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Sopwith F.1 Camel Sets for Wingnut Wings 1:32 Eduard Wingnut Wings recent release of six different Sopwith Camel kits seem to have been very well received by the modelling community, judging by the comments around the internet and the number of builds that have appeared on Britmodeller alone. Eduard have now released some neat little set to complement these kits, which will be useful on all six of the Wingnut Wings releases. It must be pretty difficult to come up with items that will improve a Wingnut Wings kit, as they are already very complete. However, Eduard have chosen wisely here and provided some very useful items. 32911 Sopwith F.1 Camel. One area that proved to be really fiddly on my first Camel build was adding the control wires to the rudder pedals and joystick. It is do-able with ‘invisible mending thread’, but the challenge is getting them all ‘double’ and neatly lined up. Eduard have provided etched versions, already correctly spaced, thus making this job simplicity itself. For other areas in the cockpit have a fine etched throttle assembly to replace the one molded on part A26, the port interior frame. The seat in the full size Camel had a woven wicker back piece, with a noticeable band of exposed ‘X’s of framework along the central part. Due to molding limitations part A34 does not have the gaps, but rather is a solid piece. The Eduard fret provides a replacement that will need to be rolled to a semi-circular shape and added to the rounded edging of part A34, once it has been cut from the solid plastic wicker work. The seat is then finished off with a very nice set of pre-painted seat belts, with very fine detail that I find almost impossible to paint by hand. Moving to the exterior, a very complete and moderately complicated looking bomb rack is provided. Some bending and folding is required, so a ‘hold and fold’ type of tool will probably be needed to help with shaping all the components. The plastic one in the kit is already an impressive piece of molding, but this etched version will no doubt give you a very fine and delicate rack. I expect it would look best if displayed without bombs loaded on, in order to show off all the fine detail. One of the best things on the fret is the tiny 5 bladed propeller vanes that fit on the bombs, to arm them as they fall. These are not on the WnW etched fret, so it is great to see these really useful items here. They would be almost impossible to scratch build, and almost all photos I have seen of cooper bombs have them fitted. If you are going to build a ‘bombed up’ Camel, then these alone probably justify the purchase of this set, with all the other items being a bonus. Finally, we get some very delicate little brackets and pulleys to go under the clear inspection panels in the wings. There are some molded in the kit wings, but these will make painting them a lot easier as you can do so before fitting them. You’ll need to scrape the kit detail away first though. A very well thought out set that provides some useful items that are either not in the original kit (Cockpit control wires, Bomb vanes), or will improve the kit parts (Throttle, Seat back, Bomb rack), or just make things easier (Seatbelts, Bracket/pulley details). You could probably use this fret to enhance more than one model, particularly if you purchased an extra set of a pair of seat belts to go with it (see below). I am not a fan of using etched brass for its own sake; rather I like to see it used where it is the appropriate material for the job. Happily this set does exactly that, and will definitely enhance any of the 6 Wingnut Wings Camels. Especially those bomb vanes! 33170 Sopwith F.1 Camel Seatbelts. I have often said that there seems very little that Wingnut Wings could do to improve their kits, but one aspect would be pre painted seatbelts. You do get a set of etched seatbelts in all WnW kits, but they are plain brass and need priming and painting. A pair of these is supplied here, appropriate for all the Wingnut Wings Camels (you did buy more than just one didn’t you?). They are virtually the same as the ones on the bigger fret mentioned above, with the same fine detail that is almost impossible to hand paint. JX202 Sopwith F.1 Camel Mask set. This die cut set of items comes on Eduards usual yellow kabuki tape. It will mask all those awkward areas such as the clear parts of the windshields (all three types - Parts C1, C2, & C3), the clear pulley inspection hatches, propeller boss, and the tyres. These are always handy sets to have in and if you are careful you can often use them a second or third time. I would advise gently burnishing the edges down with the tip of a cocktail stick, and spraying paint with an airbrush if you can. Spray or brush the paint lightly from on the mask to the model, and not the other way around, or you risk building up a ridge of paint along the mask edge, or worse getting paint creeping under it. Conclusion. A very nice set of three ‘extras’ that will be genuinely useful, and perfectly complement the gorgeous Wingnut Wings F.1 Camel range. Review sample courtesy of

Hot off the workbench - in fact, still on it in these pics - is Tamiya's Spitfire IX, supplemented with a Yahu instrument panel and Barracuda wheels, and with markings from Xtradecal. The aircraft depicted is serving with 73 Sqn RAF, based at Prkos, Yugoslavia, in April-May 1945. They were flying mainly ground-attack sorties at the time, hence the name "Bombfire". 73 Sqn was one of the very few units to wear pre-war-style unit markings during the war - after serving in the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain, in Hurricanes, they transferred to the Desert and revived the markings there. Anyway, on with the show - these are on the bench, I'll do some proper "beauty shots" later. Thanks for looking.

LVG C.VI "The Duellists" (Part 2) 1:32 Wingnut Wings Remember the old Airfix 'Dogfight Doubles' with 2 kits of adversaries in the same box? Like the Camel & Albatros, Bristol Fighter & Fokker triplane, well Wingnut Wings have produced a similar idea, only this time they have put two of their superb kits into 1 boxing to depict an actual documented encounter that took place. This one is of LVG C.VI 7243/18 which encountered 2 Sopwith Camels from B flight of 4 Squadron Australian Flying Corps. The Camels shot down and captured the LVG, which was made airworthy again,a nd flown to the UK. Later it went on to Australia as a war prize, but sadly was not preserved. A fuller account is in the In box review done earlier this year. I have already built the Camel, In Ready For Inspection here. The LVG has long been unavailable from Wingnut Wings, so this is a welcome chance to get one if you missed it first time around. There is a Work in Progress thread on the LVG here. I covered the LVG fuselage with individual panels of Uschi Van Der Rosten plywood grain decals, which was a long job but well worth it. The kit itself goes together beautifully, as expected from Wingnut Wings, and the completed duo make an extra special addition to the display cabinet. And with the Camel; Thanks for looking, John

Sometimes a project just gets ahold of me. The original Revell boxing of this had some issues with landing gear and vertical stab. I built it anyway and it never quite looked right. A year later a magazine article described how to fix it and it has been stuck in my head these past 40 years. I purchased a fresh kit and slowly over time added details to the box until I ended up with all of this. So now it's time to see what I can do with it.

