B-17s didn’t just serve in the European Theater but began the war under the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines on 7 and 8 December, respectively due to the international date line. The Flying Fortress served on the front line as bombers from December 1941 through late 1943 before transitioning to B-24D Liberators. Flying Fortresses continued to serve throughout the war as transports and commander/VIP transports. This book does a tremendous job of telling the important role B-17s served in the Pacific Theater.
What's New
This book contains 88 pages, 63 black and white photos, 16 color photos, 18 color profiles, 6 color maps, 5 black and white maps, and 2 tables. It covers war plans, policy, manufacturers, and the Strategic Air Command (SAC) from 1945 to 1990, and is divided into four chapters.
The bulk of this book covers the development of new weapons and aircraft, and how that led to the changes in US tactics, strategy, and doctrine. The changes were needed due to the ending of WWII and the developing Cold War along with the advent of nuclear weapons. These, coupled with the rapid development of jet aircraft, meant that the newly formed USAF would need to modernize its organization of squadrons, war planning, and overall approach on how to manage conflicts of the future. In addition, there were new, more powerful weapons along with lower numbers of more technologically superior aircraft than those that were used in WWII.
"Hitler’s Miracle Weapons: Secret Nuclear Weapons of the Third Reich and Their Carrier Systems, Volume 1: The Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine" is a meticulously researched exploration into one of history’s most intriguing and chilling periods. Authored by historian Friedrich Georg, this volume delves deeply into the development and deployment of secret nuclear weapons by Nazi Germany during World War II. First published in 2003, this review copy was released as a new edition in December 2024.
In The Box
The ICM WWI German Aviation acrylic paint set contains six bottles, 12 ml each. The paints are water-based. The box contains the following:
- White (1001)
- Black (1002)
- Blood Red (1046)
- Light Earth (1056)
- US Dark Green (1072)
- Deep Sky Blue (1076)
The ICM website states that this set is best to be used with #72111 and #72121. These are WWI kits from ICM in 1/72 scale: Fokker E.IV and Pfalz E.IV fighters.
Application And Experience
The following instructions on how to use the paints can be found on the side of the box:
Yahu Models has provided the IPMS reviewer corps with a 1/72nd scale instrument panel detail set for the Fw-190D that will fit into the Tamiya, AZ, and IGB kits. This set also includes photo-etch (PE) details for the side instrument panels and seat warning placard.
In the Package
The instrument panel (IP) detail set is enclosed in a plastic bag with two photoetched IPs already assembled and one PE etched sheet for side panels and a seat warning placard. The parts come packaged in an individual Ziploc bag and cardboard backing which also has instructions printed on it.
Conclusion
Overall, this is a nice detail set to upgrade your Fw-190D instrument panel in 72nd scale. The close-up picture shows off the minute detail printed on the PE parts and the fidelity at such a small size is amazing.
I want to thank Yahu Models for providing the Fw-190D instrument panel set and IPMS/USA for allowing me the opportunity to review.
Highly recommended!
Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) has a long history of creating great metal drop-in replacement landing gear for scale model aircraft. This set is for the 1/35 scale Border models B5N2 Kate. You can see in the review photos a side-by-side comparison of the kit gear and the replacement gear set. They are a spot-on match. Given the size of the model, it will benefit from a stronger set of metal gear legs.
In the blister pack you will find (2 each) main gear legs with associated scissor links as well as a tail wheel bracket. Like the kit polystyrene counterparts, you will want to start the prep process by removing any seam lines and gently straightening any bends introduced during the shipping process. Prep the parts with a metal-compatible primer and paint with your favorite hobby paint. As a reminder, metal parts can not be glued with plastic model cement and an epoxy or superglue will need to be used.
I have built and reviewed one other ICM kit, the Kozak-001. The Kozak kit was very advanced for my skills and I did not do that kit justice, by any means. However, the challenge of putting that kit together, while it did not produce the results I was hoping for, it helped me improve on my model building skills and was my most satisfying build of a kit overall. It inspired me to give another ICM kit a try. This time I took on the Nakhon Phanom Airbase kit (DS4804). This kit is phenomenal! It has 2 complete aircraft models, armament, figures and ground cover kits all together in 1 box.
As the Kozak did, this kit has really challenged me. I have once again learned so much while working on this kit. The most important thing I have learned is patience. DO NOT RUSH this kit! Take your time and enjoy it!
This is one of the newer offerings from the Ukraine based company ICM. The Zil-131 has been reboxed many times by ICM. The original tool, however, dates to the 1990s. Considering the age of the tooling, despite some very minor flash, the details are very crisp for a military truck and trailer at this scale. A note on the trailer, I cannot find any information on the trailer, so I do not know if this an older ICM mold or from another manufacturer. The kit comes in a sturdy ICM box. The sprues for the truck and the trailer are packaged in separate cellophane bags. There are two separate instruction sheets in ICM’s typical style with paint callouts in their own brand of acrylic paint. There are decals for two vehicles.
Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) has provided the IPMS reviewer corps a set of 1/72nd scale metal landing gear for the Airfix DH Mosquito B.XVI/PR.XVI kits. These parts are drop-in replacements and provide a more robust landing gear set given its metal properties.
In the Package
The metal pieces are packaged in a clear blister package with cardboard backing. There are no instructions.
Review Process
The metal landing gear set is used as drop-in replacements for parts F1, F36, and F37 for the under wing gear and G1 and G18 for the tail wheel. The kit’s remaining plastic parts are needed to complete the rest of the landing gear assembly.
The metal used is malleable and has some give to allow for any minor bending that may be needed, since there is some slight deformation when coming out of the molds. Also, seam lines will need to be cleaned up before painting, just like the plastic kit parts.
The book is number 6 in a series of books covering aircraft. This book covers World War II German Luftwaffe Henschel Hs 126. This was a twin-seat Parasol wing reconnaissance and observation aircraft. It saw service from 1937 through to 1944. It first saw action in the Condor squadrons in the Spanish Civil War.
This book was informative and full of great profiles and 1/72 scale outline drawings. It was a little lacking at 16 pages and could have been done with a few more unusual schemes that would have been added to the book.
Thanks go to MMP Publications for providing this book to review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it for them.