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Kinetic is to release in 2017-2018 a new variant from its Sabre, a 1/32nd North American F-86F-30 Sabre - ref. K3205 Source: http://data3.primeportal.net/models/thomas_voigt11/kinetic/images/kinetic_7_of_7.jpg V.P.

Evening all, As a virtually exclusive 1/72 modeller, it takes a pretty special kt or subject to sway me to the darkside of 1/48, but when it's a new tool Harrier, and a naval one at that, it's a bit of a no brainer really. Having picked this up at Yeovilton, I couldn't resist cracking on with immediately, and have spent the last couple of days trimming, sanding and dry fitting. What I;ve found so far is that Eduard and Tamiya can lure into a false sense of security as far as new tool kits are concerned, and while this kit from Kinetic is very good, it does have it's foibles, or at least mine does. I'm finding every mating surface needs a good few swipes of a coarse sanding stick to remove any flash or chamfering along the edge to achieve a good fit with it's opposing piece. I've been paying particularly close attention to getting the fit of the cockpit and nose gear bay assemblies to fit snugly, primarily to achieve a smooth join between the inner intake faces and their respective fuselage sides. This has necessitated a spot of grinding and trimming of various areas of the kit as detailed below, with my Dremel making a rare appearance to help speed things along. Essentially, I found that the nose gear bay assembly sat too far aft, and needed to come forward a bit, hence the work above. The results are below, and while the gaps may still not look great, they close up well with a bit of pressure that I obviously couldn't apply in the pic. I'm hoping this compression during cementing will fully close the gaps, or at least limit it to a straightforward filling job. I've also had a quick look at the wing fit. Early fettling suggests in general it's not bad, but will require the removal of more material from the fuselage locaters. I fear the rear join will result in an unavoidable filling job to smooth out the step. I've laid down the base colours in the cockpit- Xtracolor Admiralty Grey- and will proceed with detail painting and washes. Thanks for looking, more soon Cheers, Shaun

Hello All, My kit for the GB is the Kinetic F-16AM Block 15 NATO Viper. Best regards, Arno Cornelissen

Hello Few final pictures of my "production" . It is S-2 Tracker. Kit is made by Kinetic scale 1/48. Cheers Mike

This is what I have done this year: I am a huge fan of Kinetic Su-33. It is a brilliant model. It is our of box apart from wingtip pylons, decals and PE cockpit which were required to turn it into a J-15. The pylons are from dream model J-15. I enjoyed it a lot. J-11 is kind of inspired from an old Su-27 picture I've seen with 36 FAB-100. These are FAB-250 though. I think this has been the most expensive model I've ever built with all the aftermarket stuff.. Exhausts, pylons, bombs, nose, cockpit, masks etc.. F-15E demo is kind of a what if since it has the cannon and the wrong seats for the original one but still it was a huge fan with all those 22 rockeyes. All of them are missing some parts but I would say they are 98% complete D

I was given this as a Christmas present by SWMBO last year so it has been an ever present on the modelling desk and is finally finished. I struggled to get the enthusiasm to work on it, which is strange because it is one of my favourite aircraft and during it I re-read Dave Morgans book, which I bought at a talk he did at Aeroventure. Anyway here it is: . The decal options are both brilliant and frustrating and it was only thanks to my daughters instruction for her Airfix Sea Harrier I managed to piece together the correct markings as the Kinetic sheet which provides everything for perhaps 50 different aircraft but is lacking detail on any specific one.

Good evening gents, yesterday the Kinetic F/A-18C arrived A lovely kit, excellent Surface and Details - but no PE for the sideconsoles or the interior! Also no colored seatbelts..... But nearly perfect decals and many weapons/stores! Will make the F/A-18C NAWDC 163750, NAS Fallen, 2016 in low vis, folded wings Well, must start this next to the MiG i build..... The Boxart started with the seat and the cockpit Drybrushed it with help from revell (decals) the kit seat is not the best, i take some resin parts from my other (F-16) seat + PE from Eduard and the result is not bad and dryfitted the Hornet Cheers, Oliver

Super Étendard (SuE/SEM) 1:48 Kinetic The Super Étendard was a development from the original Dassault Étendard, after the Jaguar M was killed off due to its poor handling on one engine, which led to its replacement by a single engined design. Typical Politics. The SuE had a new more powerful engine, modernised and more capable avionics, plus a new wing design. Later upgrades saw the integration of newer technologies to improve its lethality, plus a vastly improved radar for threat detection. Although the original French buy was scaled back due to budgetary restraints, there were some export successes with sales to Argentina and a small loan of aircraft to the Iraqi airforce, which still led to a total of less than one hundred airframes. The Argentinian SuEs are perhaps the most famous, after one of their aircraft unleashed an Exocet missile that hit the Atlantic Conveyor during the Falklands War, which brought the name of the Super Étendard to the fore, but didn't lead to any further sales. The later Super Étendard Modernisé extended the service life of the ageing airframes, although their eventual drawdown in favour of the newer Rafale M is due very soon. The Kit This is a new tooling from the Kinetic stable, and will no doubt be welcome due to the age of the only other SuE kit in this scale. It arrives in a large box with a painting of the aircraft trapping on with flaps and arrestor hook deployed. Inside are five sprues in mid grey styrene, one in clear, a small fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, a large decal sheet and the combined instruction booklet/painting guide. Two of the sprues are taken up by weapons, which is fairly standard with Kinetic, as they tend to be on the generous side. The kit is well detailed throughout, although some of the panel lines and rivets on the airframe may be a little pronounced for some, but this is easily reduced by a few coats of primer and some buffing if it bothers you. Shockingly, construction starts with the cockpit (It's not really shocking, is it?), and there is plenty of detail moulded in, although no instrument panel decals are included. This is easily fixed by adding some of those lovely Airscale decals after checking your references. The tub has side console detail moulded in, and you add rudder pedals, control column, and a two part aft bulkhead, after which you can add a choice of SuE or SeM control panel and Martin Baker Mk.6 ejection seat. This is a nice rendition of the seat, but doesn't include the forest of seat belts that typify the type. The nose gear bay sits directly behind the cockpit, so that is built up at the same time, from a three part assembly, which requires you to insert the nose gear leg into holes in the sides before you install it in the fuselage. This should survive the build, as it is pretty sturdy due to the navalisation of the real thing. For completeness the main gear bays are built up as a single unit with a bulkhead between them. Before the fuselage can be closed up you have to decide whether you will be having your pretend engine in operation or not, as this affects which inserts you use for the blow-in doors of the auxiliary intakes. The air-brake bays are also added from the inside, just under the wing-roots. The last item for construction before closure are the intakes themselves, which go full-depth, and use some sensible seam-lines to ensure that there is nothing to sand inside. Each intake has a C-shaped part, with a single flat piece making the inner face, with one intake being the mirror image of the other, joining toward the rear to make a single trunk that feed the engine. The main gear bay attaches to the underside of the intake pair and the engine front blocks the view into the fuselage for those that actually peer down these tortuous tubes. The cockpit, nose gear bay, intake/main bay assembly and a single piece exhaust tube are all then slapped into the starboard side of the fuselage on their various ledges, after which you can close the fuselage. Do check your intake apertures on the fuselage before you do though, as there may be a little flash in there like there was on my review sample. A small scrap-diagram shows how everything should look when assembled, so check that and make any necessary adjustments during the dry-fit phase to make sure of a good overall fit. After closure, the instructions invite you to detail the fuselage with canopy, refuelling probe, lots of aerials and blade antennae, plus air-brakes and their struts, but much of this is probably best left for later once you have the wings on and any seams dealt with. The intake lips, tail-bullet and windscreen are probably all you will fit before adding the wings, but that's entirely up to you. The wings can be depicted folded for under-deck stowage, or deployed for flight, and can also be shown with the flaps up or down, just by swapping out the straight actuator fairings for cranked versions. The leading edges of the wings are separate, and fit onto tabs at the front of the main wing area. The spoilers are PE parts and can be posed open or closed, although you may have to add a little detail within the bay if you do. With your chosen wing position complete, they are fitted to the fuselage root via a pair of shirt dumpy tabs, which means that you might need to keep an eye on the joint as it sets up to get the right anhedral as it is in this case. The elevators have PE swash-plates, and separate rear sections, with tabs that project through the PE and into the base of the tail. The main gear legs are single struts with moulded-in oleo-scissors, plus an additional strut that further damps the main oleo. These fit into sockets in the drop-in outer bay sections moulded into the wings. The inner bay doors are captive to the centreline under the fuselage, and the outers hinge at the outboard edge of the bay. As usual with Kinetic there a boatload of weapons and pylons included in the kit, and with these being French specific, the spares could well be handy down the line. In the box you get: 4 x R550 Magic 2 2 x In-Flight "Buddy" refuelling pod 2 x Damocles Pod 2 x Barracuda ECM pod 2 x PHIMAT pod 2 x underwing fuel tanks 2 x under fuselage fuel tanks 2 x 625 litre fuel tanks 2 x AM39 Exocet anti-shipping missiles A full page shows what goes where, and shows the appropriate pylon or adapter is used, but as always – check your references to see which constitutes a realistic load if you are going for accuracy. Markings The box includes a large decal sheet, which will allow you to model one of five options from the box, with sufficient variety over and above the standard grey/white. From the box you can build one of the following: SuE Aéronavale 1980s – grey over white. SEM Aéronavale Afghanistan Missions, 2008 – all over grey. SEM Aéronavale Libyan Missions 2001 All over light grey with dark grey camo on upper surface. 6 airframes of 17F aboard Charles de Gaulle. SuE Argentine Navy, 1980s – Grey over white. SuE Iraqi Air Force 1983-85 – Grey over white. In total there are ten airframes on that listing, but with the addition of a substantial number of serials, more could be depicted if the urge takes you. The decals are printed by Cartograf with the usual good register, sharpness and colour density, plus a closely-cropped glossy carrier film. Conclusion A welcome modern tooling of this intriguing aircraft, which should be simple enough to build into a good model, resulting in a lot more seen on the forums and tables. A set of seatbelts and instrument decals would have been appreciated, but a modern, well-detailed tooling of a SuE is the main thrust of the review! Review sample courtesy of

Boeing F/A-18C 1:48 Kinetic Models History The F/A-18's beginnings were far from humble. After a request was issued for a new affordable fighter with multi-role capabilities that would serve with the USAF as well as allied air forces, Northrop submitted their YF-17 Cobra against Lockheed Martin's F-16 Fighting Falcon (Unofficially named the Viper). Although the YF-16 technology demonstrator proved superior, the YF-17 was an extremely high performer, and rather than allow it to go to waste, the United States Navy chose (with pressuring from congress) to use it to replace their older fighter types. With its ground attack capability and fighter characteristics, it would allow the navy to replace both attack aircraft such as A-6 Intruders and fighters such as F-4 Phantoms with a single type. As Northrop was not experienced with carrier aircraft, they formed a partnership with McDonnell Douglas to produce the F/A-18 Hornet, which featured a longer nose, greater load capacity, a much greater weight, a refuelling probe, and the customary strengthened undercarriage/arrestor hook/folding wings required for naval service. The finished design became the F/A-18A, an aircraft that was not a multi-role combat plane but both a fighter and strike platform in one package. A trainer variant with twin cockpits was developed as the TF/A-18, but because it could be used for active combat duties was re-designated the F/A-18B. The F/A-18C was the most potent single seat Hornet fighter until the arrival of the F/A-18E Super Hornet, similar to the C model only in aesthetics. The F/A-18C featured the advanced cockpit of the original A model with TV-Screens (one of the first aircraft to feature these instead of dials), refurbished with a brand-new updated Martin-Baker ejection seat, upgraded computers and jamming equipment. In the elongated nosecone of the aircraft, an APG-73 terrain-mapping/tracking radar is used to monitor ground and air targets, and accurately direct weapons. The two-section glass canopy and the twin, rounded air intakes give the aircraft a very distinctive head-on appearance, as does the curved, streamlined fuselage. The twin slanted tails of the aircraft complement the dual turbofan engines positioned directly underneath, and allow for excellent manoeuvrability. The powerplant of the F/A-18C Hornet is made up of twin 71.2 kN General Electric F-404-GE-400 turbofans with incorporated afterburning. However, the short range of the Hornet can make afterburning inopportune unless an air-tanker or carrier is nearby, unless used for a short period of time to quickly outrun a pursuing fighter. When afterburning is activated, fuel will be squirted into both engines simultaneously and the explosive reaction that occurs propels the Hornet to very high speeds. A Garrett GTC36-200 auxiliary engine is located in front of the twin F404's, to provide emergency power. The F/A-18C (and its D counterpart) can carry a wide range of weaponry, its defining characteristic. First and foremost is the nose mounted 20-mm M61A1 Vulcan with 570 rounds, which is handy for close encounters. An impressive nine under-wing hardpoints carry the A/F-18C's formidable 7,030 Kg ordnance load, and both AAMs and AGMs may be equipped, in addition to conventional (dumb/iron) and laser-guided (smart) bombs, rocket pods, AGM-88 HARM anti-radiation missiles for radar subduing, and drop tanks. The D variant with its two-seat cockpit and crew of two can utilize more complex weapon systems, and has been employed on night missions regularly. Later variants, such as the Super Hornets, could even equip AGM-154 stealth Air-to-Ground Missiles (AGMs), and AIM-120 AMRAAMs (Advanced Medium Ranged Air-to-Air Missiles) which are far more reliable and independent than the AIM-7 Sparrow they replaced. The Model Arriving in a very colourful top opening box, this new kit of the F-18C from Kinetic has already garnered some great reviews from people far more knowledgeable on the type than this reviewer. So I will tell readers how I see it, purely from a modellers point of view. Inside the box there are twelve sprues and a separate lower fuselage section in a medium grey styrene, two in a light grey and two clear sprues of clear styrene, a small sheet of etched brass and a large decal sheet. The mouldings are beautifully done, with some excellent, yet restrained panel lines, and raised detail where required. There is no sign of flash or other imperfections, but there are quite a few moulding pips that will need removing and cleaning up on top of the sprue gates. The clear parts are nicely done, but being a blown style canopy it has had to have been moulded in a three part mould which leaves and very faint seem line in the centre. This will need some careful removal with various grades of micromesh. Assembly begins, naturally, with the cockpit and in particular with the six piece ejection seat. This si provided with a rather rudimentary PE seat belt which would be best replaced with a more realistic aftermarket set. The single piece cockpit tub, which looks like it’s already been prepped for the D version is fitted with the front cockpits instrument panel, rudder pedals, rear panel, quarter consoles and joystick. The seat assembly is then glued into position, followed by the two side walls and the rear cockpit cover panel and the whole assembly set aside to dry. The full depth intakes are a great addition and although not seamless with some careful painting and filing you should get a good enough result seeing as they are quite buried. The intakes are finished off with the fitting of the engine turbine disc. The exhausts are of a similar construction, only shorter, of course and are fitted with the engine exhaust at one end and the exhaust petals at the other. Now, both petal parts are moulded closed, whilst in actuality the real F-18’s generally shut down with one open and one closed. The very well detailed main wheel bays are glued into position, along with the exhausts and finally the intakes into the lower fuselage section. The refuelling probe bay can either be displayed closed or open and fitted with the single piece prop and actuator, this fits into the starboard side of the two piece nose section, which is then fitted with a lower panel and rear bulkhead. The kit comes with optional parts for Swiss/Finnish air force, USN early or USN late examples and the nose section will need to be modified as required, particularly for the Swiss/Finnish aircraft. The intake openings are then attached, along with the splitter plates and their spacers. The cockpit assembly is then positioned into the lower fuselage section, followed by the nose assembly allowing the upper fuselage, which includes the upper wing panels, to be attached, followed by the lower wing panels and cockpit coaming. Depending on the loadout required, several holes will need to be opened up in the lower wings, and if the wing tips are to be folded, moulded sections will need to be cut away, there being guides moulded on the insides of the wing panels. The kit comes with the option of having everything dropped, including the slats and flaps and there are correspondingly alternative actuator fairings provided. The upper side of the fuselage has the rear canopy fairing, vertical tail units, horizontal tail surfaces and optionally positioned air brake attached. The canopy is then glued to the separate internal structure and fitted with the PE rear view mirrors before being glued into position, either open or closed. The HUD is a four piece affair, with the main frame being PE and the other parts clear styrene. The single piece windscreen is then also glued into position. Attention is then given to the undercarriage, with the seven piece nose leg, with two three piece wheels fitted to the nose bay, along with the associated doors. The main gear legs are each assembled form four parts, the wheels being made from another three parts each before being glued into position and the main bay doors attached. The model is then fitted out with the numerous aerials and several PE parts which make up intake and exhaust grilles and flare dispensers. The tail hook is then added, and the main part of the model finished off with the optionally posed access ladder. There is quite a bit of weaponry provided with the kit, the pylons for which are also nicely detailed with the inclusion of the crutches and various adaptors. Weapons included include:- 2 x AIM-9X – although not actually relevant for this marque. 2 x AIM-9M Sidewinder 2 x AIM-7M Sparrow 4 x AIM-120B AMRAAM 2 x AGM-88 HARM 2 x GBU-87 2 x GBU-12 2 x GBU-38 3 x 330ig drop tanks 1 x AAQ-28 pod 1 x AAS-38pod 1 x Sniper XR pod All weapons are provided with the various markings on the smaller decal sheet. Decals Along with the weapons decal sheet mentioned above there is a large deal sheet filled with brightly coloured markings as well as some toned down ones. The sheets are designed by Fightertown decals and printed by Cartograf, so you know the quality should be good. There are markings for the following seven aircraft:- F/A-18C 164266, of VFA-25, Fists of the Fleet, as part of CVW-17 aboard the USS Carl Vinson 2011. F/A-18C 164250, of VFA-87, Golden Warriors, as part of CVW-8 aboard the USS George Bush 2013. F/A-18C 163746 of NSAWC “Russian Splendor” in 2008 F/A-18C 163754 of NSAWC “Sukhoi Blue” in 2008 F/A-18C 163750 of NSAWC 2016 F/A-18C J-5014 of the Swiss Air Force, 2014. F/A-18C HN-457, Krev Von Rosen, 2008. Conclusion This is a great looking kit and, apparently one of the most accurate F-18’s on the market, according to someone who knows a bit about them. It’s great to see the options of having everything down and dirty particularly the slats, which often get ignored. Other manufacturers take note, modellers like to have lots of stuff to load their aircraft up with, and there’s a very nice selection of ordinance in this kit. All in all it looks like Kinetic have a winner on their hands. Review sample supplied by

