If you’re as big a fan of Spitfires as I am, you’re going to REALLY love this product by Fündekals. Labeled “Spitfire Part 1” this product is actually two and a half sheets of decals, packed with markings. Frankly, I’ve never encountered a more useful decal sheet for Spitfires than this one.

Twelve different sets are included in this package (as well as numerous extras) covering everything from Spitfire Mk. 1s from the Battle of Britain to late-war Mk. XVIes. Not only British Spitfires are offered in the mix, but American Eagle Squadron aircraft are included as well. It does NOT, however, include walkways and stenciling, although it does include the gun patches associated with each aircraft.

Steven J. Zaloga was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts to John and Muriel Zaloga on February 1, 1952. Steven earned his undergraduate degree cum laude in history at Union College and his Masters’ degree in history from Columbia University. He obtained a Certificate in International Affairs from the graduate program of the University of Cracow. He has worked in the aerospace industry for some twenty years as an analyst specializing in missiles, precision-guided munitions, and unarmed aerial vehicles. Steven has served with a federal think tank, Defense Analyses. He was the writer-director for The Discovery Channel's "Firepower" series from 1987 to 1992. He has authored many books on military technology, especially in armored warfare. Steven is a noted scale armor modeler and is a member of AMPS (Armor Modeling and Preservation Society).

This is the Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) white metal landing gear replacement option for the 1/32 I-16 type 24/28 (ICM/Rev/Has) kits. If you have built in 1/32 scale you may have wondered at some point if the kit provided plastic landing gear will adequately support the model’s weight. These SAC items are primarily intended to address strength concerns, but there are two other advantages to using white metal landing gear: You can very slightly bend the main strut into perfect alignment once installed, and oleos (if applicable) can be fine sanded to a very shiny and realistic finish – no need for applying bare metal foil or painting oleos if you’re working with white metal.

Observations

These I-16 landing gear pieces match very closely the kit molds. Clean up is minimal.

The Vietnamese use of the Skyraider during the conflict is much the same as the US. It used the Spad, or Sandy, in close air support and Combat Search and Rescue.

The Tamiya kit has been out for quite some time now and we’ve never really had a wide variety of options to mark it with. Well AOA has fixed that. This is the second sheet designed for the Tamiya Skyraider. These decals will fit any model of the Skyraider with just a little bit of trimming on the fuselage stripes. They are purposely slightly longer to work that way and you may need to trim them to fit.

In the 80s, the U.S. Army began to look for a light tank to replace the M551 Sheridan. Specifically, the Army was looking for an air-deployable tank to support its airborne Divisions and to replace their TOW anti-tank HMMWVs. In 1992, the Army selected United Defense’s vehicle designated XM8-AGS. Six prototypes were made and the M8 began trials. The basic armor package of the M8 is made of welded aluminum alloy, designed for rapid deployment and was capable of being airdropped from a C-130. There were 2 additional levels of modular armor planned for the vehicle depending on the threat level of the operating environment. Each additional level obviously increased the weight of the AFV, which decreased it’s “air mobility”, but still kept it light enough that at its maximum armor protection, up to 5 could be delivered via air landing on a C-5 Galaxy.