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Messerschmitt Bf.109E-0 ‘First Emils’ (AZ7869) 1:72 AZ Model by Kovozávody Prostějov With almost 34,000 examples manufactured over a 10-year period, the Messerschmitt Bf.109 is one of the most widely produced aircraft in history and it saw active service in every theatre in which German armed forces were engaged. Initially designed in the mid-1930s, the Bf.109 shared a similar general arrangement with the Spitfire, employing monocoque construction and a V12 engine, albeit an inverted V with fuel injection rather than the carburettor used in the Spit. Initially designed as a lightweight interceptor, like many German types during WWII, the Bf.109 evolved beyond its original brief into a bomber escort, fighter bomber, night fighter, ground-attack and reconnaissance platform. The E variant, or Emil as it was more affectionately known was the first major revision of the original design, including an uprated engine and the attendant strengthening of the airframe that was required. It first saw service in the Legion Condor fighting in the Spanish civil war on the side of Nationalist forces of Military Dictator Franco, and then in the Battle of Britain where it came up against its nemeses the Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane during the critical fight for the survival of the RAF, which was key to halting Operation Seelöwe, the invasion of Britain by the Nazis. As the Spitfire it fought was improved incrementally through different marks, the Emil was similarly tweaked to keep pace, with the E-7 having additional long-range tankage, plus structural improvements and a simpler squared-off canopy with clear frontal armour, but apart from various field modifications and a few low-volume sub-variants, it had reached the end of its tenure, and was phased out in favour of the Friedrich. The Kit This is an Emil from KP Models’ 1:72 line of Bf.109s, which is quite broad already but is still growing steadily. We have seen some of the plastic already, and this boxing represents the earliest Emils to reach service, which must have been quite a treat for the pilots lucky enough to fly them, as the Emil was quite an improvement over the Dora. The kit arrives in a small end-opening box with a painting of the aircraft on the front, and four-way profiles of the markings on the rear. Inside are three sprues in grey styrene, a tiny sprue of clear parts, two small decal sheets and the instruction booklet, which is printed in black and white on a folded sheet of A4, with the stencil locations in a diagram on the rear page. Detail is good throughout, including sidewall and gear bay roof detail, plus instrument and seatbelt decals to add detail into the cockpit. Panel lines and rivets are finely engraved, as are other raised/recessed details that all add visual interest. Construction begins with the cockpit, with detailed painting instructions provided in colour, giving the modeller plenty of detail plus the decals for the instrument panel and seatbelts, and a clear gunsight. The cockpit and platform for the chin radiator are sandwiched between the fuselage halves, the flush exhaust exits moulded into the sides of the fuselage. The lower wing is single span, and is joined to the two upper wing halves after adding radiator details in the fairings and painting the cooling pathway. It is joined to the fuselage, and a scrap diagram shows that the dihedral should result in a 10mm gap between both wingtips and the surface when the model is laid flat on its belly. The narrow-track landing gear is made up from the strut, wheel and captive bay door on each side, locating in sockets in the upper wing halves, while the tail-wheel is a single part that slots into the underside of the rear fuselage. The cannon troughs on the upper engine cowling are a separate insert that receives a pair of cannon stubs from within before it is glued in, while one decal option has the guns removed and the troughs faired over, so a little filling will be needed here. The prop has a clipped spinner that slips over the three-bladed prop, enclosing it by adding the back-plate that has a peg moulded into the rear to attach it to the nose. A tubular supercharger intake is applied to an outline on the port side of the engine cowling, and the single-part canopy is glued down, adding an aerial to the rear. At the rear the elevators are fixed in their slots and are supported by a pair of diagonal struts, then you can choose to load a bomb or additional fuel tank on a pylon on the centreline, adding a pitot and two horn balances to the ailerons while the model is inverted. A scrap diagram shows the correct placement for each carrier, although the diagram is a little on the small side for us older folks, so don’t forget your magnifier glass. Markings There are three decal sheets in the box, the stencils covered on the instruction sheet, and each of the decal options are wearing a similar dark green camouflage scheme, as shown on the rear of the box. From the box you can build on of the following: The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. There are seatbelts and an instrument decal on the sheet, which should add a little realism to your finished cockpit. Conclusion If you’re a WWII modeller and like the Bf.109, the E-0 is an unusual option for your collection, with the red fuselage bands adding a bit of colour. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Avia B-10 ‘Military’ (KPM0422) 1:72 Kovozávody Prostějov Designed and manufactured in Czechoslovakia in the mid-1920s, The BH-10 was a civilian aircraft that was intended as an acrobatic sports plane, and unusually for the era, it was a monoplane. It was developed from the earlier BH-9, adding a tall anti-roll bar behind the pilot, as the aircraft had been known to nose-over, resulting in injury or death to the pilot in the open cockpit. Only twenty-one examples were built, ten of which were bought by the Czechoslovakian army and used under the designation B.10 as trainers for their newly formed air arm, the rest being used by civilian owners and flying clubs. It was powered by a small Walter NZ 60 engine that output 60hp through a two-bladed wooden propeller with a maximum speed of 100mph, below that of a modern passenger car, although granted that was in three dimensions, rather than just two. Of the small number that were built in the 20s, a few still survive in museums and collections around the world, which is quite surprising, considering that WWII was waiting in the wings only a decade later. The Kit This is the second boxing of a recent new tool from Kovozávody Prostějov of this little aircraft, and the kit arrives in a small end-opening box with a painting of a camouflaged B-10 being followed by another on the front, and the decal options on the rear. Inside the box is the same sprue of grey styrene as the civil BH-10, a small clear sprue, a decal sheet, and the instruction booklet printed in black and white on a folded sheet of A4, with a line drawn set of profiles on the back page. Despite the small size of the kit, detail is good, and includes a cockpit, some nice rib and fabric detail on the flying surfaces, and a representation of the five-cylinder Walter radial engine. Construction begins with the sub-assemblies, starting with painting the instrument panel, which has a staggering total of three whole instruments, typical of aviation’s early days. The engine is a single part, and benefits from being painted four contrasting shades, then the pilot’s seat is painted and has four-point decal seatbelts applied, before it is glued to the rear bulkhead of the cockpit, which has the floor added at a right angle. The cockpit is completed by a straight control column that inserts in a hole at the forward end of the control lines moulded into the floor. The fuselage has a little internal detail moulded-in, despite being only 6cm long, so after detail-painting, it is trapped between the fuselage halves along with the semi-circular instrument panel, inserting the elevators and tail fin into slots in the rear of the fuselage, adding a skid under the tail. The main gear is made from three V-shaped struts, linking them with an aerodynamically faired axle, which has the wheels applied to each end, allowing the model to stand on its own wheels (and skid). Each of the two wings are moulded as a single part, and have a lot of nice detail moulded-in, depicting the ribs, flying surfaces and fastenings, attaching to the fuselage sides on a pair of short pins. They are supported by a pair of thick struts, two on each side of the fuselage, and the instructions advise that there should be a small gap at the trailing edge of the wing, illustrated by a scrap view from above. The engine is exposed, and simply glues directly to the front of the fuselage on a large peg, showing off your work on painting it earlier. It is finished off by a two-bladed prop, and the model is completed by adding a choice of two styles of windscreen in front of the cockpit, and the highly visible triangular roll-over bar that is covered for aerodynamic reasons behind. Markings There are three decal options included on the sheet, two in more typical military colours, one in silver with a crest on the sides of the fuselage. From the box you can build one of the following: The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion The BH-10 was a new one on me, and its small stature was quite appealing, something that follows on with the militarised B-10, which other than the painting and decaling is identical to all intents and purposes. The surface detail is nicely done, and if you really want to push out the boat, you could add the exhaust stacks behind the engine from brass rod or tube. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Avia BH-10 (KPM0421) 1:72 Kovozávody Prostějov Designed and manufactured in Czechoslovakia in the mid-1920s, The BH-10 was a civilian aircraft that was intended as an acrobatic sports plane, and unusually for the era, it was a monoplane. It was developed from the earlier BH-9, adding a tall anti-roll bar behind the pilot, as the aircraft had been known to nose-over, resulting in injury or death to the pilot in the open cockpit. Only twenty-one examples were built, ten of which were bought by the Czechoslovakian army and used under the designation B.10 as trainers for their newly formed air arm, the rest being used by civilian owners and flying clubs. It was powered by a small Walter NZ 60 engine that output 60hp through a two-bladed wooden propeller with a maximum speed of 100mph, below that of a modern passenger car, although granted that was in three dimensions, rather than just two. Of the small number that were built in the 20s, a few still survive in museums and collections around the world, which is quite surprising, considering that WWII was waiting in the wings only a decade later. The Kit This is the first boxing of a recent new tool from Kovozávody Prostějov of this little aircraft, and the kit arrives in a small end-opening box with a painting of a bright blue BH-10 on the front, and the decal options on the rear. Inside the box is just one sprue of grey styrene, a small clear sprue, a comparatively large decal sheet, and the instruction booklet printed in black and white on a folded sheet of A4, with a line drawn set of profiles on the back page. Despite the small size of the kit, detail is good, and includes a cockpit, some nice rib and fabric detail on the flying surfaces, and a representation of the five-cylinder Walter radial engine. Construction begins with the sub-assemblies, starting with painting the instrument panel, which has a staggering total of three whole instruments, typical of aviation’s early days. The engine is a single part, and benefits from being painted four contrasting shades, then the pilot’s seat is painted and has four-point decal seatbelts applied, before it is glued to the rear bulkhead of the cockpit, which has the floor added at a right angle. The cockpit is completed by a straight control column that inserts in a hole at the forward end of the control lines moulded into the floor. The fuselage has a little internal detail moulded-in, despite being only 6cm long, so after detail-painting, it is trapped between the fuselage halves along with the semi-circular instrument panel, inserting the elevators and tail fin into slots in the rear of the fuselage, adding a skid under the tail. The main gear is made from three V-shaped struts, linking them with an aerodynamically faired axle, which has the wheels applied to each end, allowing the model to stand on its own wheels (and skid). Each of the two wings are moulded as a single part, and have a lot of nice detail moulded-in, depicting the ribs, flying surfaces and fastenings, attaching to the fuselage sides on a pair of short pins. They are supported by a pair of thick struts, two on each side of the fuselage, and the instructions advise that there should be a small gap at the trailing edge of the wing, illustrated by a scrap view from above. The engine is exposed, and simply glues directly to the front of the fuselage on a large peg, showing off your work on painting it earlier. It is finished off by a two-bladed prop, and the model is completed by adding a choice of two styles of windscreen in front of the cockpit, and the highly visible triangular roll-over bar that is covered for aerodynamic reasons behind. Markings There are three decal options included on the sheet, two in a cream colour, one in blue as shown on the box art. From the box you can build one of the following: The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion The BH-10 is a new one on me, and its small stature is quite appealing. The surface detail is nicely done, and if you really want to push out the boat, you could add the exhaust stacks behind the engine from brass rod or tube. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Aero Ae-45 (KPM0430) 1:72 Kovozávody Prostějov Designed by Czech company Aircraft Industries, who traded as Let, the Aero-45 was intended as a civilian utility aircraft, and was first flown in 1947, with the first production airframes completed after uneventful testing of the prototypes. Some say it could be based upon the Siebel 204, which was built in Czechoslovakia during WWII, but the likeness is purely from the front, and the sizes of the aircraft are substantially different. The fact that it has an aerodynamically smooth nose with flush glazing and twin engines slung under low-mounted wings probably led at least partially to those musings. Around 200 of the initial variant were made before the -45S was released, improving on the base model and altering the engine cowlings, with almost 230 built before the next variant came into existence. The -145 was larger than its predecessors, with seating for an extra passenger, bringing the total to 5, briefly toying with tricycle landing gear, and initially with a new 6-cylinder Walther Minor 6-III and then a newer M332 engine by Walther, who had by now changed their name to Motorlet, and were later produced by Avia. Almost 150 of those were built with other options in mind that never reached fruition, and an unlicensed copy of the 45S from China by the name of Sungari-1. The Kit This is the earliest variant of a new tooling that has been released by Kovozávody Prostějov in numerous boxings and a smattering of variants of this little aircraft. It arrives in a small end-opening box with a painting of the subject on the front, and the decal option profiles on the rear in full colour. Inside the box are two sprues of grey styrene, a clear sprue in a separate Ziploc bag, decal sheet, and the instruction booklet printed in black and white on a sheet of folded A4. Detail is good and typical of KP’s output, with a few options visible on the sprues and in the instructions, a well-detailed cockpit, and fine engraved panel lines on the exterior. Construction begins with the cockpit, which sits two abreast, mounting the seats on raised blocks and giving them decal seatbelts, adding trapezoid control columns and a dial decal to the instrument panel that is fixed in a slot near the front of the floor. Behind the crew, a two-part bench seat with more decal belts is glued over a cross-hatched area of the floor, installing the rear bulkhead behind, detail painting the completed assembly and putting it to one side while the engine nacelles are made. The two are built identically, using the halves that have no gills on the starboard cowlings, and using a cranked exhaust underneath, then setting them aside too. There is no detail within the gear bay sides in the rear of the nacelles, but there is some moulded into the upper wing depicting the roof, so if you have references to hand, a little strip styrene should improve matters on the walls if you think it will be seen. Attention shifts back to the fuselage, trapping the cockpit between the halves, adding a coaming, two quarter-lights behind the canopy, a landing light in the nose, and the canopy itself, which for this variant has more side frames than its successors. The tail fin is moulded into the fuselage, but the rudder is a separate part, and can be posed deflected if you wish. The elevators are each moulded as a single part that butt-joins to root fairings on either side of the tail, and would benefit from some pins to give the joints extra strength, helping to keep then perpendicular to the tail fin. The main wings are made from two halves that create the upper surface, and a single underside that extends out to the mid-wing, leaving the tips moulded in their entirety in the upper wings. There are a couple of ejector-pin marks on the underside of the outer panel, but they are in the middle of an open area away from panel lines and are raised, so shouldn’t take much effort to remove, which is always nice. The wings are mated with the fuselage, then the engine nacelles are brought in from below, taking care to align them as well as you can to reduce clean-up of seams. The main gear legs are simple struts with a cross-axle at the lower end, which accommodates the wheel, and is braced from behind by a long diagonal strut that is a separate part, bracketed by a pair of doors running down the sides of the gear bays. The tail wheel is fixed, and has the wheel moulded into the strut, slotting into the fuselage from below, then the two-blade props with blunt spinners applied to the front, one plugging into a hole in the front of each nacelle. An extended T-shaped pitot-probe is fitted into a hole in the underside of the port wing to complete the structural work on the model. If you're getting a little deja vu about the text, there are only so many ways you can describe putting 90% of the same parts together in the same order, so we didn't Markings There are three decal options on the small sheet, all wearing differing schemes, and based in different countries. From the box you can build one of the following: The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion A sleek and interesting little aircraft that has been well-depicted by Kovozávody Prostějov for you to create a nice model that has plenty of appeal, with a large range of options between the various boxings. