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CAC CA-19 Boomerang 'Jungle Scouts' 1:72 Special Hobby (72426) The Boomerang was a WWII fighter designed and made in Australia by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC). The design stemmed from the CAC Wirraway, this was a licence built North American NA-16 (more commonly known as the Harvard). Australia had realised in the 1930s that Japan had expansionist ideas and would need its own aircraft industry. this is one reason North American were approached to licence build the Wirraway. After WWII broke out and with the traditional supply of aircraft from the UK in short supply CAC looked at producing their own domestic fighter. Key to this was the recruitment of Fred David a Jewish refugee from Austria who was actually interned at the time. He had worked for Heinkel, and Mitsubishi on aircraft design. CAC had also negotiated that the licence for the NA-16 allowed for them to modify the design. The Boomerang would utilise the wing, tail, centre section and undercarriage of the Wirraway. A new forward fuselage was developed which was wider to accommodate the larger Twin Wasp engine along with a single cockpit. The armament for the new aircraft was to be two 20mm cannon and 4 .303 machine guns. Production was authorised almost immediately as it would provide insurance against a delay to an order of P-40 aircraft and it would keep the production lines open at CAC. The availability of Wirraway components would also speed up production. From design to first production was a staggering 3 months. The aircraft was tested initially against a Brewster Buffalo which was slightly modified to resemble a zero in performance, in addition to testing against a P-40. It was found to be faster though less manoeuvrable than the other aircraft, but it had far better armament, and Armor for protection of the pilot. Performance though rapidly dropped off over 15000 feet. However the maximum speed was only 265 knots well below that of Zero and Oscar. Deployment of American fighters to Australia lowered the need for the Boomerang, however due to the cancellation of the Woomera bomber the Government extend production of the Boomerang. In total 250 aircraft were built and operated by 7 Squadrons of the Royal Australian Air Force. The Boomerang would see combat initially in the air defence role. There are no records of any Boomerang air-2-air kills. Later in the war the aircraft was used in the ground attack role. Properties such as the manoeuvrability, low speed, and toughness made it suitable to this role. Extensive armour plating was fitted to the airframe to protect it in this role. In what we would now recognise as the FAC role Boomerangs would often mark targets low down with smoke bombs in order that larger aircraft could attack from a safer distance. After the war some aircraft operated in the Air Sea Rescue role. Three aircraft survive today in flying condition with others in museums and one on exhibition at the Australian War Memorial. The Kit The kit is a re-issue from Special Hobby and dates back to 2011, with a re-issue on 2012. The kit is on a single sprue of grey plastic, a clear sprue, a set resin wheels, an a resin exhaust. The parts are typical of the shorter run ejection kits. Construction starts where else but in the cockpit. First up the cockpit can then be assembled. This is a steel framed affair. There are two side frames which attach to the floor, a forward bulkhead is attached along with the rear one containing the armour. The instrument panel is then added. The seat is next along with the rudder pedals. The last item to be added in is the control column and linkages. The engine is nest with the rear bank of cylinders being moulded to the bulkhead and the front set going on. The complete cockpit/engine section is then placed into the fuselage and it can be closed up. Next up the wings are assembled with the rear well bulkhead going in before they are closed up. The main wing and tailplanes are added, the landing with it's resin wheels can then go in. The gear doors are added along with the belly tank and tail wheel. To finish off the canopy and aerial are added along with the gun barrels, exhaust and pitot tube. The last item to be assembled and added is the propeller. Decals Decals are from Eduard and include an amendment with correct colour codes. and should pose no issues, markings are provided for 3 examples; A46-217 / QE-G “Hep Cat” Flt Lt Burghard, RAAF No.4 Sqn Cape Hoskins 1945 A46-222 / BF-K “Glamour Flt Lt Curtis Girl” RAAF No.5 Sqn, Bougainville 1945 A46-209 / QE-J “Bachelor's Son” RAAF No.4 Sqn Labuan, 1945 Conclusion This is a welcome re-release from Special Hobby of an important aircraft for the RAAF. It is not a shake and bake kit however I would recommend it. Review sample courtesy of

