The Fuji Heavy Industries T-1 series of aircraft was the first aircraft entirely designed and built in Japan following World War II. The T-1B has a Japanese-designed and built engine, which is the only change from its predecessor, the T-1A. Externally, there is no difference between the two models. The T-1A first flew on January 19th, 1958. A total of 66 aircraft (of both types) were produced, and the type was retired in March of 2006.

Platz’s T-1B kit faithfully reproduces Fuji’s T-1B and is molded in light grey plastic. There was no flash on my sample, and the panel lines are crisp and recessed into the plastic. One downfall of the kit is the instructions, which are in Japanese save for the aircraft information and step titles. However, you can easily follow them with the clear assembly drawings.

Eduard continues to expand its Brassin line, this time with the release of the Shafrir 2 missile in 1/48 scale. These Israeli-built missiles have seen widespread service with the IDF, plus it has been exported to many countries in Latin America (I know of Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and perhaps other countries as well).

I have to say that I like the new packaging of the Brassin detail sets. Now they are released in a clear plastic hard blister instead of a thin cardboard box. This new packaging protects delicate resin parts from being bent in transport.

This set provides you with two missile bodies, 8 fins, 2 pylon racks, clear resin for the IR sensor plus resin and photoetch parts for the sensor cover. Also a small decal sheet is provided.

Iliad Designs is a company based in Ottawa Canada. They offer decals, aircraft color charts, and publications. This time around we’ll take a look at their decal sheet for the B-25B, C, and D models. There are five different aircraft represented on this sheet. My modification comments are based on using the Airfix B-25 (kit # A06015). See my separate review of that kit on this site.

The Master products are very fine and well done brass parts to update or repair your kit. In this case, it was an F-5A which I built several years ago, and the pitot tube was badly bent. Also, the guns were barely visible.

This set consists of a brass pitot, two 20mm guns, and a fairing which can replace the left gun.

The upgrade is pretty simple. You get a .3mm drill. Remove the kit pitot and drill a hole there. The guns require a little more work, as there isn’t a good place to start drilling. I began by using a #1 blade to dig the guns out, then drilled the .3 mm holes. Then I installed the pitot and the guns. I had to use a little filler under the guns to get them looking good.

I painted the area with the same gray I used to paint the model, then highlighted the guns. I used Testors “Burnt Metal” for these, as I find gun metal to be too dark.

And the project was done. Looks good.

Launched on the last day in April, 1919, and commissioned just over three years later, on June 3, 1920, this sixth vessel to carry the name Tennessee was the name ship of her class (which included her sister, USS California) and the last US battleship to carry 14” guns. In this Naval edition of his extensive “Legends of Warfare” series, author David Doyle provides another extensively illustrated history of this famous warship. While each chapter - covering Construction; Launching, Fitting Out and Commissioning; To War (with subsequent descriptions of her collision with USS California and participation in the action in Surigao Straight); and The End of the Line - includes a brief introductory written description, the bulk of the written information comes as captions to the hundreds of photos (the vast majority in sharp black & white, with four color photos of her following decommissioning).