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Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
Yellow-Wings Decals
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$13.95

Monogram’s 1/48th scale Kingfisher has been around a while and it is a fun kit to build. Yellow Wings continues in its traditions of making markings for planes between 1930 and 1942 with this release for the venerable Kingfisher. This release covers two planes on “USN Inshore Patrol”. These were planes used for patrolling for U-boats right of the coast of the US. There are two planes represented:

Book Author(s)
Richard Franks
Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Valiant Wings Publishing
MSRP
$29.47

This is the third edition of the 2nd book in the Airframe and Miniature Series. This book covers the Hawker Typhoon and its predecessor the Hawker Tornado. This series of books covers the development of the Aircraft, detailed walk around pictures, profiles and covers model kits and accessories to build them.

I found this book a fountain of information and rare pictures of the development of the Hawker Typhoon. The Profile pictures are a particular favorite and awesome source for modeling.

The chapters on the different model builds and kits are of great interest and will provide a good resource when modeling these two tanks.

I was impressed at the amount of information and history found in the pages of this extremely enjoyable book. The pictures along are worth the cost of the book. I will find this book indispensible in my library of aircraft and modeling books.

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$12.95

Scale Aircraft Conversions specializes in white metal replacement parts. Its line of replacement landing gear has been expanded to include a set for the Bf-109 A/B/C/D/V from Arsenal Model Group (note the boxing says “for Hobbyboss” but that likely is an error)

The set is including a total 4 parts covering the main landing gear struts and tail fork (two types of tail forks are offered). These parts are drop-in replacements for the plastic parts.

Considering that the Bf-109 is a modest size model - in 1/48 - I don’t think the reason to get a metal landing gear is due to the weight (unless you add a lot of resin to it) but rather the reason to get the set might be to be able to ‘tweak’ the landing gear strut for an improved alignment of the parts to achieve a proper stance, which is quite tricky on a Bf-109,

You can see from the pictures the parts are very cleanly molded and formed, with no visible molding lines.

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Iliad Design
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$12.00

Iliad Design has recently released an aftermarket decal set covering T-33B/TV-2s in Naval Service.

This decal sheet covers a total of 4 aircrafts and you are provided with enough markings as to be able to model all of them and covering both US Marines, US Navy and Royal Canadian Navy service.

The airframes go from overall Light Gull Gray, to Natural Metal Finish, to even a very attractive NMF with Hi-Vis areas in Fluorescent Red-Orange

The decal sheet provides you with national markings, BuNo numbers, air intakes warning signs, plus rescue markings. You might need to provide your own stencils, but those can be easily sourced from the original decal sheet of your model.

The decal themselves are glossy and in register. The colors are vivid (good density) and while I have not tested them, my previous experience with Illiad Decals is that they are easy to work with and conform to the model surface really well.

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Iliad Design
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$12.00

Illiad Design has recently released an aftermarket decal set covering T-38C in Heritage Schemes.

This decal sheet covers a total of 5 aircrafts and you are provided with enough markings as to be able to model all of them while in service with the USAF. The covered airframes follow:

Book Author(s)
Jens Schymura, Marcus Fülber
Review Author
Jarrod Booth
Published on
Company
HMH Publications
MSRP
$32.00

The C-160 Transall is a twin engine transport aircraft conceived and built by a French and German alliance. It is about the same size as the Lockheed C-130 but uses two high powered Roll Royce engines as opposed to the C-130s four smaller engines. The Transall is slowly being fazed out and replaced by the larger Airbus A-400 Atlas.

This soft cover book is made using high quality paper and is superbly put together. It shows the aircraft in its various air force colors, variants and an extensive pictorial excursion around it. There are hundreds of beautifully detailed photographs of every part of the Transall, from close ups to action shots of the aircraft on the ground and flying.

Book Author(s)
Eduardo Manuel Gil Martinez
Review Author
Brian R. Baker
Published on
Company
Kagero Publishing
MSRP
$46.95

Historical Background

This book presents a detailed description of the efforts of the German Luftwaffe to defend against the night bombing offensive of the British Royal Air Force during the course of World War II. Of course, the Americans were also involved, but their primary attacks were carried out in daylight, so the main German efforts were against the RAF bombers and Mosquito night fighters. The author gives a good account of the course of the war, and the technological development on both sides as the war dragged on. The Luftwaffe’s main problem was their shortage of fuel supplies, and resulting restricted training programs. There were a number of approaches to the problems of locating enemy aircraft flying into German territory, and shooting them down without being shot down in return was a major issue.

Book Author(s)
Richard Marmo
Review Author
Phil Peterson
Published on
Company
Scale Publications
MSRP
$3.99

Richard Marmo’s 15th e-book is a build of the AMT Tanker Trailer kit but it goes a slightly different route and actually ends up with a What If even though he doesn’t say it.

Is inspiration for this build is the Love’s Truck Stop bright yellow fuel trucks but what makes it a what if is that Love’s uses Beall tankers but the AMT kit is a Fruehauf design. This bit of knowledge just tickled me so what is in this e-book?

This is a build he did back in 2013 and where things have changed as far as availability, he offers more modern options. I really like that in a build.

Review Author
Paul Bradley
Published on
Company
AMMO by Mig Jimenez
MSRP
$15.00

This is another paint set by the prolific Ammo by MiG concern out of Spain. I’m sure many of you already use these acrylic paints and so are familiar with their ease of use with both brush and airbrush. The featured colours come in the familiar yellow-capped 17ml dropper bottles and include those colours needed for a range of modern Luftwaffe aircraft in the NORM 72 and 83 schemes, such as the Tornado, F-4F, F-104, Alpha Jet and UH-1H. The bottles are contained in a tray inside a sturdy card box that features a summary of the paints included and a nice colour profile of a Tornado.

Review Author
Phil Pignataro
Published on
Company
AMMO by Mig Jimenez
MSRP
$13.99

Looking through the reviews on the IPMS USA website, I saw several about “AMMO by Mig Jimenez” Acrylic Paints and all agreed with my own assessment of this product. Rather than rehashing those reviews, suffice it to say, these are high quality paints, come in a wide assortment of colors, provide excellent coverage, are relatively easy to use either with an airbrush or brush, and are easy to clean up afterwards.

To complement their “Modern Luftwaffe Vol.1” AIR SET which provides colors for the Luftwaffe’s green and black camouflaged aircraft, AMMO released another set for the gray camouflaged aircraft. This AIR SET, “Modern Luftwaffe Vol.2” provides the gray shades of paint used on the Mig-29, F-4F, and Typhoon II.

From viewing internet photos (very unscientific, I know), I think these colors can also be used on the Luftwaffe’s Airbus A310, Airbus A400, and Tornado IDS.

The colors in this set are: