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1:144 F4D Skyray NOTSNIK Project Shelf Oddity NOTSNIK was an expendable launch system and anti-satellite rocket system developed by the US Navy's United States Naval Ordnance Test Station (NOTS) in the late 1950s. The NIK part coming from the fact this was not SPUTNIK. Air launches were carried out from a China Lake F4D Skyray at 41000 Ft of the Pilot Rocket system. It was the first attempt at using an air launched system to try and achieve orbital insertion of a payload. The system was considered a failure although there is some evidence of the system achieving orbit on the first test. The project remained classified until the mid 1990s. Shelf Oddity are emerging as a leader in decals and parts for 1.144 scale modelling. This set contains decals for the China Lake F4D and PE Fins for a Pilot Rocket. The instructions show how to scratch build this. As with all Shelf Oddity sets there are extensive instructions available on-line in PDF format. Conclusion Great news for 1:144 scale fans, an interesting and virtually unknown use of the Skyray. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Update sets for 1:144 Aircraft Shelf Oddity Shelf Oddity are emerging as a leader in decals and parts for 1.144 scale modelling. These sets contains PE update sets for The La-5, FuG220 Antennas, and the Hawker Hurricane. Shelf Oddity do more than just decals, but it's the decals I picked out of their recent samples first, so here they are. La-5 Update set (SO214421 KP kits) This set contains parts for the exhaust pipes and engine cooling flaps, antennae masts, oil cooler details, main landing gear details, wheel hubs details, the tail wheel assembly, several air scoops and hatch covers, and the windscreen rear-view mirror. There is also a small decal sheet for the most visible stencils on the aircraft. Luftwaffe FuG220 Antennas (SO51445) This set contains 4 long, and 4 short FuG220 antennas for late war Luftwaffe aircraft. Hawker Hurricane MkI (SO214420 Sweet Kit) The set is for Sweet kit and contains enough parts for both in the boxing. Parts included are; the cockpit floor with rudder pedals and control stick, pilots seat with seatbelts, instrument panel, overhead cockpit bulkhead, air intakes, oil cooler, vertical stabiliser actuators, pitot probe, antennae masts, and various external details. Conclusion Great news for 1:144 scale fans. Some good sets and it should hopefully please a lot of people with really good eyesight. Highly recommended. Review samples courtesy of

Decals for 1:144 Aircraft F-47D, F-16 & F-14 Shelf Oddity Shelf Oddity are emerging as a leader in decals and parts for 1.144 scale modelling. This set contains decals for the F-47D, F-16 and F-14. As with all Shelf Oddity products all instruction and documentation are available on-line at the website. F-16 Lizard Camo Euro 1 (SO314426) Decals for the short lived Euro 1 or Lizard Scheme applied to early F-16s IIAF F-47D Thunderbolts (SO314424) From this sheet you can decal one of three airframes purchased by Iran in the late 1940s F-47D-30-RA 44-33125, 2-85, 2nd Fighter Regiment IIAF based in Doshan Tappeh near Tehran, Iran 1949 F-47D-30-RA 44-33478, 2-109, 2nd Fighter Regiment IIAF, Iran 1949 F-47D-30-RA 44-33454, 2-54, 2nd Fighter Regiment IIAF, Tehran, Iran 05.1957 F-14A 70's Tophatters (VF-14) (SO314439) These decals are for VF-14 F-14s in the ealry grey over white scheme. Decals are for 4 aircraft; 159011, 159017, 159019, & 159427 Armee De L'Air F-47Ds (SO314433) More thunderbolt decals, this time for those used by the French Air Force. Decals for 4 aircraft; F-47D-30-RA 44-33663, AF-C, GC III/6 Roussillon, Trier, Germany, early 1946 F-47D-28-RE 44-20048, 10-SO, EMCE 3/10, Dijon, France 1951 F-47D-28-RE 44-19679, K, CERAA, Rabat-Salé, Morocco 1952 F-47D-30-RA 44-90024, 20-QA, EC 2/20 Ouarsenis, Boufarik, Algeria 1960 Conclusion Great news for 1:144 scale fans. Plenty of choices in addition to these as I write this, and it should hopefully please a lot of people with really good eyesight.available which should be welcome. Highly recommended. Review samples courtesy of

Hello, This is my rendition of the early Vulcan B2 XH556 depicted as in No.230 OCU Finningley, ca 1962. The pic of the original is shown below. The Pit-Road/GWH kit and excellent Fundekals decal set inspired me to tackle the Vulcan subject. To portray the early B2 airframe the kit had to be backdated a bit - the nose cone and a tail-tip antennaes as well as in-flight refuelling probe had to be removed. Hopefully the coming GWH Blue Steel release will make things easier. The by-product of this build is the ShelfOddity PE set. MrColor GX Cool White and GX100 Super Clear III lacquers, which allowed for easy surface polishing, made the painting a relatively straightforward task. Finally – a big thank you to Leszek lejgo_inc for taking the photos. The mind-boggling task of preparing the final pics was my share. Beginning of 1960s, RAF Finningley. Waiting for the sunrise. The overall view. The bottom side – airframe from 230 OCU depicted here just started getting dirty. A couple of details. Thanks for viewing and best regards, Marek

Decals for 1:144 Aircraft Shelf Oddity Shelf Oddity are a new company to this reviewer, but as I don't get out much you've probably all heard of them before. They are based in Poland, and specialise in some of the smaller scales, both in aircraft and other genres, such as maritime in 1:700 and 1:350, although they haven't done much in 1:350 as yet (give them time). A thoroughly modern company, they provide you with the products with minimum packaging of a minimalist design, using the ubiquity of the internet to provide you with detailed instructions for each set from their website, harming no trees, but maybe bruising a few electrons in the process. Each set so far arrives in a small clear foil resealable bag, with a piece of card holding the decals with tiny pieces of tape, and their pink logo with backward Y in the top right corner. That's all there is – no bulky instructions to pad out the bag and increase transport costs – just what you need. Face it, if you're reading this review, you have the internet, so can download the instructions, which are in the de facto standard PDF format, which you can save or if you really, really must, print out at home. The decals are silk screen printed on a blue backing paper and have close-cut glossy carrier film over each individual one. Shelf Oddity do more than just decals, but it's the decals I picked out of their recent samples first, so here they are. Commonwealth Reisens (SO31449 Sweet/F-Toys) I'll admit to scratching my head at the name Reisens, but it's a sheet for captured Mitsubishi Zeroes used by the Commonwealth after WWII. You get markings for four aircraft, as follows: A dirty-white, green crossed A6M3 composite aircraft used by RNZAF pilots in Kara Island, Bougainville 1945 A6M3 c/n. 3844, its original IJN version with tail no. 2-282. OK, one of its predecessors to be exact A6M5 c/n.1303, a NMF machine with TAIC 11 marking wearing unusual RAF roundels. This is a 'Commonwealth' one, the actual plane never left the US. NAS Anacostia/Eglin AFB 1945 A6M5c c/n.5622, another NMF machine, the sole representation of 52 Hei type. Aircraft used by RAAF pilots in Clark Field, Luzon 1945 Rhodesian Air Training Group (RATG) Silver Hurricanes Mk.I (SO314412 for Sweet) Patterned on the Sweet Hurricane kit, you can decal two of the following three airframes as trainers at the central flying school at Norton Air Base in Rhodesia 1945: Canadian built AG244 featuring Dull Red spinner and tail belt T9531 featuring gun camera on starboard wing and tail wheel from Hurri Mk.II V6787 featuring Dull Red spinner and front of the fuselage plus a few panels in natural metal finish Canberra B.2/TT.18 (SO314416) The largest set comprising three sheets of decals for the following options: WH926 - B.2 of 76th Squadron, nuclear tests atmosphere sample collecting aircraft WJ608 - B.2 assigned to "Swifter Flight" tests WF890 - B.2 assigned to "Swifter Flight" tests WJ717 - TT.18 of FR&ADU Royal Navy, 1973, code 814 WJ753 - B.2 of 100th Squadron RAF Beverley C.1 Update (SO314418 for MikroMir) These decals to replace and improve upon some of the kit decals to give a more representative finish to your model. As well as containing some stencils for the camouflaged and white-topped airframes it has the following: Replacement markings for camouflaged XB106 machine Replacement markings for white-top XB267 machine RAuxAF Silver Spitfires LF.16e (SO314419 for Eduard) Decals of markings worn by the post war Royal Auxiliary Air Force squadrons 609 and 612 during their silver period. Markings for one model. This sheet is a limited run of 25 (now 24), so don't hang about! RAF Silver Tempests F.5/TT.5 Markings & Stencils (SO314420 for F-Toys) Although patterned for the F-Toys kit, it should fit any kit of the type if you can find one, and you can build one of the following: F.5 machines SN330 or SN136 from of 3 Sqn RAF based in Germany, TT.5 machines SN354 or SN274 of 229 OCU RAF based in Chivenor, UK Conclusion Great news for 1:144 scale fans, as it can't be every day you can just go out and buy aftermarket decals (can it?). Plenty of choices in addition to these as I write this, and it should hopefully please a lot of people with really good eyesight. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Victor B.2, Attacker FB.2 & Tempest Mk.V/TT.5 Photo-Etch Upgrades 1:144 Shelf Oddity Shelf Oddity specialise in the smaller scales, majoring in 1:144, but venturing into maritime too, with much to come in due course. They produce decals, resin and Photo-Etch (PE) brass too, and as a thoroughly modern company, they provide you with the products with minimal packaging of a minimalist design, using the ubiquity of the internet to provide you with detailed instructions for each set from their website, harming no trees, but maybe bruising a few electrons in the process. Each set so far arrives in a small clear foil resealable bag, with a piece of card holding the PE in place. Handley-Page Victor B.2 (SO214412 for GWH/Pit-Road) A single fret of PE contains parts for aerials; an open crew entrance hatch with a template for the U-shaped door locks; main undercarriage details in the shape of the dolly-locks; two options of bomb bay aero deflector either solid or mesh; vents and splitter plates at the wing root. Supermarine Attacker FB.2 (SO214414 for MiniWing) This set will work just as well for the F.1 even though it was patterned on the FB.2, and contains boundary layer splitter plates that slot into the intakes, vents and inlet bleed vents, the latter requiring a small hole to be cut in the fuselage; undercarriage doors that are much more in-scale but require the gear legs to be cut from the monolithic part (or replaced); main undercarriage details in the shape of new oleo-scissors; aerials on the nose, and an arrestor hook with tail gear doors nearby. Hawker Tempest Mk.V/TT.5 (SO214417 for F-Toys) This set is a larger fret that contains control stick and pilot harness; head armour; radiator details forward and aft of the chin scoop; a complete set of replacement undercarriage doors with wheel hubs; a new tailwheel with anti-shimmy groove made from layered PE parts; pitot probe, antennae masts; underwing rails for rockets; crew step and rear prop boss. Review sample courtesy of

