February 2021

Book Author(s)
John Fairley
Review Author
Dick Montgomery
Published on
Company
Pen & Sword
MSRP
$42.95

Jacket Information

Barely a decade passed from the Wright Brothers’ first powered flight to aircraft becoming lethal instruments of war. The Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service took off in the very early days of The Great War and captured the public’s imagination and admiration.

Sydney and Richard Carline happened to be both pilots and artists as was Frenchman Henri Farre. Their works inspired celebrated painters like Sir John Lavery who took to the skies in an airship in the First World War. Feeding on the demand for works depicting this new dimension of warfighting, a new genre of art was born which has remained popular ever since.

Book Author(s)
Robert Panek and Krzystof Wotowski
Review Author
Paul Mahoney
Published on
Company
Mushroom Model Publications - MMP Books
MSRP
$11.99

Upon opening the narrow, softcover book, one is immediately presented with several pages of scale plans (in 1/72 and 1/48). No introductory history or anything like that, just right into the plans. This is followed by about 15 pages of photos, interspersed with snippets from the original aircraft manual. While there is no body of text, each photo has a generous caption. The wartime photos show several aircraft on different fronts, and not only show some great details, but give a sense of the conditions in which these aircraft operated. There are also several pages of drawings from the technical manual (augmented by photos) showing many of the cockpit details. The last several pages consist of color photos of the Hs 126’s engine (from a museum), a color rendition of the instrument panel, and some nicely-done color profiles. These profiles are all the same aircraft, a winter-whitewashed aircraft operating in Russa, ca 1941/42.

Review Author
Michael Novosad
Published on
Company
Quickboost
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$8.99

Background from Wikipedia

The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by the Supermarine Spitfire's role during the Battle of Britain in 1940, but the Hurricane inflicted 60 per cent of the losses sustained by the Luftwaffe in the engagement, and fought in all the major theatres of the Second World War.

The Hurricane was developed through several versions, into bomber-interceptors, fighter-bombers, and ground support aircraft as well as fighters. Versions designed for the Royal Navy known as the Sea Hurricane had modifications enabling operation from ships. Some were converted as catapult-launched convoy escorts. By the end of production in July 1944, 14,487 Hurricanes had been completed in Britain, Canada, Belgium and Yugoslavia.

Review Author
Phillip Cavender
Published on
Company
ICM
Scale
1/24
MSRP
$49.99

Introduction

Appearing on the market August 2020 is ICM’s rebox of their Model T 1913 Speedster introduced in 2018 with updated parts and the addition of a sprue containing two sports car drivers. Known for their detail, this Ukrainian based plastic model kit manufacturer has been producing highly detailed kits since 2003 with exports to several markets including North America.

Book Author(s)
Peter Caygill
Review Author
Michael Novosad
Published on
Company
Pen & Sword
MSRP
$14.06

From the Pen and Sword Website

Peter Caygill is one of Britain's leading aviation history authors. His meticulous research and personal interviews with ex-pilots and aircrew have lead to the publication of many successful books such as Jet Jockeys, Spitfire Mk V in Action and Lightning from the Cockpit. He lives in Darlington, Co. Durham.

Review Author
David Horn
Published on
Company
Brengun
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$10.00

The AN/ALE-39 & 47 Counter Measure Dispenser System (CMDS) carries a variety of flares, chaff and radar jamming expendables. Typically, these dispensers are carried on modern helicopters, transport aircraft and fighter aircraft. The AN/AAR-47 Missile Approach Warning System (MAWS) can be set automatically to initiate flare launch.

Brungen produces a wide range of unique resin and photo-etch accessories in 1/32, 1/48, 1/72 as well as 1/144.

This item covers a unique subject that will assist outfitting a wide variety of aircraft. There are resin chaff/flare dispensers produced for a specific subject complete with their entire mounting per subject. This accessory will allow the modeler to add it to kits where fidelity is poor or completely missing as well as add it on aircraft kits that a version specific resin update is not available.

Review Author
David Horn
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$16.95

Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) manufactures white metal landing gear that is a direct replacement for the kits plastic landing gear. The metal landing gear offer greater strength over the kit parts as well as having most of the mold lines removed. At times the metal will be bent out of shape but that is easily corrected by bending it back to the correct shape.

This set includes twelve parts, the two main gear struts, retract & bracing arms, two versions of nose struts, one compressed strut and one extended. All the replacement parts are exact copies of the kit parts which really helped on my kit since the nose strut was either broken off or missing (short shot in molding). You can see in the kit v.s. SAC parts the missing section on Freedoms part (extended strut).

Review Author
Brian R. Baker
Published on
Company
ICM
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$14.99

History

The Polikarpov U-2, later redesignated PO-2 in honor of the designer, Polikarpov, was originally designed as a light training and general purpose biplane, making its first flight in 1928. Its construction was typical of the period, with mainly wooden construction and fabric covering. It was produced in very large numbers, starting in the late twenties and production lasted until the early fifties in the Soviet Union and later in other countries. It was used as a primary trainer, communications aircraft, light transport, reconnaissance type, and even as a crop duster. Over 30,000 were built, and a number are still flying in Europe and North America. I wrote a review of this kit last year, and since a new issue has emerged, I’m doing it again. It is a slight different model than the earlier one, and I like biplanes.

Review Author
Ben Morton
Published on
Company
Brengun
Scale
1/144
MSRP
$12.69

There seems to be a budding trend in the scale modeling world toward the 'one true scale' of 1/144th models and dioramas. Any number of manufactures have been, for years, been producing some wonderful, small scale armor and aircraft kits. One thing that may have been missing is the ability of the modelers to place their latest small scale creations into context. Diorama or vignette builders have been somewhat at a disadvantage with the lack of 1/144th scaled vehicles with which to enhance the presentation of their small scale projects.

We are at a disadvantage no longer. Brengun, along with some other manufacturers, have been producing some lovely 1/144th scale for some few days now. Brengun has extensive offerings from which to choose: US / German staff cars, US jeep, Russian BTR's, GAZ-69, and now a 1/144th scale German Kubelwagen.

Book Author(s)
Si Sheppard
Review Author
George Cully
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$22.00

The planning, execution and consequences of Operation Vengeance – the interception, shoot-down and death of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy and the architect of Japan’s surprise attack upon the U.S. Fleet at Pearl Harbor – have generated a sizable literature. This Osprey title, the 53rd in its Raid Series, is a succinct but comprehensive summary of that material.