This was a project I was doing over at ARC for a Group Build (Far East), but I haven't finished it yet. I've been reading up on South Vietnam's F-5 operations and was inspired enough to want to build one. The kit I am using is Kinetic's F-5A, which does the job nicely. Work naturally started with the cockpit: The panels and side consoles are nice, but I wish Kinetic would have done a set of cockpit instrument decals since the panel detailing is okay, yet lacks dials on the instrument faces. So out came my collected instrument decals to do the job. Eduard does color etch, but I was a little cash strapped when I started. One minor issue I will point out is if you are doing an F-5 that ISN'T a Canadian bird, the kit provides a Marconi HUD box rather than the more rudimentary NORAIR gunsight that most F-5A/B models have. The Marconi HUDs are something seen more with air forces that have updated fleets. It took me a few minutes with a file to make the HUD/gunsight mount look a bit more featureless, although if I had to do it again I would have cut the box completely out of the panel and stuck in something a little smaller. But it looks okay. With cockpit work done, I assembled the intakes, fuselage and wings. Everything more or less went together okay. One thing I recommend when building this kit is to not finish the nose and rear fuselage separately and glue them together as the instructions recommend. Instead you will have MUCH cleaner seams up top if you glue each nose half to each rear fuselage half before gluing them together. Fit was good and the resulting seam was a lot easier to handle. It did not need filler. Now there is a little bit of a gap between the intakes and rear fuselage, plus a similar gap between the bottom nose/fuselage plate ahead of the wing and the wing itself. I was able to fill the gap perfectly with some .010" styrene sheet (plasticard) and it blended in nicely. You can position the control surfaces on this kit. The rear wing flaps are traditionally up when the plane is parked. Leading edge flaps sometimes have a slight droop when parked (or more depending on the operator). One thing that all early F-5 and T-38 jets seem to have though are drooped ailerons when parked as they seem to sit about five degrees down on both sides when the hydraulic system is not pressurized. Thankfully it is pretty easy to represent that with this kit. One unique feature of VNAF F-5s were the 90 lbs. of lead armor plate they had mounted under the nose and parts of the tail. The plating was introduced during the USAF's "Skoshi Tiger" evaluation and South Vietnam continued the practice when they got the original F-5C jets and some additional F-5A and B models. Again I used some plasticard to represent the armor plates based on available photos found in my reference books and online. Another thing I'll mention is the outer wing pylons. If you wish to droop the leading edge flaps, a notch will need to be added to the outer pylons. On the real jets, this notch is covered by a spring loaded flipper door/fairing that goes up when the flap does. Kinetic didn't scribe in the fairing area in so I am going to represent that with pencil lines. I did sand in a slight notch into both pylons to help make space for my slightly drooped flaps. So that is where I am. I've got the model in primer with some paintwork done to the bottom. I'll shoot another round of photos when I start laying on the SEA camo on top. I'm using a little different pattern than Northrop's factory camo. Based on pictures I've seen, it looks like the oldest F-5s in the VNAF fleet likely went through depot level maintenance in 1969-70 and when they got repainted, the camo pattern seemed to be based on the desert/Asia Minor scheme, but with SEA colors. Hopefully I can pull this off properly.

Yes another 1/32nd Mirage III is in the pipe. Kinetic has just announced a new tool 1/32nd Dassault Mirage IIIE/O kit in progress for 2015 - ref.K3209. Not bad as this variant of the Mirage III opens the door to a family of aircraft like Mirage 5/50 and their numerous widely-exported versions. Source: https://www.facebook.com/Kineticmodel?fref=nf V.P.

Italeri has just announced a 1/48th AMX fighter-bomber kit - ref. 2753S Source: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234975536-italeri-2015/?p=1878232 A rebox from the future Kinetic kit (http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234964446-amx-1m-kinetic-148/)? Otherwise we are waiting another AMX family by Hobby Boss (http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234972802-148-amx-a-1ata-1b-by-hobby-boss-in-20152016/). V.P.

After the Cheetah E ( http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234987583-148-atlas-cheetah-e-resin-conversion-set-for-kinetics-kfir-by-scaleworx-released-cheetah-c-conversion-in-design/ ) Scaleworx is working on a 1/48th Atlas Cheetah C resin conversion set for Kinetic's Kfir C2/7 kit - ref. SW48-12 Source: https://www.facebook.com/scaleworx/photos/pcb.479693032230043/479692868896726/?type=3&theater V.P.

Hi All, Here is another Kinetic offering from me, this time round it is thier divine Etendard. Another bound for the pages of Scale Aircraft Modeller so only a few teaser shots as usual. Thanks for looking, Rick G

My two most recent builds. The Kinetic F-16DJ Block 50, and the Tamiya F-16C Block 32. Two quick, easy builds, with the only trouble being a missing nosecone fron the Kinetic kit. So, to the pictures! First, the Kinetic DJ. Done as a Block 50 aircraft with the 35th Fighter Wing at Misawa AFB in Japan. Now for the Tamiya. This aircraft was done as a California ANG bird, based at Fresno ANGB. Sorry for the photo quality once again, and I hpoe you like my two Falcons. Rob

Well after much thought I decided on something nice and simple and looked what showed up in the post today! Wolfpack’s F-5A Shoshi Tiger, well a tarted up Kinetic model, and that was/is a beautiful model! I was lucky enough to find one in South Korea that was going for a price just too good to not get one. Even after postage it was nearly ½ the price of similar Kinetic/Wolfpack ones on evilBay…bargan! So this will be close to a OOB build (we shall see on this point….) though I do have some Eduard PE interior bits on the way… and still thinking about the external PE set as well! The model looks amazing with some lovely extra bits, though I only have two choices in the markings. ooooo so lovely!!!!!! Actually it's the other colour scheme....took photo of the wrong one! Well I have to get the Meteor out of the way first but I will be pushing quite hard to get this build out of the way as I will be in Europe for 4 weeks over the Xmas/NY period so no modelling for me! I can’t wait to start this one!

Su-33 Update Sets (for Kinetic) 1:48 Eduard The new Kinetic Su-33 is a lovely model, and these sets are here to increase the detail above and beyond what is achievable with styrene injection alone. There are As usual with Eduard's Photo-Etch (PE) and Mask sets, they arrive in a flat resealable package, with a white backing card protecting the contents and the instructions that are sandwiched between. There are two main sets, with the Zoom! set available with just the instrument panel details. Interior (49778) This two set fret includes a nickel plated pre-painted sheet for the cockpit details, and a bare brass set for the more constructional details. The ejection seat is decked out with a full set of crew seatbelts plus a number of extra details such as the arm-rests and headbox. The instrument panels are all replaced with new laminated and pre-painted PE parts after removing the moulded-in detail, with a slip of acetate sheet and some additional PE parts for the HUD unit. The canopy sills are detailed with a skin and the locking hooks, with a matching skin on the underside of the canopy with matching cut-outs, plus a set of rear-view mirrors for good measure. Oddly, there are also a number of sensors and raised panels added outside the cockpit around the nose, with a few more on the flying surfaces. Hardly interior, but who's complaining! Interior Zoom! (FE778) This reduced content set just includes the pre-painted fret and acetate as shown above left, which is useful for those on a budget or wanting to just improve the cockpit above the normal standard without getting involved with the more intricate parts, especially if they plan to leave the cockpit closed. Exterior (48891) Consisting of one fret in bare brass, this includes details for the intake trunking, a replacement afterburner ring that you push into shape before removing, the in-built FOD mesh that retracts into the auxiliary intake louvers, replacement mudguard for the nose wheel, details and skin parts for the dorsal air-brake. The rest of the parts take the form of lots of small panels and chaffe/flare boxes in the rear and around the engines. Masks (EX521) Pre-cut from yellow kabuki tape, this handy mask set supplies the masks for the frame edges of the large canopy panes, with the large compound curves to be filled in with either scrap tape or liquid mask. Also included are a full set of hub and tyre masks to give you the option of painting your tyres or hubs first. Review sample courtesy of

After the F-15 Baz, I finished another IDF jet. The idea was to build it together with a "Sufa" to do camouflaging simulteanously. That never worked. For paint this was my firste jet to do with Ammo of Mig IAF Desert Colors: FS 33531, FS 34424 Light Gray, FS 30219 Tan, FS 36375 Light Compass Ghost Gray. Great colors to airbrush. The decals wern't that good of this kit, some ofthe stripes came lose, these weren't survivable and I made the stripe with a pencil. The kit came with Phyton 4 rockets but decals for it (Phyton 3 decals) and no instructions. The panellines were a bit shallow, to a wash. The paint instructions of the kit were black and white, It is very clear that this kit is a reboxing of K48010. Kinetic just added 2 small papers with instructions just for the IDF version. The painting on the tail isn't 100% the Tan should be a bit lower to the base of the tail, just to get the Scorpion into the Tan. Mostely this is an OOB build the RBF tags are from Eduard, the heat seeker covers on the sidewinders are made from sprue. For the weapons load I choose the AIM-9 Python 4, GBU-12 mounted on a TER, For some reason I couldn't attach them on the middle and the left point. And 3 fuel tanks, 2 600 GAL fuel tanks and the centerliner. And a Lartinpod near the intake. One F-16 kit completed, added 2 more to the stash, this weekend. Tamiya's Lockheed Martin F-16CJ [block 50] Fighting Falcon (61098) and Lockheed Martin F-16J [block 25/32] Fighting Falcon ANG (61101). Thanks for looking. Jan Remco

