PJ Production has jumped in to help 1/48 Mirage III series model builders. This new release provides two AIM-9B Sidewinders along with the Aero 3 missile rails and the CES-3 pylons featured on the Dassault fighter. This set is probably focused on the new Kinetic 1/48 Mirage III kits, but it should also work well on the Academy, Eduard, Fonderie Minatures, Heller, and Hobby Boss kits; along with the older ESCI kit that has also been re-boxed by Revell and Italeri.

Notable is the re-sealable packaging that PJ Production uses that makes the parts easy to review and then stuff back into the package securely. You will want to be careful handling the resin fins as their small size makes them an easy sacrifice to the carpet monster. Painting instructions are included with the small instruction sheet. I found several air-bubbles in the resin parts, on the nose and the tail fins. Gap filling super glue with baking soda quickly solved the issue.

If you are building a 1/32 diorama of a modern USAF aircraft, this Crew Chief and a roll around tool box would be a great addition. This kit also includes two drills, two slim notebooks, and a PC notebook. If you place this kit next to a 1/32 aircraft, it will make a diorama or a display “come alive”.

Inside the package, you get a Crew Chief figure, toolbox, two drills, two manuals, and a PC Notebook. There are a total of 15 parts that make up this kit, all of which are well molded and have a great amount of detail.

The fit of the parts is excellent, with only a small amount of mold seams, all of which are easily filed and sanded smooth. One big note about assembling this kit – build the toolbox first, and doing that will make it easier to pose the figure in a good position. I guessed the height of the toolbox and assembled the figure first, and when I built the toolbox, I discovered that the figure’s arms were not posed the way I wanted them to be.

Seats and seatbelts are the two biggest things that are visible in the cockpit. Eduard has been trying to get the look of seatbelts to look like the real thing with the minimal amount of effort for the modeler. They’ve gone from having unpainted photo etch belts, then they were pre-painted, then there was Fabric and lately the Super Fabric. Well enter the latest addition to the seatbelt line, STEEL.

This set contains EIGHT sets of seatbelts for aircraft such as the Bf-109, FW-190 or Me-262. But what is so special about them? Well to start out the belts are .1mm thick at the thickest, such as areas around the buckles. The ‘fabric’ portion is actually only .04mm thick making this realistically thin and easy to shape. They are slightly weathered to make them less stark.

AOA Decals has been releasing some great decal sheets for Vietnam era subjects. Their latest is for the T-28 Trojan. In this particular scale, these decals can be used on either the old Monogram or newer Roden kits.

The colorful aircraft of the ‘golden age’ of Naval Aviation are some great looking aircraft. While this period was short lived it was also a time for the transition to war with the corresponding change of camouflage colors. One of the aircraft that went through this period was the Kingfisher. Designed pre-war it soldiered on throughout the war so the variety of marking options is quite varied. The new Kitty Hawk Kingfisher is a beautiful extensive kit that covers the aircraft quite well. Yellow Wings decals adds some flair to it.