Aires’ F9F Panther wingfold set comes in a bubble package, consists of 10 parts, and is made for the Hobby Boss F9F kit #87249. The pieces in the package are very nicely done and look great.

To install the Aires sections, about 1/4 inch needs to be cut out of the kit’s wings. I “under-cut” mine (slightly less than a full cut) then filed them down until I got a good fit. I had to thin the Hobby Boss leading and trailing edges on the inside of the wings to get a good fit for the resin parts.

Each fuselage side of the wingfold has 3 small tabs, and each wing side has two---these slide into the 3 on the fuselage side---just like the full size machine. But be careful; they’re very fragile. I broke one side sanding the joint and had to carefully glue them back on.

I used CA glue to attach the resin parts to the plastic and sanded them to blend in. Most panel lines lined up but a few didn’t.

As quoted from Squadron/Signal Publications: "In Action books, despite the title of the genre, are books that trace the development of a single type of aircraft, armored vehicle, or ship from the prototype to the final production variant. Experimental or "one-off" variants can also be included. Our first In Action book was printed in 1971."

In the mid to late thirty's the U.S. Navy was looking for a new high speed, high altitude fighter. Chance Vought brought their design to the competition, the XF4U-1. The Navy was impressed with the design and Vought started on the prototype. During one of the flight tests the XF4U-1 reached a speed of 405 mph and this impressed the Navy enough to order it into production and thus was the beginning for one of the most famous fighter aircraft to come out of WWII.

Reid Air Publications has issued a new book and the winners are anyone interested in the F/A-18 A/B/C/D Hornet! For those of you unfamiliar with the series, Jake Melampy has written his series of books detailing specific airframes. F-16's and F-16's and others have been detailed before as well as others but the newest covers the entire series of the F-18's. The format of the books starts with the cockpits and works its way back to the wings, vertical stabilizers, horizontal stabilizers, fuselage and landing gear and finishes with all the ordinance used by the Hornets.

Beautifully illustrated with specially commissioned artwork, this book offers a creditable account detailing the key rival battles between the Battlecruisers of the Royal Navy and the Kaiserliche Marine at the height of World War I. This book covers these opposing Battlecruisers and where they first met in January 1915 at Dogger Bank in the North Sea. The author explains why the battle was a tactical victory for British although neither side lost any of its Battlecruisers. He details the main differences in the designs in the British and German ships and how these two sides responded quite differently to this first engagement. In the book you’ll find out how these differences came into play during the battle of Jutland in May 1916, where of the nine of the British Battlecruisers committed, three were destroyed, all by their German counterparts. Five German Battlecruisers were present and only one of these was sunk.

This is not your father’s Me-163 Komet! This first release by Meng Models in their 1/32 scale Quetzalcoatlus Series may be a long waited for item for those who enjoy this scale. Although the venerable Hasegawa kit can still be found, the level of detail in the Meng release is truly in line with what can be accomplished with modern technology. The kit built up well with few issues being encountered during construction, and the model looks great once assembled. Covers may be left off to display ammunition trays, the guns themselves, and fuel lines above the rocket motor. This was my second experience with a kit by the newcomer, Meng, and I will have no hesitation in purchasing more of their kits in the future.