Airscale, a British company, has really been cranking out the instrument decals of late, and they are really very well done. On this particular sheet there are fifty-one separate instruments for World War Two Luftwaffe aircraft. There are many instruments that I have never seen before, and sadly, there is only one of each instrument. They are crisply printed in black and white, and each instrument is a separate decal. There is a considerable amount of excess film, when you consider just how small that instrument bezel is going to be. In this scale, the instruments can easily be trimmed from the film. Of course, they can always be punched out, using your favorite punch set, but I never seem to get them lined up perfectly. The sheet is small, but there is a lot on it. You also get instructions that give you a map and list of each of the instruments. You also get a nice clear plastic sheet that you can use in a couple of ways.

AERO RESEARCH offers their FIRST BOOK !

Recommendation – Most High

I will say that purely from the standpoint of a modeler, this has to be one of the most informative and well thought out publications I’ve seen to date. It comes to you soft bound with a plastic spiral binder (much easier to lay open on the workbench), 104 pages with 36 variants of the Skyraider. (I had no idea there were that many) Also, 42 drawings of the Skyraider variants.

A recent addition to Quickboost’s growing line of aftermarket detail parts is this nice resin part that will add detail to the front end of a Corsair built from one of the Tamiya 1/72 F4U-1 kits. Quickboost’s #72 320 is a replacement for the kit’s open cowl flaps but, as the photo below shows, it provides considerably enhanced backside detail. Since it is designed to replace the kit part, it is easily installed during the assembly process without the need to cut or modify the kit. However, with some work, it also may be adaptable to other F4U-1 kits on the market. The part is molded in Quickboost’s familiar gray resin on a casting block. The quality of the molding is flawless, with no bubbles, pinholes or flash to deal with.

Quickboost has now released a resin aftermarket part that will add detail to any 1/32 F4U-1 kit on the market. It is actually an enlargement of Quickboost’s set 48 357 for 1/48 Corsairs. This set provides three ready-to-install F4U-1 Corsair pitot tubes cast in a flexible resin that likely will survive occasional bumps sometime experienced when a finished model is handled. The pitot tubes are molded in Quickboost’s familiar gray resin on a casting block with extended bars that protect the parts from damage in the package. They exhibit a much better pointed tip than those included in most 1/32 kits.

A sharp #11 x-Acto blade is the only tool needed to remove each pitot tube from the casting block and to shave off a thin casting gate that is molded on the side of the part to protect the tip detail.

This part is a direct replacement for a kit part and, because it is resin, should be attached with super glue or epoxy cement.

Freshly released from Hasegawa and Hobbico is the best 1/48 scale version of the E/A-18G Growler. This is a modification of their F/A-18F two-seat Super Hornet Kit including four new sprues to allow for the radar jamming pods, extra bumps and antennae and cockpit differences. All the parts are nicely done with engraved panel lines and no flash. Marking are included for lo-viz VFQ-129 Vikings and the CAG from VFA-141. I chose the latter with its black spine and tails- great looking plane.

The kit has several up front things to do. Since this is a modified F version, there are a bunch of holes to open on the forward fuselage, wings, and rear fuselage to allow adding of the changes peculiar to the G version. I missed doing this to the wings and made life much more difficult as this plane has lots of "things under wings". I also decided to fold the wings. This involves some cutting but looks great and the hinges are included.