The cockpit set comes in four cream colored pieces – tub, seat, stick and panel/coaming. The parts are nicely detailed and well-cast, if only a tad rough on the surface. The texture was not an issue with parts this small and I did nothing special to prepare the parts for painting, including skipping the washing stage often recommended. The parts were prepared simply by cutting them from their casting blocks.

Contents

• Cover Article…"The Perfect Panther”" – F9F-2 by Zdenek Sebesta on the Trumpeter 1/48th scale kit.
• Hurricane MK1(early) – Pacific Miniatures kit by Jamie Haggo
• The Martin Baltimore Special Hobbys 1/72nd kit by Andrea Vignocchi
• Photo Gallery of the Baltimore by David Doyle
• Hellenic Air Force T-2 Buckeye (2Bobs 1/48th kit) by Periklis Salessiotis
• Bell P-39 Airacobra (MPar 1/32nd) by Daniel Zamarbide
• Air Born…A listing of New Releases
• SM79 “Sparviero” (Classic Airframes 1/48th) by Jean Barby

I have always been interested in aircraft colors and markings. My library is full of books from Karl Ries, Monogram, Ducimus, Harleford and many others. I had expected this book to be a similar tome devoted to three view drawings, color call-outs and marking drawings. The authors would provide the data and then choose a photo to illustrate their information.

This book is different. It is a collection of very interesting photos, most from the Newark Air Museum. The Photos illustrate a great variety of color and markings of the four covered aircraft, during the target timeframe. Aircraft that are covered include the Hunter, the Canberra (part 1), the Valetta and the Vampire T.11. All of the photos appear to have been taken in the UK and the aircraft are primarily RAF aircraft.

Most model builders think of useful small hobby tools when they hear someone say TRITOOL. However, this TRITOOL item is a fundamental building material for use in scratch building, customizing or finishing models. It is a unique self-adhesive sheet of thin pre-finished foil (film) that is intended to replicate red finishes on aircraft or other models (other primary colors are available, such as white, black, yellow, orange, blue, etc.). The package contains one 90mm x 200mm sheet of material that has a red semi-gloss finish. It appears to be the correct color for reproducing a Japanese Hinomaru.

Editor's note: Sheet no.s 30001 and 30002 - $12.50 each; 30005 - $7.50

For those of us who love nothing better than trying to figure out where all of those flying wires go to and how to attach them, New Zealand’s Wingnut Wings has been a blessing and the best thing that has happened to our hobby in many years. 1/32^ndscale is a fantastic scale for WWI aircraft, yet they don’t take up a lot of display room.