I realise that this is tantamount to teasing, but the WnW Albatros trio arrived at my doorstep at 10:00 this morning (I often work from home and got lucky). They were only posted two days ago! I'm glad I didn't bother paying twice as much for courier delivery! More to the point for those of you eagerly awaiting yours: very large box (about 36 x 52 x 9 cm), not as tightly packed as most WnW boxings, and all present and correct inside. That is: no shortcuts on quality as far as I can tell without tearing open bags.

Gun Barrels & Pitot Probes 1:32 Master This month’s releases from Master Models include these two sets for 1:32 scale aircraft. [AM-32-095] – Designed to be used with the Special Hobby Tempest Mk.V they are a simple replacement for the kits barrels, these being with a full jacket. Since they are a direct replacement, the wings will not require drilling out. Instead a backing plate will need to be made, if there isn’t one in the kit, and the barrels glued to that, ensuring the inner and outer barrels are correctly orientated, as the outer barrel is longer than the inner. [AM-32-096] – Designed to be used with the Special Hobby Tempest Mk.II and the hopefully released Sea Fury, they are a simple replacement for the kits barrels, these being with the fully inserted, shorter barrelled type. As with the above set the barrels will need a backing plate and ensure the inner barrel is recessed further into the wing than the outer. The pitot probe needs a 1.2mm hole to be drilled out before the probe can be glued into place. Conclusion The Special Hobby Tempest series of releases are superb in their own right, but adding more detail can be just as enjoyable and these sets, as simple as they are will do just that. Review sample courtesy of Piotr at

Sniper ATP 1:32 Eduard/Brassin (632-101) – Sniper pods provide improved long-range target detection/identification and continuous stabilized surveillance for all missions, including close air support of ground forces. The Sniper pod enables aircrews to detect and identify weapon caches and individuals carrying armaments, all outside jet noise ranges. Superior imagery, a video datalink and J-series-weapons-quality coordinates provided by the Sniper pod enable rapid target decisions and keep aircrews out of threat ranges. High resolution imagery for non-traditional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (NTISR) enables the Sniper pod to play a major role in Air Force operations in theater, providing top cover for ground forces, as well as increasing the safety of civilian populations. The Sniper pod is combat proven on U.S. Air Force and international F-15E, F-16 (all blocks), B-1, A-10C, Harrier GR7/9 and CF-18 aircraft. Lockheed Martin is also in the final stages of integrating the Sniper pod on the B-52. The pod's plug-and-play capability facilitates moving the pod across platforms without changing software. The single sniper pod comes in the blister style pack normally used for the smaller items, well protected by foam pads inside. It is really well detailed, as we have come to expect from Eduard and the parts are very neatly moulded. The pod comes in four grey resin and three clear resin parts, along with a small etched brass fret and decal sheet. Assembly begins with the fitting of the brass end piece to the main body of the pod along with a resin piece. The seeker head is the glued to the front of the main body, at whatever position you want. The difficult part comes with the fitting of the three clear parts as the edges where they join each other in a faceted fashion are flat, and need to be chamfered to the correct angle to get a good fit. Once this has been done the pylon adaptor plate is attached and two small PE discs glued to the upper quarters at the rear of the main pod. The whole pod is then painted in overall grey and the decals added. Conclusion This is another very useful piece of kit to add to your 1:32 aircraft. They are, or have been fitted to so many types now; everything from the F-15 to the F-16 via the Harrier GR-7/9 so could be of interest to a whole host of modellers. Review sample courtesy of

Multiple Ejection Racks 1:32 Eduard/Brassin (632-102) – The Multiple Ejector Rack (MER) is a weapon suspension unit that attaches to an aircraft's main racks (pylons), and that can carry up to six weapons, such as the Mk-20, Mk-82 Slick, Mk-82 Snakeye, CBU-87, or CBU-97. The Air Force stopped using MER's in the early 1990's, and is currently only using the TER triple-rack. The MER (A/A37B-6E) is an accessory suspension aircraft armament equipment which attach to a parent rack. The MER consist of an adapter assembly (strong back) six ejector units, a wiring harness, and an aircraft hardware adapter kit. The MER is capable of carrying as many as six stores attached to the ejector units (i.e. BRU-20 Ser. or MAK-79). Each ejector unit has four adjustable sway braces and two mechanically locking suspension hooks spaced 14 inches apart. Bombs are suspended and attached to the Multiple Ejector Rack by two suspension lugs 14 inches apart [except the Mk 84 which had lugs 30 inches apart]. Release was achieved by firing a charge that actuated a piston that forced the bomb off the MER. Each ejector unit is equipped with a safety stop lever located on the rear sway brace assembly which, when rotated to the locked position, prevents accidental stores release. The improved MER (BRU-41) has been introduced to the fleet to replace the MER. This rack incorporates internal modifications that improve bomb rack reliability and maintainability. The improved multiple ejector rack also incorporate an electronic control unit which controls all bomb rack functions. The three MER’s come in the standard Brassin cardboard box, well protected by foam pads inside. They are really well detailed, as we have come to expect from Eduard and certainly have more finesse than injection moulded items. Before assembly each MER will need to have certain holes drilled out with a 0.4mm drill. Each MER is assembled with the addition of the two suspension hooks, check references for where they are fitted on the rail, four reinforcing plates around the centreline, adjacent to each suspension lugs or four cone shaped items, depending on whether you rare building a modernised unit, six ejector racks and twelve crutch pads. The modeller has to supply the 0.4mm wire to attach between the ejector racks and the MER main body. There is a small etched disc glued to the rear of the MER to complete the assembly. Conclusion Eduard/Brassin keep churning out these products every month, but with no loss of detail. These items will look great fitted to which ever large scale fighter/bomber you are building. Do research your subject though especially the date you wish to build your model too. Review sample courtesy of

