My father, a retired career pilot and Colonel in the USAF, passes along a magazine he receives each month as a member of the Air Force Association. Several years ago, an article in one issue titled “Life on the Pine Tree Line” captivated me. The article details daily activities at a remote DEW-line radar site on Resolution Island, in far North Newfoundland, back in the 50s and 60s. In particular, photos of an H-21 Shawnee or “Flying Banana” as it is more commonly referred to in Artic Red conspicuity markings, caught my eye. Other aircraft and vehicles documented in the photos included a C-123, a TWA “Connie”, various cargo trucks and vehicles, and a small WWII utility vehicle known as a “Weasel”. Visions of a winter diorama scene began to take shape.

The Boeing AH-64-D Longbow is a twin-turbo shaft attack helicopter with a nose mounted target acquisition and night vision systems which makes it incredibly destructive. Longbow-equipped Apaches can locate up to 256 targets simultaneously within 50 km; the fire control radar is able to crush the enemy beyond sight range.

Upon opening the box, I found there to be 4 sprue's - 3 grey and 1 clear. Also included were the instructions for five different markings and stencils plus a decal sheet. The first thing I always do is to remove the clear sprue and pour future over them. This will stop a lot of problems later. Inspecting the rest of the grey sprue's I found no sink holes on the outside of the parts, but there were a few on the inside that were not going to be seen at final display.

This title is from Osprey’s well received Combat Series of books. It is number 26 in the series.

From the Cover

South Africa 1880-1902

Recently I was given the opportunity by IPMS USA to review Eduard’s BRASSIN Hamilton Standard Propeller for the new 1/48 Airfix P-51D kit. One of the first things to notice with this product is the excellent presentation of the packaging with the familiar clamshell box, with the resin parts safely cocooned on dark grey foam inserts, and the instructions sandwiched between the two halves, doubling as the header card.

The set contains:

• Grey resin components (7 pieces)
• Etched brass part (1plus spares)
• A resin assembly jig

Upon removal of the components from the package you will notice the great level of detail with the inside of both the spinner front and back-plate boasting some great touches. The blades are great and the shape on these are perfect. The set also comes with a jig to help with location of the blades and is also nice to help hold the assembly if you want to drill a hole in the center for the prop to spin,

Background

The T-90 “Standard Tank” was an evolutionary development of the Soviet T-72 tank, the latter being a prime component of Soviet tank forces during the mid-1970’s to the mid 1990’s. The T-72 was also exported widely, including to the armed forces of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. During the 1991 Gulf War, the Iraqi T-72 tanks suffered very badly against such tanks as the U.S. M1 Abrams. Whether this was due to the T-72 being notably inferior to the West’s main battle tanks or poor training and tactics on the part of the Iraqis is irrelevant: the perception in many nations following the 1991 war was that the Soviet tank was inferior. Thus, there was pressure within the Russian military-industrial complex to get rid of the “T-72” name. Hence naming the first tank out of the newly formed “Russia” the T-90.