TheSaab 35 Draken is the latest publication from Duke Hawkins Books and is the thirty-first volume of a series of books that they have recently published highlighting modern aircraft. This series got its start with The Sepecat Jaguar in July 2017 and has been quite successful. There is also a special limited edition on the Belgian Air Force F-16 and on the Juan Carlos I Aircraft Carrier. This series of publications fall under the name of Duke Hawkins, but it is not clear exactly who Duke Hawkins is. If you check out other retail sites on this series, you can findRobert Pied and Nicolas Deboeck listed as authors, but there is not much additional information on them. One of the bylines goes like this:
What's New
Please note: this is a companion review for the Hawaiian Air Depot masks; here is the review for the MiniArt P-47D.
MiniArt and Hawaiian Air Depot
Link to product on company site: https://miniart-models.com/product/48001-p-47d-25re-thunderbolt-advanced-kit/
A Very Brief History the P-47
A great deal of information and data is readily available online about the legendary P-47, often referred to as ‘Juggernaut’ or just the ‘Jug.’ The thousands of women and men working around the United States produced over 15,683 P-47s with the P-47s accounting for over astounding 7,000 enemy aircraft losses,86,000 railway cars, 9,000 locomotives, 6,000 armored fighting vehicles and 68,000 trucks. You can easily spend hours reading about the exploits of the P-47 and many of the well-known pilots who flew them. The P-47’s maximum weight capacity was almost 17,000 pounds, compared to the P-51’s at 12,000 pounds, an increase of approximately 5,000 pounds or 41% more than the Mustang. It’s eight .50 caliber guns carried 3,500 rounds compared with the 1,840 rounds for the P-51 (a whopping 90% increase).
Avonmore Books is an Australian publisher specializing in military and aviation history, with a particular interest on the early period of the Pacific War. Avonmore prides itself in being the only mainstream Australian military history publisher producing full colour, illustrated books. While expensive to produce, we strive to produce titles that are a pleasure to own and read, and which incorporate first-class profiles, illustrations, and maps. To date, Avonmore Books has published 25 aviation books.
Tamiya follows it 1/48th F-35A Lightning kit with a new and very updated 1/48th F-35B. I have been lucky enough to review both. The F-35A Review is here: https://reviews.ipmsusa.org/review/f-35a-lightning-ii-4
For this review, I will focus on the differences between the two kits. Inside the box, you will find 14 sprues with tress A, B, C and E being carryovers from the A version. There are sprues to make weapons also:
The 9P149 is a tank destroyer of Soviet origin and in this example, it is a vehicle carrying radio guided anti-tank system designated 9K114 Shturm which uses the 9M114 Kokon (Cocoon) missile. Same missile as used by the Mi-24 helicopter.
The kit comes in standard gray plastic in 15 gray sprues, two clear sprues, decals and 2 photoetch frets. Total is 790 parts many of which are very tiny as the entire vehicle is a about a scale foot long. There is an entire interior which covers the driver compartment, engine and transmission. You will decide how far you want to build the interior if you don’t decide to open the hatches. The interior is really nice but I didn’t find many references no color call outs on the instructions.
I have been building 3D-printed resin kits from Vargas Models for almost two years now, and these are just getting better and better. If you are unfamiliar with this small but prolific company, Vargas Models specializes in unusual 3-D printed, limited-run armor models, and is now offering the M2A4 Light tank,the fourth variant of the M2 light tank family (formally Light Tank, M2), that served in the U.S. Army during the interwar period. A few of these vehicles went in with the Marines at Guadalcanal early in the war – it is one of these that this particular offering depicts.
Floyd Werner and Werner Wings produces wonderful aftermarket and decals primarily (but not wholly) aimed at helicopters. That not surprising as that was what Floyd’s does- fly helicopters. This set consists of parts and decals to convert the Kitty Hawk 1/35th scale HH-60H to the Coast Guard version of the HH-60J Jayhawk. Wait, Kitty Hawk is out of business! Zimi Models to the rescue. They have reissued many of Kitty Hawks kits and that includes the Resue Hawk. Problem solved.
The set includes seven well cast resin parts. The bigger pats are in white resin and include the extra fuel tank and the front fairing in front of the cockpit. Three of the seven parts make up the search light with the modeler supplying the lens.The last two parts modify the instrument panel with a moving map panel and a correct set of gauges.
In addition to the resin, the set if completed by the addition of decals, set 35-13 which includes coast guard marking for five aircraft:
The Westland Whirlwind was a twin-engine fighter/bomber built for the Royal Air Force. It was conceived shortly before WW2 broke out and went into service almost immediately. It was an aircraft not readily mentioned that fought gallantly through the Battle of Britain and the other campaigns in Europe. The aircraft suffered from what many consider an underrated Rolls Royce engine. Although I have also read the propellors were to blame for poor upper altitude performance. Nevertheless, the Whirlwind could out turn the BF-109 and was formidable with its four Hispano 20 mm cannons in the nose. It was also a marvel of engineering in its construction and innovative designs. Unfortunately, all but one airframe was removed from service in 1943 and scrapped.
The He-162 Volksjaeger has long been a popular model subject with great kits in all popular scales from Tamiya to Revell to Trimaster. It is an interesting plane and now we have an excellent book documenting the development to deployment to the end of the small jet fighter. Written by Robert Forsyth and Eddie J. Creek, this is a wonderful book with great profiles, pictures and information on the He-162.
The chapter breakdown is as follows: