Background

The Spring of 1945 was not a good time for the Luftwaffe. Large numbers of Allied fighters were patrolling the skies over the Reich, bombers were decimating the factories, the transportation system, and the whole industrial complex. They were also bombing and strafing air bases wherever they found them. The Me-262 was slowing down the rate of attrition, but not stopping it.

The idea for the Bachem Ba-349 "Natter" was that it would be built of wood, and instead of factories, it would be built in woodworking shops, requiring no strategic materials except the rocket engine and the armament.

Werner’s Wings is proud to announce the release of our latest decal sheet WW Decals 48-15-UH-1D/H Stencils. Obstensively designed for the new Kitty Hawk UH-1D kit they will work with an 1/48th scale Huey.

Each stencil sheet offers the complete stencils to do one UH-1D/H aircraft. Decals are even provided for the various placards and stenciling found on the inside of the crew and passenger doors. Nice!

The stenciling was originally done in yellow with yellow step bars and red turbine warning strips. These markings were later changed to black. Werner's Wings has thoughtfully provide both markings in yellow and black. Additional unit markings and symbols are provided, as well as, numbers in black, white and yellow. The danger arrows (just forward of the tail rotor) are also included in English, Vietnamese, and Korean, so you can customize your Huey model.

MiniArt is a Ukrainian company specializing in 1/35 figures and some vehicle kits. The figures tend to be packaged in groups with unique poses or unusual subjects. Over the years, they have become one of the leaders in injection molded figures.

This kit is a re-release of their earlier kit number 35009. This kit had been discontinued for a while but was showing up as a special addition to some of Miniart’s armor kits. Fortunately, Miniart is now offering this kit again as a “Special Edition”, which includes some bonus sprues. The kit includes five figures in various relaxed poses, as well as a sprue of side arms, and three sprues of ammo boxes, and 152mm tank shells.

Eduard has re-released this kit from 2009 as a ProfiPack of the Roland C.II with markings for four new versions including in the aircraft.

In the box is:

• 3 x light grey sprues
• 1 clear sprue
• 2 x decal sheet
• 1 mask sheet
• 2 x photoetch detail set
• 1 instruction booklet

While you get 3 main sprues, the sprues are extremely well molded with a little flash but great detail. The decals allow you to finish the aircraft in four different versions.

Construction

First is the construction of the interior, which is well detailed. Photoetch helps a lot to make this a very impressive cockpit and rear compartment when complete. I will point out that you need to be careful when installing parts to ensure the fuselage halves joint without a clash.

When assembling the camera I found the PE 5 part was a little large so had to cut it down a little?

The latest title in the “Spot On” series published by Mushroom Model Publications focuses on Russia’s Yak-3 during World War II. The Yak-3 began development in the summer of 1942, with its first test flight conducted in early 1942. The plane was based on the Yak-1, with the Yak-1M eventually being replaced in production by the Yak-3 in March 1944. By 1946, approximately 4,800 of the aircraft had been built and the fighter distinguished itself as a fast and easy plane to fly, that was well suited for Russian operations in the late war.