Published on
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$79.95
Overview
Reviews
Published on
Company
Airfix
Scale
1/76
MSRP
$11.99
For those old-timers in the hobby, the name Airfix may bring back many a fond memory of simple kits that only generally resembled what they were supposed to, and could be put together on a rainy Saturday afternoon at the kitchen table. However, since being taken over by the toy giant Hornby, Airfix has been in the process of re-inventing itself. Old kits are being updated and new ones issued as well. Their latest military vehicle offering is a King Tiger. It's all-new molding, as Airfix never did a King Tiger. There are 89 parts on three sprues. The molding is good – nice and crisp. However, they chose to mold all the tools and cables, etc., onto the hull. This makes adding zimmerit tricky and requires careful painting to pick them out.
Published on
Company
Starfighter Decals
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$12.50
I bought this upgrade set at the Orlando Nationals to upgrade the Monogram P-36 which I was going to do with the Yellow Wings decals, which I have also reviewed.
The Monogram P-36 has been around for a long time, first released in 1967. While it’s not a new kit, it has decent shape and fit. But the interior is just a seat and an instrument panel. Starfighter Decals, part of Mark’s Models and Toys, comes to the rescue with resin parts.
You get wheel wells, a seat, cockpit sides, a floor, an instrument panel, and a stick.
Mark Tutton made the masters for the resin parts, and he’s done a good job. Everything in the cockpit went together well, and I’m happy with how it looks.
The instructions call for an aluminum interior, or possibly interior green. Since the 77th Pursuit was at Moffett Field when they had this aircraft, and they were there in late 1939 to mid 1940, I chose the green.
Published on
Company
Yellow-Wings Decals
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$12.95
Yellow Wings Decals specializes in the “between the wars” period, 1930-1942, when there was a lot of aircraft development and the American military aircraft were incredibly gaudy. I’ve heard that the yellow wings on these aircraft were to make them easier to find when they made emergency landings or crashed somewhere off the field.
The Aircraft
This is the first of a series of special decals which will include more than one aircraft type. This set is for:
Published on
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$52.99
Aircraft History
The F/A-18E/F Super Hornet is a similar, yet fundamentally different, follow on to the F/A-18A-D “legacy” Hornets. Entering production in the late 90s, the Super Hornet, or “Rhino” as it is known in the fleet, improves upon many of the “legacy” Hornets’ shortcomings, most notably fuel capacity. The Rhino also increases power and payload over the Hornet, as well as offering updated avionics. Visually, it’s distinguished from the “legacy” Hornet by large squared-off stealthy jet intakes replacing the previous oval-shaped intakes, as well as the aft fuselage and wings being bulkier and larger overall. Ultimately, the Rhino is positioned as a money saving jack-of-all-trades for the US Navy, replacing the roles served by venerable aircraft such as the F-14, A-6, S-3, KA-6D Tanker, and in the guise of the EA-18G, the EA-6B.
Kit Contents
Published on
Company
HK Models Co.
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$169.95
This is the second release of the HK Models B-25J series. The first was the Glass Nose version which was thoroughly covered by Ed Kinney's excellent review. This version is "The Strafer", which has the solid nose containing eight .50 cal machine guns. This version relies on most of the parts provided in the glass nose version and includes several new part trees of gun nose. The same engine, wing, landing gear, tail, and fuselage parts are used and you get new nose details and decals.
Published on
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$44.99
This kit is a re-release of the original B-239 in Finnish Service of some years back, only doubled and with new decals. Each of the two planes comes with 8 sprues and 52 parts, 12 of which are for optional versions.
Assembly is straightforward in 8 steps: cockpit, fuselage, wings, main assembly, landing gear, engine, props, and canopy. I encountered no issues with fit and very little need for filler. The only issue needing fixing was that the anti-roll device stood a little proud of the turtleback and this affected the fit of the canopy. Optional parts are for the propeller style, cuffed or not, and canopy windscreen, as parts are provided for both the telescopic and reflector gun sight versions. You need not pick a color scheme until step 7, and speaking of same, there are decals and schemes for 3 aircraft.
Book Author(s)
Colin A. Owers
Published on
Company
Albatros Productions, Ltd.
MSRP
$17.50
History
Windsock Datafiles has produced a number of excellent reference works on various aircraft of the World War I era, and they are certainly to be commended for publishing another this subject. For those who are tired of Spads, Camels, and Fokkers, this one will be a breath of fresh air as few people have ever heard of this aircraft, let alone its interesting history.
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$17.95
This was to have been a full gear replacement review until the USPS decided to treat the package like the gorilla from the old 1970’s American Tourister luggage commercial. Unfortunately, the package did not fare anywhere near as well as the luggage did, as it looked like it had been stomped flat. After sorting through the carnage I was able to gather together enough surviving parts for one main gear leg.
What you get in the package is a full gear replacement in white metal for both main gear legs and the tail wheel. As you can see from one of the photos, the SAC gear has simplified things by making the main gear legs three total pieces and main tailwheel leg as two total piece, versus five pieces for the kit’s main gear and three for the kit’s tail wheel.
Published on
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$80.00
History
The Junkers Ju-88 was probably the most important multi-engined aircraft used by the Luftwaffe during World War II. Intended originally for level and dive bombing, it was later adapted to many other roles, excelling as a radar-equipped night fighter. Beginning with the Battle of Britain in 1940, the JU-88 became the standard day and night bomber in Luftwaffe units, and when the British sent up barrage balloons with cables dangling to ensnare unwary bomber pilots, especially at night, the ingenious Luftwaffe engineers came up with a system whereby a plane could fly through the cables, cutting them with special cable cutting units installed on the front of the airplanes.