History

Derived from the Ki-61 Hein “Tony” the Ki-100 flew for the first time in February 1945 and without the need for the heavy coolant radiator and other fittings required for a liquid-cooled engine, was lighter than the Ki-61-II thus reducing the wing loading. This had an immediate positive effect on the flight characteristics, enhancing landing and takeoff qualities as well as imparting increased maneuverability, including a tighter turning circle. Pleased by the flight characteristics of the plane the model was ordered to be put in production and the first 271 of the airframes were remanufactured from Ki-61-II Kai and Ki-61-III airframes. Later 118 of the Ki-100 II with an ‘all around view’ canopy were produced. The Ki-100 was the Imperial Japanese Army’s last fighter and in the hands of a skilled pilot was more than a match for allied fighters.

Background

The MiG-21 FISHBED has been the backbone of numerous air forces throughout the world. Recently, in the modeling community, we have been blessed with many variants of the MiG-21 from multiple manufacturers. This review covers the new release of the 1/72nd Revell of Germany MiG-21F-13 FISHBED C. This kit was previous released by Revell of Germany in 2005. Since the first release, it’s become relatively non-existent. However, that has now all changed with this new release! The only difference between the 2005 and 2015 releases are the decals (there were far more options and stencils in 2005).

Over the past few years, Master has established itself as a quality provider of turned-metal aftermarket details for ships, armor, and aircraft. Their latest set of new releases cover the F6F Hellcat, providing welcome metal details for three variants in three major scales. The detail set under review today covers the F6F Hellcat Night Fighters’ armament configurations in 1/72 scale.

General Motors brought back the Camaro in 2010, and in 2012 came out with the ZL1 version. The ZL1 features a more powerful 6.2L 580hp LSA V-8 engine and for many, is the flagship Camaro on the market today.

The kit itself comes with a pre-finished body, and 48 parts. It’s listed as a “skill level 3” kit and comes in an attractive box that shows the color of the car. My review sample was red, but I have seen black versions as well.

Parts are packaged very well with the pre-finished body held in place with a plastic strip, and the chrome wheels packaged in their own container. The clear sprue and the red tail light sprue are packed in their own bags, as are the side mirrors and tires.

The kit’s clear parts come attached the body, so there is little chance they are going to get marked up. A nice touch is the black outlines along all of the clear parts.

Parts are molded in black, and a metallic grey and the external body parts are pre-painted.

Scale Aircraft Modelling's October 2015 issue comes with a gorgeous picture of a Wolfpacks 1/72 T-2 Buckeye in trainer markings. For me, that sets the tone for a great issue as I love the color scheme.

And that is how this issue starts with Karl Robinsons’ build of the beautiful 1/72 scale T-2 in the US Navy training scheme. He is well impressed with the kit and only notes small issues with fitting the intakes and flaps which are easily corrected.

Roden’s 1/144 kit of Bristol’s Type 175 Britannia is built by Andy McCabe. He builds it in BOAC markings and it looks wonderful for what he considers a “quick build”.

Mike Verier writes an excellent article on Gunships, highlighting the Roden 1/144 AC-47 Spooky. Not only does the article have an excellent build of the kit in which he scratch builds bulkheads and interior detail, but he follows it with an article detailing Roden 1/144 AC-119K and more info on other gunships.