History

The Polikarpov U-2 biplane was designed and built during 1928 as a primary trainer for the fledgling Soviet Air Force, and it seemed to possess all of the characteristics desired by that service, including rugged all-wood construction, a low-powered but reliable power plant, and excellent flying characteristics. It was produced in massive numbers, approximately 40,000 of them eventually being manufactured in the Soviet Union and foreign countries. The type was adaptable to many uses, including training, air ambulance, night bombing, crop dusting, and a few were even used as floatplanes. During the war, the plane was re-designated Po-2 in honor of the designer, Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov. A few were even used by the North Koreans during the Korean War for night harassment, as, having all-wood construction, they had a very low radar profile. There are still a few flying today, especially in Europe.

New from Floyd Werner and Werner’s Wings are decals and history for the Night Stalkers, the 160th Special Operation Aviation Regiment (SOAR). This set of decals covers the history of the group from its conception in 1981 through Operation Gothic Serpent in 1993.

The aircraft covered here are H-60's and H-6’s in 1/72 scale. The decals are also offered in 1/35th and 1/48th scales. The decals cover eight markings for the H-6 and 9 markings for the H-60. Each scheme has a specific color guide and also notations about specifics of that particular helicopter. There are notes about antennae locations, markings, and history of all airframes.

Should you be looking for a little something different to build, I would like to point you in the direction of this one-quarter scale instrument panel that is being offered as a Limited Edition release by the folks at Eduard. The kit assembles with relative ease, and is a good representation of the instrument panel used in the Messerschmitt Bf-110C variant, although the variant is only mentioned once on the side of the box. The needles used in the various gauges are the only tricky items to handle during construction, so this would be a good item for modelers fourteen and up, as the box recommends.

Master Model is a company that makes turned brass aftermarket parts, specifically pitot tubes, refueling probes, and antennas.

The first thing I would like to point out is how good the packaging and instruction sheet is. The packaging consists of a zip-lock type bag, while the part is in a smaller bag, keeping it from moving all over. The instruction sheet is very clear and easy to understand, only needing 3 steps. Cut off original part, drill a hole (0.8 mm), glue in the new metal part – complete. Just be careful drilling the hole, especially in 1/72.

When compared to the kit part – there is no comparison. The kit pitot tube looks like a little blob of plastic, while the Master Model part is a complete work of art. Once you use a couple of these pieces you will be completely spoiled and never want to use the kit pitot tubes again.

This kit is basically a slightly upgraded re-box (reboot) of their Premium Edition Kit 6317 that came out in 2008. The new parts are two photo etched tool boxes instead of one, a newly designed photo etched tool box to fit on the rear of the fighting compartment, different Magic Tracks specifically for the Kursk campaign, and a new set of decals that are supposed to allow you to build any vehicle that served with the s.Pz.Jg.Abt.653 or s.Pz.Jg.Abt.653 units at Kursk.

This is a multimedia kit comprised of 270+ styrene parts, magic tracks in the early pattern, three photo etched frets, a turned aluminum gun tube, decals, and the set of instructions that need to be reviewed very carefully before gluing any parts together. Most Dragon models today are a collection of old sprues with new sprues added to create a new kit variant, and Dragon has done so with this kit.