Mosquito FB.VI Left Engine (632092 for Tamiya) 1:32 Eduard Brassin Before you start you will need some lengths of wire of 0.3mm, 0.4mm, 0.5mm, 0.8mm and 1mm diameters to be able to do this set justice, so pick up either some lead fly-tying wire from an angling shop, or florist's wire and follow the instructions carefully. There are 21 steps in all, beginning with the cylinder heads and blocks with their electrical connections to the spark plugs, followed by the supercharger and ancillary equipment that sits on one end of the engine. The engine's crankcase is then built up with its own ancillary equipment, and the piston banks are added into keyed recesses, as are the supercharger to the rear and the reduction gear housing at the front. Between the two banks of 6 pistons form a V-shape at the top of the engine, and the supercharger feed-tubes run along the space between them feeding the engine with lots of compressed air, along with another bank of spark-plugs (2 per cylinder in total), which are fed by PE wires. With main engine construction completed, attention turns toward mountings and connections to the rest of the airframe. This begins with the engine bearings being constructed along with some additional equipment that is attached now for ease. The cowlings need a little preparation to remove the casting flash across the exhaust ports on the engine sides, which are simple to cut free and are marked in red on the instructions. These are added to the sides of the engine, a bulkhead is built up from a number of parts, additional wiring, hoses and equipment are added all around, including a curved reservoir around the reduction housing, and the propeller shaft is installed at the business end of the engine with a couple of PE parts and another resin part finishing off that area. The lower cowling is then constructed with the chin intake and a PE mesh preventing FOD ingress. The corresponding intake is attached to the underside of the engine, and various additional coolant hoses, actuator rods, wires and the automatic fire extinguisher are glued in place while the engine is inverted. The exhausts are supplied as two types, with the two rear stubs conjoined on the inboard bank of pistons, and an optional surround that slips over the stubs before they are attached to the block. More wire is added, as is the disc in front of the reduction gear, additional struts forming part of the engine bearers, more hoses etc. Then you get to do it all again with the other engine, with some of the parts mirrored, but many identical to the opposite side, as the basic engines were the same. Conclusion This is an amazing engine set that will certainly do the wonderful Tamiya Mossie a service. The detail included is some of the best I've seen and when assembled and carefully painted it will look superb. Naturally much care and patience will be required to get the best results, but it'll be worth it. It will look stunning whether fitted to the model or on a stand on it's own. Review sample courtesy of

Triple Ejection Racks 1:32 Eduard/Brassin (632-103) – Triple Ejector Racks or TER for short, are used in conjunction with a pylon and enable aircraft to carry multiple GP bombs such as Mk81/ Mk82, cluster bombs, LGB and others. It is also capable of carrying and firing rocket launchers such as LAU-68, LAU-131 and flare launchers such as SUU-25. Maximum load capacity for a TER it is 3000 lbs. TER uses three ejector release units (ERUs) which hold and enable release of stores. The ERUs are located in two groups of three : one aft and one forward, symmetrically arranged about the centerline and at 45 degrees at either side Each ERU holds the store by means of two suspension hooks placed at 14 in (std NATO) and also by a pair of sway brace pads which provide steady captive flight. Each ERU uses one or more impulse cartridges which enable safe separation of stores. The five TER’s come in the standard Brassin cardboard box, well protected by foam pads inside. They are really well detailed, as we have come to expect from Eduard and certainly have more finesse than injection moulded items. Before assembly each TER will need to have certain holes drilled out with a 0.4mm drill. Each TER is assembled with the addition of the two suspension hooks, check references for where they are fitted on the rail, three ejector racks and six crutch pads. The modeller has to supply the 0.4mm wire to attach between the ejector racks and the TER main body. There is a small etched disc glued to the rear of the TER to complete the assembly. Conclusion Eduard/Brassin keep churning out these products every month, but with no loss of detail. These items will look great fitted to which ever large scale fighter/bomber you are building. Review sample courtesy of

Kit – Hasegawa 1:32 (original issue) Paint – Tamiya acrylics & AK Xtreme Metals Decals – Kagero Extras – Barracuda resin wheels, Eduard pre-painted etch seatbelts Republic P-47D-30 Thunderbolt Assigned to Lt. Frank Middleton 65th FS, 57th FG Corsica, mid-1944 An impulse build after the 1:48 Airfix Spitfire from a month or so ago. Five weeks from cracking the box to what you see here – and yes I know I haven’t painted the sway braces on the pylons and centreline yet. As usual with Hasegawa’s BIG kits it simply fell together without any fuss whatsoever, I was expecting ‘issues’ with the multi-piece cowl, but it behaved impeccably. The huge take-away from this build is the incredible quality of AK’s enamel lacquer’s. So much better behaved than Alclad and nowhere near as ‘smelly’. First time using Kagero’s decals and they worked perfectly also. Not much else to say, my first 1:32 completion in a l-o-n-g time and enjoyed so much I dragged-out my H’gawa 109G-14 as a possible next project… Thanks for taking the time to look folks and please feel free to ask any questions or make any comments or criticism. Ian.

LVG C.VI "The Duellists" (Part 2) 1:32 Wingnut Wings This is the Wingnut Wings boxing of the Sopwith Camel and LVG C.VI double kit, depicting an actual event that took place in the Great War. LVG C.VI 7243/18 piloted by Sgt. Greyer with Lt. Köhnke as observer, was shot down and captured, By Harold Norman Kerr in Camel E7190, and Vincent Harry Thornton in Camel E7241. An in box review is here. I have already built the Camel and created a WIP thread Sopwith F.1 Camel "The Duellists" (Part 1) - 1:32 Wingnut Wings With Ready for Inspection thread Here. Now thats all out of the way we can get on with the WIP for the LVG! First up was to remove all the fuselage parts that required painting in natural wood, plus all the fittings. They were primed in Halfords grey, followed by an airbrushed coat of Tamiya 'Decak tan' as a base. Then the woodgrain was appied by brush using Griffin Alkyd quick drying artists oils (the tube kind). I use Raw Sienna, Light Red, and Burnt Umber mixed in various proportions to give different tones. Raw Sienna is the lightest, Burnt Umber the darkest. By blending you can get a huge range of tones. The Wingnut Wings decals give you all the instruments, completely readable, even the tiny little dials on the radio set. Unusually the fuselage goes together before the completed cockpit unit is inserted. It is a very tight fit but can be eased in The cockpit unit. I anly added a couple of pulleys for the rudder cables, (the round black units in the front corners) as I rigged all the control wires and it didn't make sense without some sort of pulleys for them. This is one of Wingnuts very first kits, and I doubt a detail like this would be omitted on any of their subsequent models. Next up was the engine. 2 sets of cylinder mouldings are provided. The kit tells you to use those with pushrods moulded on. But there is also a set without them and I opted to use those, and add my own pushrods from wire, for a better appearance. These are the 'moulded on' ones that I elected not to use; The pushrods I added are the red wire seen below. I also decided to wire up the ignition, with fine copper wire. The magnetos were done first with more length than needed so that I can trim to fit later. The plug leads go through some flat tapered tubes along the cylinders, shown in photos of the real engine in the instructions. None are in the kit but they are simply fabricated from plasticard, and plug leads attached, aslo from copper wire. I left the cylinders & crankcase separate, as the cylinders will be black and the crankcase natural metal and it eases the painting. Might as well do the gun, oil tank and inlets whilst preparing all these parts. It all needs painting now! Thanks for looking, John

Sopwith F.1 Camel "The Duellists" (Part 1) 1:32 Wingnut Wings This is the Sopwith Camel from the recently released 'Duellists' boxing from Wingnut Wings, reviewed here which also contains the LVG C.VI. Construction of the LVG is now underway and will appear in a seperate 'Work in progress' thread soon. <Edit> WIP thread for the LVG is started! LVG C.VI "The Duellists" (Part 2) - 1:32 Wingnut Wings </edit> WIP thread for the Camel - Sopwith F.1 Camel "The Duellists" (Part 1) - 1:32 Wingnut Wings It is a beautiful kit with Wingnut Wings customary precision engineering and outstanding fit. Total, complete, and exceptional modelling pleasure in a box! The write up with the kit gives the following information; 'On the morning of 9th October 1918 two Clerget powered F.1 Camels from B flight of 4 Squadron Australian Flying Corps took off on a ‘special mission’ patrol. 26 year old Harold Norman Kerr was in Camel E7190, accompanied by Vincent Harry Thornton in Camel E7241, They were to attack targets of opportunity with their bombs and guns, in much the same way that more than 20 years later in the second world war,the RAF crossed the Channel to conduct ‘Rhubarb’ missions. The combat report states “..we saw a 2 seater machine over Merville which opened fire on us. We both immediately dived on the enemy aircraft from the side. 2/Lt Thornton fired about 200 rounds from a range of 50 feet. 2/Lt Kerr then fired about 100 rounds from 50 feet. E.A. continued diving until practically on the ground being followed by 2/Lts Thornton and Kerr both firing. Landed near Nieppe.” Lt Thornton attempted to land alongside the 2 seater, but unfortunately hit telegraph lines and was severely injured, not being released from hospital until well after the Great War had ended.' On with the photos; And paired with something else, Wingnut Wings Sopwith Pup; If you have never seen or built a Wingnut Wings kit, you really need to! Thanks for looking, John

Yak 3 Pilot and Radio CMK/Special Hobby 1:32 CMK/Special Hobby seem to be releasing lots of useful little sets, much like Quickboost do. These two sets are meant to be used with the Special Hobby 1:32 Yak 3, but really the pilot, set F32 318 could be used for any Soviet aircraft. The pilot is constructed from four parts, the body, including legs, separate arms and head. The strange thing is, that the model doesn’t really look to be in a running pose. I’m sure once assembled and glued into position it will look fine, but I think you could actually use him in a more photographic pose, with his right leg propped up on a chock or something. The radio set, Q32 276 is a nice simple item, which you just need to cut away from the moulding block, paint and glue into position. Conclusion These are another pair of nicely moulded sets. The pilot will take some careful painting to bring to life but will make a useful addition to a diorama. The radio is very simple, but effective to be added to the kit. Review sample courtesy of

Pilots Heads CMK/Special Hobby 1:32 Here we have something a little different from CMK/Special Hobby. Two sets of military pilots heads. Set F32 319 contains eight heads with helmets whilst F32 320 contains twelve heads without helmets. The detail on all the heads is really well done, right down to the moustaches on several faces. There appear to be only a few that are duplicated, but the rest have quite different facial features, the helmets are even slightly different, so you’d have to check where they can be used. The pilots heads without helmets could actually be used on any figure and again the facial features are mostly different with only two or three similar, even the hair styles are different. Conclusion These two sets are actually quite useful to the modeller who likes to change the look of their diorama figures and with this many to choose from they could be used in several compositions. Review sample courtesy of

Hawker Tempest Wheels CMK/Special Hobby 1:32 CMK continue to increase their range of resin enhancement sets for various kits. This set if to provide the option of having square tread pattern tyres instead of the smooth style provided in the kits. The simple card headed poly pack contains two very well moulded; in fact I’d say brilliantly moulded wheels and tyres. The detail is quite amazing, right down to the name of the manufacturer on the tyre walls. The webs holding the wheel to the moulding block are nice and thing, so shouldn’t take too much work removing them and cleaning the up ready to be painted and fitted to the model. Review sample courtesy of Conclusion This is a lovely little set that will enhance any of the Tempests available.