J35 Draken, Vulcan B.2 &TSR.2 Photo-Etch Upgrades 1:144 Shelf Oddity Shelf Oddity specialise in the smaller scales, majoring in 1:144, but venturing into maritime too, with much to come in due course. They produce decals, resin and Photo-Etch (PE) brass too, and as a thoroughly modern company, they provide you with the products with minimal packaging of a minimalist design, using the ubiquity of the internet to provide you with detailed instructions for each set from their website, harming no trees, but maybe bruising a few electrons in the process. Each set so far arrives in a small clear foil resealable bag, with a piece of card holding the PE in place. J35 Draken (SO214419 for F-Toys/Platz) A single fret containing parts for the beautifully detailed undercarriage doors; an incitement to create your own landing gear parts from brass; aerials and rear fuselage intakes on what would have started life as a pre-painted toy. Avro Vulcan B.2 (SO21441 for GWH/Pit-Road) This set comes on four frets and also includes some tiny resin parts in a poly-bag that I daren't open for fear of losing them. It is a rather comprehensive set for the kit, containing parts the crew access hatch and ladder; a complete set of four air brakes, including their wells within the upper and lower surface of the wing roots; ECM plate and air cooling scoop (where most of the resin domes go) between the engine pairs; landing gear door skins, landing gear legs and bays details; jet pipes fittings; several air scoops and vents across the airframe; small surface details and antennae that have to be seen to believed, plus windscreen wipers for the canopy. It's an incredible set! BAC TSR.2 (SO21447 for GWH/Pit-Road) Back to single frets again for this world-beater that never happened. It contains parts for the auxiliary air intake flaps around the main intakes; undercarriage scissor links and details; various antennas; outlet vents fairings around the tail; parachute cover hinges behind the tail fin, and LTU (Lateral Thrust Unit) plates that were specific to airframe XR220, with a scrap diagram showing their exact location on the model. Review sample courtesy of

R-27T (AA-10 Alamo-B) & AIM-7C/D/E/F/M Skyflash (AIM-7E2) Missiles 1:144 Shelf Oddity Shelf Oddity specialise in the smaller scales, majoring in 1:144, but venturing into maritime too, with much to come in due course. They produce decals, resin and Photo-Etch (PE) brass too, and have teamed up with Master to produce these superbly detailed missile sets. A thoroughly modern company, they provide you with the products with minimal packaging of a minimalist design, using the ubiquity of the internet to provide you with detailed instructions for each set from their website, harming no trees, but maybe bruising a few electrons in the process. Each set so far arrives in a small clear foil resealable bag, with a piece of card holding the PE in place, and a taped ziplok bag doing the same for the turned brass parts. To the rear are a set of stencil decals that are silkscreen printed and have individual glossy carrier film cut close to each one. R-27T (AA-10 Alamo-B) SO11449 A Soviet/Russian Air-to-Air missile of medium to long range, this is the infrared targeted version and can launch from up to 33km head-on, or chase a target down over 63km if necessary. The set includes four turned brass missile bodies that are surprisingly large for the scale, with the stabilising fins and guide-vanes on the PE fret, which even has a couple of jigs to ensure you set the fins at the correct angle. The instruction manual on their site caters for the T and R variants, and shows construction and stencilling details for both types, with plenty of written guidance added for good measure. AIM-7C/D/E/F/M Sparrow/Skyflash (AIM-7E2) A medium range US missile that has been used since Vietnam in various variants, and known as the Skyflash in British service with an improved motor (we do that a lot) it has seen some action. Like the Alamo-Bs above, the set includes four turned brass missile bodies, with the stabilising fins and guide-vanes on the PE fret. The stencil decals are on a large sheet, as there are 13 variations in colour/stencilling between variants/operators. More text guidance is included, and it's all very colloquial and amusing in tone. Conclusion Detailed missiles this good don't often come in boxes for 1:48 kits, so these will really make your model shine if you put them together and paint them well. The details of a model make it shine, so get yourself some. What are you waiting for? Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of