Of the many modeling aids available today, one of the most welcome for aircraft modelers is a good set of canopy masks. Furball Aero-Design delivers well with its 1/48 set designed for AFV Club’s F-5E/F Tiger II kits.

The single sheet of black die-cut vinyl masks will handle a single F-5E or F-5F kit – masking the edges of all canopy sections and the entirety of all wheel hubs. The die cuts are sharp and the masks lift cleanly from the sheet and adhere well to the model surfaces. Only two minor concerns were noted: First, there are no placement diagrams, which leads to the second issue of the masks for the F-5F windscreen being a bit short, thus requiring augmentation from the F-5E windscreen masks to cover the masking perimeter. Masking tape was used to fill in the remainder of the canopy surfaces.

I just love these chopper kits that Revell puts out. The kits provide a variety of different parts to help you build a fairly unique machine.

Engine

The engine looks to be the more modern Evo engine and has no extra parts. The cooling fins and cylinder heads are very nicely engraved. There are 2 different sets of exhaust pipes in the box.

Body

The kit provides a couple of different styled gas tanks, seats, fenders, handlebars, controls, and wheels. There’s only one set of tires. I used Pearl Ex Aztec gold mixed with some HOK SG100 intercoat clear on the tank & fenders with a final clearcoat. The chopper is fully wired and plumbed.

The IRIS-T (infra-red imaging system - tail / thrust vector controlled) is a heat seeking missile developed by a consortium of European countries as a replacement for the AIM-9 Sidewinder. The program was led by Germany, but included other NATO countries such as Greece, Italy, Norway, Sweden and Spain and the IRIS-T has been exported to several countries such as Austria, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Thailand. The IRIS-T became operational in 2005 and is carried on the Eurofighter Typhoon, F-16 Falcon, F/A-18 Hornet, Tornado and the Gripen

Trumpeter has issued two versions of their 1/32 A-6 Intruder which was on many peoples most wanted list. While the kit is expensive, it is well done, well detailed and builds into a great replica. Of course that doesn’t mean there is not some room for improvement. While the aftermarket has been slow coming, Eduard has issued sets for the A-6E TRAM version to spice up several areas of the kit. This set upgrades the under carriage and wheel wells and contains one large fret of photoetch parts for the kit.

All three wheels wells are addressed and we can take a look at the nose gear well first. This is fairly well appointed in the kit but sidewall detail is lacking on the aft bulkhead. Eduard includes a very nicely done fix for the bulkhead and also half a dozen enhancements for the nose gear well which will add to the detail.

IPMS USA is grateful to Eduard for kindly providing yet another magnificent example of one of their new items to review, and to the IPMS USA reviewer corps leaders for sending it to me..

This add-on release is designed for the new and vastly improved 1/48 ME-109 series. This propeller and spinner set is designed to be used on the ME-109G-6, but also works on the G-5 and probably others.

The six-part set (including the prop installation Jig) makes easy work of a tough task. The spinner is better defined than the kit plastic, as are the propellers and the hub and backplate. Also included is a prop shaft with a highly-detailed castellated installation nut and hollow gun tube. This would be a great set for a diorama!