SK-37E Stör-Viggen Electronic Warfare Aggressor (SH48150) 1:48 Special Hobby The Viggen is a rugged fighter/interceptor that was designed to fulfil a need during the deep Cold War to defend Swedish airspace in the event of an incursion by the Soviet Bloc, and to continue the fight from hidden bases near roadways, which the aircraft could use as makeshift landing strips. It was to replace both the Lansen and Draken, and did so extremely well, endearing itself to aviation enthusiasts as it did so due to its unusual double-delta/canard configuration. It was fitted with a single Volvo license built P&W JT8D with an afterburner to give it the performance needed to propel this large aircraft fast enough to accomplish short take-offs. Short landings were made possible by the inclusion of a set of large thrust reversing petals that dropped into the exhaust trunking and expelled the gases forward from slots in the side of the fuselage. The initial AJ37 variant was declared operational in 1972, and required the addition of a trainer variant, dubbed the SK37, which had an additional cockpit placed high above the original, displacing some fuel tankage in the process. The final JA37 variant was brought into service in 1980 with new computer systems, improved radar and engine, as well as other systems and the strength of the airframe, which already utilised titanium to reduce weight. The SK-37E was developed from a group of 10 airframes that were converted from trainers to Electronic Warfare trainers in the late 1990s, but were phased out after a relatively short service life in 2007. The last of the operational Viggens (Thunderbolt) were retired in 2005, replaced by the impressive JAS39 Gripen (Griffon). A number of Viggens are on display in museums – notably Newark in the UK, but the Swedes have retained one in flying condition that can sometimes be seen at British airshows along with a Draken, Lansen and even the Tunnan. If only every country was conscientious in preservation of its aviation history. The Kit The main tooling that this kit originated from is the collaborative effort between Special Hobby and Tarangus in 2014, which has been re-issued a few times over the years in single-seat guise, either with new decals or additional parts to represent other variants. This is the first major additional tooling from them, and thanks to their efforts, we now have a genuine 2-seater with no scratch-building involved. Marvellous! I do love the Viggen, in case you didn't know. The new parts include a new fuselage insert that replaces the single-seat part, which is also still on the sprues due to being surrounded by common parts. Another cockpit tub and instrument panel are also on the sprue, with appropriate glazing parts included on a small clear sprue. In the box you get nine sprues of grey styrene, two of clear parts, a fret of pre-painted Photo-Etch (PE) brass that has also been nickel-plates, a sheet of decals and a glossy colour printed instruction booklet with integrated colour and markings guide at the rear. The original tooling has been picked over ad infinitum in the intervening years, and although it has a few minor issues, they're by no means a deal breaker, and when you consider the alternatives… well there are none in this scale if you want two seats! With one seat, you have the ancient Airfix ESCI mould that is a blank canvas with some serious shape issues and almost no detail out of the box. The inclusion of Photo-Etch parts in the box is great news, even though the moulded-in cockpit detail is good, you can always improve on it with resin or PE. Even removing my rose tinted Viggen love spectacles, I'm still very happy with what's in the box. Construction begins with the ejection seats, which you build two of (unsurprisingly), and here there are a few small PE parts and a set of painted PE seatbelts for the crew, plus the anti-flail projections from the sides of the seat box. The two cockpit tubs are identical in terms of detail, but have slightly different shapes due to their location in the fuselage, and build up with either the moulded-in console detail, or the PE replacements, which are also pre-painted, for which you have to scrape and sand off the moulded-in detail. The same applies to the instrument panels, only they have a substantially different structure, due to the rear seat being the Electronic Warfare equipment, with a large projection at the top of the panel, and a limited set of dials due to a lack of available real-estate. The control columns and rudder pedals are fitted in both tubs, with PE replacements for the rudder pedals if you remove some of the detail from the originals. Before the cockpits are installed, the interior of the fuselage insert is painted and sidewall detail is attached to the pilot's (front) station, with a short blast screen fitted to the front of the rear aperture. The cockpits in their fuselage part are then set to the side while the lower nose is prepared with the nose gear bay, the APU bay installed, and the intake trunks with front engine face is built up from the split trunking that separates horizontally, joining just in front of the engine against a bulkhead, with the engine face buried deep in the fuselage, and probably only just visible. Whether you hide the seams between the two halves of the trunking is entirely up to you, but after the first kink very little will be seen. If you're a bit obsessive about that sort of thing, someone has already done a resin replacement set anyway. The trunking is applied to the bottom fuselage half, and the upper fuselage with cockpits is fixed to the top, with a bulkhead inserted at the nose end for structural strength. Attention turns to the rear fuselage, which must have the substantial exhaust trunk, thrust reversing petals and rear engine face built up and painted first. The first section is a single part with the engine and burner ring moulded-in, to which you fit another ring that holds the three thrust-reversing petals, the top-most of which is usually seen drooped into the airway on a parked aircraft due to the bleed-away of hydraulic pressure. They can be posed open or closed, and the instructions mention the droop perhaps a little late in the process. A scrap diagram shows the correct orientation of the burner in the fuselage, and with the reversers installer the exterior cowling is added at the rear. This forms the aft section of the fuselage once it is integrated in the rear fuselage, which closes up around it and is then mated to the front section, with the full-width wing lowers also added to the underside after the main gear bays are inserted. The upper wings are separate parts, as is the tail fin, of which there are quite a number of variants on the sprues, so be sure to choose the correct one. The nose cone is built from two parts and added, while the intakes are each a single part, which has a strut added to brace them against the fuselage side. Clear nav lights are fitted outboard of the last sweep change and on the wing tips, and another is added to the spine, with a small insert near the tail glued into place at the same time. You now have an almost complete airframe, so by now you'll realise that the Viggen was no small aircraft. The landing gear is built up from a number of parts that give a good account of the detail there, with separate oleo-scissors and retraction struts, separate wheels, bay doors and their retraction mechanisms, and those large rough-field ready main gear legs that seem to have struts all over the place. The main wheels are made from two halves each, and the complete assemblies are added to the bays in great detail on the instructions, shown with the captive main bay door added at this point. The inner bay doors have their jacks too, and the completed main gear area is shown in another diagram to confirm everything's position in situ. The inner bay doors can be shown retracted by cutting off the attachment lugs, so check your references and decide which pose you'd prefer. The small air-brakes on the underside are added closed, but you can leave them open, but you would need to add some extra detail so it's best to leave them closed as they would be that way on the ground for much of the time unless you buy the resin detail set. You Viggen wouldn't look much like a Christmas tree without the canards up front, and these have separate flaps to the rear like the real thing, which can be posed at an angle, or in line with airflow at your whim. Whilst you're still looking at the underside, some intakes, centre pylons and additional fuel tanks are added, with little else needed, as this variant wasn't flown as a fighter-bomber. On the topside, a number of vents, intakes, more airbrakes and aerials finish off the topside, and the APU is fitted to the open bay, captive to the door. Unless you are planning on modelling your Viggen in flight, you will want this dangling freely in the breeze, as it would deploy automatically on the ground. The canopies are the last parts of the saga, and of course there are now three parts; the fixed windscreen and two openers, which can be posed open or closed. A pair of rear-view mirrors are supplied on the PE sheet for the windscreen, as is a PE HUD frame, which you'll need to add your own acetate to, although you are at least given the sizing in another scrap diagram. At the bottom of that final page of instructions, you can find a small advert for the resin aftermarket sets available from their CMK brand, which includes M/70 rocket pods, ejection seats, thrust reverser petals, air-brakes and their bays, as well as resin wheels. They all look VERY tempting. Markings There are four decal options available from the decal sheet, which are split equally between grey and splinter camouflage. Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. The profiles on the first page of the decal instructions throw a little confusion on the subject, as the red lightning bolt on the tail of red 73 has been left off. SK-37E Viggen 21-73 (37811) 1 Div./Wing F21 Lulea-Kallax 2005 SK-37E Viggen FC-09 (37809) Försökcentralen (Centre of Experimental Research) Malmen Airbase 2005-7 SK-37E Viggen 4-70 (37807) TIS/TK Grupp (Type Conversion /Electronic Warfare Group), Wing F4, Östersund 2004 SK-37E Viggen 4-74 (37811) TIS/TK Grupp Wing F4 Östersund 2000 The easy options are the grey ones, but the most impressive are the splinter patterns, which I believe you can obtain masks for from a company somewhere. I have an old set knocking about, but as they're for a single-seater, I'll be painting this one grey. There's still lots of opportunity for weathering, as the aircraft were often see needing a good wash, with plenty of patina to whet your appetite for painting and weathering effects. You might have noticed that option A has a panel on the spine that has clearly been taken from a splinter camouflaged aircraft, and hasn't yet been repainted. Conclusion The Viggen is a huge, impressive-looking Cold War warrior that has a special place in my heart. The new 2-seater kit fills my need that has been previously unsatisfied for many years. Detail is good, the inclusion of a large sheet of PE and excellent decals into the bargain makes this a must-have as far as I'm concerned. If you like Viggens too, then make sure you get one. Very very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Potez 25TOE 'For France - anytime, anywhere' (SH72407) 1:72 Special Hobby The Potez 25 was a French single engined, two-seater biplane designed in the interwar period and used widely by air forces around the world. A flexible design, the Potez 25 was used in a variety of roles, including as a fighter, bomber escort, light bomber and reconnaissance platform. The TOE variant was originally designed for use in French colonies and featured a Lorraine engine with a deeper belly and extra fuel capacity. Armed with 7.7mm machine guns, it was also capable of carrying 200kg of bombs. For an aicraft that was so widely used, the Potez 25 has not been brilliantly represented by kit manufacturers over the years. I reviewed a fancy mixed media kit from Grand Models around three or four years ago, before Azur Frrom came with a brand new injection moulded kit a year or so ago. Now Special Hobby have released their own version based on the Frrom collaboration. Inside the box are five frames of grey plastic and a single clear frame, as well as photo etched parts and decals. The plastic parts are all nicely moulded and have plenty of fine detail. Construction starts with the well-detailed cockpit. This sub-assembly is made up of the floor detail, seats, instrument panels, control columns, rudder pedals and the podium and machine gun for the observer/gunner. The cockpit sidewalls are packed with detail too. Once complete, the cockpit detail is sandwiched between the fuselage halves and the underside of the fuselage, which is separately moulded. The engine cowling is next. The inner struts fit inside this structure and tiny holes must also be drilled in pre-marked points in order to accomodate the rigging. Once complete, the cowling/forward fuselage can be joined to the main section of the fuselage which, in turn, can be joined to the lower wing (or blanking piece if building one of the Romanian parasol-winged monoplane versions). The upper wing joins to the fuselage and lower wing via a system of struts. No jig is provided to help with alignment, so this model may be better suited to experienced biplane builders. The landing gear uses a similar system of individual struts. The instructions recommend making pins from brass rod to strengthen these parts. If you choose to do this, you will need to source the rod yourself as none is supplied. The main wheels benefit from some photo etched detail to represent the spoked wheels. More photo etched parts are used to represent the elevator control parts and the locating points for the rigging. Finishing touches include four small bombs. Four decal options are provided, which is pretty generous for a kit of this size: Potez 25TOE No. 2113 'White 6', escadrille 1/41, La Chau, French Indo-China, March 1942; Potez 25TOE No. 1489 'White 5', 3é escadrille GB 11/39, Rayake, French mandate of Lebanon, 1933; Potez 25TOE No. 1618, 3S5.3 escadrille 3S5, base aérienne Hyéres Aéronautique navale, September 1939; Potez 25TOE, 3. escadrille GB 1/17 Picardie, FAFL, Damascus, 1944. The decals are nicely printed and the colours look nice and bold. Conclusion It's great to see Azur-Frrom and Specal Hobby collaborating to produce a good quality, injection moulded model of this attractive and important interwar type. The kit is very nicely detailed indeed, I have to say it probably isn't ideally suited to biplane novices. That said, if you take your time and pay attention to the instructions, you should be rewarded with a really appealing model to which a huge variety of marking schemes can be applied. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of