I.A.R. 81c Special Hobby 1:32 The IAR 80 was a Romanian World War II low-wing, monoplane, all-metal construction fighter aircraft and ground-attack aircraft. When it first flew, in 1939, it was comparable to most contemporary designs like the German Bf 109E, the British Hawker Hurricane, and the Supermarine Spitfire. However, production problems and lack of available armament delayed entry of the IAR 80 into service until 1941. It was forced to remain in front-line use until 1944, when – even if for some aspects outdated – it still could compete under certain conditions with more modern aircraft such as the Lockheed P-38 Lightning. Work began on the IAR.80 prototype in late 1937, originally with an open cockpit and the 870 hp (649 kW) IAR K14-III C32 engine which was a licensed Gnome-Rhône 14K II Mistral Major. The prototype was completed slowly, and first took to the air in April 1939. Test flights of the prototype were impressive; the aircraft could reach 510 km/h at 4,000 m (317 mph at 13,000 ft), service ceiling of 11,000 m (36,000 ft) with the ability to climb to 5,000 m (16,400 ft) in 6 minutes which was respectable at the time, though not up to the contemporary Supermarine Spitfire or Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters. In comparison the P.24E was almost 450 kg lighter, yet over 80 km/h slower even though it used the same engine. The IAR.80 also proved to be a delight to fly and highly maneuverable. A number of minor problems turned up during the prototype phase, and were dealt with over the next year. To improve power the design was updated to mount the newer 930 hp (690 kW) C36 version of the K14-III. However this engine was slightly heavier than the C32, which required the fuselage to be stretched to move the center of gravity back into the proper position in relation to the wing. The extra space in the fuselage was put to good use by increasing the size of the fuel tanks to 455 l (100 imp gallons). The wing was also enlarged and the tail was revised to eliminate the bracing struts. Since the space was inserted behind the engine, the cockpit ended up further back on the aircraft. A side effect of this extreme rearward position was that the pilot had even worse forward visibility while taxiing than most other tail-draggers. To address this somewhat, the pilot's seat was raised slightly and a bubble-style canopy was added. The updated prototype was tested competitively against the Heinkel He 112, which had just arrived in Romania as the start of a potentially large order. Although the He 112 was somewhat more modern and much more heavily armed with two machine guns and two 20 mm cannon, the IAR.80 with its considerably more powerful engine completely outclassed it in all other respects. The ARR was impressed and ordered 100 of the new fighters on 18 December 1939. Orders for additional He 112s beyond the original 30 were cancelled. Production of the IAR.80 was to start immediately, although the armament proved to be a serious problem. The prototype had mounted only two Belgian-made Fabrique Nationale 7.92 mm machine guns, a licensed modification of the Browning 30 cal. This armament suite was clearly not heavy enough for combat use, and the production model was supposed to mount six of these guns. The German invasion of Belgium and the Low Countries in 1940 ended the supply of the FN guns, and there was no indigenous machine gun that was suitable for use in aircraft. Lacking armament, production was put on hold. It wasn't until November 1940 when Romania joined the Axis that the Germans eventually allowed the delivery of the guns to resume. As a result the first production IAR.80 didn't roll off the line until January 1941, although the first batch of 20 had been quickly delivered by the middle of February. The new armament supply still wasn't enough to fully equip the aircraft, so the production models only carried four guns. The production models also included new oxygen gear. The initial batch of fighters was well received by the Romanian pilots, but they considered the aircraft underpowered and lacking firepower. In order to address the power issue the aircraft mounted the 960 hp (716 kW) K14-IV C32 engine in the 21st through 50th examples, but there was little they could do about the firepower issue at the time. The final stage in the IAR.80's wartime history was the 81C. This version changed the guns once again, this time to the Mauser MG 151/20 which was replacing the MG FF/M in German service and had just been released for Romanian use. The order for the 81C was placed in May 1942, predating the second order of the 81As. The first order for 100 airframes was delivered, like all of the prior updates to the 81 series, with the centre-line bomb rack removed to be used as fighters. An additional order for 35 was placed in February 1943, and then another 15 in January 1944. These aircraft were primarily to replace losses in earlier models, while production of the Bf 109G ramped up. The Model The kit comes in a very attractive top opening box with an fine painting of an 81c in the foreground and its victims, a pair of B-24 Liberators. Once you get the tight fitting lid off, you are confronted with several poly bags filled with five sprues of medium grey styrene, plus smaller bags containing the clear styrene sprue, resin parts, etch sheet and decals. On inspection the styrene is very nicely moulded with finely moulded panels lines and details such as the rivets and “screw heads”. There doesn’t appear to be any blemishes or sink marks on any of the parts,. The instruction booklet is very nicely printed in an A4 portrait format, which just feels quality. There is a very handy parts/sprue layout on the first two pages followed by 7 pages for the build. These could be a little clearer as it would be easy to confuse the colour call outs with the parts numbers. Take your time in reading the instructions before building to become acquainted with what’s what. The build naturally begins with the cockpit, which is quite complex and care will need to be taken with the rather fragile looking centre instrument panel support struts which are attached to the forward bulkhead. There is no floor in these aircraft just a pair of foot plates, which along with the seat, forward bulkhead and shoulder height deck that holds the structure together. Details, such as the two piece joystick, four piece rudder bar, (including etched foot straps), lower instrument panel. Main instrument panels, trim wheel and various other controls make up into a very busy looking cockpit. The seat itself is made up of nine parts and is finished off with a set of etched lap and shoulder straps. With the cockpit completed, the insides of the fuselage halves can be detailed with items such as the fire extinguisher, throttle, complete with control rods, and gear retraction lever and painted up accordingly. The cockpit is then attached to one half along with the engine mounting disc, before the fuselage can be closed up. Moving on to the wings, which are provided as a single piece lower and two upper sections. These are joined together and fitted with the machine gun barrels, pitot probe, intake grilles and navigation lights, (for which a 0.8mm hole will need to be drilled into the wingtips before fitting). The flaps and ailerons each consist of upper and lower halves and can be positioned as per the modeller’s wishes. There are two types of flap hinges provided, one set for raised flaps and another set for lowered. The ailerons are fitted with both hinges and mass balances. The completed wing can now be attached to the fuselage. The tailplanes are assembled in much the same way with upper and lower halves for each and with separate rudder and elevators all attached to the rear fuselage. Before moving on, the beautifully detailed gunsight is assembled and fitted to the forward bulkhead of the cockpit before the windscreen and canopy are fitted. The aerial mast is slid through the hole in the windscreen framing and there are clear diagrams to ensure the modeller achieves the correct angle, so be aware. The engine is a model in itself and going by the instructions will be a complex build in which care and patience will be required in spades. Especially as although the instructions are pretty clear, the number of red lines showing different parts positions does make it a mite confusing. The front and rear banks of cylinders come in two halves, which when assembled are joined together, followed by the crankcase and flange ring. The valve rods come in individual or paired parts, which is why the modeller will need to take care on what goes where. To the rear of the engine the intake manifold is assembled from individual pipes attached to the manifold ring before being fitted. For the exhausts the two main parts are in very nicely rendered resin, onto which the individual exhaust manifolds are attached before fitting to the engine. The completed engine is now attached to the mounting ring on the fuselage and encased in the three part cowling, which is then detailed with etched cowl flaps. It’s a shame that such a beautifully detailed engine is all covered up, so I’d imagine some modellers opening up the access panels in the cowl to show it all off. Turning the model over there are quite a few details to add, these include the two piece car intake, the five piece centreline bomb rack and the tail skid. The undercarriage is each made up of single piece main legs/oleos which includes one half of the wheel axle yoke, two piece wheels/tyres and the other half of the axle yoke. Each of the undercarriage bay doors are detailed with individual flange pieces and strengtheners before being fitted to either the undercarriage leg or the wing. The actuator jack and scissor links are then attached to their respective positions. Again, separate clear diagrams show the angles required for the undercarriage legs and doors. The final part to the build is the assembly of the propeller, which is assembled from three separate blades, the back plate and the spinner, then attached to the model Not forgetting the addition of the aerial wire once painting has been completed. Decals The decal sheet is really beautifully printed, by Cartograf. Register and opacity are very good and there appears to be very little in the way of carrier film. The coloured markings are bright and vivid . There are markings are for four aircraft, all in variations of the standard Olive green, over light blue grey and yellow fuselage and cowling bands. I.A.R.81-c No.429 Escadrilla 67 Vanatoare, Grupil 2 Vanatoare, Gheraesti, Bacaui, Summer 1944 flown by Lt.Av Gheorghe Grecu, and Radu Costache. I.A.R.81-c No.329 Escadrilla 61 Vanatoare, Grupil 6 Vanatoare, Popesti-Leordeni, May 1944 flown by Lt.Av Victor Petric. I.A.R.81-c No.345 Escadrilla, Scoala Militara Aviate, Turda, October 1944 flown by Lt.Av Anatolie Grunju. I.A.R.81-c No.399 Escadrilla 58 Vanatoare, Grupil 7 Vanatoare, Targsor, March and June 1945, flown Lt.Av Gheroghe Lupsa and Lt.Av Mircea Teodorescu Conclusion This aircraft, in my view, falls into the familiar but still unusual camps. I certainly knew of the aircraft, but didn’t know much about the genesis of the design and it’s quite successful use in the hands of the Romanian pilots. The kit itself looks to be very nicely produced, and it should build into an interesting and colourful model. The detail is certainly there, yet I’m sure there are those who could do wonders with some additional scratch building. All in all a very nice kit. Review sample courtesy of

