all 2017

Review Author
Craig Gregory
Published on
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
Grade A Large
MSRP
$62.99

The Hasegawa Eggplane Series is just plain fun. They assemble quickly, are generally well engineered, and for me provide an immediate platform to practice my budding modeling skills. I “assembled” plastic models as a kid; messy tube-glue seams and hand brushed finishes. I reenter the hobby a few years ago by joining the local IPMS chapter and enrolling in the club’s Adult Building Course. Since, then I have built a few successful projects with the skills learned in the ABC and practice on my Eggplanes.

The F-2 & T-4 “ADTW 60th ANNIVERSARY” box set are my 4th and 5th Eggplanes. The box set is a reissue of previous releases of the F-2 and F-4 with special ADTW 60th Anniversary decals. The 2 kits are packaged separately with individual instruction sheets and a combined decal sheet. I proceed as two individual builds.

Book Author(s)
Edward Hampshire
Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$18.00

Soviet Cold War Guided Missile Cruisers by Edward Hampshire is his third book and first for Osprey Publishing. Edward Hampshire earned his PhD in War Studies from King’s College in London with a thesis on British naval equipment of the 1960s. His focus is Cold War era navies and British defense policy since WWII. Dr. Hampshire has taught at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and has worked at the National Archives. He has been featured on television and radio, including the BBC, ITV, ABC, and NBC. Dr. Hampshire’s previous book was published in 2013, East of Suez to the Eastern Atlantic, British Naval Policy 1964-70. He also co-authored British Intelligence: Secrets, Spies and Sources, published in 2008. He has been a Senior Lecturer at the Royal Royal Military Academy Sandhurst since 2012.

Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$29.95

Eduard continues their Brassin series armament releases for 1/32nd scale aircraft with Mk. 82 low drag, general purpose bombs which are in use around the world. This set is your basic dumb bomb with a low drag configuration with no guidance systems or retardation fins. This set is comprised of thirty parts; twelve of which are the bomb fronts and the fins. The remaining eighteen are fusing/plugging options. There are three choices- standard fuse and the extended fuse and lastly, the plug installed to the nose to cover the internal parts. Casting is excellent with no pinholes and great definition. There are no seams on the parts to sand.

Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$39.95

This is a re-box kit and update with new parts of the Eduard release from 1998. It represents the famous Bell Aircraft Corporation’s X-1 X-plane that first took man past the sound barrier on October 14th 1947 piloted by Capt. Charles E “Chuck” Yeager.

In the box is:

  • 2 x light grey sprues
  • 1 clear canopy
  • 1 decal sheet
  • 1 mask sheet
  • 1 photoetch detail set
  • 3 x resin wheels
  • 1 instruction booklet

All the sprues are extremely well molded with very little flash and great detail; the decals allow you to finish the aircraft in 4 different versions.

Construction

First is the construction of the cockpit which is well detailed, and the photoetch helps a lot to make this a very impressive cockpit when complete.

Review Author
Peter Bucher
Published on
Company
SBS Model
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$17.25

Background

Toldi 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. The 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.

Review Author
Timothy Gidcumb
Published on
Company
Ultracast
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$5.31

The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and enabled a rapid entry into production and operational service. The Warhawk was used by most Allied powers during World War II, and remained in frontline service until the end of the war. It was the third most-produced American fighter, after the P-51 and P-47; by November 1944, when production of the P-40 ceased, 13,738 had been built, all at Curtiss-Wright Corporation's main production facilities at Buffalo, New York.

Book Author(s)
Greg Baughen
Review Author
Michael Novosad
Published on
Company
Casemate Publishers
MSRP
$45.00

From the website

Overview

In May 1940, the German Army and the Allied forces they faced were fairly evenly matched. Two months later Britain was on her own, hopelessly outnumbered and facing imminent defeat. Should the RAF have done more to support the Allied armies in France? Could the RAF have protected the British Army better at Dunkirk? How narrow was the margin of victory in the Battle of Britain? Was the RAF ready to deal with an invasion? Why were hundreds of American combat planes and experienced Polish and Czech pilots never used? All these questions and more are answered in Greg Baughen's third book in the series. Baughen describes the furious battles between the RAF and the Luftwaffe and the equally bitter struggle between the Air Ministry and the War Office- and explains how close Britain really came to defeat in the summer of 1940.

About The Author

Review Author
Paul R. Brown
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$16.95

While the Grumman Hellcat’s primary claim to fame is its stellar service with the US Navy in Pacific Ocean, the Hellcat also saw action in the European and Mediterranean theaters with the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy. Under the Lend-Lease program over 200 F6F-3 Hellcats were delivered to the Fleet Air Arm for use from Royal Navy carriers as the Hellcat Mk. I.

Review Author
Dan Brown
Published on
Company
Dragon Models
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$69.99

Early in the 1960s West Germany and the US agreed to bolster the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tank forces by beginning the process of replacing their aging fleet of tanks with more modern M48A1/A2s. In all around 150 M48A1s and 100 M48A2s seem to have been sold to Israel during this time. It is a little unclear from the resources that I have when the upgrades exactly started to these M48A1/2s but the intent was to upgrade them to the M48A3 specs by replacing the gasoline engine with a more reliable diesel power plant, improved communications equipment, and the lowering of the command turret’s profile. They also began swapping out the original 90mm main cannon with the British 105mm L7 from the Centurion. Some of these upgrades seem to have started before the outbreak of hostilities leading up to the 6 Day War in 1967 but it is unclear from my references to what extent they were completed and how many fully upgraded Magach 3s served during the 6 Day War.