I’ll be honest. I’ve never heard of HMH Publications or Duke Hawkings before I had the opportunity of reviewing the first book of this series (Sepecat Jaguar). But I am very glad to have been introduced to them. These books exude quality.

The quality goes both on the content that is covered (i.e. level of detail) and the printing. The paper quality is super, with a satin finish. All pictures are in color, with proper exposure and very sharp focus, so all details are crisp.

The pictorial book is split in the following sections: Action, Cockpit, Fuselage, Weapons, Maintenance. As you can imagine, the pictures have very descriptive and relevant captions, helping you understand what detail is being highlighted in each image. Not only are you getting all the walk-around images you need for your build, you are also learning details of the aircraft as you read along.

By now many of us have delved into the Airfix new tool 1/48 P-51 Mustang series. In spite of what are awesome kits out of the box, Quickboost has found an area the kit could use an upgrade. This consists of a drop-in replacement for the kit exhaust parts. The Mustang came with two variations of the exhaust pipes. This detail set provides the unshrouded type that were visible back inside the cowling. A comparison of the Quickboost parts with the kits reveals a number of improvements including a better overall sharpness of casting, hollowed ends and mounting bolts at the ends that go inside the cowling. Removal of the casting blocks is as easy as a pass with a sharp knife.

These are recommended if you want to easily enhance a very visible part of your finished Mustang.

Thanks to Quickboost for the sample and to IPMS for sharing it with me to review.

Brief History from Wikipedia

The Sukhoi Su-27, NATO reporting name: Flanker, is a Soviet-origin twin-engine, super maneuverable fighter aircraft designed by Sukhoi. It was intended as a direct competitor to the large United States fourth-generation fighters such as the Grumman F-14 Tomcat and the F-15 Eagle, with 3,530-kilometre (1,910 nmi) range, heavy aircraft ordinance, sophisticated avionics and high maneuverability. The Su-27 was designed for air superiority missions, and subsequent variants can perform almost all aerial warfare operations. It was designed with the Mikoyan MiG-29 as its complement.

The Su-27 entered service with the Soviet Air Forces in 1985. The primary role was long range air defense against American SAC B-1B and B-52G/H bombers, protecting the Soviet coast from aircraft carriers and flying long range fighter escort for Soviet heavy bombers such as the Tu-95 "Bear", TU-22M "Backfire" and Tu-160 'blackjack".

The Book

This book is part of a series that has recently become available, and covers one particular aircraft in great detail. It is aimed primarily at scale modelers, and provides enough information for a modeler to build a highly detailed model of this particular aircraft. All of the issue I have seen follow the same format, with a set of 1/72 and 1/48 line drawings of the aircraft, a series of black and white photos taken while the plane was in service, or just afterwards, a series of detail perspective drawings of various components of the aircraft, such as landing gear, cockpit details, structural features, and other items showing disassembled parts of the aircraft. In both volumes, there are two color photos of Finnish MS406’s dated 1942 and 1943, and at the end of each volume is a four view color drawing. Volume 22 features a French aircraft with Polish markings on the fuselage, while Volume 22a shows a Finnish MS-406.

Back in 2012, Italeri released their first Wessex UH.5 in 1/48 scale in what would become a long line of Wessex types and UH-34 variants. This particular boxing is the second UH-34 version, with new parts and decals for a pair of French gunships, a West German utility chopper, and a Vietnam based U.S. Marine Corps bird. With those options, the included new weapons parts tree will provide plenty of useful leftovers no matter which version you choose to build. The extensive decal sheet, printed by Cartograf, uses a very thin carrier film with virtually no carry over beyond the printed image. Even the smallest stencils are perfectly legible. The kit parts, molded in dark olive green, are generally crisp and cleanly molded with no flash or visible ejector pin marks. Only in a few places were there any gaps requiring filler or shims.