy enough to use and show the proper orientation of the finished tire.

Recently I was given the opportunity by IPMS USA to review Eduard’s canopy masks for the new 1/32 Revell Me262B-1 kit. One of the first things to notice with this product is the excellent presentation of the packaging with the easy to open flap. Package includes a single sheet of kabuki paper masks for the canopy panels and also the wheel hubs.

Upon removal of the masks from the package I was able to easily remove the masks from the paper and apply to appropriate section of the canopy. The instructions included with the masks gives you a good feel for which panel you are working with compared to how canopy is actually sectioned off. The masks lay down well and no trimming had to be done to center up the masks with the canopy framing.