We at IPMS continue to thank Ross and his Team at SAC for supporting the IPMS USA reviewer corps with what has turned into a monthly release schedule with extremely useful and well-thought out landing gear additions for the modeling crowd out here in the modeling world. What started out as an “I don’t know if they will sell” idea a few years ago has flourished into a busy worldwide trade for modelers seeking just a bit more out of their model accessories…

This review is for the SAC landing gear released for the relatively new 1/72 F-15E from Academy. This kit is a jewel; there are two areas needing true replacements for a contest level model, that being the “featherless” open afterburner nozzles, which are supplied simplified, and the rather thick one-piece canopy over the extremely well-detailed cockpit. Those issues are for others to address… SAC provided us three metal parts to replace the kit-supplied plastic gear.

History

The B-47 was the first swept-wing jet bomber in the US Air Force’s inventory, serving the USAF from 1951 to 1969. The US Navy flew some EB-47Es until 1977. Development began in 1943, and the design changed several times until Boeing came up with a 6-jet aircraft with the engines in pods under the wings. Because of the size of the engine pods, the main landing gear was set up as a “bicycle”, with 2 main gear under the fuselage, and smaller outriggers under the engine pods. With this setup, the B-47 could not rotate the nose on takeoff. The main gear was set so the aircraft sat at optimum takeoff angle at all times. The B-47 was subsonic, but extremely fast for a 1950s, setting a number of time and distance records, with speeds around 600 miles per hour.

This is a new series for me at least. This is a nice hardback book that covers the Grumman F4F Wildcat and the FM series of Wildcats built by Eastern Aircraft Division of General Motors during WWII. The Wildcat continued in production and to fight throughout the war even as newer and better aircraft became available.

The book has 12 chapters each covering the different variants. The layout is the first chapter on the XF4F-2, followed by chapters each on the following: XF4f-3 and F4F-3, the F4F-3 in detail, XF4F-5, XF4F-6/F4F-3A, F4F-3S, XF4F-4, F4F-4, F4F-7, XF4F-8, FM-1, FM-2 and Wildcat in combat.

If you are a person interested in the Great War, you will likely enjoy this new release from Osprey as part of their “Campaign” series of books. In this new offering from Osprey Publishing, author Alister McCluskey writes about the late war offensive on what the Allies referred to as “the Hindenburg Line” on the Western Front. The story along with photos (both historical and of the landscape today), artwork, and maps helps to tell the story of the battles that raged from late September into early October 1918.

History

The N1K was originally developed as a floatplane for forward land bases but by the time it entered service Japan was on the defensive. Kawanishi engineers had proposed in 1941 that the N1K could be a formidable land-based fighter too and a land-based version N1K1-j (J indicated land based fighter modification of the original floatplane version) was produced as a private venture by the company and first flew in December 1942. Due to it being a mid-wing design (because of the floats & large prop) a new design was begun just 4 days after the first test flight. The major defects being addressed were the wing and long landing gear. The wings were moved to a low position, which permitted the use of shorter, conventional undercarriage, the fuselage was lengthened and the tail redesigned. The first flight was on January 1944 and production of the N1K2-J "Shiden-Kai" (Kai standing for Modified) started in April of that year.