This was to have been a full gear replacement review until the USPS decided to treat the package like the gorilla from the old 1970’s American Tourister luggage commercial. Unfortunately, the package did not fare anywhere near as well as the luggage did, as it looked like it had been stomped flat. After sorting through the carnage I was able to gather together enough surviving parts for one main gear leg.

What you get in the package is a full gear replacement in white metal for both main gear legs and the tail wheel. As you can see from one of the photos, the SAC gear has simplified things by making the main gear legs three total pieces and main tailwheel leg as two total piece, versus five pieces for the kit’s main gear and three for the kit’s tail wheel.

One of the newest titles in Squadron’s Walk Around series is the Heinkel He-111. As with other titles in this series, this softcover book is in a “landscape” format and features loads of detail photos of all aspects of the He-111.

Similar to other books in this series, there is a one-page introduction covering a brief history of the aircraft, and a short discussion of the few remaining airframes. This is followed by about 88 pages of detail photos and accompanying descriptive text. All the photos are very crisp and clear, covering about ¼ of a page each. Most of these are photos of museum aircraft, but there are several WW2-era photos that show some clear details.

The bulk of museum aircraft photos are of a He-111P-2 in the Gardermoen Museum in Oslo, which has been fully restored to its original configuration. Photos of almost any possible detail area (both inside and out) a modeler would want are provided.

The MiG-21 Fishbed followed the series of jets that began with the MiG-15. It possessed the same characteristics as its predecessors. It was small, agile, and fast. Its maximum speed was 1,385 mph, range was 981 miles, and service ceiling was 62,335 ft. It was also a simple aircraft, making it reliable and easy to maintain. These attributes combined to make the MiG-21 the most-produced supersonic aircraft in aviation history with over 11,400 manufactured worldwide. It has seen service in over 45 countries across Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and South America. Some countries are still flying the MiG-21. Many variants were produced between 1959, when it was first introduced, and 1985, when production ended. The subject of this review is the MiG-21MF/MFN – "M" for "modernized", "F" for "upgraded engines", and "N" is the Czech Air Force designation for MiG-21MF upgraded with NATO standard avionics.

So how do you upgrade Revell’s beautiful new PV-1 Ventura? Well, one of the areas on the kit that isn’t bad but could use some love is the wheel wells and landing gear doors. Eduard has come out with two very nice PE sheets in this set to upgrade the kit.

The frets address the main gear wells with replacement parts, added sidewall detail, and improved bulkheads. There are added covers and hooks not present in the kit, and all is relief-etched for a great look. One excellent thing they did was to have the main piece slide over the kit’s normal attachment points for the landing gear so you are still attaching the plastic to plastic for a nice, firm grip. One other point to note is that there is very little sanding or part removal to do. For the wheel wells, I only needed to remove the side bulkheads and a little relief on the front of the wells.

The Kit

This new Dragon ’39 to ’45 Series Sd.Kfz.3a Maultier (“Mule”) offering is the first completely new rendition of this veritable German workhorse to come along in quite a few years. The Maultier was used in every theater the Germans fought and was extensively modified for a variety of combat and support roles. The version offered by Dragon this time around is the standard cargo carrier with high, wooden-slat sides.