Arma Hobby continues to expand its Hawker Hurricane line, this time releasing the MkIIb (Hurribomber) with Tropical filter. In the box you get 4 plastic sprues (one clear), canopy masks and a decal sheet with 3 possible camouflages: two on Temperate Land Scheme and one Desert Scheme. The Temperate Land Scheme aircraft were deployed in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and the Soviet Union. The aircraft deployed in the Soviet Union, at some point served with a white distemper on the wings (I’ve found a YouTube video showing period footage of that aircraft in the Mursmank area with the camouflage as shown in the instructions).

Construction starts with the wheel well and continues with the cockpit seat. Then you are guided to “sandwich” the wheel well between the upper and lower wing parts and to assemble the rest of the cockpit (sidewalls, armor plate, etc) sitting on top of the wing.

Box Art / Packaging

The ICM Paint set for Ancient Warriors (ITEM 3068) is presented in a stiff glossy cardboard sleeve and contains 6 12ml paint pots. Box art depicts a Roman Centurion on the front with depictions on the rear of a Roman Centurion and a Roman Gladiator with recommendations for use of the colors provided for each.

The Kit / Paints

The provided paints are presented in small 12ml plastic pots with screw tops and each lid also clearly depicting the color and color ID which is useful for storage. In this case we are provided with Paint# 1019 (Rusty Brass), 1020 (Bronze), 1024 (Silver), 1026 (Oily Steel), 1047 (Matt Red) and 1053 (Leather Brown). No ball bearings are added to the paint for easier shaking/mixing, however the paint pots are small and vigorous shaking is sufficient to prepare appropriately.

The Build / Paint Use

To test out these paints, I 3D printed a crude representation of a Roman Soldier as my test subject.

The Hawker Hurricane saw combat in many theaters of operation, performing different roles (interceptor, ground attack, night fighter, etc.), and served with several different air forces. This allows the modeler to finish their model in different camouflage schemes, different markings, and with different under-wing stores.

Euro Decals provides us with a sheet for a total of 8 airframes, two of them being night fighters (all-black), a recon bird (very dark blue), and the remaining 5 airframes provide a combination of Day Fighter schemes. These include European, Desert Schemes (North Africa), and a very unusual scheme of Dark Green/Mid-Stone/Azure blue used in Burma. Considering all the markings provided on the sheet, you can probably build 3 or 4 different models utilizing this sheet, which increases the value of it. A minor note is that no stencils are provided, but typically you can get them from the in-the-box sheet included with your model.

Euro Decals has provided IPMS/USA reviewer corps with a wonderful decal set for the WWII North American P-51 Mustang Mk. III (P-51B/C variant) in service for the Royal Air Force and Royal Australian Airforce. There is no specific mention of a preferred model company for this decal set.

This 1/72nd scale decal sheet covers eleven (11) schemes:

The Mitsubishi Ki-51 Sonia is one of those aircraft that has been consistently neglected by model kit manufacturers. Nichimo produced a kit in 1975 and that was the only option available until 2019 when Wingsy surprised Japanese aircraft model enthusiasts with a new tool kit. Yahu from Poland produces photo-etch instrument panels for a large number of kits including the Ki-51. I do not own any Yahu photo-etch instrument panels so this review allowed me to get a first hand look at their products.