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Aero Ae-145 Special Markings (KPM0434) 1:72 Kovozávody Prostějov Designed by Czech company Aircraft Industries, who traded as Let, the Aero-45 was intended as a civilian utility aircraft, and was first flown in 1947, with the first production airframes completed after uneventful testing of the prototypes. Some say it could be based upon the Siebel 204, which was built in Czechoslovakia during WWII, but the likeness is purely from the front, and the sizes of the aircraft are substantially different. The fact that it has an aerodynamically smooth nose with flush glazing and twin engines slung under low-mounted wings probably led at least partially to those musings. Around 200 of the initial variant were made before the -45S was released, improving on the base model and altering the engine cowlings, with almost 230 built before the next variant came into existence. The -145 was larger internally than its predecessors, with seating for an extra passenger, bringing the total to 5, briefly toying with tricycle landing gear, and initially with a new 6-cylinder Walther Minor 6-III and then a newer M332 engine by Walther, who had by now changed their name to Motorlet, and were later produced by Avia. Almost 150 of those were built with other options in mind that never reached fruition, and an unlicensed copy of the 45S from China by the name of Sungari-1. China sold three airframes to the Vietnam People’s Air Force, where they operated at the K-75, which was the same designation used by Czechoslovakia for their aircraft, which were used as police and army liaison aircraft post WWII and into the 50s. The Kit This is another boxing of a new tooling that has been released by Kovozávody Prostějov with several boxings and a smattering of variants of this little aircraft yet to come. It arrives in a small end-opening box with a painting of the subject on the front, and the decal option profiles on the rear in full colour. Inside the box are two sprues of grey styrene, a different clear sprue in a separate Ziploc bag, decal sheet, and the instruction booklet printed in black and white on a sheet of folded A4. Detail is good and typical of KP’s output, with a few options visible on the sprues and in the instructions, a well-detailed cockpit, and fine engraved panel lines on the exterior. Construction begins with the cockpit, which sits two abreast, mounting the seats on raised blocks and giving them decal seatbelts, adding trapezoid control columns and a dial decal to the instrument panel that is fixed in a slot near the front of the floor. Behind the crew, a two-part bench seat with more decal belts is glued over a cross-hatched area of the floor, installing the rear bulkhead behind, detail painting the completed assembly and putting it to one side while the engine nacelles are made. The two are built identically, using the halves that have gills on the starboard cowlings, and using a cranked exhaust to the starboard side of each one, then setting them aside too. There is no detail within the gear bay sides in the rear of the nacelles, but there is some moulded into the upper wing depicting the roof, so if you have references to hand, a little strip styrene should improve matters on the walls if you think it will be seen. Attention shifts back to the fuselage, trapping the cockpit between the halves, adding a coaming, two quarter-lights behind the canopy, a landing light in the nose, and the canopy itself, which for this variant has fewer frames than its predecessors. The tail fin is moulded into the fuselage, but the rudder is a separate part, and can be posed deflected if you wish. The elevators are each moulded as a single part that butt-joins to root fairings on either side of the tail, and would benefit from some pins to give the joints extra strength, helping to keep then perpendicular to the tail fin. The main wings are made from two halves that create the upper surface, and a single underside that extends out to the mid-wing, leaving the tips moulded in their entirety in the upper wings. There are a couple of ejector-pin marks on the underside of the outer panel, but they are in the middle of an open area away from panel lines and are raised, so shouldn’t take much effort to remove, which is always nice. The wings are mated with the fuselage, then the engine nacelles are brought in from below, taking care to align them as well as you can to reduce clean-up of seams. The main gear legs are simple struts with a cross-axle at the lower end, which accommodates the wheel, and is braced from behind by a long diagonal strut that is a separate part, bracketed by a pair of doors running down the sides of the gear bays. The tail wheel is fixed, and has the wheel moulded into the strut, slotting into the fuselage from below, then the two-blade props with longer spinners applied to the front, one plugging into a hole in the front of each nacelle. An extended T-shaped pitot-probe is fitted into a hole in the underside of the port wing to complete the structural work on the model. Markings There are three decal options on the small sheet, all wearing differing schemes, and based in different countries. From the box you can build one of the following: The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion A sleek and interesting little aircraft that has been well-depicted by Kovozávody Prostějov for you to create a nice model that has plenty of appeal. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Messerschmit Bf.109S ‘Shule Emil’ (AZ7871) 1:72 AZ Model by Kovozávody Prostějov With almost 34,000 examples manufactured over a 10-year period, the Messerschmitt Bf.109 is one of the most widely produced aircraft in history and it saw active service in every theatre in which German armed forces were engaged. Initially designed in the mid-1930s, the Bf.109 shared a similar general arrangement with the Spitfire, employing monocoque construction and a V12 engine, albeit an inverted V with fuel injection rather than the carburettor used in the Spitfire. Initially designed as a lightweight interceptor, like many German types during WWII, the Bf.109 evolved beyond its original brief into a bomber escort, fighter bomber, night fighter, ground-attack and reconnaissance platform. The E variant, or Emil as it was more affectionately known was the first major revision of the original design, including an uprated engine and the attendant strengthening of the airframe that was required. It first saw service in the Legion Condor fighting in the Spanish civil war on the side of Nationalist forces of Military Dictator Franco, and then in the Battle of Britain where it came up against its nemeses the Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane during the critical fight for the survival of the RAF and Britain, which was key to halting Operation Seelöwe, the invasion of Britain by the Nazis. Like the Spitfire it fought against, it was improved incrementally through different marks, the Emil was similarly tweaked to keep pace, with later variants having additional long-range tankage, plus structural improvements and a simpler squared-off canopy with clear frontal armour, but apart from various field modifications and a few low-volume sub-variants, it had reached the end of its tenure, and was phased out in favour of the Friedrich and later the Gustav. It’s known that the Gustav had a two-seat trainer variant, extending the cockpit to the rear to make space for another crew member, offsetting other equipment as necessary, but an Emil variant of the type isn’t so well documented. It’s possible that the origin of the Gustav’s trainer came from experience with a field modified Emil at some point, but it’s also very possible that this isn’t the case. The Kit This boxing is based on a 2020 tooling from AZ Model with a new fuselage sprue, and it arrives in a small end-opening box with three sprues of grey styrene, a small separately bagged clear sprue, two decal sheets, and instruction booklet that is printed on both sides of a folded A4 sheet. Detail is good, and extends into the cockpit and wheel bays, as well as finely engraved panel lines with judicious use of riveting where they are most prominent on the real airframe. You may have noticed that there are two sets of fuselage halves, because the main sprue holds many of the parts that will be needed to complete the model, while the correct fuselage parts with two cockpits are moulded on a new sprue with more parts that are needed for the rear cockpit. Construction begins predictably with the two almost identical cockpits, adding decals to the instrument panels and detail painting the sidewalls that are moulded into the fuselage interiors. A double trim wheel and gunsight are made up for the forward pilot, the control column details painted with three colours, then the seats are inserted on the rails in the two cockpit rears, mounting the adjustment mechanism on the port side of the forward cockpit, which also has the trim wheels sited there. The forward instrument panel is fitted to the front bulkhead, while the rear panel is fitted to the divider between them and glued in place along with the control column, painting and installing the gunsight to add to the centre of the front coaming. The propeller is moulded as a three-bladed part that is sandwiched between the spinner and back-plate ready for closing of the fuselage. The cockpits are glued together into the starboard fuselage half after painting the interior and inserting the two airway parts in the nose for the chin-mounted oil-cooler before bringing the fuselage halves together, taking care that the inserts line up properly. The lower wings are full-span, and have radiator faces fitted, while the upper wings are in halves and have bay detail moulded-in, requiring a little detail painting as you go, sliding them into the cut-out in the lower fuselage, ensuring that there is the required dihedral on both sides, which should leave both wingtips 10mm from the ground when the model is placed upright on a flat surface. The main wheel legs are each single parts with a wheel placed on the axle at the bottom, and a captive gear bay door glued to the inner face, plugging into the inner end of the gear bays under the wing, which was a source of the type’s instability on the ground, leading to many nose-overs and much embarrassment. An insert over the engine cowling is installed along with a C-shaped carrier of two gun barrels and the prop, a supercharger intake fairing on the port side of the engine cowling, plus a tail-wheel with moulded-in strut. A belly-mounted fuel tank can be fitted, and the instructions note that its mount is offset to one side, making the tank from two halves if you intend to use it. If not, the underside is completed by a pitot-probe under the port wing, and mass-balance horns on the ailerons. With the model on its wheels, the single-part double-length canopy should be installed with a non-fogging glue, adding an aerial to the rear, and the elevators are slotted into the sides of the tail fin, supporting them with diagonal struts from underneath. Markings There are three decal options on the sheet, and the profiles can be found on the rear of the box, one in RLM02 greenish grey, the others in camouflage, all wearing a swastika on the tail. If the kit has been dispatched to a locale where that symbol is frowned upon under law, the corner of the sheet will have been snipped off, otherwise it’s up to you whether you apply them for historical accuracy or not. From the box you can build one of the following: The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion Those that complain about “another 109” might find their interest piqued by this one, having an extra seat and a different side profile from the usual. Detail is good, the decal choices interesting, and the number etched from the yellow-nosed option fetching, if a little modern and stylised. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Aero K-75 Military (KPM0429) 1:72 Kovozávody Prostějov Designed by Czech company Aircraft Industries, who traded as Let, the Aero-45 was intended as a civilian utility aircraft, and was first flown in 1947, with the first production airframes completed after uneventful testing of the prototypes. Some say it could be based upon the Siebel 204, which was built in Czechoslovakia during WWII, but the likeness is purely from the front, and the sizes of the aircraft are substantially different. The fact that it has an aerodynamically smooth nose with flush glazing and twin engines slung under low-mounted wings probably led at least partially to those musings. Around 200 of the initial variant were made before the -45S was released, improving on the base model and altering the engine cowlings, with almost 230 built before the next variant came into existence. The -145 was larger than its predecessors, with seating for an extra passenger, bringing the total to 5, briefly toying with tricycle landing gear, and initially with a new 6-cylinder Walther Minor 6-III and then a newer M332 engine by Walther, who had by now changed their name to Motorlet, and were later produced by Avia. Almost 150 of those were built with other options in mind that never reached fruition, and an unlicensed copy of the 45S from China by the name of Sungari-1. China sold three airframes to the Vietnam People’s Air Force, where they operated at the K-75, which was the same designation used by Czechoslovakia for their aircraft, which were used as police and army liaison aircraft post WWII and into the 50s. The Kit This is another boxing of a new tooling that has been released by Kovozávody Prostějov with several boxings and a smattering of variants of this little aircraft yet to come. It arrives in a small end-opening box with a painting of the subject on the front, and the decal option profiles on the rear in full colour. Inside the box are two sprues of grey styrene, a clear sprue in a separate Ziploc bag, decal sheet, and the instruction booklet printed in black and white on a sheet of folded A4. Detail is good and typical of KP’s output, with a few options visible on the sprues and in the instructions, a well-detailed cockpit, and fine engraved panel lines on the exterior. Construction begins with the cockpit, which sits two abreast, mounting the seats on raised blocks and giving them decal seatbelts, adding trapezoid control columns and a dial decal to the instrument panel that is fixed in a slot near the front of the floor. Behind the crew, a two-part bench seat with more decal belts is glued over a cross-hatched area of the floor, installing the rear bulkhead behind, detail painting the completed assembly and putting it to one side while the engine nacelles are made. The two are built identically, using the halves that have gills on the starboard cowlings, and using a cranked exhaust to the starboard side of each one, then setting them aside too. There is no detail within the gear bay sides in the rear of the nacelles, but there is some moulded into the upper wing depicting the roof, so if you have references to hand, a little strip styrene should improve matters on the walls if you think it will be seen. Attention shifts back to the fuselage, trapping the cockpit between the halves, adding a coaming, two quarter-lights behind the canopy, a landing light in the nose, and the canopy itself, which for this variant has more side frames than its successors. The tail fin is moulded into the fuselage, but the rudder is a separate part, and can be posed deflected if you wish. The elevators are each moulded as a single part that butt-joins to root fairings on either side of the tail, and would benefit from some pins to give the joints extra strength, helping to keep then perpendicular to the tail fin. The main wings are made from two halves that create the upper surface, and a single underside that extends out to the mid-wing, leaving the tips moulded in their entirety in the upper wings. There are a couple of ejector-pin marks on the underside of the outer panel, but they are in the middle of an open area away from panel lines and are raised, so shouldn’t take much effort to remove, which is always nice. The wings are mated with the fuselage, then the engine nacelles are brought in from below, taking care to align them as well as you can to reduce clean-up of seams. The main gear legs are simple struts with a cross-axle at the lower end, which accommodates the wheel, and is braced from behind by a long diagonal strut that is a separate part, bracketed by a pair of doors running down the sides of the gear bays. The tail wheel is fixed, and has the wheel moulded into the strut, slotting into the fuselage from below, then the two-blade props with longer spinners applied to the front, one plugging into a hole in the front of each nacelle. An extended T-shaped pitot-probe is fitted into a hole in the underside of the port wing to complete the structural work on the model. Markings There are three decal options on the small sheet, all wearing differing schemes, and based in different countries. From the box you can build one of the following: The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion A sleek and interesting little aircraft in military service that has been well-depicted by Kovozávody Prostějov for you to create a nice model in some unusual schemes that has plenty of appeal. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Messerschmitt Bf.109T-2 Toni over the North Sea (AZ7873) 1:72 AZ Model by Kovozávody Prostějov The Messerschmitt Bf.109 was certainly the most numerous, and probably the best known of all the aircraft used by the Luftwaffe during the Second World War. Almost 34,000 examples were produced between 1937 and 1945, and the type saw active service in every theatre in which German armed forces were engaged. Driven initially by the relatively low powered Junkers Jumo engine, and later by various iterations of the more powerful Daimler Benz DB600 series of inverted V-12 engines, the later variants of the Bf.109 could achieve speeds of up to 400mph. When Germany first laid down the ill-fated Aircraft Carrier DKM Graf Zeppelin in 1936, the question of its complement of aircraft was already settled. It would carry a variant of the Bf.109 as a fighter, and the doughty Ju.87 Stuka as bomber, and as such was engineered with those airframes in mind, averting the need to have folding wings that add weight to an aircraft. The 109 was given the variant T for Träger, which mean Carrier in English. It had extended wings with larger flying surfaces, plus a tail-hook and catapult launch gear for taking off and landing on carriers. The T-1 was the first airframe to be completed, and underwent catapult tests before it was ordered in small numbers. With the cancellation of the carrier, those airframes were apportioned elsewhere, and a T-2 variant was created without the carrier specific components. Some of the T-1s were cross-graded to T-2 standard, which found their way to Norway with 11./JG 11, and when the carrier project was temporarily re-started it was decided that the T was outdated by then, so an alternative was sought. That too was re-assigned in a remarkable chronologically close case of history repeating itself, while the T-2s continued in service in Norway until mid-1944, flying from Lister Base, after which time any remaining airframes were used as trainers. As far as we know none of them survived the war or the culling of Axis hardware that followed it, but if you extended the wings of a full-sized Bf.109E-4/N that you happened to have lying around with the DB601N engine, you’d be 90% of the way there. The Kit This boxing is based on a 2020 tooling from AZ Model, and it arrives in a small end-opening box with three sprues of grey styrene, a small separately bagged clear sprue, two decal sheets, and instruction booklet that is printed in colour on both sides of a folded A4 sheet. Detail is good, and extends into the cockpit and wheel bays, as well as finely engraved panel lines with judicious use of riveting where they are most prominent on the real airframe. You may have noticed that there are two sets of wings, because the main sprue holds many of the parts that will be needed to complete the model, while the correct wing parts with longer span are moulded on a new sprue on their own. Construction begins predictably with the cockpit, adding decals to the instrument panel and detail painting the sidewalls that are moulded into the fuselage interiors. A double trim wheel is made up, the control column detail painted with three shades, then the seat with decal seatbelts is inserted on the rails in the cockpit rear, mounting the adjustment mechanism on the port side, which also has the trim wheels sited there. The instrument panel is fitted to the front bulkhead and glued in place along with the control column, painting and installing the gunsight to add to the centre of the coaming. The propeller is moulded as a three-bladed part that is sandwiched between the spinner and back-plate, with a choice of two spinner types, one without the centreline cannon installed. The cockpit is glued into the starboard fuselage half after painting the interior and inserting the two air-path parts in the nose under the exhaust stubs for the chin-mounted oil-cooler before bringing the fuselage halves together, taking care that the inserts line up properly. The lower wings are full-span save for the tips, and have separate radiator faces fitted inside, while the new upper wings are in longer halves and have bay structure moulded-in, requiring a little detail painting as you go, sliding the completed assembly into the cut-out in the lower fuselage, ensuring that there is the required dihedral on both sides, which should leave both wingtips 10mm from the ground when the model is placed upright on a flat surface, although whether this remains true given the longer wingspan, I don’t know, as it’s a standard diagram. You could use the standard wings as a marking guide to place supports for measuring near the tip of the extended parts. The main wheel legs are each single parts with a wheel placed on the axle at the bottom, and a captive gear bay door glued to the inner face, plugging into the inner end of the gear bays under the wing, which was a source of the type’s instability on the ground, leading to many nose-overs and associated embarrassment. A scrap diagram from the side shows the forward canting of the gear legs once installed. An insert over the engine cowling is prepared by adding a pair of gun barrel stubs linked together on a carrier from inside the troughs, with the option of drilling out the barrels to add realism. The cowling is installed over the engine along with the prop to the front, plus the air-intake fairing on the port side of the cowling, and a tail-wheel with moulded-in strut. A pair of wing-mounted cannons are slotted into holes in the leading-edge, just outboard of the prop’s rotation. A belly-mounted fuel tank or bomb can be fitted, and the instructions note that its mount is offset to one side, making the tank or bomb from two halves if you intend to use either option. If not, the underside is completed by a pitot-probe under the port wing, and mass-balance horns on the ailerons. With the model on its wheels, the single-part canopy is installed with extra armour externally using a non-fogging glue, adding an aerial to the aft portion, and slotting the elevators into the sides of the tail fin, supporting them with diagonal struts from underneath. Markings There are three decal options on the sheet, and the profiles can be found on the rear of the box, in variations that make heavy use of mottling. If the kit has been dispatched to a locale where that Swastika symbol is frowned upon or forbidden under law, the corner of the sheet will have been snipped off, otherwise it’s up to you whether you apply them for historical accuracy or not. From the box you can build one of the following: The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion Those that often complain about “another 109” might just like this one, as it’s not a standard ‘Yellow-Nosed Bleeper’ option, and its longer wings will be evident when positioned next to a more standard 109 in the cabinet. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Aero Ae-45S (KPM0431) Super Aero Part.1 1:72 Kovozávody Prostějov Designed by Czech company Aircraft Industries, who traded as Let, the Aero-45 was intended as a civilian utility aircraft, and was first flown in 1947, with the first production airframes completed after uneventful testing of the prototypes. Some say it could be based upon the Siebel 204, which was built in Czechoslovakia during WWII, but the likeness is purely from the front, and the sizes of the aircraft are substantially different. The fact that it has an aerodynamically smooth nose with flush glazing and twin engines slung under low-mounted wings probably led at least partially to those musings. Around 200 of the initial variant were made before the -45S was released, improving on the base model and altering the engine cowlings, with almost 230 built before the next variant came into existence. The -145 was larger than its predecessors, with seating for an extra passenger, bringing the total to 5, briefly toying with tricycle landing gear, and initially with a new 6-cylinder Walther Minor 6-III and then a newer M332 engine by Walther, who had by now changed their name to Motorlet, and were later produced by Avia. Almost 150 of those were built with other options in mind that never reached fruition, and an unlicensed copy of the 45S from China by the name of Sungari-1. The Kit This is the first of a new tooling that has been released by Kovozávody Prostějov in numerous boxings and a smattering of variants of this little aircraft. It arrives in a small end-opening box with a painting of the subject on the front, and the decal option profiles on the rear in full colour. Inside the box are two sprues of grey styrene, a clear sprue in a separate Ziploc bag, decal sheet, and the instruction booklet printed in black and white on a sheet of folded A4. Detail is good and typical of KP’s output, with a few options visible on the sprues and in the instructions, a well-detailed cockpit, and fine engraved panel lines on the exterior. Construction begins with the cockpit, which sits two abreast, mounting the seats on raised blocks and giving them decal seatbelts, adding trapezoid control columns and a dial decal to the instrument panel that is fixed in a slot near the front of the floor. Behind the crew, a two-part bench seat with more decal belts is glued over a cross-hatched area of the floor, installing the rear bulkhead behind, detail painting the completed assembly and putting it to one side while the engine nacelles are made. The two are built identically, using the halves that have gills on the starboard cowlings, and using a cranked exhaust to the starboard side of each one, then setting them aside too. There is no detail within the gear bay sides in the rear of the nacelles, but there is some moulded into the upper wing depicting the roof, so if you have references to hand, a little strip styrene should improve matters on the walls if you think it will be seen. Attention shifts back to the fuselage, trapping the cockpit between the halves, adding a coaming, two quarter-lights behind the canopy, a landing light in the nose, and the canopy itself, which for this variant has more side frames than its successors. The tail fin is moulded into the fuselage, but the rudder is a separate part, and can be posed deflected if you wish. The elevators are each moulded as a single part that butt-joins to root fairings on either side of the tail, and would benefit from some pins to give the joints extra strength, helping to keep then perpendicular to the tail fin. The main wings are made from two halves that create the upper surface, and a single underside that extends out to the mid-wing, leaving the tips moulded in their entirety in the upper wings. There are a couple of ejector-pin marks on the underside of the outer panel, but they are in the middle of an open area away from panel lines and are raised, so shouldn’t take much effort to remove, which is always nice. The wings are mated with the fuselage, then the engine nacelles are brought in from below, taking care to align them as well as you can to reduce clean-up of seams. The main gear legs are simple struts with a cross-axle at the lower end, which accommodates the wheel, and is braced from behind by a long diagonal strut that is a separate part, bracketed by a pair of doors running down the sides of the gear bays. The tail wheel is fixed, and has the wheel moulded into the strut, slotting into the fuselage from below, then the two-blade props with longer spinners applied to the front, one plugging into a hole in the front of each nacelle. An extended T-shaped pitot-probe is fitted into a hole in the underside of the port wing to complete the structural work on the model. Markings There are three decal options on the small sheet, all wearing differing schemes, and based in different countries. From the box you can build one of the following: The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion A sleek and interesting little aircraft that has been well-depicted by Kovozávody Prostějov for you to create a nice model that has plenty of appeal. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Bf.109T-2 Toni over the North Sea (AZ7874) 1:72 AZ Model by Kovozávody Prostějov The Messerschmitt Bf.109 was certainly the most numerous, and probably the best known of all the aircraft used by the Luftwaffe during the Second World War. Almost 34,000 examples were produced between 1937 and 1945, and the type saw active service in every theatre in which German armed forces were engaged. Driven initially by the relatively low powered Junkers Jumo engine, and later by various iterations of the more powerful Daimler Benz DB600 series of inverted V-12 engines, the later variants of the Bf.109 could achieve speeds of up to 400mph. When Germany first laid down the ill-fated Aircraft Carrier DKM Graf Zeppelin in 1936, the question of its complement of aircraft was already settled. It would carry a variant of the Bf.109 as a fighter, and the doughty Ju.87 Stuka as bomber, and as such was engineered with those airframes in mind, averting the need to have folding wings that add weight to an aircraft. The 109 was given the variant T for Träger, which mean Carrier in English. It had extended wings with larger flying surfaces, plus a tail-hook and catapult launch gear for taking off and landing on carriers. The T-1 was the first airframe to be completed, and underwent catapult tests before it was ordered in small numbers. With the cancellation of the carrier, those airframes were apportioned elsewhere, and a T-2 variant was created without the carrier specific components. Some of the T-1s were cross-graded to T-2 standard, which found their way to Norway with 11./JG 11, and when the carrier project was temporarily re-started it was decided that the T was outdated by then, so an alternative was sought. That too was re-assigned in a remarkable chronologically close case of history repeating itself, while the T-2s continued in service in Norway until mid-1944, after which time any remaining airframes were used as trainers. As far as we know none of them survived the war or the culling of Axis hardware that followed it, but if you extended the wings of a full-sized Bf.109E-4/N that you happened to have lying around with the DB601N engine, you’d be 90% of the way there. The Kit This boxing is based on a 2020 tooling from AZ Model, and it arrives in a small end-opening box with three sprues of grey styrene, a small separately bagged clear sprue, two decal sheets, and instruction booklet that are printed on both sides of a folded A4 sheet. Detail is good, and extends into the cockpit and wheel bays, as well as finely engraved panel lines with judicious use of riveting where they are most prominent on the real airframe. You may have noticed that there are two sets of wings, because the main sprue holds many of the parts that will be needed to complete the model, while the correct wing parts with longer span are moulded on a new sprue on their own. Construction begins predictably with the cockpit, adding decals to the instrument panel and detail painting the sidewalls that are moulded into the fuselage interiors. A double trim wheel is made up, the control column detail painted with three shades, then the seat with decal seatbelts is inserted on the rails in the cockpit rear, mounting the adjustment mechanism on the port side, which also has the trim wheels sited there. The instrument panel is fitted to the front bulkhead and glued in place along with the control column, painting and installing the gunsight to add to the centre of the coaming. The propeller is moulded as a three-bladed part that is sandwiched between the spinner and back-plate, with a choice of two spinner types, one without the centreline cannon installed. The cockpit is glued into the starboard fuselage half after painting the interior and inserting the two air-path parts in the nose for the chin-mounted oil-cooler before bringing the fuselage halves together, taking care that the inserts line up properly. The lower wings are full-span save for the tips, and have separate radiator faces fitted inside, while the new upper wings are in longer halves and have bay structure moulded-in, requiring a little detail painting as you go, sliding the completed assembly into the cut-out in the lower fuselage, ensuring that there is the required dihedral on both sides, which should leave both wingtips 10mm from the ground when the model is placed upright on a flat surface, although whether this remains true given the longer wingspan, I don’t know, as it’s a standard diagram. You could use the standard wings as a marking guide to place supports for measuring near the tip of the extended parts. The main wheel legs are each single parts with a wheel placed on the axle at the bottom, and a captive gear bay door glued to the inner face, plugging into the inner end of the gear bays under the wing, which was a source of the type’s instability on the ground, leading to many nose-overs and associated embarrassment. A scrap diagram from the side shows the forward canting of the gear legs once installed. An insert over the engine cowling is prepared by adding a pair of gun barrel stubs linked together on a carrier from inside the troughs. The cowling is installed over the engine along with the prop to the front, plus the air-intake fairing on the port side of the cowling, and a tail-wheel with moulded-in strut. A pair of wing-mounted cannons are slotted into holes in the leading-edge, just outboard of the prop’s rotation. A belly-mounted fuel tank or bomb can be fitted, and the instructions note that its mount is offset to one side, making the tank or bomb from two halves if you intend to use either option. If not, the underside is completed by a pitot-probe under the port wing, and mass-balance horns on the ailerons. With the model on its wheels, the single-part canopy is installed with extra armour externally using a non-fogging glue, adding an aerial to the aft portion, and slotting the elevators into the sides of the tail fin, supporting them with diagonal struts from underneath. Markings There are three decal options on the sheet, and the profiles can be found on the rear of the box, in variations that make heavy use of mottling. If the kit has been dispatched to a locale where that Swastika symbol is frowned upon under law, the corner of the sheet will have been snipped off, otherwise it’s up to you whether you apply them for historical accuracy or not. From the box you can build one of the following: The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion Those that often complain about “another 109” might just like this one, as it’s not a standard option, and its longer wings will be evident when positioned next to a more standard 109 in the cabinet. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Messerschmitt Bf.109V-13/14 (AZ7870) 1:72 AZ Model by Kovozávody Prostějov The Messerschmitt Bf.109 was certainly the most numerous, and probably the best known of all the aircraft used by the Luftwaffe during the Second World War. Almost 34,000 examples were produced between 1937 and 1945, and the type saw active service in every theatre in which German armed forces were engaged. Powered initially by the relatively low powered Junkers Jumo engine and later by various iterations of the more powerful Daimler Benz DB600 series of inverted V-12 engines, the later variants of the Bf.109 could achieve speeds of up to 400mph. Soon after the type was first shown off by the Nazi administration as part of their re-armament project, the 109 attended a meeting in Zurich where various aircraft from different countries attempted the world speed record, with three specially adapted airframes sent that were extensively tuned for speed. Other preparations included a fully puttied and polished airframe to streamline airflow, a lack of gunsight and armament, plus fairing-over of the gun troughs, all in the pursuit of more speed. On the 11th November 1937 V-13, converted from a D-series airframe and with a highly tuned engine that could output an impressive (for the time) 1,200hp for short periods, flew at almost 380mph, winning the record for Germany for the first time, although it was soon taken by a Heinkel He.100 before Messerschmitt could win it back just before WWII with an Me.209 that flew at an astonishing 469mph, a totally new design that was designed from the ground-up to break records, and shouldn’t be confused with the wartime Me.209/410. That speed record remained standing until long after WWII. The Kit This boxing is based on a 2020 tooling from AZ Model, and it arrives in a small end-opening box with three sprues of grey styrene, a small separately bagged clear sprue, two decal sheets, and instruction booklet that printed on both sides of a folded A4 sheet. Detail is good, and extends into the cockpit and wheel bays, as well as finely engraved panel lines with judicious use of riveting where they are most prominent on the real airframe. You may have noticed that there are two sets of fuselage halves, because the main sprue holds many of the parts that will be needed to complete the model, while the correct fuselage parts with flush exhausts are moulded on a new sprue with only two more parts that appear to be intended for the carrier-borne T series. Construction begins predictably with the cockpit, adding decals to the instrument panel and detail painting the sidewalls that are moulded into the fuselage interiors. A double trim wheel is made up, the control column detail painted with three shades, then the seat is inserted on the rails in the cockpit rear, mounting the adjustment mechanism on the port side, which also has the trim wheels sited there. The instrument panel is fitted to the front bulkhead and glued in place along with the control column, painting and installing the gunsight to add to the centre of the coaming if it is to be used. The propeller is moulded as a three-bladed part that is sandwiched between the spinner and back-plate, removing a small area at the tip from the spinner as per the accompanying diagram. The cockpit is glued into the starboard fuselage half after painting the interior and inserting the two airway parts in the nose for the chin-mounted oil-cooler before bringing the fuselage halves together, taking care that the inserts line up properly. The lower wings are full-span, and have radiator faces fitted, while the upper wings are in halves and have bay detail moulded-in, requiring a little detail painting as you go, sliding them into the cut-out in the lower fuselage, ensuring that there is the required dihedral on both sides, which should leave the both wingtips 10mm from the ground when the model is placed upright on a flat surface. The main wheel legs are each single parts with a wheel placed on the axle at the bottom, and a captive gear bay door glued to the inner face, plugging into the inner end of the gear bays under the wing, which was a source of the type’s instability on the ground, leading to many nose-overs and much embarrassment. An insert over the engine cowling is prepared by adding filler to the gun troughs to obliterate them, and removing a U-shaped raised area at the rear of the insert. Once the putty is cured, it can be installed along with the prop, a raised fairing on the port side of the engine cowling, plus a tail-wheel with moulded-in strut. A belly-mounted fuel tank can be fitted, and the instructions note that its mount is offset to one side, making the tank from two halves if you intend to use it. If not, the underside is completed by a pitot-probe under the port wing, and mass-balance horns on the ailerons. With the model on its wheels, the single-part canopy is installed with a non-fogging glue, adding an aerial to the aft portion, and the elevators are slotted into the sides of the tail fin, supporting them with diagonal struts from underneath. Markings There are two decal options on the sheet, and the profiles can be found on the rear of the box, one in bright red, the other in light grey, both wearing a swastika on the red tail band. If the kit has been dispatched to a locale where that symbol is frowned upon under law, the corner of the sheet will have been snipped off, otherwise it’s up to you whether you apply them for historical accuracy or not. From the box you can build one of the following: The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion Those that moan about “another 109” might even like this one, as it’s not a standard airframe, and isn’t covered in splinter camouflage or mottle. Detail is good, the decal options interesting, and the red one especially should stand out in a crowd. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Gloster Gauntlet Mk.II ‘Special Markings’ (AZ7868) 1:72 AZ Model by Kovozávody Prostějov The Gauntlet bears a family resemblance to the Gladiator from the same stable because it preceded it, entering service earlier after an extended development process that would be worthy of a modern defence project. Its development began as early as 1929, but it wasn’t until 1933 that it was given the name Gauntlet, and another two years before it started to enter service with the RAF in small numbers. It was intended as a replacement to the Bulldog, which it outpaced by 50mph thanks to its Bristol Mercury engine, with heavier armament that included two machine guns in troughs in the fuselage sides, firing through the cowling and propeller. Only twenty-four of the initial airframes were made before there were improvements made, which were give the designation Mk.II, resulting in the initial batch being retrospectively named Mk.I. The Mk.II made up the majority of production, with over 200 manufactured in the UK, plus more built overseas. At its peak there were fourteen squadrons equipped with Gauntlets, but as the storm clouds of war began to gather, it was already outdated. By the time war finally broke out, only one squadron was left in frontline service, the rest having transitioned to more modern fighters such as the Hurricane, which was created by Gloster’s new owners, Hawker, still carrying over some design traits from the Gauntlet through the Gladiator to the Hurricane, particularly in the rear fuselage and tail areas. Fortunately for the Hurricane pilots however, the speed and armament of their new aircraft was much improved and gave them a fighting chance against the enemy. The Gauntlet lingered on as a trainer in the UK and abroad for a while, with a single Mk.II preserved in airworthy condition in Finland, one of its former operators, although the engine has been replaced by something a little more modern for practical reasons. The Kit This is a reboxing of a 2008 tooling from AZ that has been re-released with new decals that depict special markings of the Gauntlet in RAF and Finnish service. It arrives in a small end-opening box with a painting of a Gauntlet over a battlefield engaging with a Soviet i16 on the front, and profiles for the decal options on the rear of the box. Inside are three sprues of grey styrene, a decal sheet, a small sheet of clear acrylic with two windscreens printed on it, plus the instruction booklet that is printed on a folded sheet of A4, with a series of rigging profiles on the rearmost page. Detail is good, with just a wisp of flash here and there, and a good representation of the fabric covered framework over the majority of the airframe. Construction begins with the simple cockpit that is based on a well-detailed flat section of floor, onto which the seat, control column and rudder pedals are fixed, applying four-point decal seatbelts to the pilot’s position for a little extra detail. There is cockpit sidewall detail moulded into the insides of the fuselage halves, and once these and the cockpit are painted and weathered, the fuselage halves can be joined together, adding a two-part instrument panel at the front of the cockpit cut-out. The engine is supplied as a single part with nine cylinders arranged around the core, which is surrounded by a three-part cowling due to the teardrop fairings around the perimeter, finishing the cowling off with a separate lip at the front. The tail fin is moulded into the fuselage halves, adding the individual elevator fins to the sides in small slots, and a tail-wheel with moulded-in strut underneath. The lower wing is a single part that is inserted into a slot under the fuselage, and once the seams have been dealt with, the landing gear can be built, made from two triangular struts that are linked by the axle that has wheels mounted on each end, positioning the assembly on the underside of the fuselage using the small recesses that are moulded into the model to locate them accurately. Four cabane struts are similarly fitted to the fuselage in front of the cockpit using more guide recesses, which supports the upper wing that is also moulded as a single part. Four interplane struts are fitted between the wings, and a scrap diagram gives details of the tensioner rods that are suspended in the rigging, which is dealt with over the page. A pair of exhausts are mounted under the cowling, cutting the windscreen from the acetate sheet and folding it to shape before gluing it to the front of the cockpit, then slotting the two machine gun barrels in the troughs on each side of the fuselage. The final task (if we ignore the rigging for now) is the three-blade propeller, with a moulded-in spinner to the front. Speaking of rigging, there are four diagrams on the rear of the booklet, detailing the location of the wiring, which should assist with the process along with the box art for a three-quarter view. Markings There are three options on the decal sheet, two RAF, and one in Finnish service, which comes with the reversed Swastikas they used at the time, confusing the uninitiated for many years. The British subjects are away from the usual silver dope, including desert and night fighter schemes From the box you can build one of the following: The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion The Gauntlet was a well-used interwar fighter that in its day was an impressive improvement over those that it replaced, but was soon to be left in the wake of the next generation of fighters due to the speed of development at the time. The kit depicts its fabric covering well, with a detailed cockpit, and it comes with some interesting decal options. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Spitfire Mk.Vc Trop ‘Over Yugoslavia’ (KPM0418) 1:72 Kovozávody Prostějov The Spitfire was the champion of the Battle of Britain alongside the Hurricane and a few other less well-known players, and it’s an aircraft with an amazing reputation that started as a bit of a damp squib in the shape of the Supermarine Type 224. This gull-winged oddity was the grandfather of the Spitfire, and despite losing out to the biplane Gloster Gladiator, designer R J Mitchell was spurred on to go back to the drawing board and create a more modern, technologically advanced and therefore risky design. This was the Type 300, and it was an all-metal construction with an incredibly thin elliptical wing that became legendary, although it didn’t leave much space for fuel, a situation that was further worsened by the Air Ministry’s insistence that four .303 machine guns were to be installed in each wing, rather than the three originally envisaged. It was a very well-sorted aircraft from the outset, so quickly entered service with the RAF in 1938 in small numbers. With the clouds of war building, the Ministry issued more orders and it became a battle to manufacture enough to fulfil demand in time for the outbreak and early days of war from September 1939 onwards. By then, the restrictive straight sided canopy had been replaced by a “blown” hood to give the pilot more visibility, although a few with the old canopy lingered on for a while. The title Mk.Ia was given retrospectively to differentiate between the cannon-winged Mk.Ib that was instigated after the .303s were found somewhat lacking compared to the 20mm cannon armament of their main opposition at the time, the Bf.109. As is usual in wartime, the designers could never rest on their laurels with an airframe like the Spitfire, as it had significant potential for development, a process that lasted throughout the whole of WWII, and included many changes to the Merlin engine, then the installation of the more powerful Griffon engine, as well as the removal of the spine of the fuselage and creation of a bubble canopy to improve the pilot’s situational awareness. Its immediate successor was the Mk.II that had a better Merlin engine and higher octane fuel to give it a healthy boost in performance. The IIa was armed identically to the Mk.Ia with four .303s in each wing, while the IIb carried the two 20mm cannons of the Ib and two .303s in each of the wings. The Mk.II was followed by the Mk.V that had yet another more powerful Merlin fitted, which returned the fright of the earlier marks’ first encounters with Fw.190s by a similar increase in performance from an outwardly almost identical Spitfire. The C-wing was also known as the Universal Wing, and could carry different armament types without modification, cutting down on manufacturing time, whilst offering easy armament changes depending on the task at hand. The Kit This variant of the beloved Spitfire is a reboxing with additional parts of the 2016 tooling, and arrives in a small end-opening box with a painting of the subject on the front and the decal options on the rear. Inside are three sprues in grey styrene, a tiny clear sprue, two decal sheets and the instruction booklet, which is specific to the Mk.Vc. Looking inside, the sprues are very nicely detailed with two sets of wings that have different gun fairings as separate parts for the topsides, so care will need to be taken when snipping them from the sprues. The interior is similarly well detailed, with raised and engraved detail on the sidewalls and instrument panel, plus the typical ladder of strengthening ribbing on the roof of the gear bays, which is moulded into the underside of the upper wings. Construction begins with the cockpit, with a decal provided to apply over the black panel to enhance the details, the control column, red-brown Bakelite seat, the seat frame with an armoured panel between the seat and its frame. This is attached to the floor section, then the stick and seat join them along with the instrument panel where the rudder pedals pass through the footwell cut-out. The completed cockpit is glued into the starboard fuselage half, and the two exhaust slots are backed by some styrene sheet from your own stock, with a drawing of a template given to assist you with this. If you have some 3.5mm wide strip to hand, you’re half way there already. The fuselage is then closed after adding the twin bottles in the port side, and the clear gunsight is fitted to the top of the panel, ideally after you’ve finished with the fuselage seams. The lower wing is full-width as you’d imagine, and this more modern tooling is detailed with the oil cooler and radiator fairing that has textured front and rear radiator surfaces, plus a pair of teardrop shaped blisters outboard of the gear bays, which also has the narrow tunnel that accommodates the gear strut when retracted. The upper wing halves are glued over the lower, and once dry it is joined to the fuselage, has the gun barrels installed in the leading edges, the elevators and rudder fixed to the tail, and the chin insert added to the front, followed by the two-part chin intake, exhausts, and tail-wheel with moulded-in strut. The landing gear is simple and made from a single strut, captive bay door and single part wheel on each side. The prop is moulded as a single three-blade part that is trapped between the front and rear spinner, the latter having an axle moulded to the rear that is inserted into the front of the fuselage. The canopy is a single-part, and has a rear-view mirror fitted to the top of the windscreen, and an antenna just behind the cockpit. The back page of the instructions shows the location of the aerials and all the stencils, including the flare-port decal on the side of the canopy. Markings There are three options on the main decal sheet, while the separate sheet contains all the stencils, which is good to see at this scale. From the box you can build one of the following: The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion A well-detailed replica of Britain’s favourite fighter from WWII as it flew with Yugoslavian pilots, and in the Yugoslavian Air Force after WWII ended and before the Iron Curtain came down. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Heinkel He.162B-5 Volksjäger ’46 (AZ7855) AZ Model by Kovozávody Prostějov As the tide of war turned against Nazi Germany, defensive action became more important than attack and expansion of the Reich, and aviation designs were called for under the jingoistic Volksjäger project, which translates to “People’s Fighter”. It was a specification that called for a jet engine point-defence fighter that was cheap to produce, used few strategic materials, could be piloted by a relatively unskilled pilot, and could be built in large numbers to break-up the Allied bomber streams that were pounding military production facilities and cities into rubble on a daily basis. Heinkel’s submission to the programme was the diminutive He.162 that was barely as large as a Bf.109, with short wingspan, a small fuselage that was low to the ground on squat landing gear, which assisted in repair and maintenance of the single jet engine mounted on top of the fuselage just behind the pilot’s canopy. This unfortunate juxtaposition resulted in an early ejection seat being fitted in the tiny cockpit, which would push the pilot clear of the engine intake, but with no anti-flail protection, it was as likely to injure or kill the pilot as save him. The slender fuselage meant that a low fuel load also contributed to a short 20 minute flight time, and there was also little room for armament, which consisted of two 20mm or 30mm autocannons mounted under the cockpit’s side consoles, firing through troughs under the nose. Once the initial issues were resolved, the aircraft was found to be an excellent and quick light fighter, but it wasn’t really simple enough to be flown by a novice pilot. Although it was simply engineered and was partly made of laminated wood, the parlous state of the German aviation industry meant that production was slower than anticipated, and only around 1,000 of the A-series type were completed or under construction by the end of the war, many of which remained grounded due to shortages of spares, fuel, pilots or any combination of the three, so very few saw action at squadron level before the end of the war, reaching service in April 1945, barely a month before the end. The training airframes were sometimes pressed into service in emergencies and racked up some kills, although ejection was highly dangerous, and the structure of the aircraft was known to have some issues, especially with the rudders. The B-series designs were intended to see action in 1946, but the end of the war curtailed development, so they remained predominantly paper-projects. The B was to have a longer fuselage to accommodate more fuel, larger wings, and a more powerful Heinkel designed jet engine, and straight wings with a lower dihedral. Pulsejet power units of the type used in the V-1 flying bomb were briefly considered, but their lack of power and need for a pre-existing airflow to start the engines meant that they were dismissed as a viable source of motive power. The Kit The war ended in 1945, but this kit assumes that hostilities had continued, and pulsejets were used as an alternative form of propulsion. It is based on the 2021 tooling of the A-2 Salamander kit, adding new parts for the engines and their mounts, plus a revised fuselage without the jet engine fairings. The kit arrives in an end-opening box with two sprues of grey styrene, a clear canopy part, decal sheet and the instruction booklet inside, the latter printed in colour on a sheet of folded A4 that covers all six of the B-series variants, so you’ll need to follow the instructions carefully to ensure you built the correct B-5 version with a single pulsejet and straight wingtips. Detail is good with crisply engraved panel lines throughout, a well-appointed cockpit, landing gear bays and even RATO pods for take-off assistance. Construction begins with the nose gear bay, which is built from two halves that have the rudder pedals mounted on each side, as the fuselage is that cramped. The simple ejection seat has decal belts, and a strip that joins the control column to the base, fitting the seat to the sloped bulkhead at the rear. The instrument panel and coaming are joined together and a decal is applied to the dials, adding a gunsight to the centre, and here you could nip off the styrene “glass” and replace it with a piece of acetate sheet for a little extra realism if your hands are steady enough. The main gear bay is built as a single assembly from five parts, which is inserted in the lower fuselage, while the cockpit, nose gear, instrument panel and two side consoles are added to the nose, painted and then the fuselage can be closed, making sure to add at least 10g of nose weight. The pulsejet engine is built from halves with a mesh panel in the front, and is mounted on a short pylon on the fuselage centreline, as marked in red on the instructions. As the engine is mounted further forward than some installations, an extension tube is added to the rear so that the jet efflux clears the tail of the aircraft. The V-tail is made from a one fin moulded into the rear fuselage insert, and this is joined by the other fin that is a separate part, as depicted in small scrap diagrams nearby. This variant has forward raked wings without anhedral wingtips, which are single parts that butt-join to the sides of the fuselage in the location picked out in red. Another scrap diagram shows the configuration from the front along with the other possibilities. Each variant shares the same landing gear, the nose strut equipped with a single wheel that is trapped by the two-part yoke, and the bay door opens down to the port side. The main gear struts have trailing scissor-links and forward-facing retraction jacks that have a single wheel on a stub axle perpendicular to the strut. They are shown fitted in the bare bay assembly so you can see all the location points properly. The bay doors open up and outward, and are each a single part, with detail moulded into the interior. An optional gun pack can be added under the centreline, and a pair of two-part RATO pods can be glued to the sides of the fuselage behind the main bay doors, their locations again marked in red. The final part is the canopy, which is moulded as a single part and glues into the cut-out over the cockpit. Markings There are three decal options on the sheet, with four-view profiles on the back of the box in full colour that have colour names rather than any maker’s paint codes to guide you. From the box you can build one of the following: The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion Luft’46 is interesting to some and not to others, which is fine, as life would be dull if we all liked the same thing. I like it, and forward swept wings with a pulsejet is definitely out of the ordinary. A nicely detailed model that won’t take up much room in the cabinet, and with some interesting decal options. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Heinkel He.162B-3 Volksjäger ’46 (AZ7853) AZ Model by Kovozávody Prostějov As the tide of war turned against Nazi Germany, defence became of greater importance than attack and expansion of the Reich, and aviation designs were called for under the jingoistic Volksjäger project, which translates to “People’s Fighter”, but was also known as the Emergency Fighter Programme. It was a specification that called for a jet engine point-defence fighter that was cheap to produce, used minimal strategic materials, could be piloted by a relatively unskilled pilot, and could be built in large numbers to break-up the Allied bomber streams that were pounding military production facilities and cities into rubble on a daily basis. Heinkel’s submission to the programme was the diminutive He.162 that was barely as large as a Bf.109, with narrow wings, a small fuselage that was low to the ground on short landing gear, which assisted in repair and maintenance of the engine mounted on top of the fuselage just behind the pilot’s canopy. This dangerous juxtaposition resulted in an early ejection seat being fitted in the tiny cockpit, which when triggered would push the pilot clear of the engine intake by an explosive cartridge, but with no anti-flail protection, it was as likely to injure or kill the pilot as save him, which sometimes happened. The slender fuselage meant that a low fuel load also contributed to short range and flight time, and there was little room for armament, which consisted of two 20mm or 30mm autocannons mounted under the cockpit’s side consoles, firing through troughs under the nose. Once the initial issues were resolved, the aircraft was found to be an excellent light fighter, but it wasn’t simple enough to be flown by a novice pilot. Although it was simple to produce and was partly made of laminated wood, the parlous state of the German aviation industry meant that production was slower than anticipated, and only around 1,000 of the A-series type were completed or under construction, many of which remained grounded due to shortages of spares, fuel, pilots or any combination of the three, so very few saw action at squadron level before the end of the war, reaching service in April 1945, barely a month before the end of WWII. The airframes of the training groups were sometimes pressed into service in emergencies, and racked up some kills, although ejection was dangerous, as was the structure of the aircraft, which was known to have some issues, especially with the rudders. The B-series designs were intended to see action in 1946, but the end of the war curtailed development, so they remained predominantly paper-projects. The B was to have a longer fuselage to accommodate more fuel, larger wings, and a more powerful Heinkel designed jet engine, and straight wings with a lower dihedral. Pulsejet power units of the type used in the V-1 flying bomb were briefly considered, but their lack of power and need for airflow in order to start the engines meant that they were dismissed as a viable source of motive power. The Kit The war ended in 1945, but this kit assumes that hostilities had continued, and pulsejets were used as an alternative form of propulsion. It is based on the 2021 tooling of the A-2 Salamander kit, adding new parts for the engines and their mounts, plus the revised fuselage without the jet engine fairings. The kit arrives in an end-opening box with two sprues of grey styrene, a clear canopy part, decal sheet and the instruction booklet inside, the latter printed in colour on a sheet of folded A4 that covers all six of the B-series variants, so you’ll need to follow the instructions carefully to ensure you build the correct version with twin pulsejets and anhedral wingtips. Detail is good with crisply engraved panel lines throughout, a well-appointed cockpit, landing gear bays and even RATO pods for take-off assistance. Construction begins with the nose gear bay, which is built from two halves that have the rudder pedals mounted on each side, as the fuselage is extremely cramped. The simple ejection seat has decal belts, and a strip that joins the control column to the base, fitting the seat to the sloped bulkhead at the rear. The instrument panel and coaming are joined together and a decal applied to the dials, adding a gunsight to the centre, and here you could nip off the grey styrene “glass” and replace it with a piece of acetate sheet for a little extra realism if your hands are steady enough. The main gear bay is built as a single assembly from five parts, which is inserted in the lower fuselage, while the cockpit, nose gear, instrument panel and two side consoles are added to the nose, painted, after which the fuselage can be closed, making sure to add at least 10g of nose weight. Two pulsejet engines are built from halves with a mesh panel in the front, and these are mounted on short pylons on either side of the fuselage centreline, as marked in red on the instructions. The H-tail is made from a shallow V-shaped elevator that fits on the rear fuselage insert, and has the fins with moulded-in rudders fixed at right-angles to the elevators, as depicted in small scrap diagrams nearby. As already mentioned, this variant’s wings have anhedral wingtips, which are single parts that butt-join to the sides of the fuselage in the locations picked out in red. Another scrap diagram shows the configuration from the front along with the other possibilities. Each variant shares the same landing gear, the nose strut equipped with a single wheel that is trapped by the two-part yoke, and the bay door opens down to the port side. The main gear struts have trailing scissor-links and forward retraction jacks that have a single wheel on a stub axle perpendicular to the strut. They are shown fitted in the bare bay assembly so you can see all the location points properly. The bay doors open up and outward, and are each a single part, with detail moulded into the inside face. An optional gun pack can be added under the centreline, and a pair of two-part RATO pods can be glued to the sides of the fuselage behind the main bay doors, their locations again marked in red. The final task is the canopy, which is moulded as a single part and glues into the cut-out over the cockpit. Markings There are three decal options on the sheet, with four-view profiles on the back of the box in full colour that have colour names rather than any maker’s paint codes to guide you. From the box you can build one of the following: The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion Luft’46 is interesting to some and not to others, which is fine, as life would be dull if we all liked the same thing. I like it, and twin pulsejets sounds like a heap of fun. A nicely detailed model that won’t take up much room in the cabinet, and it comes with some interesting decal options. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Bücker Bü.181 Bestmann (KPM0404) 1:72 Kovozávody Prostějov The Bücker Bü 181 Bestmann was intended to be a light trainer with reconnaissance capability, and first flew in early 1939 before WWII began in earnest. It was similarly laid out to the Bf.108, with the pilot and copilot sitting side-by-side in an extensively glazed cockpit, and with its low wing offering good all-round visibility that made it well-suited as a trainer, the role for which the Luftwaffe used it extensively, although it was also used as a hack for communications, and occasionally as reconnaissance where its small size and good view from the cockpit came in useful. In March 1945, orders were given to convert some airframes to mount pylons above and below the wings to carry two pairs of Panzerfaust anti-tank weapons that carried a shaped-charge to defeat enemy armour. The weapon had a very short effective range however, so the pilot would need to follow an almost suicidal course directly toward the tank, often at low level, leaving it until the last second to launch his weapon and pull out, in order to give the charge any chance of even hitting the mark, let alone penetrating the armour. Unsurprisingly, they achieved only minor success for extreme losses, but it was a sign of the desperation of the Nazis to stop the Soviets and Allies from rolling towards Berlin. Production of all types during WWII extended to over 700 airframes, but the Bestmann’s career did not end when the war did. Further variants were built by Zlín in Czechoslovakia after the war, and as the Gomhouria in Egypt, while the Swedes built theirs as the Sk 25 under license from Bestmann, bringing the overall total of all variants to over 4,000, of which only a handful remain. The Kit This is a reboxing of a kit that was launched in 2021 by a company called Stransky, although the copyright on the sprue is marked as 2019, before the fan became covered in Covid virus bacteria. The kit arrives in a small end-opening box with a painting of the plucky Bestmann in action against Soviet T-34s, flying very low to the ground in amongst the dust and flames. On the back are the decal profiles in colour, and inside is a resealable bag that contains a single sprue in grey-white styrene, a clear sprue of five parts, decal sheet in its own Ziploc bag, and the instruction sheet, which is printed on folded A4 paper on all sides. Detail is good, with raised and recessed features all-over, and a well-appointed cockpit, which should be visible through the crystal-clear canopy, especially if you leave the side access doors open. There are however some very slight layer marks visible on parts such as the elevators and the rear of the fuselage that gives away the fact that this is likely to have been developed initially from 3D printed masters. They are nigh-on invisible however, and if they can be seen after priming, a light sanding will be all that is needed to render them invisible. Construction begins with the cockpit, adding the seat backs to the moulded-in bases, and fitting this and a rear bulkhead into the fuselage during closure, after the detail painting of the cockpit and sidewalls are complete. The lower wing is full-span, and the uppers are separate halves, mating to leave a gap for the fuselage between them, and with the underside of the forward fuselage moulded into the lower. Two panels are slipped into the cockpit sides after painting brown, and the elevators are glued to the sides of the tail onto butt-joints that would be stronger with the addition of some brass pegs. The cockpit has two pairs of rudder pedals inserted into the front, and a single part that depicts the two control columns on a central base in front of the pilot seats. A scrap diagram shows these parts from the side and from an angle to assist with placement. Decals are supplied for the seatbelts, which are shown on a very faded see-through diagram of the cockpit, which could easily be missed while you are wondering what the two-part assembly to their left is. It turns out to be a pair of bulkheads spaced apart by two tapered cylinders, and these are inserted into the engine cowling before installation of the main canopy part, which includes a portion of the upper fuselage, the windscreen, roof panel, and the rear screen. The instrument panel is glued into the front of the canopy before installation, and the side doors are shown in closed position, as well as hinged open at the forward edge, much like the American P-39 Airacobra. A pair of small curved rear-view quarter-lights insert in the rear of the cockpit sides, or blanking plates can be used instead, although all decal options show the clear parts in use. The Hirth HM 500 engine is not included in this kit, but the exhausts are, and here you must open up the pinholes in the underside of the fuselage before inserting them from inside, test-fitting to ensure you don’t oversize them. Three pipes are moulded on one carrier, with another separately on its own carrier. A central divider is installed in a bracket moulded into the lower, and painted black, after which you can add the upper cowling and the nose fairing, with asymmetrical intake slot, with the prop sited on a pin that projects from the fairing. Sights for the Panzerfausts are fitted on the top cowling in front of the windscreen, along with the venturi sensor, with a pitot probe under the wing. The fixed landing gear is made up from strut with moulded-in oleos, and a separate wheel, one for under each wing leading edge, with a scrap diagram showing their orientation from the front, plus a pair of actuators for the flying surfaces are also sited under the trailing edges. The tail wheel is fixed in a hole under the rear, then it’s a case of fitting the four Panzerfausts with moulded-in pylons, which are mounted under and over the wings, with a flashed-over hole visible on the inside of each part. It would be best to open these up before closing the wings, and take careful note of how the redundant manual sights on the weapons should be oriented, using the scrap frontal diagrams to aid you. Markings There are four decal options on the sheet, and they have managed to include profiles for all angles on the rear of the box, along with swatches of the paints used and their colour names, having no allegiance to any particular brand. From the box you can build one of the following: The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion The Bestmann is a small aircraft that has a certain elegance to it, which is portrayed nicely by this kit. The juxtaposition of the Panzerfaust armament is at odds with the overall design, but it shows the insanity of war eloquently. A nicely detailed kit with some interesting decal options, not all of which are armed. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

AVRO 626 Prefect (KPM0413) 1:72 Kovozávody Prostějov Developed from the AVRO 621 Tutor, the 626 was intended to be a jack-of-all-trades for training pilots of smaller air forces, and was structurally almost identical to the Tutor, save for the fact that there was an additional crew position behind the second cockpit. The third opening had a scarff ring installed for gunnery training, but could also be used to seat a wireless operator or a navigator, as well as riding with two crew for pilot training, hopefully without the gunnery training going on that could well have deafened the instructor, and possibly rained hot brass cartridges down the back of his flight suit. Although it first flew in 1930, it was entirely fabric-covered, resembling a WWI biplane more closely than the Spitfires and Hurricanes that first flew only a few years later. Early incarnations had a tail skid, but were later fitted with a tail-wheel for reliability and comfort, and many were sold to overseas air forces as originally envisaged. The RAF took a handful on charge, and these saw service at home throughout WWII, although its Armstrong Siddeley Lynx IVC 7-cylinder radial engine with a maximum speed of 112mph would mean it would be easy prey if had the misfortune to be intercepted by an enemy fighter. The British gave it the name Prefect, but it served in greater numbers in countries around the world, including Commonwealth Allies such as Canada and New Zealand, several South American nations, European and Eastern European countries, and China, some of which may have been pressed into operational service. Only one Prefect survives today, and that can be found in flying condition in New Zealand. The Kit This is a reboxing of the original release from 2007, but with a pair of new fuselage halves moulded in a different colour on my example, as the original boxings had two-seat cockpits and a smoothly faired-over rear training cockpit. The kit arrives in a small end-opening box that has a nice painting of a Spanish airframe on the front, and the decal options on the rear. Inside is a resealable bag that contains two sprues and two separate parts in grey styrene, plus the new fuselage halves in a tan colour. The package is rounded out by a large decal sheet, a small slip of acetate film with the windscreens printed on it, and the usual folded A4 instruction sheet that is printed in colour. Detail is good for the scale, including interior ribbing on the fuselage, fabric effect on the flying surfaces, and a representation of the seven-cylinder radial engine. Studying the sprues 'Forensically' shows that the two grey parts were originally part of the larger sprue above, but were removed with nippers to fit the box. Construction begins with painting of the two instrument panels according to the diagram, then building the engine from front and rear halves, which also has a painting guide. The two crew seats are simple parts that are detailed with decal four-point seatbelts, installing them on the flat cockpit floor and adding control columns for both crew members, then a two-part cowling is made, painted interior green and slipped over the engine. The interior of the fuselage halves are painted interior green before the instrument panels are fitted into the starboard side, inserting the cockpit assembly and then closing the fuselage. This edition’s tan fuselage halves have the third cockpit faired over with a raised flat cowling that is otherwise identical to the grey fuselage halves, so it’s a straight forward substitution. The main gear legs are then fixed underneath, starting with a triangular strut that is supported by adding another strut behind it, then mounting the wheel on the short stub-axle. This is repeated on the other side, followed by the tail-wheel and the engine, which is glued to the front of the fuselage after installing the exhaust ring on a peg at the top to ensure the exhaust pipe is correctly oriented. The lower wings mount on flat root fairings on the fuselage sides, and would benefit from brass rod spars to strengthen the bond, but the elevators are moulded as a single part that fits into a depression at the rear of the fuselage, fixing the fin and integrated rudder on the rear once complete, then supporting the elevators with a strut under each side. Before the upper wing is considered, the two windscreens are cut from their acetate sheet, folded at the lines, and are glued to the front of the cockpit openings. There is a third windscreen printed on the sheet, which could be used as a backup, and might be fitted on future boxings with the third cockpit opened for training. The upper wings are separated from the lower by two wing-mounted Z-struts with additional straight struts behind them, and another two cabane Z-struts mounted on the cowling in front of the forward cockpit. Before the upper wing is mated to the tops of the struts, the fuel-tank must be laid over the centre of the wing, which can thankfully be done without cutting the centre out, although the join may need a little work to get it to seat neatly, possibly removing the ribbing to let the tank sit closer to the wing. Ignoring the rigging for a moment, the leading-edge slats on the upper wing are glued in place, then the two-blade prop is slipped over the drive-shaft on the front of the engine. Rigging of the model is depicted in the final diagram in red, and should be viewed in conjunction with the box painting, and as many photos of the real aircraft that you can find. The technique you use however is entirely up to you. Markings There are four decal options on the sheet, and the back of the box covers three views, although the right-side, top and bottom profiles are necessarily smaller and with shorter wings as you can see below, but it shouldn’t cause any issues. From the box you can build one of the following: The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion Many interwar aircraft aren’t as well known as they might have been due to WWII, and trainers even less so. This is a nicely detailed model of one of AVRO’s unsung heroes that trained some of the future pilots that later fought in the war, and flew many hours all over the world. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

LVG C.VI German Service (KPM0402) 1:72 Kovozávody Prostějov Developed by the catchily titled Luft-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (LVG) in 1917 as a two-seat artillery-spotting and reconnaissance aircraft, and having some relatively advanced features, including a send-only morse-code radio, and heated flight suits for the crew, as well as partial metal construction to add strength to the flying surfaces such as the elevator and tail fin. 1,100 of the type were made, and it reached the Western Front in time to serve as a close reconnaissance and observation aircraft, where they probably had to be regularly patched to cover bullet-holes. Unsurprisingly, the C.VI was a development of the C.V, being a little larger and more advanced, with the lower wing staggered 28cm behind the upper, and the fuselage was fully monocoque, compared to the partial monocoque fuselage of the earlier aircraft. Both aircraft had a chimney-style exhaust and a flat-panel radiator in the centre of the upper wing. The C.VI was equipped with a single LMG 08/15 7.92mm machine gun firing through the propeller on interrupter gear, with a Parabellum MG14 on a Scarff ring operated by the rear crew member. It could also carry up to 200lb of bombs, becoming an early example of armed reconnaissance. A straight 6-cylinder water-cooled Benz engine provided motive power, and that output a surprising 197hp through a two-blade wooden propeller, which gave it a maximum speed of 110mph, which seems painfully slow by today’s standards. They were advanced enough not to be scrapped the moment hostilities ceased in 1918, and some saw civilian service as mail-planes in Germany, while a few more were sold to neighbouring Poland, Finland, Czechoslovakia and a few went to the newly formed USSR, who had pulled out of WWI after their revolution, only to begin a conflict with Poland in the early 20s where they saw some action, with more airframes acquired by Poland. Switzerland also ran two airframes for almost the whole of the 20s. The Kit This is a rebox of a 2016 tooling by KP Models, and is boxed with new decals depicting aircraft in German service. The kit arrives in an end-opening box that has a painting of the subject on the front, and the decal option profiles on the rear, and inside is a resealable clear bag with a single sprue in tan coloured styrene, a small piece of printed clear acetate, decal sheet, and the instruction booklet that is printed in colour on a sheet of folded A4. Detail is good and the moulding crisp, with engraved panel lines where appropriate, restrained ribbing on the fabric-covered wings, plus well-detailed engine and machine guns, and cord wrappings on the interplane struts. Construction begins with the building and painting of sub-assemblies, starting with the curved instrument panel, moving onto the straight-six engine, which has all the cylinders moulded together and topped off by a detailed cylinder head part, and a base on which it mounts in the fuselage. Three ported intake manifolds are fixed to three cylinders each, and the exhaust with its moulded-in manifold is fitted to the starboard side, with a choice of tall or short exit pipe. This is then mounted on an oval bulkhead after the cockpit floor is detailed with a box to raise the pilot’s seat, which has a control column and rudder pedals applied to the floor in front. The Scarff ring is fitted with a pintle-mount, attaching the MG14 and its drum magazine to complete the assembly. The fuselage interior is painted natural wood to match the cockpit floor and engine mounts, adding a small part in the aft cockpit, the instrument panel in the front, and the nose machine gun in a slot in the starboard fuselage half, the back of the breech extending into the cockpit through the cut-out in the instrument panel. The fuselage is closed around the cockpit and engine assemblies, adding an optional vertical fairing around the engine, installing the Scarff ring on the rear cockpit cut-out, and a tail skid under the rear of the fuselage. The elevators slide into the rear of the fuselage, mounting the tail fin centrally over it. The upper wing is a single part, which has two Z-form cabane struts fitted at right-angles to the wing surface, and a curved reservoir structure underneath, ready for installation. The landing gear is built from a pair of V-shaped struts with an aerofoil axle linking them together, and single-part wheels on each end. These are glued under the fuselage, and the lower wings are attached to the sides on two pins, where you are advised not to use super glue, presumably because they may need adjustment to ensure the correct angle, as per the accompanying frontal profile. The two windscreens are cut from the acetate sheet and glued to the front of the cockpit cut-outs, then the upper wing is lowered onto the model, supported initially by the cabane struts, with four more individual struts per wing added from the sides, which of course ignores the rigging and painting. The prop gives you a choice of two blade-types, then the rigging diagram is shown on the following page, which should be read in conjunction with the box art and your own research. The final diagram shows the lozenge patterns that were painted on the upper surface of the wings, although decals for these are not included. They are available as an option however here, and are sold under the code KPEX026 if you want to make the task easier. Markings There are three decal options included on the sheet, which covers the National and personal markings for each option, while the rest of the camouflage should either be painted by the modeller, or as mentioned above, a decal set can be purchased to ease finishing the wings. From the box you can build one of the following: The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion Another interesting and unusual model from KP Models, back on the shelves after a long absence. The moulding is very crisp, and includes plenty of detail to endear it to us modellers. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Zlín Z-142 Export (KPM0407) 1:72 Kovozávody Prostějov Zlín originally produced gliders, beginning operations in the 1930s, soon venturing into powered flight to build a few sports aircraft before the outbreak of WWII. After the war, they continued to produce the occasional glider, but also produced light aircraft of various types, which continued throughout the 40s and 50s, until the Z-42 single-engined trainer aircraft was introduced in 1967. Development of the type continued with several variants that led to the Z-142, which although it looks very similar to its progenitor is a larger aircraft with side-by-side seating for the two crew behind a more powerful Walter engine that benefitted from a supercharger to output 210hp from its fuel efficient inverted 6-cylinder fuel-injected motor. The Z-142 first flew in 1978, and as well as seeing extensive use as a trainer, it is commonly employed as a personal aircraft and a glider tug, having some acrobatic capabilities too, although best not done whilst towing a glider! Over 350 airframes were built, and development continued to improve the type further, the Z-242 having a Lycoming flat-four engine that necessitated a wider cowling to accommodate the engine’s extra width. The Kit This is a reboxing of the 2015 tool of this type with new decals, and it arrives in a small end-opening box with a painting of the aircraft on the front and the decal option profiles on the rear. Inside is a resealable clear bag containing a single sprue of grey styrene, canopy in its own Ziploc bag, two decal sheets, and the instruction booklet, printed in colour on a piece of folded A4. Detail is good, however there is a little texture apparent on the parts that could be attributed to over-application of release agent on the moulds, and there will be some ejector-pin turrets that need cutting off to allow some parts to fit together, although that’s not the most difficult task in the modelling world if you have a pair of nippers and a sanding stick. Construction begins with the instrument panel, which is painted and has a decal applied from the smaller sheet, which also includes a decal for the earlier Z-42. It is glued under the coaming, and set aside while two seats are painted and have their decal four-point seatbelts applied so that they can be installed on the stepped cockpit floor, adding two control columns in front of the seats, and fixing a rear bulkhead at the back of the raised portion. The completed cockpit is trapped between the fuselage halves, painting the cockpit sidewalls before applying glue, and remembering to also place the instrument panel and coaming in the front of the cut-out. The open fuselage front is closed by the nose cowling, and underneath a pair of raised panels are added, one of which has a hole in it to accept the nose gear leg, which is built from strut, separate mudguard and the wheel, which flex-fits between the yoke. The main gear legs are curved struts with the wheel added to the axle at the bottom, each one fitting into a hole in the lower sides of the fuselage. The wings are each made from two halves that butt against the fuselage, but would benefit from pinning in position to strengthen the joint, while the elevators are a single part and slot into a groove under the moulded-in tail fin at the rear. The port wing has a small cut-out in the lower half, into which is placed a clear lens, remembering to paint the space silver before fitting the clear part. The single part canopy glues over the cockpit cut-out, the two-blade prop with moulded-in spinner is inserted into a hole in the nose cowling, and a pitot probe is fitted under the port wing to complete the build. Markings There are four decal options on the main sheet, demonstrating the “export” part of the kit’s title by having four different countries as subjects. From the box you can build one of the following: The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. If you’ve noticed that the Canadian flag has no white background, fret not – it’s applied to a white painted tail fin. Conclusion Trainers often look similar, but the similarity is softened slightly by the variety of schemes that they will be wearing in this boxing. The texture on the styrene will be simple to remove with some light sanding, so don’t let that stop you from picking up one of these less common aircraft from Eastern Europe. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Zlín Z-126 Over Europe (KPM0408) 1:72 Kovozávody Prostějov The Z-126 started life as the Z-26, a low-wing monoplane trainer aircraft that was designed by Zlín and built by their colleagues at Moravan. Originally starting with an almost completely wooden construction, the design progressed until it had a tubular metal airframe with wooden wings that bears a passing resemblance to the de Havilland Chipmunk. The first prototype flew toward the end of the forties, replacing Bücker trainers that had been in use previously and were starting to show their age. After around 160 airframes had been produced, the wings were upgraded to metal construction, and these improved airframes went into service as the C-105 with the Czech Air Force in the early 50s. The next upgrade was to the engine, installing a 6-cylinder version of the Walter Minor engine that was previously only a four-cylinder motor, with a suitable increase in power and its product number to Z-226. There have been further variants of the type over the years, including the Z-226A, which is an aerobatic aircraft, and the single seat versions were appropriately called the Akrobat. The Kit This is a reboxing of a kit that originated in 2013 as a Z-205, the range having broadened to depict the Z-126 in between times, with its last outing in 2018 as a speciality boxing relating to a film. This new boxing has new decals to depict three colourful aircraft, and arrives in an end-opening box with two sprues in grey styrene, a clear part, decals and instruction booklet printed in colour on a folded sheet of A4. The profiles for the decal options can be found on the back of the box, which can be cross-referenced with the table on the front of the instructions that gives colours in local Czech brand Agama and the more widely available Humbrol codes. Detail is good, with engraved panel lines, detailed cockpit, plus raised and recessed features around the model. Construction begins with painting the instrument panels using the instructions provided, then doing the same for the seats, and a form behind one of the panels. The control columns and rudder pedals are painted and applied to the long cockpit floor, with a stepped rear fitted at the same time as the crew seats, which both have decal seatbelts. After detail painting the interiors of the fuselage halves, the cockpit can be fitted into the starboard side, and the fuselage closed, dealing with the seams, then moving on to the engine cowling, which is in two halves plus an internal bulkhead with radiator detail moulded-in that will be seen dimly though the tiny cut-outs in the front cowling. Four tiny exhaust pipes are glued to recesses to the cowling and painted a rusty brown for installation on the fuselage later in the build. First however, the cockpit has its two instrument panels and backing forms applied, supported by the fuselage sides, taking care to put the correct one in each station. The lower wing is single span, and is mated with the fuselage along with the separate upper wings, adding the combined fin and rudder part, and the elevators at the rear. The airframe is completed by gluing the single canopy part over the cockpit cut-out, fitting the engine cowling and two-bladed prop at the front. The model is raised from the bench by fixing the two main gear struts and their wheels under the wings on pegs, and the small tail strut with moulded-in wheel slides into a hole under the tail fin. Markings There are three decal options on the sheet, each one looking substantially different, and from a different country from the others, which should give a broader appeal. From the box you can build one of the following: The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion To this reviewer’s eyes, the Z-126 looks like a Chipmunk with a fastback conversion, and that is quite appealing. Detail is good, the markings options disparate, and she’s a small aircraft that won’t take up much space in the stash or the cabinet. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Fieseler Fi.167 Over the Balkans (AZ7845) 1:72 AZ Model by Kovozávody Prostějov While Germany still harboured the desire to be a major naval power that could rival the British Royal Navy, they began a huge expansion of their Kriegsmarine that included gigantic battleships such as the Bismark and her sister ship Tirpitz, and their first aircraft carrier, named DKM Graf Zeppelin. They needed aircraft to fly from their carrier(s), so a development of the Bf.109 and the Ju.87 Stuka were commissioned in preparation. A torpedo bomber was also part of the requirement, and the specification was issued for a full metal biplane that could fulfil the need, as well as being capable of dive-bombing. In a competition with Arado, the Fieseler design won the day, and a prototype was ordered, followed by some pre-series production airframes for assessment and flight testing. It turned out to more than meet the requirements set down, being able to 100% carry more weapons than the specification, and was also a pleasant aircraft to fly, with an impressive short-field performance that was a distinct advantage on an aircraft carrier with limited deck space. In fact, during testing one aircraft descended from 300m without moving forward from a point on the ground that was indicated for reference. When the Graf Zeppelin was cancelled and later reinstated, Fi.167 production was stopped soon after it started, and then was cancelled altogether when it was decided that the Stuka could carry out the dive-bombing task, and a torpedo bomber was no longer needed. Nine airframes were transferred into Luftwaffe service and sent to the coast of the Netherlands for trials. Upon their return they were sold to Croatia, who used their short-field abilities and load-carrying excellence to supply their troops, who were often fighting in difficult positions where traditional methods of supply wouldn’t work. On one such mission, the pilot of an Fi.167 was killed by a round from a trio of British Mustangs, but not before the gunner had claimed one of the Mustangs prior to bailing out. The aircraft subsequently crashed, and the fate of the rest of the nine was similar, with none surviving the post-war period. The Kit This is one of four boxings of a new tooling from AZ Model, and arrives in an end-opening boxing with a painting of the afore-mentioned incident on the front and the three decal options on the rear of the box. Inside the box are two sprues of grey styrene, a clear part in its own Ziploc bag, a colourful sheet of decals, and the instruction sheet, which is a folded A4 sheet printed in colour on both sides. Detail is good, including engraved panel lines, rippled fabric effect on the flying surfaces, plus raised and recessed details throughout the model. Construction begins with the cockpit floor, which is detailed with two seats, control column, mount for the gunner’s weapon, and a bulkhead between the two crew. The instrument panel is inserted into the starboard fuselage half, and a painting diagram is provided for the pilot’s panel and the gunner’s panel that is moulded into the back of the bulkhead. With the fuselage closed and the seams dealt with, the exhaust are added and the full-span lower wing is joined to the bottom of the fuselage, and the elevators are plugged into slots either side of the moulded-in tail fin. Inverting the model, the landing gear spats are installed, and these have moulded-in wheels, and the real struts could be jettisoned in the event of a water landing, reducing the chances of the aircraft cartwheeling when it touched down. An intake is fixed under the chin with a representation of the cooling surface glued inside, and a centreline pylon with separate sway-braces is glued between the landing gear, which has a pair of support struts fitted. The upper wing is also full-span, and mounts to the model via two N-shaped struts per wing, and another pair of N-shaped cabane struts that locate in recesses on the fuselage sides. A small diagram shows the bracing wires in simplified detail, but this is best viewed in association with the box art, which shows that they are double-strung, and there are also twin wires linking the ailerons together behind one of the struts. Another pair of supports are fitted to the tail fin and elevators, with a scrap diagram showing how they should look from behind. The tail-wheel has a V-shaped arrestor hook in front of it, and the four-part torpedo on the centre pylon if you feel the urge to portray a test aircraft or a what-if option instead of the decal options. The prop consists of a back-plate to which the individual blades are attached, to be covered by the spinner, with a drive-shaft fitted to the rear to insert into the front of the fuselage. An aerial is mounted near the leading edge of the upper wing, with an aerial wire joining it to the tail fin. The machine gun with dual drum magazines are fitted to the rear of the cockpit cut-out before the canopy is glued in place, which is moulded as a single part with the rear section tipped up in preparation for action. Markings There are three decal options on the sheet, and they are all sufficiently different to have a broad appeal to many. From the box you can build one of the following: The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion I’m a little jealous that I can’t have one of these in 1:48, but it’s a nice model of a very rare aircraft that saw some unusual service toward the end of the war and beyond, changing hands in between times. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Bell AH-1G Huey Cobra ‘International’ (KPM0380) 1:72 Kovozávody Prostějov The AH-1 Cobra was the first dedicated production Gunship or Attack Helicopter to see US service as a new type of weapons platform. During the Vietnam war the US Army began to see the need for armed helicopter to escort its unarmed UH-1 Hueys into combat. Fortunately, Bell Helicopters had been independently investigating helicopter gunships as early as the late 1950s, so in 1962 Bell was able to display a mock up concept to the US Army, featuring a 20mm gun pod, and a ball turret mounted grenade launcher. It was felt by the Army to be lightweight, under powered and unsuitable. Following this the US Army launched and Advanced Aerial Fire Support System (AAFSS) competition, which gave rise to the Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne heavy attack helicopter that proved to be too technologically advanced and therefore risky for its time, eventually being cancelled in 1972 after 10 years of development (some things never change). Despite the failure of the AAFSS programme, Bell stuck with its idea of a smaller, lighter gunship and invested its own money developing the AH-1 further. They used as many of the proven components they could from the UH-1 platform, adding these to a newly designed slender fuselage that had a minimal frontal profile, making it harder to hit. When The US Army later asked for plans for an interim gunship for use in Vietnam, Bell was in a fortunate position to be able to offer the ready-made AH-1, or the Bell 209 as it was called internally. Given the work Bell had already done, the programme was completed in a relatively rapid eight months and won the evaluation battle against the competition. In 1966 the US Army signed an initial contract for 110 aircraft. Some slight modifications were made to the production airframes, replacing the heavy armoured glass canopy with Plexiglas to improve performance. Wider rotor blades were fitted and the original retracting skids were replaced by simple fixed units. The G model was the initial 1966 production model gunship for the US Army, with one 1,400shp (1,000 kW) Avco Lycoming T53-13 turboshaft. Bell built over 1,100 AH-1Gs between 1967 and 1973, and the Cobras would go on to fly over a million operational hours in Vietnam, losing approximately 300 to combat shoot-downs and accidents during the war. The U.S. Marine Corps would use AH-1G Cobra in Vietnam for a short period before acquiring more damage resilient twin-engined AH-1J Cobras. The M-35 Gun System was a single M195 20mm cannon (a short-barrelled version of the six-barrel M61A1 Vulcan) on the port inboard pylon of the AH-1G, with 950 rounds of ammunition stored in boxes faired to the side of the aircraft. The system was primarily pilot controlled, but featured dual controls so it could be either pilot or gunner controlled by an M73 sight. The AH-1 went on to serve the US Army until it was replaced by the AH-64 Apache, the last one leaving active service in 1999. The Kit This is a re-release with new parts of the original tooling from 2013, and arrives in an end-opening box with a painting of the subject on the front, and the decal profiles on the rear. Inside is one full-sized sprue in sand-coloured styrene in a resealable bag, a clear sprue in its own Ziploc bag, a sheet of decals and a folded A4 instruction booklet that is printed in colour and has a sprue diagram plus a little history of the type on the front page. Detail is good throughout, and there is no flash to speak of, with engraved panel lines and crisp raised and recessed details. Construction begins with creation of the cockpits and a few other assemblies, starting with the instrument panels, which have a highly detailed painting guide provided as step 1 and 2. The front panel has its coaming moulded-in and needs a little shaving off the bottom edge, while the rear panel has a larger separate part for the coaming, plus a choice of two styles of HUD, then the cockpit tub is decorated with crew controls, one of which is made by stretching sprue from the runners to different diameters and gluing them together to create the collective stick for the pilot in the rear. The armoured wing-back seats with decal seatbelts are then installed along with the two instrument panels, finishing the cockpit, and moving on to making the two-part fuel tanks, one for each side, and the gun turret for under the nose. Each barrel is inserted into a curved plate, which is slotted into the turret, leaving the plates inside the turret, while the barrels project from the two slots in the front. The fuselage halves are painted in two areas with black for the cockpit and gunmetal for the rotorhead area, after which the cockpit and quilted rear bulkhead are inserted into the starboard side, with a circular platform placed on a ledge inside the rotorhead area. The fuselage is joined after adding the exhaust trunk, and the rotor is made up from the blades and control arms, which locate on the circular part within the rotorhead cowling, then adding a choice of short or extended exhaust lips at the end of the trunking. The canopy is made up from the fixed roof/windscreen and two side panes on each side, with the option of leaving the openers closed or ajar, as you wish. Under the tail is a wire bumper, then your selection of fin is joined to the tail boom and has the rotors with control ‘crown’ fitted on left or right sides, depending on which tail you have installed. Stabiliser fins are inserted into slots around the centre of the tail boom, as are the winglets with tips and pylons glued to them before they are fixed in place further forward. The main gear consists of a pair of skids under the fuselage on curved supports, adding a bulkhead behind the turret before gluing that in place along with the fuel tanks and a pair of rocket pods that are each made from two halves to make the cylindrical body, plus a pair of end-caps with the nose/tail of the rockets moulded-in. Some decal options have a blade antenna under the fuselage, so check your choice and glue it in place or otherwise. Markings There are four options on the decal sheet, and you can see the profiles on the back of the box. There’s a choice of colour options between blue Spanish Navy birds and green Israeli airframes. The colours are marked out in oval swatches with names under them, showing no allegiance to any paint brand’s colour codes. From the box you can build one of the following: The decals appear to be printed using the same digital processes as Eduard are now using, and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. I mention Eduard because from 2021, the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion Another welcome reboxing of a good quality kit from KP in some more interesting schemes, with good quality decals and decent clear parts at a pretty appealing price. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

