The Kit

The kit comes in a fairly thin box that has a nice painting of a Coastal Command Wellington bombing a U boat. The scheme seen on the box is number one of the 6 choices that Italeri gives you. Upon opening the box you find a single bag of 5 gray sprues, and one clear sprue. Inside that bag is also a note saying that the kit was made in the Czech Republic. This kit is the MPM kit reboxed. Along with the sprues come a nice large instruction booklet and a very nice decal sheet by Cartograf. Under all that is an addendum to the instructions telling you step 6 is wrong for this version of the kit, and to use the updated parts for the exhaust. (The hedgehog exhaust of the original MPM kit were replaced by regular tubular exhausts.)

Quickboost provides you with the capability to open up your MiG-21 parachute housing and display the tail end of the packed parachute. Of note is the re-sealable packaging that Quickboost uses that makes the parts easy to review and then stuff back into the package securely. The supplied instructions graphically depict where you cut off the existing closed parachute housing and add the three resin parts included in this set.

Although most paints will adhere to resin alone, I would recommend that you wash the parts to remove any remaining mold release and prime them first. The parachute and parachute housing will need to be installed with your favorite CA (super glue) or epoxy, as the normal plastic glues or solvents will not react with the resin.

Tamiya offers a trio of “panel line accent colors”, Black (# 87131) Brown (#87132) and Gray (#87133). Two of these colors were provided to IPMS for review, those two colors being black and gray. All three colors are enamel based and that means that one will need to be aware that plastic and enamel have a love-hate relationship. While the accent paints will really pop out the detail on a model, if applied too generously it can damage the plastic. Tamiya understands this issue and provides reminders of this issue to the user.

For test purposes I used the F-14 Tomcat that is currently sitting on my work bench. I picked an area that had not yet previously been highlighted or “accented” and then gave it a coat of Future to seal the acrylic and provide a barrier upon which the Tamiya accent paints could be applied.

Background

During World War Two, the Allies encountered German tanks with heavier armor and more powerful guns than those the Allies possessed. The US initiated development and testing of heavy tanks in 1943 as the armor on the M26 was not thick enough to stand against the latest German guns. The war ended before the US Army could deploy a heavy tank in Europe, but a need was recognized for a heavy tank to counter the deployment of the IS-3 by the USSR. The T43, mounting a 120mm main gun and a new V-12 engine was selected as the new heavy tank. The T43 became the basis for the M103, America's only operational heavy tank.

History

The English Electric Canberra traces its roots back to 1944 when the Air Ministry issued a requirement for a successor to the De Havilland Mosquito 'with no defensive armament and a high-altitude capability to evade interceptors'. Taxi tests began in May of 1949 and the first flight was May 13^th, 1949…..and yes, it was a Friday! First delivery to the RAF was May 25^th, 1951 t0 101Sqn, Binbrook and in the next 3 years, 23 squadrons received the aircraft. The Canberra proved so successful that it was exported to many other countries (15) and also built in Australia and the U.S. there were (including prototypes) 40 variants of the Canberra. The B9i).6 was the interim interdictor version for the RAF pending delivery of the B(I)8. Based on the B.6 with a detachable ventral pack housing four 20 mm Hispano Mk. V cannon for strafing; also had provision for two wing hard points. LABS (Low-Altitude Bombing System) for delivery of nuclear bombs.