This set includes 5 medium (280) grit sanding sticks. To help those of us who are visually oriented, the sanding sticks are a nice orange color, which will help distinguish them from Squadron’s other sanding sticks quickly as each grit is a different. The sanding sticks have a nice thick piece of styrene in the center of each stick to give them some rigidity, which I found useful when sanding larger flat seams such as the wing seam on my original issue Airfix Vulcan.

The box advises you that the sanding sticks can be cut and shaped to fit specific needs or shapes, however they are not easy to cut due to the styrene piece in the center of the stick. I ended up using large house scissors and a sharp Xacto in order to cut off a part of the sanding stick.

I have been familiar with the various book series that Kagero has produced over the years – all aimed at the modeler - but this was a new line to me. “Douglas DB-7 A20G Havoc” is Number 2 in the “Club 1/48” series. Number 1 covers the Junkers Ju 88A-4 and is by the same author.

This is a softcover publication, with 45 pages in a nice, high-quality semi-gloss finish and a stiff outer cover. Text is in Polish and English. Printed on the cover is “free masking foil”, which I usually take to mean a masking set for the canopy in Kagero publications. This turns out to be a 1/48 decal. The website says this book includes a decal, so this is as planned. Probably just a translation issue. I appreciate the little ‘extras’ Kagero often includes in their publications and am probably more likely to use the decals than the masking sheet.

This Part 2 of the review of Meng’s GT40 Mk.II ’66 focuses on the chassis & suspension assembly of the Meng kit. Part 1 of the GT40 review included ‘What’s-In-The-Box’ and a comparison of the Meng kit to the previously released Trumpeter GT40 kit.

Ford GT40 Mk.II ‘66

Developed by the Ford Motor Company and Carroll Shelby to end the dominance of Ferrari in the preeminent 24 Hours of LeMans, the Ford GT40 Mk.II become an iconic American built race car. After failing to finish the race in 1965, the Ford GTs finished 1-2-3 in 1966 in a humiliating loss for Ferrari to win at Le Mans. This also ended Ferrari's five-year-long dominance of this race.

Brengun continues to release wonderful aftermarket add-ons to enhance 1/48th scale planes. In this set, there are six complete AN-M31A1 100 lb bombs which were used by fighters, bombers, or attack aircraft. They were in use for a long period of time and covered WWII to Korea and further.

Inside the package are six perfectly cast bomb bodies in Brengun’s dark gray resin. Simply cut from the pour block and you are set to add the photoetch. There is a complete photoetch sheet which has the bomb fins, the nose fuse and the rear plate and tail fuse. You will need a 0.5mm rod to add the tail fuse also. Lastly, the decals are included and have the nose and tail yellow bands, marking for the tail and two for the body. The decals are crisp.

Historical Background

The Fairey Firefly was originally conceived in the late thirties as a carrier based fighter for the Royal Navy. It was built as a two seater because the authorities felt that a single pilot would not be able to navigate and fly under combat conditions at sea. While other similar aircraft, notably the Defiant and Blackburn Skua and Roc had power operated turrets, the Firefly dispensed with these, and throughout the protracted development of the type, the rear gun was never adopted for widespread use. Performance, however, was exceptional, and the type was ready for limited service in 1942. Development was slow, and it never really made the grade as a carrier based fighter, although many variants were developed for specialized uses, including night fighter, target tug, attack bomber, and trainer.