MiG-19P ‘Farmer’ Warsaw Pact (KPM0391) 1:72 Kovozávody Prostějov The project that was to become the MiG-19 started as a requirement from the Soviet Authorities for a second-generation jet that was capable of supersonic speeds in level flight, and with a higher altitude ceiling that was necessary to intercept the US balloon incursions (sound familiar?), overflights by US operated Canberras, and the rumours that America was working on the U-2 Spy plane that could fly higher than any of their then current weapons systems. To increase thrust, two engines were used, widening the rear fuselage, and adding afterburners to further improve performance. There was also a need to mount a radar to give the aircraft the capability of all-weather flight, which was mounted in the nose of some variants in a fairing small enough that it didn’t interfere with the intake. They were initially equipped with cannons that were relocated from under the nose in previous designs into the wing roots, reducing the likelihood of ingestion by the engine of the fumes that could cause dangerous surges. The early models were soon upgraded with improved aerodynamics, such as the P, which benefitted from an all-moving tail plane, a basic radar, and 30mm cannons in the wings, and later in its life it had the capability of launching the new Atoll air-to-air missiles. The PM built on this by removing the cannons completely, and replacing then with beam-riding air-to-air Alkali missiles. Further variants followed with other missiles under the wings, additonal avionics and ground-control links, day-fighters, reconnaissance aircraft, with many attempts to push the type’s altitude limits to intercept the US overflights that continued effectively unchallenged, until finally the type was relegated to use as a target drone after it was phased out of frontline service. The Kit This is the latest in a line of releases from KP that started with the MiG-19S and its numerous overseas and license-built sub-variants, and now we have the PM. The kit arrives in a medium end-opening box with a painting of the subject firing one of its missiles, as his wingman peels off to starboard. On the rear of the box are the profiles that will be of use when painting and decaling the model. Inside are two sprues in grey styrene, a clear canopy in its own Ziploc bag, decal sheet and the instruction booklet in folded A4, printed in colour. Detail is good, with engraved panel lines plus raised and recessed details, and decals provided for the instrument panel and side consoles. Construction begins with the creation of the bifurcated intake trunks down the sides of the nose gear bay and cockpit, which has decals applied to the rear portion to detail them as the side walls. The starboard side has a small bulkhead fitted to split it from the cockpit, which then allows the cockpit to be built, starting with the instrument panel that is glued against the back of the bulkhead with a decal for the dials, the floor, rudder pedals and control column are inserted, stabilised at the rear by another bulkhead, a turtle-deck behind it, and the ejection seat with decal belts on an upstand at the rear of the cockpit. With the cockpit complete, the fuselage halves are joined together, adding 10g of weight over the nose gear bay, and a choice of two styles of fin, although this boxing appears to suit part 6 as the panel lines match up. Inserts are added beneath the cockpit and to the sides of the wing root, and the nose is completed by fitting the splitter-plate, covered over by the intake lip and radome fairing. The canopy has a rear deck fitted inside, and it is then glued in place over the cockpit opening after painting the coaming and rear deck. The wings are each put together from two halves, adding a fence and two small parts to the gear bay edges, and filling a small square depression on the upper wing root, leaving the gun barrels on the wing roots, as is appropriate for this earlier model. The completed wings are slotted into the sides of the fuselage, adding the elevators to the rear, and making the exhausts by sliding the trunking into the holes in the tail fairing before gluing it into position. The next task is to make up the tricycle landing gear. The nose leg has one side of the yoke moulded-in, adding the other side around the wheel, then fitting a retraction strut at an angle before inserting it in the bay and adding the doors to the sides. The main gear legs are simpler, and have half of the wheel moulded-in, the other a separate part to prevent sink-marks. They are both glued in place after installing the captive bay doors to the outboard side. A small pitot is glued under the port wingtip, then the fuselage is dotted with a multitude of small intakes and other bumps, shown in four views to assist with placement, skipping step 11 as it relates to the Chinese variants. The next step adds a long probe to the starboard wingtip, and a choice of armament depending on which boxing you have. The P wears a pair of drop tanks with sway-braces on the outer stations under the wings, as missiles weren’t yet carried. Markings There are three options on the decal sheet, all in overall aluminium in the service of different Warsaw Pact countries. From the box you can build one of the following: The decals appear to be printed using the same digital processes as Eduard are now using, and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. I mention Eduard because from 2021, the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion The MiG-19 was a step change from the first-generation jets fielded by the Soviet Union and its Pact members, and this model does the type justice, with plenty of detail and a choice of various operators. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Aero L-159A/E Alca Special Markings (KPM0386) 1:72 Kovozávody Prostějov The L-39 was a fast jet trainer that was designed and manufactured in Czechoslovakia (as was) as a direct replacement for the earlier L-29 Delfin. It had success in its roles, and received numerous upgrades that resulted in new designations, and since the dismantling of the Soviet Union, some have found their way into private hands throughout the west, and they are often seen at airshows. It first flew in 1971, and was hoped to become the standard trainer across the Union, and following numerous upgrades by 1977 the ZA variant was put into service, fitted with a cannon and four hard-points for mounting various weapons in the Light Attack role. With the Soviet Union gone, the orders began to dry up, and an updated L-159 was produced in partnership with Boeing, using more modern avionics. To differentiate, it was called the Alca and first flew in 1997, with an order for 150 from the Czech government, deliveries starting at the beginning of the new millennium. The order was cut back due to budgetary issues, and the aircraft went into storage, eventually to be resold to Iraq where it has seen action against IS, and to Draken International, to be used for aggressor training. Following success with its new owners, the production line was restarted with modified airframes in single and two-seater guises. The Kit This is a reboxing of a 2018 tooling of the two-seater that has had additional parts to create a single-seat variant in previous boxings, but this version includes new decal options to warrant the “Special Markings” suffix. The A variant is the single seat Alca, while the E designation refers to the export version of the A. Like many of KP Models’ 1:72 kits, it arrives in a small end-opening box with a painting of the subject flying alongside a Spitfire in similar WWII livery, and on the rear are the profiles of the decal options in full colour. Inside are two sprues in grey styrene, a small clear sprue in a Ziploc bag, decal sheet, and the instruction booklet, which is printed in colour on folded A4 paper. Detail is good, with raised and recessed features throughout, including finely engraved panel lines and rivets, and a well-appointed cockpit. Construction begins with the landing gear for a change, starting with the nose gear leg, fitting the wheel between the legs of the yoke, and adding a detail part behind the pivot. The main gear legs are angled to the rear and have their wheels applied over the brake discs, then these assemblies are put to the side for later use. The ejection seat is next, adding sides to the seat, plus a bulky headbox, and an undocumented seatbelt decal to add extra interest. The cockpit is standard across boxings, having space for two seats moulded into it, as well as the side consoles, and a location for the separate control column and a pair of bulkheads that fix at the back of the forward cockpit and at the very rear. The seat and instrument panel are installed in the front, adding rudder pedals to the rear of the panel before you glue it in place, then building an avionics rack to fill the rear space, which is then mostly hidden by installing a three-sided cover over it, so judge for yourself how much will be seen. The exhaust for the single Honeywell/ITEC F124 turbofan engine is made from two halves with a rendition of the rear of the engine covering the forward end, and this too is put to the side while the two fuel tanks are built from two halves each, and a gun pod is made from two vertically split halves plus the twin muzzles. The fuselage halves are closed around the cockpit and exhaust, then the two intakes with separate splitter plates are fixed to the front of the sponsons on the sides of the fuselage, where a bit of dark paint will hide the dead-stop of the air-flow. A spine part covers the top of the fuselage, and coaming plus HUD glazing is added to the front of the cockpit cut-out over the instrument panel. The lower wings are full span and have the upper wing halves laid over the top before they are mated to the underside of the fuselage, adding the elevators to butt-joints either side of the moulded-in fin, which would benefit from pins to strengthen the joint. The canopy is glued over the cockpit, and two clear domes are added to the wingtips, inserting a pitot in each wing’s leading-edge 10mm from the tip fairings to complete the upper portion of the model. Underneath, the nose gear leg is inserted into a hole between the closed bay doors, and the main gear legs with additional captive doors fit into holes in the underside of the wings, adding three pylons outboard, the fuel tanks fitting to the innermost one. The gun pod fits on a small pylon on the centreline behind the nose gear, then it’s a case of adding a blade antenna under the nose, and a blister under the tail to complete the model. Markings There are three options available on the decal sheet, with full profiles on the back of the box, surrounded by oval colour swatches that show the colour names in English and Czech. From the box you can build one of the following: The decals appear to be printed using the same digital processes as Eduard are now using, and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. I mention Eduard because from 2021, the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion A nicely detailed model with three interesting decal options, especially the retro WWII choice, but the aggressors are both attractive alternatives. It’s a shame there’s no open canopy option, but not everyone likes those anyway. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

AGO C-IV Late (KPM0398) 1:72 Kovozávody Prostějov The C-IV was a two-seat German reconnaissance biplane from WWI that was introduced in 1916, but wasn’t well-received due to some negative characteristics, namely being unstable in flight. The initial orders were large from German and overseas customers, but these were scaled back appreciably in light of the early experiences of the flight crews. An attempt to solve the instability was made by installing a fin in front of the small comma-shaped rudder amongst other improvements, but despite this the orders weren’t reinstated, resulting on fewer than 100 being built overall. It was powered by a Benz straight-6 water-cooled engine that produced a respectable (for the day) 220 hp, and had a distinctive vertical exhaust that pushed the fumes over the heads of the crew and away into the slipstream at a relatively spritely 120mph maximum speed. The Kit This is the third boxing of a brand-new tooling from Kovozávody Prostějov, and like most of their 1:72 kits, it arrives in a small end-opening box with a painting of the type on the front, plus the decal options on the rear of the box in full colour. Inside are two sprues of grey styrene, a small sheet of clear acetate with the shape of the windscreens printed on it, a decal sheet and the instruction booklet, which is printed in colour on a sheet of folded A4. Detail is good, and includes plenty of raised and engraved features, plus a well-detailed engine and internal details moulded inside the fuselage. Construction begins with painting the instrument panel according to the first drawing, then creating the cockpit on its floor, adding the two seats on raised cylinders, the steering wheel (yes, it’s a wheel) and a pair of rudder pedals in front of the pilot, then applying the decal lap-belts on both seats. The engine is moulded as a single part, but is well detailed considering its size, and has the exhaust “horn” added overhead before it is trapped between the fuselage halves along with the cockpit, instrument panel and the tail skid. Inverted-V cabane struts are fitted each side of the engine, adding an MG08 machine gun to a pair of pegs on the port side strut. The rear gunner’s ring is installed over the opening and his Parabellum MG14 is fixed to the rear after adding a large magazine to the right side of the breech, with a single inverted-V strut and rectangular frame placed between the two circular cockpit openings. At the rear, the full-span elevators are placed on a recess in the deck, the part helpfully marked with the word “bottom” on the underside, unless someone was just feeling naughty? The comma-shaped rudder and fin are glued over the groove in the centre, and a pair of struts hold the fin vertical, with a mirror image pair under the elevators that do the same for them in the horizontal. The lower wings are full-span and fit in a recess under the fuselage, fixing Z-shaped vertical struts near each tip and a single strut around mid-span, taking care to line the holes up with those in the upper wings. The Z-struts are made from a V-strut with a straight strut glued to the flat front of it, and should be allowed to cure before installing it on the wing. The upper wings are two separate halves that butt-join together, and our usual advice of adding pins for strength applies here. A small tube is fixed under the starboard wing in the centre of an engraved radiator on the lower surface and you should add the two feeder hoses as you join the wings, which will doubtless be a delicate task. It would be a good idea to fit the two acetate foil windscreens before installing the upper wing for convenience’s sake, using a glue that won’t fog or melt the acetate to secure them. Under the wings, a pair of V-struts hold the aerofoil shrouded axle in position, fitting the two wheels on the ends, and adding a mechanism that looks to be some kind of latch or arrestor to the centre of the aerofoil. The last part is the two-bladed prop with moulded-in spinner that glues to the flat front of the fuselage. Markings There are two decal options on the sheet, both wearing the same camouflage scheme of brown and two shades of green over a light blue underside. From the box you can build one of the following: The decals appear to be printed using the same digital processes as Eduard are now using, and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. I mention Eduard because from 2021, the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion It may not have been a particularly good aircraft, but the tapered wings give it a more modern look, and it’s a little bit different from the norm, which is an automatic tick in the appeal box from my point of view. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of