Eduard has for a long time been releasing excellent aircraft kits in many forms- but the Profipack editions are easily my favorite ones as they usually include extras including color PE frets, masks, and sometimes bit of their Brassin products as well. This newer edition of their Mustang line contains no Brassin, but the included masks and color PE add immeasurable amounts of excellent detail to the kit build as we will soon see.

What’s Inside the Box

The kit contents come in a nice sturdy box and includes the following well-packed bits:

This is a review of the Flex-i-File Flex Set #550

Oh man. No engine, no interior, no wheels. And you wouldn’t expect those items in a sanding kit. I ran into the Flex-i-File family at the IPMS Nationals in Orlando a few years ago and was impressed with their products. So I bought a few items and have used them extensively over the years.

I’ve included pics of the package and the package contents. Notice that the sanding sticks and sticks are color matched to a particular grit. Makes life easier.

I’ve other sanding sticks that fall apart after being used wet. These sticks don’t separate and can also be easily trimmed to another shape if needed.

Need to sand the inside portion of a grille opening? Just hook one side of the supplied frame to a sanding strip, put the strip through the grille cavity, and connect the strip to the other end of the frame. Sand away.

The Flex-i-File Flex Set #550 is a fantastic addition to your hobby area tools.

The Author

David Doyle’s earliest published works appeared in periodicals aimed at the hobby of historic military vehicle restoration. By 1999 this included regular features in leading hobby publications, appearing regularly in US, English and Polish magazines. Since 2003, over 100 of his books have been published. Broadening his horizons from his initial efforts concerning vehicles, he soon added aircraft and warships to his research objectives.

Contents

The book is divided into four chapters all covering the beginning construction to the final day of the Hornet. I’ve included a brief description of what is contained in each chapter.

Iliad Design has a newly released set of decals for 1/48^th scale P-51D Mustangs in various National Guard markings. Upon receiving the decal set for review I contacted Iliad Design and asked if there was a specific P-51D kit for which the decals were designed to be used. I was informed that the decals could be used on any P-51D on the market. I bought an Airfix P-51D to use as the test bed for this review. This is not a review of the Airfix kit, but I should mention that it has a great deal of detail. I mention this detail because the decals would be put to the test to see how well they “fit” over, and into, this detail. I will mention that I enjoyed the Airfix project immensely and found it to be a model that I could recommend to anyone who is looking for a good Mustang.

The AN/ALQ-71 “COMPASS ROBIN" is an electronic countermeasure pod that was developed from QRC-160-1 in the mid 1960’s. Carried by a variety of military aircraft during the Vietnam, it was commonly seen on the RF-101C, F-105F, A-7, F-4 and the B-52. The ECM pod function is to blind the enemy radars guiding surface-to-air missiles, early warning radars, and ground-control intercept radars. The AN/ALQ-71 was phased out of service in the early 1970’s and replaced by the AN/ALQ-119.