Sea Harrier FRS.1 1:48 Kinetic With the Royal Nay Navy getting out of the carrier business in the late 1970s the Royal Navy was left to operate three Light Aircraft Carriers, or “Through Deck Cruisers” as they were called at the time for a variety of reasons (mostly to save face). While these new vessels were primarily intended to operate Anti-Submarine Helicopters and act as Command & Control ships, it was recognised that they would be able to operate a Vertical Take Off and Landing aircraft. Also there would be a need for them to defend against long range Soviet Air Assets. As early as 1963 the then Hawker P.1127 had shown it could operate from HMS Ark Royal (R09), and then later the Kestrel underwent trials from HMS Bulwark. Hawker Siddeley as they were then began work on navalising the then Harrier GR1. This aircraft became The Sea Harrier in 1975 when the Royal Navy ordered 24. The new aircraft would be designated FRS.1 (Fighter. Reconnaissance, Strike). The first Sea Harrier would enter service in 1979 with the “carriers” gaining Ski ramp structures to aid in launching the aircraft in a near normal fight mode. Like the Harrier, the new aircraft was designed around the Rolls Royce Pegasus engine. With a large frontal intake feeding four exhaust nozzles. The front pair were cold, using just compressed air from the engine; while the rear two were hot like a conventional engine exhausting burned fuel. All four nozzles were able to rotate to the give the jet its unique ability for vectored flight. The main visual difference from the RAF Harrier was that the SHAR was designed with an air intercept radar in the nose in the shape of the Ferranti Blue Fox. This would perform as both an air interception and air to surface search and strike unit, and was surprisingly good in the hands of an experienced user. The canopy of the Sea Harrier was also raised to give greater visibility, gaining that familiar bubble front profile. Primary air-to-air armament of the Sea Harrier was to be the AIM-9 Sidewinder, and two belly mounted 30mm ADEN cannons as fitted to the GR1 for close attack. Squadron operations began in 1980 with the formation of 800 Naval Air Squadron, closely followed by 801 Sqn the following year. This proved to be very timely as the Sea Harrier was very soon to have its moment in the spotlight, where it would prove its worth time and again. Following the invasion of the Falkland Islands in 1982 the Royal Navy was to assemble a Task Force to retake the Islands, with he only air cover for this force operating so far from home (and indeed any land other than South America) was to be the new Sea Harrier. Without endeavouring to explain the whole air war in the Falklands, the Sea Harrier would go on to provide a good account of itself, shooting down 20 enemy aircraft (28% of the total) as well as bombing missions, harassing raids; and providing support to the Army. No Sea Harriers were lost to enemy aircraft, however six were lost to ground fire and accident, unfortunately with the loss of four Pilots killed. All surviving RN Sea Harrier FRS.1s would undergo re-manufacturing in the early 1990s to become Sea Harrier FA.2s. These would feature a new pulse Doppler radar and the ability to fire The AMRAM missile. They only other nation to use the FRS.1 was to be India, where they are still in service at time of writing. The Kit We've been waiting for new toolings of the sorely missed SHARs now for some time, having to make do with some fairly ancient toolings in the meantime. Kinetic have been listening, and almost exactly a year after their very well received FA.2 that we reviewed here, we now have a completely new tooling of the FRS.1 to go with it. Navalised Harrier builders in 1:48 have now officially never had it so good, particularly with the addition of a Royal Navy deck tractor to go with these new kits. How long before we get a kit of some RN carrier deck I the same vein as the US deck released some years ago? I do hope soon. The kit arrives in a familiarly styled top-opening box with a SHAR hovering front and centre, and a carrier in the background. Inside you have eight sprues of mid-grey styrene, a sprue of clear parts and a tiny fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass parts that aren't listed on the sprue diagrams. There's a large decal sheet covering almost all the bottom of the tray, and the instruction booklet with a portrait cover, and landscape inner pages. At the back of this are the painting & markings pages in black and white. A brief scour of the sprues shows some very nice detail, such as the slide-moulded exhaust nozzles with their integral louvers and exterior texture. Panel lines are finely engraved with an accompaniment of similarly restrained rivets here and there, and if you're worried about having something to hang off the pylons, don’t; there are plenty! Parts breakdown follows a familiar vein, as it's the most sensible method, so why change it? Construction begins with the cockpit, which is nicely appointed with raised dials, knobs and so forth on the main panel and side consoles, a clear HUD, separate rudder pedals and control column. The Martin Baker seat is made up of a two-part frame, cushion, head-box topper and rear ejection tube, plus the actuating loop between the pilot's knees. This fits into the tub with the addition of a rear bulkhead, which in turn mates to the nose gear bay, with built-in intake section that leads to the face of the engine fan in a bell-shaped intake housing. The rear gear bay and air brake bay are build up as one unit, with the brake shown being installed as a flex-fit part, which you'll perhaps want to see if you can fit later if you're planning on showing it open. Harking back to the old toy-like kits of the 70s, the nozzles are all joined internally by connecting axles between the sides and linkages that echo the movement of one pair of nozzles on the other. This is simply clipped together and the only glue needed is to secure the nozzle bases to the axles. With these built, you're now able to close up the fuselage. The cockpit sidewalls in the fuselage halves are bereft of details, so if you fancy it, you can make free with the styrene strip and detail it up, or just paint it and any of the intake area that remains visible after assembly. At this point the fuselage is wide open where the wings should be, but it gives you the opportunity to flood the fuselage seams with a little extra glue to firm up the joint. Kinetic's engineers have spent a lot of time with the intakes, creating a three-part assembly that comprises an outer skin, a set of interchangeable blow-in doors (one set of open and closed doors are provided), and an inner skin that tidies up the intake area. Once built up you could paint the trunk white, and handle the intake lip colour change before attaching them to the fuselage sides. The hot and cold exhaust pairs are glued (carefully) into their bases, and a nicely detailed heat-deflecting plate is added behind the hot nozzles. The wings are hovering over the fuselage in the construction