BLU-27 Fire Bombs Videoaviation 1:32 The BLU-27 is a thin-skinned napalm filled fire-producing bomb. They are designed to spread burning napalm over a target area. These firebombs are capable of forcible ejection from high-speed aircraft flying at low levels. The bombs may be unpainted or olive drab with two 76mm (3.00 inch) wide red bands (one each end) painted around the bomb approximately 559mm (22.00 inches) from each end. The number of filler caps and their locations may vary according to manufacturer. The BLU-27 series firebombs contain either one or two filler caps. The bombs have optional fin assemblies of slightly varying sizes and of either welded or bolted construction. The configuration of all the fin assemblies is the same. All seams on the BLU-27 series bombs are welded. The bombs, including all internal supports, are aluminium. Continuing the growth in their 1:32 range of bombs, Videoaviation have released this set of BLU-27 Fire Bombs with fins. Produced in the standard cream resin the two bombs come with separate nose cone and tail section and tail cone. These are glued to the main body section which you could use the completed shape by itself, or with the included etched brass fins and PE box shaped fin section, which is attached to the tail cone. Once painted the decals which consist of a data plate and an arrow with the word FWD on it, are applied. Conclusion Used on most USAF aircraft during the Vietnam war of which there are quite a few now released in this scale these tailed BLU’s will certainly add a slightly different dimension to your model. Review sample courtesy of

30021 4 Colour Upper Lozenge Decals & 30022 4 Colour Lower Lozenge Decals 1:32 Wingnut Wings Despite early propaganda the Great War was not ‘over by Christmas’ and instead the months passed and turned into years. Aviation was in its infancy, yet underwent rapid change and development during the four years of active conflict. After two years, by 1916 it was realised that some form of concealment for the aircraft was desirable; both while in flight and parked on the ground. Often this was achieved with paints or coloured dopes, but these carried the penalty of adding extra weight. The Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte (German air force) developed pre-printed fabrics that provided the colours without adding the weight. These were based on the polygonal patterns that had often been hand painted onto various aircraft, in an effort to visually break up their lines. Initially the ‘five colour’ fabric began to appear in 1917, followed later by a ‘four colour’ version. Both types had a ‘lower’ version consisting of light colours, and an ‘upper’ version with darker colours. Both types were in extensive use right up until the end of the war, one did not replace the other or supercede it. While the patterns are not in doubt, the actual colours have been discussed exhaustively over the last hundred years. With no contemporary colour photography, plus the effects of fading, oil, varnish, staining, and a whole host of other influences, it can be pretty difficult to come to absolute certainties. Wingnut wings have gone back to primary sources, I.e. surviving fabric samples, and done their own analysis. In their own words; “Wingnut Wings lozenge decals have been meticulously researched, the intricate patterns were traced from original lozenge fabric material we have examined in person. These same lozenge samples were used to colour match our decals under natural daylight conditions. We were very fortunate to have enough sample material to be able to match the colours to the un-doped and un-faded areas from where the edges had been folded over to sew the panels together. In conjunction with our decal printers, Cartograf, we printed multiple samples of each lozenge decal before we were completely happy that the colours matched or research findings. All of this ensures that our decals match the original colours of our samples as they looked in natural daylight conditions as they were applied to aircraft in the Great War.” The decals are printed on A4 sized sheets with seven ‘bolts’ of fabric on each, to the scale width they would have been. There is a very subtle ‘fabric’ look to them, the printing is razor sharp and the pattern repeats precisely . The colours look very impressive, they do actually start to blend together when viewed from a distance. There should be enough on the sheets to cover at least two Albatros sized aircraft, probably more if only the wings need covering. Plenty of useful information is contained within the instruction sheets, pointing out how aircraft were covered, use of rib tapes, and various anomalies that occurred. In the usual Wingnut Wings style, these are backed up with original photographs from the era. Comparison with an earlier Wingnut Wings decal from my stash (a Pfalz D.XII) in pre-shped format, shows the improvement that this latest research has produced. The earlier decal is a little harsher in the way the colours relate to each other, is probably too bright, and it doesn’t ‘blend’ as well as the newer sets. Lozenge camouflage is such a distinctive and noticeable feature on aircraft in this scale, that these sheets will be great to upgrade your unbuilt Wingnut Wings kits (they do a five colour set as well). And if you have any other manufacturers 1:32 WW1 German aircraft kits, they often have much poorer quality lozenge decals, you’ll definitely need a set of these. Highly reccomended. Review sample courtesy of

