What's New

Review Author
Keith Gervasi
Published on
Company
Tamiya
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$19.49

This set includes 10 different German WWII figures in Wehrmacht uniforms of the Mid-WWII period. Upon opening the box will find a folded two-sided instruction sheet and two bags of grey injected plastic parts. 2 sprues (Y) are the same and contain the accessories while Sprue Z contains the figures and the bases. The plastic is very cleanly molded, and the details are crisp. The standing figures are made up of 4 parts (a body plus separate arms and a head) or 5 parts (a body minus one leg plus separate arms, head and the leg due to the figure in a walking pose). The sitting/kneeling figures are all made up of 5 parts (upper torso with two legs w/lower torso, arms, and head). Sprue Y has all of the accessories and there are lots of them. There are two of the Y sprues and on each one you get 2 MP40, 1 Karabiner semi-auto rifle, 5 Kar.

Book Author(s)
Scott Cuong Tran & Nick Tran
Review Author
Orlando Reyes
Published on
Company
Key Publishing Ltd
MSRP
$29.95

The book contains seven chapters with an introduction, epilogue and end notes. In the introduction you are exposed to the reasons of the Red Flag from its inception in 1975. The photos in the book are those taken between 2018 & 2020. The next section of the introduction provides the reader with the best location for the pictures. All the pictures provided in the book are in color and are of excellent quality. Red Flag operations are located at Nellis Air Force Base. Chapter One deals with the support aircrafts used by The Red Flag organization. The support aircraft includes the EC-130H; Boeing E-3B Sentry; the KC-135 Stratotanker and the HH-60G Pave Hawk. Some of these aircraft are not stationed at Nellis Air Force and they come from all over the states. The second chapter takes you into "strategic Interdiction." This chapter deals mostly with the use of US bombers such as the B-52 and B-1 and gives us a sample of their use in interdiction operations.

Book Author(s)
David Doyle
Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
Company
Schiffer Publishing
MSRP
$24.99

David Doyle's book on the USS Intrepid [CV-11/CVA-11/CVS-11] is one of the latest entries in the 'Legends of Warfare' series with entries in Ground, Naval, and Aviation. The Legends of Warfare series has expanded rapidly since its 2017 debut in the market with now over 100 titles released. This hard cover series covers a wide variety of monographs at a good price point.

Review Author
Paul R. Brown
Published on
Company
Squadron Products
Scale
n/a
MSRP
$10.95

This set includes 5 medium (280) grit sanding sticks. To help those of us who are visually oriented, the sanding sticks are a nice orange color, which will help distinguish them from Squadron’s other sanding sticks quickly as each grit is a different. The sanding sticks have a nice thick piece of styrene in the center of each stick to give them some rigidity, which I found useful when sanding larger flat seams such as the wing seam on my original issue Airfix Vulcan.

The box advises you that the sanding sticks can be cut and shaped to fit specific needs or shapes, however they are not easy to cut due to the styrene piece in the center of the stick. I ended up using large house scissors and a sharp Xacto in order to cut off a part of the sanding stick.

Book Author(s)
David Doyle
Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
Company
Squadron Signal Publications
MSRP
$19.95

David Doyle’s latest book continues to expand Squadron Signal’s monograph series that initiated back in 1971. This is a completely updated and expanded edition over Squadron’s previous editions, including their 1984 edition, Aircraft In Action SS0035 by Lou Drendel, Squadron’s 2008 Walk Around SS5557 by Ken Neubeck; and Squadron’s 2019 edition Aircraft in Action SS10265 by David Doyle.

Book Author(s)
Sebastian Piechowiak
Review Author
Paul Mahoney
Published on
Company
Kagero Publishing
MSRP
$25.95

I have been familiar with the various book series that Kagero has produced over the years – all aimed at the modeler - but this was a new line to me. “Douglas DB-7 A20G Havoc” is Number 2 in the “Club 1/48” series. Number 1 covers the Junkers Ju 88A-4 and is by the same author.

This is a softcover publication, with 45 pages in a nice, high-quality semi-gloss finish and a stiff outer cover. Text is in Polish and English. Printed on the cover is “free masking foil”, which I usually take to mean a masking set for the canopy in Kagero publications. This turns out to be a 1/48 decal. The website says this book includes a decal, so this is as planned. Probably just a translation issue. I appreciate the little ‘extras’ Kagero often includes in their publications and am probably more likely to use the decals than the masking sheet.

Book Author(s)
Fabien Raud
Review Author
Dana Mathes
Published on
Company
Casemate Publishers
MSRP
$37.95

Over 26,000 American Dodge WC54 ambulances served in all theaters of WWII. Fabien Raud’s attraction to these van-like vehicles led him to personally invest over 15 years in the restoration of a WC54 to a factory fresh condition. With translator Alan McKay, Raud shares his love for the vehicle and his authoritative knowledge of its details in this work, which overflows with crisp photography.

Review Author
Bill O'Malley
Published on
Company
Meng Model
Scale
1/12
MSRP
$450.00

This Part 2 of the review of Meng’s GT40 Mk.II ’66 focuses on the chassis & suspension assembly of the Meng kit. Part 1 of the GT40 review included ‘What’s-In-The-Box’ and a comparison of the Meng kit to the previously released Trumpeter GT40 kit.

Ford GT40 Mk.II ‘66

Developed by the Ford Motor Company and Carroll Shelby to end the dominance of Ferrari in the preeminent 24 Hours of LeMans, the Ford GT40 Mk.II become an iconic American built race car. After failing to finish the race in 1965, the Ford GTs finished 1-2-3 in 1966 in a humiliating loss for Ferrari to win at Le Mans. This also ended Ferrari's five-year-long dominance of this race.

Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
Brengun
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$13.11

The US Navy’s most common aerial torpedo used in WWII was the first purpose built torpedo for use in aircraft (but they were also used on PT boats. Brengun’s kit comes with twelve photoetch parts and three resin parts. The kit comes with two options- the early configuration which is a standard looking torpedo and was used from 1935 until 1942. The second option was a later configuration with breakaway plywood nose (often called the pickle barrel) and plywood tail used from 1942 until 1951. I opted for the late version for variety.

Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
Brengun
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$14.03

Brengun continues to release wonderful aftermarket add-ons to enhance 1/48th scale planes. In this set, there are six complete AN-M31A1 100 lb bombs which were used by fighters, bombers, or attack aircraft. They were in use for a long period of time and covered WWII to Korea and further.

Inside the package are six perfectly cast bomb bodies in Brengun’s dark gray resin. Simply cut from the pour block and you are set to add the photoetch. There is a complete photoetch sheet which has the bomb fins, the nose fuse and the rear plate and tail fuse. You will need a 0.5mm rod to add the tail fuse also. Lastly, the decals are included and have the nose and tail yellow bands, marking for the tail and two for the body. The decals are crisp.