Prior to its arrival I did some research for my review of this kit and I came across a statement on a social media site. “My best piece of advice when you go to the hobby shop to buy this kit? Three simple words, BUY A CASE!” Made me laugh. When the kit arrived and I opened the box I thought “BUY A CASE.” Well that was short lived. Maybe just a few. Upon further examination I found that this is the “Sizzler” kit first engineered during the 60s, just newly scaled down to 1/25^th.

Still though, fans of early drag racing (early50s to late 60s) are going to love this kit. The instruction sheet points out 6 different variations to the model. By my calculations there are well over 576 possible combinations to this kit. I can see others kit bashing different motor combinations, various wheels, wings and all sorts of crazy ideas.

Parts count:

This book is number 11 in the Vanguard series and covers the later short nosed variants P-40D through P-40N. The book begins with the beginning of the end. By that I mean it shows the 15,000^th Curtiss fighter built, a P-40-N-CU festooned with the emblems of each nation that flew them and a red, white and blue striped tail. This was the beginning of the end as around one week after this picture was taken a P-40 production ceased and the plants were shut down. And though Curtiss had tried throughout the war to design and produce new fighters as well as into the early years of the jet age, they would never again build another production fighter designed in house.

Superscale initial release for Trumpeters 1/48th scale A-3D-2 with a marking set for the VAH-1 "Smokin' Tigers". Looking at the Internet, there are some great pictures of the Skywarrior in these markings especially on a cruise on the Internet.

The decals come in a single sheet. The sheet contains the markings for the kit including some of the major stencils. The sheet has great registration and color and are printed by Cartograf in Italy. The markings are distinctive with a large red flash on the side and great tail markings. Decals are provided for one airframe, build number 138932. The kit has a great color scheme with the gull gray over white being the primary colors. The nose and the leading edge of the tail is black. The engine parts are metallic titanium and gunmetal. The paint scheme is in full color on a single sheet and has references for those wishing further reading.

Superscale continues its excellent decal releases with a set for Trumpeter's 1/32nd scale A-6 with this release of markings for the A-6A for the VA-115 Arabs. VA-115 transitioned to A-6's during the 1967-70 time frame and these marking represent the Arabs on board the USS Midway in 1973. Specifically, the markings are for build number 156995. The color scheme for the plane was gull gray over white with the tail in black and green cap, rudder in white and green tips and fins to the fuel tanks. The radome was tan also.

This set includes a single sheet with all the markings needed to represent this build. Stencils will come from the kit. national markings are included and the decals are well printed with great registration. The printing was done by Cartograf and is superb. Instructions are in full color and give paint colors in name and FS numbers which is great. A reference list is also provided showing appropriate books that can be used.

This kit brings back some memories! As model builders, we all remember certain events in our model building history that bring back memories (good or bad) that have influenced our personal model building pastime. This kit, under the Monogram Moniker, was my first attempt at finishing a kit other than OOTB. I used a heated straight pin (under my Dad’s watchful eye) and made bullet strafe marks through the plastic engine nacelle (the one that had the engine in it and the rear fuselage. Of course I now know that it wasn’t accurate but it was a step at making me a better and more interesting model builder.