step, which is full-width on top and in two halves for the undersides. These drop into the large gap in the fuselage top, and are joined by the turtle-deck behind the pilot. You should now have a block of styrene that looks like a Harrier with the addition of the nosecone part. The flying surfaces are all separate, and you have the option of showing the flaps extended or retracted by choosing one or other set of actuator fairing parts. The elevators have separate swash-plates and simply fit into sockets in the rear of the fuselage, so make sure you get your alignment just right. The rudder is separate too, and poseable to whatever sensible angle you choose, but don't forget to offset the control column, or the accuracy police will be knocking on your door (kidding!). The bicycle style landing gear parts are provided for wheels-down models, and for those of you wanting to put your SHAR in the sky, the same bay doors will fit in the closed position too, with the removal of the hinges. The nose gear leg is split vertically, and fits around the three-part wheel that Kinetic seem quite fond of. The rear leg is one part, and has a three-part wheel added to the stub-axles on each side. Happily, these can be left off until main painting has completed, which is nice. There are a lot of antennae, sensors and blade aerials to add throughout the build, plus a very pointy pitot on the nose and refuelling probe on the port intake, which you might want to leave until later in the build. There are also four small (tiny) leading-edge splitters in PE that are best added before painting with a dot of super-glue. Clear parts are provided for the wingtip lights and other formation lights, as well as the canopy, which has been moulded very thin and clear, with the prominent det-cords moulded into the inside, although there are a pair of det-cord decals at the very bottom of the decal sheet. These delicate parts have been protected on the sprue by large upstands around them, to prevent scratching or worse during transit and storage. We have been informed by one of our members (thanks Pappy!) that the location of the camera window lens (F6) is mentioned in the instructions but is not drawn. There is the potential for it to be installed the wrong way around with the relief side facing outwards if the builder is not careful. This may have been corrected in later editions, but please be wary. A SHAR without gas-bags and storage would look a little naked, and in their usual generous style, Kinetic have provided plenty for you to play with. In the box you get the following: 2 x External Fuel tanks (large) 2 x External Fuel tanks (small) 2 x AIM-120 with a choice of adapter rail or pylon - never used on FRS-1 2 x Sea Eagle anti-shipping missile 4 x AIM-9 Sidewinder plus adapter rail - twin rails only ever fitted to display aircraft 2 x 30mm Aden cannon pack 4 x 18 round Matra rocket pods – Carried in early years, but unused after 1986 2 x 36 round rocket pods (unused) 1 x BL755 Cluster Bomb (unused by the RAF & RN since 2007/8, and not seen in inventory since 1986) There is a three-dimensional diagram showing which munitions go where, but take careful note of real-life weapons loads before you go ahead if you want to keep it realistic. Please note that the Sea Eagle missiles have been moulded as if in-flight, with the engine intake exposed, whereas it should actually have an aerodynamic cover fitted, which is jettisoned during the launch sequence so that the engine can breathe. Markings The last twelve pages of the instructions give you a clue as to the sheer number of decal options, which is backed up by the large sheet of decals that is covered in hundreds of aircraft codes, and squadron markings. From the box you can build one of the following: Sea Harrier FRS.1s of 800 Naval Air Squadron based at RNAS Yeovilton and deployed on HMS Hermes, 1981 to March 1982. Sea Harrier FRS.1s of 801 Naval Air Squadron based at RNAS Yeovilton and deployed on HMS Invincible, 1981 to March 1982. Sea Harrier FRS.1s of 899 Naval Air Squadron based at RNAS Yeovilton, 1981 to March 1982. Sea Harrier FRS.1s of HMS Hermes' Air Group, "Operation Corporate" - The Falklands/Malvinas War, Apr-Jun 1982. Sea Harrier FRS.1s of HMS Invincible's Air Group, "Operation Corporate" - The Falklands/Malvinas War, Apr-Jun 1982. Sea Harrier FRS.1 of 809 NAS on establishment / en route to the South Atlantic for "Operation Corporate", late Apr/mid May 1982. Sea Harrier FRS.1 of ex-809 NAS as part of HMS Hermes' Air Group, "Operation Corporate", late May/mid Jun 1982. Sea Harrier FRS.1 of ex-809 NAS as part of HMS Invincible's Air Group, "Operation Corporate", late May/mid Jun 1982. Sea Harrier FRS.1 of 800 Naval Air Squadron, "Exercise Arctic Express", HMS Hermes, 1983. Sea Harrier FRS.1 of 801 Naval Air Squadron, HMS Invincible, 1983. Sea Harrier FRS.1 of 899 Naval Air Squadron, RNAS Yeovilton, 1988. Sea Harrier FRS.1 of 809 NAS deployed to the South Atlantic with 809 NAS on board HMS Illustrious, 1982 Sea Harrier FRS.51s of 300 Indian Naval Air Squadron, 1983 Sea Harrier FRS.51s of 300 Indian Naval Air Squadron, 2005 While that seems already rather generous, there are further decal options noted in diagrams and tables within those pages, which will give you in the region of fifty (I know!) airframes to choose from. The decals have been designed by CrossDelta, and printed by Cartograf, with good register, colour density and sharpness, with a thin glossy carrier film closely cropped around each decal. The decal designer has also helpfully added sizes in inches to each row of the serials, which will be helpful when you're choosing decals for one of the less detailed options. If only all decal sheets were that descriptive! Conclusion After the buzz, and some initial concerns about the depth of the nose (which I shared), the actual kit is happily looks fine in that area, especially when painted. The detail is good, the decal sheet superb and colourful, which if you add in the fact that this is a new tool FRS.1 makes for one compelling package. Kinetic Publicity Photo Extremely highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hi all Here is my latest finished build and a continuation of my current fasination with aircraft of the Royal Austrialian Air Force Its a 1/48 Mirage IIIO of 2 Operational Conversion Unit based a RAAF Williamtown in 1984/85 (not 1987 as quoted in the kit instructions, thanks to Trojan Thunder for the additional info) Its the Kinetic kit which was not an easy build, I had major issues with the fit of the front end and the intakes which I fixed to the best of my abilities and I'm still not 100% happy with, it got to the stage that it got sent to the shelf of doom for a while but its now finally finished. So here are the pics, apologies that some of the pics might be a little bit out of focus my little one pulled my camera off the table by accident and the autofocus on my small lens is now U/S so I'm having to manual focus with my increasingly dodgy eyes ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Comments welcome ScottC