Fokker D.VII (Early) 1:32 Wingnut Wings Introduction The Fokker D.VII first appeared over the western front in May 1918, as the Great War was entering its final phase leading up to the November Armistice. At first issued in small numbers to elite pilots, it proved to be a very capable fighter and began to build a formidable reputation. Production contracts were awarded to Fokkers' main rival, Albatros, such was the need to get production ramped as quickly as possible. In fact Albatros produced more D.VII's than Fokker themselves, and of better quality. The early machines revealed a tendency to engine overheating, so various attempts were made to increase the airflow around the engine bay, mainly by cutting vents and louvers in the cowling panels. The number and location of these vents can often be of assistance in identifying the age and manufacturer of particular D.VII's in old photographs. Much has been written about it, but it was an outstanding fighter often awarded the accolade of being the finest such machine produced by any side in the conflict. The Kit It was something of a surprise to see this kit announced on Wingnut Wings website a few months ago, but it is certainly very welcome. All their previously released versions of the D.VII sold out long ago, and have been fetching silly money on auction sites. As usual we start with the wonderful Steve Anderson artwork adorning the box lid, depicting a pair of Jasta 15 D.VII's in a clear blue sky. Opening the box reveals that it is packed from top to bottom with a host of individually shrink wrapped sprues, leaving no room far anything to rattle around. It is a good idea with any Wingnut Wings kit to carefully unpack it in sequence, putting each item in the upturned lid as you go. Then reverse the process to get it all back in, otherwise you might find you can't get the lid back on properly. There is that much packed into every kit! Wingnut wings have previously released four other boxings of the D.VII in Fokker, Albatros, OAW, and Fokker D.VII(F) forms. They naturally share a lot of common parts, with the individual variations being taken care of by other sprue(s) unique to the particular version. Construction starts with the cockpit, and here sprue A holds most of the parts. Pay attention to the instructions to make sure you select the correct ammunition tank and machine gun mounts. They vary in height according to early, mid, and late production. The etched fret provides seatbelts, which look very good once painted up and applied to the seat. Having made several of these kits already, I have a number of previous 'build' photographs that are useful here. The cockpit framework builds up very precisely, so you must ensure that you scrape any paint away from mating surfaces, and that you fit items like the firewall and ammo tank correctly. Any incorrect fitting will result in the finished unit 'bulging' and being too wide, which will then interfere with the fuselage sides closing around it. Several items have pins that fit into sockets on sideframes B10 & B11. It is a good idea to ream these out with a micro drill after painting. As usual, Wingnut Wings provide superb instructions, showing detailed colour photos of the interior of the Memorial Flight Associations meticulous replica. These are accompanied by coloured CAD drawings showing how it all fits together, with paint references. The engine bay is made up of several beautiful mouldings that replicate the welded steel tubing of the real thing. Take care with parts B14 & B15 when you remove them from the sprue. On my first build I inadvertently cut them at the front where the engine mounting plates end. But these 'spigots' that stick out are later used as radiator mounts. My fault, the instructions show them clearly but I wasn't paying attention! I absolutely love Wingnut Wings engines, they make super little models in their own right, especially if you go the extra step and wire up the magnetos to the plugs. Fine copper wire is ideal for this, and I often use a little bit of artistic licence and paint them in a light colour. After all, If I have installed all the ignition leads, I want them to be visible. Alternate air pumps, intake manifolds, and decals are provided for whichever of the five colour schemes you select. The Mercedes D.IIIa engine powered many different German aircraft, and thus features in several Wingnut Wings kits. This one was built for the initial release of Wingnuts Fokker D.VII. The fuselage halves are closed around the completed interior, but only the top seam is glued. Once dry, the bottom can be glued, and a strip of 'stitching' fitted in to a channel running along the underside. This works well, and is the only way the stitching can be replicated without having a join line right down its middle, which would then be lost as you sanded down the seam. The two LMG 08/15 Spandaus are provided with etched brass jackets, but if you are not confident optional full plastic ones are supplied as an alternative. Two styles of windscreen are on sprue C, which is typical of Wingnut Wings attention to detail. They are tiny and very similar, but you get both. Not all manufacturers would do this. Sprue I holds all the engine cowling panels, and it is this whole sprue that is completely different in the OAW and Albatros releases of the kit. Even within each kit there are multiple options for all the cowlings, such was the variation among early, mid, and late production from even the same manufacturer. As an early machine, the ones applicable to this kit are the plain ones, or those with only a few louvers - some of which have to be cut off anyway. The instructions make it all perfectly clear. The area is finished off by fixing one of two different styles of exhaust to the engine. Sprue D is provided in duplicate, with all those items that you require two of. Three different wheel hubs are present, but only one style is applicable to the Fokker built machines. The wings are simple to build and feature lovely rib detail. They can in fact be built, primed, painted, and decalled while the main construction of the cockpit/fuselage is going on. Final assembly involves beautifully moulded three-way cabane struts, parts B8 and B12. Use a drill to clear out their lower end mounting sockets at the top of the undercarriage legs. The tolerances are tight, so make sure nothing is clogged with paint. All the struts will fit precisely, and the bonus is that hardly any rigging is required. Markings and decals. Five different schemes are offered, with option C having a variation on the colour of the nose area, either red or yellow. A. Fokker D.VII, 262/18, Emil Thuy, Jasta 28w, mid-1918 (35 victories) B. Fokker D.VII, Rudolf Berthold, Jasta 15/JG2, mid-1918 (44 victories) C1.Fokker D.VII, Max Kliefoth, Jasta 19, October 1918 (3 victories) C2.Fokker D.VII, Hugo Schäfer, Jasta 19, October 1918. As above but with red nose area. D. Fokker D.VII, Reinhold von Benz, Jasta 78b, August 1918 (1 victory) E. Fokker D.VII, Bruno Loerzer, Jasta 26/JGIII, November 1918 (44 victories) Four A4/Letter sized decal sheets are supplied, with the first sheet containing all the individual markings for options A to E. As always they are close to perfection, with perfect colours, register, minimal carrier film and superfine detail. Some of the tiny data plates, shown at least double real life size, are completely readable. Produced by Cartograf, need I say more? Two sheets of lozenge decal accompany the main sheet, one of four colour lozenge and another of five colour. The five colour is especially interesting as it provides two types of underside lozenge. The 'normal' and an overpainted set, replicating where pale blue paint has been washed over the lozenge fabric. I have never seen this on a decal sheet, but it looks great. The lozenges are just visible underneath, and having it provided like this takes all the risk out of having to do it yourself. Options A an B both use it, the others use the normal four colour decal. An interesting variation is that Option A actually uses five colour underside lozenge on both wing upper surfaces, with normal upper five colour on the ailerons. Certainly a very interesting and attractive scheme. The decals themselves are in 'cookie cutter' format, designed and shaped to apply directly to the wing surfaces, complete with rib tapes. Be sure to paint the wings first, to give the decals something to 'bite' onto. Don't be tempted to think you can apply them directly to bare plastic. You can't, because they wont stick. The Fokker 'streaky' camouflage can be rather daunting to paint, but Wingnut Wings have made it simple by creating a full set of 'streak' decals for the fuselage. These are the same as provided in their original Fokker release, and found that they give an excellent result when applied over a pale green (or clear doped linen) painted fuselage. Again referring back to my earlier build; (flash photograpy does't 'arf make the colours look bright! It a lot more subtle in real life). Conclusion. Wingnut Wings other D.VII's sold out rather quickly, so don't hang about with this one. Another benefit is that this boxing contains all the plastic parts and options that were in the original (now out of production) Fokker D.VII release. So if like me, you have the original kit but wanted to build more than one option from it, then you now have everything to assemble an early, mid, or late production Fokker built D.VII contained within this box. But if you missed earlier Fokker built D.VII completely, now is your chance to fill that gap in your collection. Buy two and build an early version straight from the box, and use the other one with Wingnut Wings own decal sheet 30006 'Fighting Fokkers part 1', which gives options for some later Fokker D.VII's. Another absolute beauty from Wingnut Wings, very highly reccomended. Review sample courtesy of Previous builds; 32011 Fokker D.VII (Fok) 32027 Fokker D.VII (Alb) 32030 Fokker D.VII (OAW) with decal sheet 30009 Fokker D.VII (OAW) Fighting Fokkers part 4

