The non-profit UK based group known as the Great War Aviation Society publishes their journal, Cross & Cockade International, four times a year. Issues are available in English as printed [Softbound, A4 (8.27” x 11.69”), 80 pages plus a centerfold, as well as digital copies (or both). A new magazine, Contact!, is now available in both print and digital download. Society also provides a free newsletter (sign up on their website) and occasionally publish WWI themed books like the Sopwith Dolphin monograph, which I reviewed earlier for the IPMS-USA. This UK Journal is the sister of the US Journal, Over The Front. The Great War Aviation Society also hosts a lecture series available through Zoom. If interested, you will need to register early as the call is limited in attendance. The Great War Aviation Society also is on Facebook and on X [Twitter].

For some reason, model manufacturers have been omitting pilot figures from their kits. Many aftermarket producers have stepped in to fill the pilot seat void. Czech model manufacturer Aerobonus has a new tool release (2023) in its 1/32 Modern NATO Fighter Pilots, which the instructions state can be used for all 30 NATO member states). Like most pilot figures being released recently, this figure is standing but can easily be made to sit with some razor saw surgery.

This pilot is one of five in the AeroBonus 1:32 Modern NATO Pilots:

The origin of Pen & Sword Books is closely linked with its sister company, the Barnsley Chronicle; one of the UK's oldest provincial newspapers, established in 1858, and one of the few weeklies still in private ownership. The first books published by the company were in response to public demand following of a series of articles published in the newspaper: Dark Peak Aircraft Wrecks told the story of crash sites in the Dark Peak area of the Peak District National Park, and a further weekly feature on the history of two Kitchener battalions, known as the Barnsley Pals, aroused a thirst for more information. Following on from the success of those books, a number of local history paperbacks were produced along with a series of battlefield guidebooks. Battleground Europe proved immediately successful, and the company made the decision to launch a book publishing arm of the group.

Zoukei-Mura has graciously provided the IPMS Reviewer Corps with a first look at their brand new 1/32nd scale Kawasaki Ki-100-I Otsu Type 5 Fighter. Part 1 of this review looked at the box contents: Sprue-runners, decals, masks, and instructions.

Assembly Process

The instruction booklet is 75 pages of very well illustrated pictures and graphics of each step. One of the great things that impressed me about the instructions are the parts are properly named and this gives the functional operation use within the mechanical system of the airplane. Very informative and educational.

The instructions are broken down into 5 sections of the assembly process:

The Westland Wessex was a British license-built version of the Sikorsky H-34 and in it’s HAS.3 anti-submarine version, was a capable hunter/killer and saw combat in the Falklands War, where one machine nicknamed ‘Humphrey’ seriously damaged the Argentine submarine Santa Fe, which subsequently had to be scuttled, and also rescued SAS troops from a glacier in bad weather after their helicopters had crashed.

Italeri’s Wessex HAS.3 kit was released in 2013 and is a very nice kit, though it has a few issues and is lacking finesse in some areas. One such area is the mesh cover for the gearbox compartment. This compartment sits atop the Wessex’s distinctive ‘humpback,’ just under the rotor and rotor head. Quickboost labels this as an ‘engine grille,’ though as the Wessex’s engines are housed in the nose, this seems a little unlikely!