This is Kinegawa or should I say Hasenetic F-16 AM Block 15 KLNAF, the one that got the Yougoslav MiG-29 back in 1999. Why Kinegawa, well, the basic kit, i.e. body and wings is Hasegawa, the Idolmaster edition, which I got for less than 10$ at HLJ. The tail, weapons and pylons and the ejection seat are from Kinetic, as are the decals for the J-063. Why such a bash, well, Kinetic provide with the early tail, apart from that, Hase F-16 do provide with all the options to build any of the F-16 blocks in the Idolmaster edition. Only downside is that the plastic in the ghastly sickly yellow green they use requires a good primer coat to cover over. Also the molds are so old that the flash is evident on almost every small part. Anyway, after a good primer coat, painted with Italeri Acrylics trhoughout. Some wathering as the pics show the J-063 to be rather worn out at the time. Well 12 airframes flying a long time. I added the Mavericks as the mission report states that half of formation were armed with air to ground, eihter Mk.82s or mavericks. I just thought these look "cooler". The Dutch complement also fired the Mavericks during the same conflict so, it is not so iffy. 'nyway enough blabber

Republic P-47D Thunderbolt Kinetic 1:24 The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is one of the largest and heaviest fighter aircraft in history to be powered by a single piston engine. It was built from 1941–1945, and was heavily armed with eight .50-caliber machine guns, four per wing. When fully loaded, the P-47 weighed up to eight tons, and in the fighter-bomber ground-attack roles could carry five-inch rockets or a significant bomb load of 2,500 pounds; it could carry more than half the payload of the B-17 bomber on long-range missions (although the B-17 had a far greater range). The P-47 was designed around the powerful Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engine—the same engine used by two very successful U.S. Navy fighters, the Grumman F6F Hellcat and Vought F4U Corsair, the latter of which was the first to fly with Double Wasp power in late May 1940—and was to be very effective as a short-to-medium range escort fighter in high-altitude air-to-air combat. When deployed as a fighter-bomber with its usual "double quartet" of heavy-calibre M2 Browning machine guns, it proved especially adept at ground attack in both the World War II European and Pacific Theatres. The P-47 was one of the main United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) fighters of World War II, and served with other Allied air forces, notably those of France, Britain, and Russia. Mexican and Brazilian squadrons fighting alongside the U.S. were equipped with the P-47. The armoured cockpit was roomy inside, comfortable for the pilot, and offered good visibility. A modern-day U.S. ground-attack aircraft, the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, takes its name from the P-47. Throughout its career the Thunderbolt was almost continually updated and refined, leading to the P-47D, (the subject of this review), which was the most produced version with 12,602 built. The "D" model actually consisted of a series of evolving production blocks, the last of which were visibly different from the first. The first P-47Ds were actually the same as P-47Cs. Republic could not produce Thunderbolts fast enough at its Farmingdale plant on Long Island, so a new plant was built at Evansville, Indiana. The Evansville plant built a total of 110 P-47Ds, which were completely identical to P-47C-2s. Farmingdale aircraft were identified by the "-RE" suffix after the block number, while Evansville aircraft were given the "-RA" suffix. The P-47D-1 through P-47D-6, the P-47D-10, and the P-47D-11 successively incorporated changes such as the addition of more engine cooling flaps around the back of the cowl to reduce the engine overheating problems that had been seen in the field. Engines and engine subsystems saw refinement, as did the fuel, oil and hydraulic systems. Additional armour protection was also added for the pilot. The P-47D-15 was produced in response to requests by combat units for increased range. Underwing "wet" (equipped with fuel plumbing) bomb racks were introduced to allow a jettisonable drop tank pressurized by vented exhaust air to be carried under each wing, in addition to the belly tank. Seven different auxiliary tanks were fitted to the Thunderbolt during its career. The tanks made of plastic-impregnated (laminated) paper could not store fuel for an extended period of time, but they worked quite well for the time it took to fly a single mission. These tanks were cheaper, lighter, and were useless to the enemy if recovered after being dropped—not only did they break apart, but they did not provide the enemy with any reusable materials that could be scavenged for their own war effort. With the increased fuel capacity, the P-47 was now able to perform escort missions deep into enemy territory. A drawback to their use was that fighters could not land with the tanks in place because of the hazard of rupture and explosion. Fighters recalled from a mission or that did not jettison their paper tanks for some reason were required to drop them into a designated "dump" area at their respective fields, resulting in substantial losses of aviation fuel. The P-47D-16, D-20, D-22 and D-23 were similar to the P-47D-15 with minor improvements in the fuel system, engine subsystems, a jettisonable canopy, and a bulletproof windshield. Beginning with the block 22 aircraft, the original narrow-chorded Curtiss propeller was replaced by propellers with larger blades, the Evansville plant switching to a new Curtiss propeller with a diameter of 13 ft. (3.96 m) and the Long Island plant using a Hamilton Standard propeller with a diameter of 13 ft. 2 in (4.01 m). With the bigger propellers having barely 6 in (152 mm) of ground clearance, Thunderbolt pilots had to learn to be careful on take-offs to keep the tail down until they obtained adequate ground clearance, and on landings to flare the aircraft properly. Failure to do so damaged both the propeller and the runway. A modification to the main gear legs was installed to extend the legs via an electric motor (un-extending before retraction) to accommodate the larger propeller diameter. The Model Kinetics new kit of the P-47D is an update of their 2014 release, with the razorback fuselage replacing the cut down, bubble canopied example, which in turn was originally released by Vintage Fighter Series. The kit comes in a pretty standard sized box, only, very, very deep. The boxart shows a P-47 just leaving the runway on a mission, inside the box is pretty much packed full to the gunwhales with styrene. In total there are twenty four sprues of mid grey styrene, with the wings and fuselage halves separate, there are two sprues of clear styrene, two rubber tyres and a large decal sheet. The parts are beautifully moulded, with no sign of flash or other major imperfections, although there are some flow marks on the wings, which will easily be covered by primer and paint. Whilst the main parts are large, the detail is well reproduced with recessed and raised detail where appropriate. The kit doesn’t look particularly complicated, although the instructions parts placement indications could be better, and whilst it is well detailed it does appear to have some scope for the modeller to add even more, particularly on the engine and in the cockpit. Talking of the cockpit, that’s exactly where the build begins, nothing out of the ordinary there I here you say. The cockpit consists of the floor, front bulkhead, rear bulkhead, three piece seat, joystick, beautifully detailed sidewalls, with separate throttle quadrant, and instrument panel, which is fitted with separate rudder pedals and gunsight. The engine is built up form two banks of cylinders, each moulded as one piece. Each bank is fitted with their respective push rods, whilst the front bank is fitted with the cowl mounting ring. The exhaust manifold is assembled, with each of the exhaust pipes being separate parts and fitted to the engine bulkhead. The gearbox cover comes in three parts and is detailed with separate magnetos before being fitted to the front cylinder bank. The firewall is then detailed with the five piece oil cooler section to the front and the two piece channel to the rear. The engine is then fitted to the bulkhead along with the two oil cooler ducts. The area between the engine bulkhead and the firewall is filled with pipework, oil tanks the turbo-supercharger, and engine mounting stays to which the engine assembly is attached. The cockpit assembly, wing spars and turbo-supercharger outlet are glued to one half of the fuselage before it can be closed up. The engine assembly, with cowling front now attached is then fitted to the front of the fuselage. The rest of the cowling can then be attached, of left off as per the modellers wishes. If attached, the clear cowling sides can be left unpainted if desired. The horizontal tailplanes are now glued into place, followed by the two gills on the mid fuselage sides, either in the open or closed positions. The tail wheel is made up from eight parts and fitted to the rear fuselage, along with the tail wheel bay doors. The fuselage mounted, five piece flattened drop tank is fitted into position, as are the inner main wheel bay doors and supercharger outlet duct. Each wing consist of upper and lower halves, with separate ailerons, flaps and navigation lights. Before gluing the wing halves together, the quad 50 cal gun bays are assembled from seventeen and fitted to the lower wing and any holes required, to be opened up. Each gun bay comes with a separate cover which can be left off if required. Only the port side gun bays is further enhanced with the ammunition belt bay, also with separate, poseable covers. Each of the completed wings are then glued to the fuselage. The underwing stores options include:- • 108 U.S. gallon (409 l) drop tank • 110 U.S. gallon drop tank • 500lb GP Bomb • Triple Bazooka tube launchers Each with their respective pylons and fittings. Each of the main undercarriage assemblies are built up from seven parts, with separate scissor link, inner hub, and outer bay doors. The relevant stores and undercarriage are glued to their respective positions. The flaps can be posed retracted or extended, with the relevant parts required to show off the fully extended flaps. The kit is finished off with the fitting of the two leading edge gun panels, pitot probe and a choice of four different propellers depending on the type you are building. Decals The decal sheet is suitably large, as it should be given the scale, yet there are only two schemes provided, both in olive drab over neutral grey, although one has an off white tailplane. The decals are well printed and really quite vibrant, given the subjects provided. The carrier fill is quite thin, so care should be taken when manoeuvring the decals into position. Conclusion Another one of my favourite aircraft, mainly as it’s one heck of a brute and goes against grain of the dainty fighters of the period. This kit will build into one large model, yet, whilst the size will be quite impressive the parts count isn’t that great. This means that even a fairly novice modeller could have a huge P-47 in their collection. That said, it is quite expensive for what you get, (yes, I know the moulds will be large and the company will need to get their money back on the investment), but it just seems to lack that je ne sais quoi detail one would expect. It’s still a great looking kit and I can quite happily recommend it, as it will give hours of fun, especially with the detail painting, although, if you don’t own an airbrush, you may need a large brush for the exterior paint job. Review sample courtesy of

