Fans of 60's and 70's custom show cars will recall that prolific period when it seemed that every week a new car – prototype and/or model – rolled out on display. Many of these vehicles were designed to augment a popular TV show (The Munsters Coach and Dragula, the Monkeemobile, Batmobile, etc); others hit the show circuit, and still others landed on the shelves of our friendly hobby shop where hordes of kids (like me) spent our allowances. Tom Daniel's Cherry Bomb falls into that category. I'd never built it the first time around so I jumped on the opportunity to do so this time.

The kit actually contains three vehicles – the gas turbine-powered car, a surfboard-derived trailer, and a chopper style motorcycle whose gas tank replicates the explosive device in question, which launched many a boys' room toilet seat when lit and flushed. (Or so I hear).

Furball Aero-Design has been producing some awesome decals since being founded in 2012. With this latest release they addresses a somewhat new and popular kit, the HobbyBoss 1/48 scale A-6 Intruder. A little about the aircraft, the Grumman A-6 Intruder was an American mid-wing, all-weather attack aircraft powered by twin jet engines and built by Grumman Aerospace. In service with the US Navy and US Marine Corps between 1963 and 1997, the Intruder was designed to replace the piston-engined Douglas A-1 Skyraider. Furball has given you the option to build two complete USMC examples from a selection of 13 marking schemes.

Overview

The ’69 Camaro was the second design change in the first generation series of Camaros; the ’67 and ’68 were basically the same except for cosmetic differences. The Z/28 was the top-of-the-line version with a vast amount of options, including the dual 4-barrel 302 with the Cross-Ram intake. Chevrolet designed and built the Camaro to compete against the very popular Mustang and did very well selling over 872,000 of the first generation models. The Z/28 Camaro also raced against the Mustang in the Trans Am race circuit.

History

The MiG-15 was one of the early Soviet fighters which, using German technology and originally a British engine, achieved equality in the Cold War race for a modern jet fighter. Most modelers and historians are familiar with the history of the type, so I’ll spare the specifics and keep the historical section short. The prototype was powered by a Rolls Royce Nene engine, and early production models were powered by imported British engines. Competing with the similar Lavochkin 174 prototype, the MiG-15 won out, and entered production in 1948. Numerous variants were produced between 1948 and the mid-fifties, when the type was replaced by the similar MiG-17. The MiG-15 was produced in numerous variants, including fighter, fighter-bomber, two seat all weather interceptor, reconnaissance, target tug, and dual control trainer. Nearly 18,000 are believed to have been built in the USSR, China, Poland, and Czechoslovakia.

Scale Aircraft Conversions has released a set of white metal front and main gear for the Minicraft USAF KC-135E in 1/144th scale. This set includes a one part front gear strut and two 4 part main rear struts. These nine parts are direct replacements for kit parts # 12, 16, 17, 28, 29 and 36 times 4.

During my parts inspection I did discover that on the SAC main landing gear assemblies where the tires are mounted, two tire mounting pins are a rather short (see photo). Modelers of average experience should be able to overcome this deficiency by extending the mounting points with pins.