Hi All, Another F4 question... I'm just getting up to painting my F4J in the USMC scheme with the blue nose and fuselage surround. I've seen lots of pictures with varying shades of the same colour, but I was wondering if anyone knows if there is one paint out there that's as close as possible to being the same blue that is on the decals? Cheers, James.

US Navy Deck Crew Videoaviation 1:32 [165032] the latest release from Videoaviation.com is this set of a USN Deck Crew, a set of five figures for your big dioramas. Two of the set have been previously released, namely the crewmember with chocks and the one with holdbacks. The other three crewmembers, two shooters as a fly operator are all new moulds. The set is manufactured in the standard creamy beige resin which is really well moulded and detailed. Crewman with holdbacks - The crewman’s body, head and legs are moulded as one part, with the arms moulded separately. The holdbacks, of which there are six in the box, are moulded on separate blocks, but only by a couple of points , so should be too difficult to remove without breaking them. They can be attached to the crewman’s hands or if you are doing a launch diorama can be fitted between the deck and the aircraft. Deck Crewman with associated chocks - The crewman body, head and legs are moulded as one part, with the arms moulded separately. The chocks are in five parts, two parts for each chock and the fifth for the bar. Shooters – A mostly a single piece figure kneeling on one knee with a separate arm, one shooter pointing, the other with his thumb up. The Fly Director – This is another single piece figure with a separate arm outstretched. Unfortunately the instructions don’t come with colour photographs of the crewmen showing the standard flightdeck uniforms. Instead the call-outs are written down with pointers to the appropriate items. Conclusion This is another very useful set for those modellers who like to build dioramas/vignettes with their large scale models. This set is certainly the one to get even if you have bought the previous figures. Review sample courtesy of

Ok so this one joins my now fleet of three 1:32 F104G Starfighters! The other two were Italeri and this one is a very old Hasegawa kit which was devoid of any detail but ok to build. Thanks to Steve aka Triplex29 who gave me some great information for the build - nice one! Colours were mixture of MrColor, Tamiya and Alclad and the only aftermarket was the pitot. The decals were left over from the Italeri kits as the kit decals were shot to pieces. I don't think the bang seat is the correct one but can correct this later. So I need to find space for more of these! Spanish, Japanese and Danish versions all in my thought processes! Need the forthcoming TF104 as well So some photos of this build and its squadron mates! Chris Edit - just loaded the photos again after the PhotoBucket debacle!

I have begun my dream build - the BBMF in 1:32 scale, starting with a couple of Spitfires and Hurricanes. The first Spitfire is to be the Mark IIa P7350 "EB-G". My base is the Revell 1:32 kit p/n 80-3986, along with "Kits World" decals and "Yahu" instrument panel. My question concerns the Spinner. Regardless of what it looked like in early WW2, I am trying to find the appropriate 3-blade spinner to match what P7350 has today...and it certainly isn't the shape supplied with the kit, which looks - well - too short and dumpy. I have scoured the interwebs, this forum without success...can anyone advise... 1. Which spinner type does full size P7350 fly with these days? Rotol? DeHaviland? Other? 2. Does any after market shop supply this in 1:32 scale (with blades)...I don't mind having to "fiddle" with it a bit. MANY thanks, Eric