SU-33 Flanker D 1:48 Kinetic Models The SU-33 is a carrier based development of the SU-27 that has suffered from the dearth of finances following the break-up of the Soviet Union at the end of the last millennium. Soon after it was taken into service by the Soviet Navy, funding was reduced to the military as a whole, and as a result only 24 airframes were ever built. Overseas sales were attempted, but none came to fruition for various reasons, and further sales to the Russian Navy weren't an option, as in 2009 they decided on the navalised Mig-29K going forward. Beginning with the basic SU-27 airframe, the internal structure and landing gear were beefed up to cope with the additional stresses of hard carrier landings, the wings were enlarged to provide additional lift, and both the wings and stabs were fitted with folding mechanisms for storage below decks. The first aircraft embarked on the Admiral Kuznetsov in 1995 after substantial testing, but the cancellation of other carriers led to the projected buy of 72 airframes being cut back to the aforementioned 24. They are being drawn down in favour of the Mig-29K, and will be refurbished to replace their outdated avionics for future use elsewhere. Below is a video showing why carrier landing practice is a good thing. The airframe was lost when an arrestor wire snapped, resulting in a trip to Davy Jones's locker for the aircraft. The Kit This is a complete new tooling of this large twin-engined fighter, and it received much praise when the test shots were on view at Telford in late 2015, filling a hole in the Soviet/Russian fast jet line-up in this scale. It would appear that Kinetic have really pushed the boat out for this release, as not only is the part count high, but the detail is also exceptional, with lots of slide-moulding used to create complex detail on multiple facets of parts that would have been impossible using non sliding moulds. The box is fairly standard for Kinetic, in their familiar blue scheme with a painting of an airborne D on the front, but inside there are some rather nice packaging touches, including separate boxes for the delicate exhaust parts and the missiles. Each box has a custom tray inside that holds the parts safe from harm until needed. There are sixteen sprues of various sizes and ten spruelets in mid grey styrene, a clear sprue, a sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, decal sheet, and an instruction booklet. The instructions are in A4 portrait format and follow a new greyscale 3D drawing style, rather than the traditional line drawing seen on older kits. First impressions are excellent, with lots of detail, parts and clever moulding, as well as the size of the aircraft, as evidenced by the large upper and lower fuselage parts on the top of the box. Construction starts predictably enough with the cockpit, which has separate rear bulkhead and four side console panels added to improve the detail, plus the control column and a separate set of rudder pedals made up of PE and styrene parts. The K-36DM zero-zero ejection seat built up from a substantial number of parts, with PE used for the leg restraints, although sadly there aren't any seatbelts included in the kit, which is a bit of a shame. The instrument panel fits to the front of the cockpit with plenty of raised and engraved details, but no decals for the dials, which is again a bit of a shame, leaving it up to the modeller to furnish them. Attention then shifts to the nose gear bay, which sits under the cockpit in the finished article. It is a deep bay, and has additional height added in the shape of detailed sidewalls, with a pair of bulkheads at the ends, and a rib/support around the halfway point. The main bays are relatively shallow, and are built up from individual panels into a rough square shape, to be added to the lower fuselage. The bay roof is moulded into the upper fuselage, and has hoses and wiring moulded-in to improve the detail. The cockpit and wheel bays can then be added to the lower portion, while the instructions tell you to add some of the bay doors at this stage, along with the recess that projects into the engine nacelle. The trunking is built up in pairs for obvious reasons, with the upper half attached to the fuselage bottom along with a pair of fan-faces, before being covered over by the big lower parts after adding some additional PE parts including the built-in FOD guards, and either open or closed auxiliary inlet louvers underneath. These complex slide-moulded cowlings have the upper half of the trunking moulded in, and it is unlikely that any resulting seam will be visible once the assembly is completed, although whether you fill them is entirely up to you. A number of small detail parts are then added to the now completed main gear bays, which couldn't be added earlier. The nose gear is shown next, which is an odd choice considering the fuselage halves aren't even joined yet, but the reinforced unit is built up around a thick central strut, with twin wheels, landing lights, four PE slats for the mudguard, and lots of bracing/retraction struts for good measure. This could easily be left of until later, as could the main legs, which are similar in construction, but with only one wheel each, which has a little weighting moulded-in. The Arrestor hook and inner wing pylons are then added, and here you will notice how much effort has been put into detailing the pylons, both on the visible sides, as well as the mating surfaces, in case you want to show them off without weapons installed. Bay doors and their retraction jacks are also added, and again these could be left off until later, while the large ventral strakes are installed under the exhaust area. The exhaust trunking is then built up from some highly detailed and delicate parts that are amongst the best styrene exhausts I have seen. A rear engine face and a very detailed afterburner ring in PE is also included for those minded to look into the tail pipes, but this area should look very good with some sympathetic paintwork. A pair of cockpit sidewalls are added to the upper fuselage as well as a bay for the refuelling probe, and at last the top and bottom halves are mated, leaving you with a lot less room on your desk suddenly. The nose is detailed with a suite of sensors, probes, the large IRST fairing with clear lens, plus a PE HUD frame with clear glass and projector lens. The refuelling probe and some of the more prominent and delicate sensors are probably safer left off until later. The windscreen is fitted to the large mating point around the coaming, but the canopy has a separate frame and additional details such as the demisting hoses and PE rear-view mirrors added, before adding the glazing. This and the windscreen have a bulbous front profile, which requires a three-part mould to de-mould them, so they have a very fine seam on the outer surface. This can be sanded away and then polished back to clarity, but if that thought turns you to jelly, it is very fine so might go unnoticed if you're lucky. The large air-brake is mounted behind the cockpit, and is double-skinned for extra detail, with a large ram to push it up into the airflow when needed. The outer wing panels are able to be posed folded if you want to save space or like the way they look, so a pair of joint pieces are included to blank off the hollow space at the roots. There are also leading-edge slats and trailing edge flaps to add, but check them for sink-marks as you go, because the review sample had a few easily remedied sink-marks particularly in the slats. A smear of Tamiya Basic Putty and a little bit of sanding will soon see them gone, as they aren't near any major details. Just as you think you're going to fit the wings, the instructions divert you sneakily to putting on the twin tail fins, with poseable rudders and sensor suite that are made up from separate parts, so that they can be left off to save damage. The parapack fairing can also be posed open with a couple of small detail parts and a strut included, but as there is no parachute in there, it's of limited value. At the other end, the big nose cone is a one-piece moulding, and has ample space for nose weight, although none is specified. A number of small antennae are added underneath, and a choice of two pitot probes for wings folded and unfolded are also in the box. Back to the wings. If you are folding the wings the outer wing panels will need a bulkhead installing at the break, and don't forget to drill out the mounting points for the wing pylons before you close up the halves. There are full-width slats at the front, and a choice of closed up or deployed two-section flaperons at the trailing edge. Again, check these for sink-marks well before you need them. The canards are single parts that slide into holes in the leading edge of the fuselage/wing blend, and the elevators have small pins that fit to corresponding slots in the stub, with PE covers. If you are folding the wings, an L-shaped brace fits in the root along with a pair of smaller supports, while the assembly process for the elevators seems to have been missed entirely. From looking at pictures on the web however, the pins fit vertically in the slot, with the covers retained on the pin, spacing the raised section from the stub. The last task is to choose and install the weapons, which are all slide-moulded as one main part, the two R-73s (incorrectly labelled as R-27s in the instructions) having additional vanes at the front added from PE for a more realistic look. They also have separate exhausts on their spruelet. The wingtip fairings have an optional pod on the port wing, while all the weapons use their own specific adaptor rail. The R-27s are provided with two of each of the Alamo D and C variants, all of which are slide-moulded as one part each. Here is where I'm a little torn about the weapons using slide-moulding, as yes they give great detail, but if there is the smallest element of mould slip, you have four seams to clean up, all of which run over highly detailed areas. A little mould-slip is almost inevitable with five-part moulds like these (four sides, and one part for the hollow exhaust), so a lot of careful scraping of the seams will be needed before you can paint them. This isn't a criticism of Kinetic, as I have seen this on other kits from different manufacturers. That said, they will look great if you put the effort in with the seams. The load-out diagram shows the R-27s on the centre wing pylon and the R-72s on the outer pylons, but as always check your references and find a real-world warload that suits your needs. Markings The decal sheet allows you to portray any of the aircraft of the 279th Fighter Aviation Regiment aboard Admiral Kuznetsov, because it covers all the code numbers, plus the tail art of 1st Eagle Squadron and 2nd Tiger squadron. Variations are noted in scrap diagrams, and the stencils are called out on the main drawings. The dielectric panels are painted white, and decals are included for the majority, but you will have to paint the radome, tail tips and inboard panels on the fins yourself. The camouflage scheme is the same throughout, consisting of pale blue/blue/blue grey, all called out in Gunze colours, although there is a conversion chart at the beginning of the booklet for Vallejo, AMMO, Italeri, Humbrol, Tamiya and AKAN. AKAN do a paint set specifically for the SU-33, which contains the correct blue shades in a set of six under the code 47326. Having recently used AKAN for the first time on my Mig-31 Foxhound, I'll be seeking these out when it comes time for the build. Martin @ Coastal Craft will be getting a call. Conclusion This has to be Kinetic's best model to date, both in terms of detail and the technology used in creating it. There are a few mistakes in the instructions, and the PE sheet is unprotected in the box despite being very thin and flimsy, so could really do with a card protector. Other than that, there's not much to gripe about, and an awful lot to like. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hi all Here's my first completed build of 2016, the Kinetic Sea Harrier FRS.1 The Aircraft XZ451 first flew on 25th May 1979 and was the first Sea Harrier delivered to the Royal Navy on 18th June 1979. Joining 700A NAS and coded 100 it first went to sea for trials aboard HMS Hermes on 24th October 1979. It went on to join 899 NAS and then into 801 NAS on 4th April 1982 coded 801. XZ451 is credited with 3 'kills' and one damaged during the Falklands war 1st May 1982 Lt-Cdr 'Sharky' Ward damaged a Mentor 1st May 1982 Lt Curtis shot down a Canberra with Sidewinder 21st May 1982 Lt-Car 'Sharky' Ward shot down a Pucara with cannon fire and a C-130 with Sidewinder and cannon fire. After the war XZ451 went on to serve stints on both 800 and 801 NAS and it's while on 801on the 1st December 1989 been flown by Lt M Auckland off the coast of Sardinia the aircraft suffered control restrictions and had to be abandoned, the pilot ejecting safely. The Model This kit is the new 1/48 Kinetic kit of the Sea Harrier FRS.1 which also gives you the option to build an FRS.51 of the Indian Navy. Some of you may remember i built the FA.2 last year and had nothing but problems with it and i was very critical of it, well this time after learning what the major problem was with the FA.2 i had no problems at all, in fact i finished it in 16 days flat. Built as XZ451 as she appeared while serving on 801NAS in 1983 it's OOB apart from the addition of a resin Martin Baker Mk.10 seat by Neomega. I've added a couple of pics at the end of it with my Kinetic FA.2 and my ever expanding collection of 48th Harriers Lastly I'd like to dedicate this build to my good friend Steve Hague who sadly passed away on 21st May last year. Steve was Harrier mad and a member of the Harrier SIG and very active in the aircraft preservation world, which is how we met. We had many a hour of laughs and hard work including rebuilding Harrier GR.3 XV748 at Elvington. Miss ya mate. Right enough waffle here's the pics. So there we have it guys, comments welcomed ScottC

Afternoon Guys, Today I have my attempt at Kinetics FA2, brush painted with Humbrol Acrylics as I was too impatient to wait for my airbrush to arrive. It was completed before Christmas, however I came back from the rig last week to find my Girlfriend had very kindly "tidied up" which resulted in all my started and completed kits being chucked into an empty picnic basket, so today has been spent sticking weapons and under carriage back on. Pete