Moebius continues to deliver some very interesting products, and the Viper Mk. II is another in the growing list of Moebius kits. This model is in 1/32 scale and includes several features. The Viper can be displayed with gear down or mounted on a base with gear up. A resin pilot figure is included. The decals are of the traditional waterslide variety. The instructions are rather unique in that they are presented to the builder as a “briefing paper”, complete with the Colonial Headquarters Seal at the top of each page. The “briefing paper” approach is fun and it encourages the builder to “get into character” during the assembly process. The instructions contain some excellent color images as well as some accurate and well done line drawings. These images and drawings will help the “crew” to avoid some mistakes that can be made during the assembly process.

The Focke-Wulf FW-200 first achieved fame as one of the world’s first modern, four-engine airliners, although its early career with Lufthansa and Danish Air Lines was relatively brief. Two were exported to Brazil, where they lasted longer than any others, finally being scrapped in 1950. Its airline career was cut short by the outbreak of war, when most FW-200’s were impressed into the Luftwaffe, and most subsequent production aircraft were intended for long range maritime reconnaissance and bombing missions rather than their original transport role.

Model Art is a well known Japanese model magazine. It is famous for high quality builds and photographs that fully live up to the publication’s name. This issue covers Grand Prix cars from the 1970’s and 1990’s as well as all aircraft of the Japanese Blue Impulse team. Other articles cover the Zvezda 1/48 Bf-109F2; 1/35 JGSDF Type 96 WAPC; 1/48 WWII Japanese Type 94 6-wheel truck; 1/700 USS Independence LCS-2; 1/24 Mazda AZ-1, and a 1985 Mazda RX-7 in 1/24 scale.

The first 40 pages give extensive photographic coverage to Lotus 79 from the 1979 French Grand Prix and the Williams FW14B from the Hungarian Grand Prix 1992. This section has a multitude of photos showing the completed models as well as detail shots of the real cars and photos of the model during construction.

I was very excited to have the opportunity to review this title. I am very fortunate to have two of these featured Lancasters in my own back yard. I drive past the Calgary Aerospace Museum every day to and from work, I often stop in to view FM136 found on page 33. Also my inlaws live in southern Alberta and we visit them once or twice a month, highway 2 takes me thru the heart of Nanton and the Nanton Lancaster Society's FM159 (page 41) almost fully operational Lancaster MK X. As well my local club RMMC (Rocky Mountain Model Club, IPMS) holds its annual regional contest in the Nanton Lancaster Hangar usually the last weekend in May or the first Weekend in June (next contest June 4, 2011). So I have had the opportunity to climb inside and see the inside of this magnificant beast. Also during the contest the Society rolls the Lanc outside and fires up the two starboard engines (hopefully on June 4 the inner port will also be running).

The subject of this Datafile may seem somewhat eclectic to model builders who don’t have access to a mainstream kit that matches the subject. But this publication fills a significant void in aviation research and documents the history of an aircraft that has been generally ignored by most model companies (although one limited run 1/72 resin kit is currently available from Omega. Datafile 140 will be of value to anyone willing to tackle a most interesting conversion of one of the many mainstream Fokker D VII kits however, as the C.1 was actually a stretched D VII.