History

The Polikarpov U-2, later PO-2, was designed as a light training biplane, and first appeared in 1928. It was a two seat, of mainly wooden construction, training aircraft similar in many respects to most late twenties biplanes, and had all of the characteristics required for a military trainer, including rugged construction, a low powered but reliable powerplant, and excellent flying characteristics. It so impressed Soviet authorities that it was produced in very large numbers, over 30,000 being completed by Russian and foreign factories and maintenance units between 1928 and 1953, and the last ones weren’t built in Poland until 1959. The PO-2 served mainly as a primary trainer at first, but eventually was pressed into service as a crop duster, military liaison aircraft, med and general supply aircraft, and later as a reconnaissance and light bombing type.

Helion produces books on many aspects of Military History from the Late Medieval period through to the present day. Helion was established in 1996, and since then they have published almost 1,200 books, with 100 or more new titles coming out every year. The 'Africa@War' series covers African military history since 1945.

Peter Baxter is an author, amateur historian and heritage travel guide. Born in Kenya and educated in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), he has lived and traveled over much of southern and central Africa. Peter lives in Oregon, USA. His interests include British Imperial history in Africa and the East Africa campaign of the First World War in particular. He is the author of Pen and Sword's Gandhi, Smuts and Race in the British Empire. You can find out more at peterbaxterafrica.com

When I obtained the 1/48 Special Hobby Si204D for review, I knew I was going to need to see if anybody made pre-cut masks for it. It has a large canopy similar to that used on the Heinkel He111, so I didn’t relish the task of masking it, especially if I had to cut my own masks. Luckily, shortly after I received the kit a new list of Eduard items was distributed for review and the Siebel masks were on the list. I immediately requested them.

If you were ever a fan of the Saturday morning cowboy series back in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s, or enjoyed the classic Sam Peckinpaw movies, this figure should be fairly familiar to you. Labeled as “Pedro Melgoza, bounty hunter”, the beautiful illustration on the box cover bears an unmistakable resemblance to Tom Selleck. As I’ve discussed before, Masterbox is unique in the modeling world for illustrating the products BEFORE sculpting them, and I believe this is a good example.

On opening the box, you find both our bounty hunter figure as well as a very nicely done mount with two complete heads for some variety in the choice of poses. Sorry to say, ladies, but the figure within does NOT resemble Tom Selleck, but appears much more a typical Bandito figure to my eye. The figure assembles quickly, with only the setting of the shotgun across the shoulders requiring a little finagling. No putty was required.

This is a cast white metal conversion set for the Eduard, or actually any, 1/72 scale Fokker D.VII kit. The package I received contained four airfoil shaped spreader assemblies for the landing gear, and two sets each of the landing gear struts and tailskids.

Not having an Eduard kit available, I used an old Revell Fokker D.VII, and the unit fitted nicely. The spreader bar unit was a little roughly cast, but it was easy to sand it down to where is looked good. Not having an Eduard kit, I’m not sure why the unit needed replacement, as there isn’t really much to the gear, just the spreader and the two supporting “V” struts. The struts fit easily into the notches on the bar, but they need a little cleaning up, as there are two molding lines on each set of struts.