This book is a follow on companion book to the author’s “Convair Advanced Designs that I was also fortunate to review for IPMS/USA! This book covers 41 different aircraft, some that were built and some that were only designs each is given its own chapter.

The list of aircraft covered is as follows:

History Brief

The A-25 Shrike was the USAAF variant of the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver, a carrier-based dive bomber aircraft produced for the United States Navy during World War II. Nine hundred aircraft were ordered by the USAAF under the designation A-25A Shrike. The first ten aircraft had folding wings, while the remainder of the production order omitted this unnecessary feature. Many other changes distinguished the A-25A, including larger main wheels, a pneumatic tail wheel, ring and bead gun sight, longer exhaust stubs, and Army-specified radio equipment. By late 1943 when the A-25A was being introduced, the USAAF no longer had a role for the dive bomber, as fighter aircraft such as the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt had shown their ability to carry out tactical air support missions with great success.

Background

Much has been written about both the P-51D Mustang and Tamiya’s own take on the famed fighter in 1/32 scale. The “D” model of the P-51 was the most numerous version of the Mustang during WWII, as well as the most refined. During production of the “D” model, over 1000 Mustangs built at North America’s Dallas plant used an Aeroproducts propeller in place of the Hamilton Standard unit, earning them the P-51K model designation.

An additional variant of the Mustang, built off of both the “D” and “K” models, was the fully-armed, photo-reconnaissance F-6D and F-6K, respectively. The F-6D/Ks are distinguished by a series of modifications on the left side of the aircraft: camera ports and an access hatch, as well as crosshatch markings on the wing and canopy.

Aircraft and History

The F-4 Phantom II was originally developed for the United States Navy and made its first flight on 27 May 1958. Exactly 5 years later, the first USAF Phantom II flew and that version was the F-4C. These early Phantoms did not have an internal gun which was an issue in close combat and when the missiles were unreliable. This kit represents Col Robin Olds aircraft as it appears in the National Museum of the US Air Force and the box art shows the phantom during Operation “Bolo” on 2 January 1967. During “Operation Rolling Thunder”, F-105 fighter bombers (heavily loaded) were being attacked by North Vietnamese Mig-21 fighters and sustaining high losses of F-105’s. In response to these attacks, Col Olds devised a tactic to trick the North Vietnamese air force into thinking the Phantoms were F-105 on a bombing run which were being attacked by Mig-21 aircraft.

Master Models now provides coverage of the Airfix 1/48 Lightning kit with a perfectly formed replacement pitot tube. Master Models is well known for their superb turned brass parts and this set is another fine example. The set is one part of perfectly turned brass to replace the kits parts.

Here's a great picture of the pitot tube and how far it sticks out from underneath the front of the plane.

Pitot Tube Photo

The instructions are great. In this case , the kit part is cut off of the support, a small hole drilled and the new part inserted. As you can see by the comparison pictures, the kit parts is straight, much thinner and too scale and also has the durability of brass. Another hit for Master Models.

Highly recommended for both accuracy and toughness. My thanks to Master-Models and IPMS/USa for the chance to review it.