Aircraft and History

The Focke-Wulf Fw-190 series aircraft may be the best German fighter aircraft in WWII. Developed by Kurt Tank in the late 1930’s, it proved itself in combat over France in 1941. The first Fw-190’s had a radial engine but later on, an inverted V-12 engine was installed and the Fw-190D series was born. This subject, Fw-190D-10 is an interesting subject, only two prototypes were produced and the D-10 did not make it to production. Many of the featured used on the D-10 were later used on the TA 152.

Kit

This kit has superb detail inside and out. Cockpit detail is nice and some photo etch is provided. The real gem is inside the wheel bays, you can see the back of the engine and super charger components. All of the control surfaces except the elevator can be displayed in a deflected position.

Background

One of the most recognizable Allied vehicles of World War II was the Jeep – or ¼ Ton 4x4 Truck. Outfitted for a variety of roles, one of the most dashing was the role of British Special Air Services (SAS) “raider” operating far behind enemy lines. Equipped with extra fuel tanks, Vickers machine guns, and bullet-proof driver and passenger windshields, the SAS Jeeps were lightweight, agile, rugged vehicles well-suited for commando operations focused on disrupting enemy activity.

Each issue of Scale Aircraft Modeling follows a basic design and format. There are usually two Feature Articles, an Aviation in Profile piece, industry news and a series of Compact Build Reviews.

The Feature articles for this issue covers a magnificent build of Airfix new Gloster Javelin Mk 9 and also a 1/48 Academy BAe T-59 Hawk. The Airfix Javelin build by Mike Williams covers the construction and painting in detail with excellent shots of the cockpit and all internal detail. He finishes with an excellent paint scheme and the kit looks fantastic.

The other Feature article from Brian Wakeman covers building the Academy BAe Hawk in Korean trainer markings. The Korean trainer version requires adding a replacement nose. Detail is provided on this and upgrading the cockpit and also an excellent painting and weathering guide. This finished shots look awesome.

The Kit

This is my first Dragon Pz. III build and my overall impression of the kit is very favorable. The parts are very well molded with fine, delicate detail and no flash to speak of… almost. I found only a few small fit and engineering issues that take away from the overall build experience. In general the kit builds up like any other newer Dragon armor kit. The other thing I noticed was a bunch of parts. However, you will notice that nearly half of them are not used in this version of the Pz. III.

The Hull comes with no interior detail other than the hull mounted MG and the torsion bars for the suspension. With an aftermarket interior, you wouldn’t see much if any of the bars anyhow. The turret does have some detail, but it is limited to the gun breech, spent shell basket, commander’s step / seat and the interior portion of vision slits.

Master Models is one of those companies who have stepped up to deliver what we really need; durable, accurate metal pitot tubes and probes for our fast-mover jets. THANK-YOU VERY MUCH for filling the void!

The only thing I will say is to be careful with them, as they can turn your house into a doctors’ office for injections in little time!

These 3 little (and I mean tiny, miniscule, actually “Scale”) bits are perfect to add to your model. First, they are made of brass, which makes them durable but not “unbendable” like stainless steel or actual needles; they have a bit of “give” when “tweeked”, but return to shape. That means you won’t have the same issues as resin pitot tubes where the cat breathes on the parts and they go flying off into the netherworld!

Second: Where else are you going to find such great metal machine work at a reasonable price? Only with Master Models!