F-14A & F-14D Wheels (Q72377 & Q72378 for Academy) 1:72 CMK Quick & Easy by Special Hobby Academy’s recent F-14A in 1:72 could always use new detail. What kit couldn’t? The quickest way to improve kit detail is to replace the kit wheels with resin ones that add detail, obviate seam hiding and usually giving the modeller a better representation of any tread patterns on the tyres. You might also get manufacturer’s name, raised tyre stencils and additional hub detail into the bargain, depending on what’s there on the real thing. With these two sets you get all the above in resin, including two main wheels and twin nose gear wheels, all on their own casting block that are quick & easy to remove. A little wash in warm soapy water, and they are a drop-in (quick & easy?) replacement to the kit parts. They arrive in the normal Quick & Easy packaging, consisting of a header card with the parts held between that and the outer plastic bag, held closed by a staple, and with instructions on the other side of the green paper as you can see in the above photo. The brake and hub front detail is exceptional at this scale, and would be best painted carefully with an airbrush to preserve the detail by avoiding flooding it with thick layers of paint. Q72377 for Academy F-14A Q72378 for Academy F-14D Conclusion You can’t beat resin wheels to quicky & easily improve your models, and these have such flimsy attachment points that there will be almost no clean-up, other than a quick rinse in warm soapy water. It’s also a Tomcat, and if you like F-14s in 1:72, this is a great way to improve your model without breaking the bank. How many times did I say "quick & easy" in this review? Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

I`ve just finished another model for my Falklands collection - 1/72 IA-58A Pucará, A-532, Grupo 3 de Ataque, Fuerza Aerea Argentina, Falklands War 1982. This particular aircraft is well known from photo taken in Argentina mainland before its departure to Falklands (BAM Malvinas, Port Stanley) on 27 May 1982. It took part in air raids on British units in Darwin/Goose Green area on May 28. It was later damaged in ground collision with Pucará A-514 and captured by British at Port Stanley airfield. Later used as training target and destroyed. I tried to recreate the look of A-532 from the photo. Characteristic is big 300 gal fuel tank under fuselage (not painted) and 2 TERs on underwing pylons. Bright camo with sky blue underside, control surfaces in natural metal. Yellow bands on wings and fin (later overpainted). Special Hobby kit (also reboxed by Airfix without resin and PE parts) is not very well detailed and has some issues, but it`s quite pleasant to build. I`ve changed a strake in front of the fin, enlarged underwing pylons (and added transparent light covers), changed sweep angle of the horizontal tails and added flap fairings. Centerline pylon, fuel tank and TERs are from spares. Decals are from SH kit and DP Casper 72018 set. The rest (except for some self-made details) is OOB. Painted with Hataka C136, 137 and 138 (brightened). PS: Special Hobby announced new-tool 1/72 Pucará kit in 2018, but I still haven`t seen it... 😉

Luftwaffe WWII/CS post-war Aircraft Mechanic (F48367) 1:48 Special Hobby Pretty much any aircraft in history would soon become unusable without mechanics to repair and maintain them, and this figure portrays one of those unsung, and often oily folks going about their business. He seems to be on his way to or from a job, walking with a toolbox in his right hand, balanced out by his left leg and arm swinging forward. The set arrives in a Special Hobby yellow-themed clamshell box, with a single pour block containing three resin parts, the main figure, his right arm, and finally the toolbox, which has a number of well-detailed tools scattered over the bottom. You will need to add a length of wire to depict the carry handle that runs through the holes in the top of the toolbox’s end-caps, and the wafer-thin flash between the man’s legs and under his chin should scrape off in seconds with a sharp blade. The attachment points for the figure are on the bottom of his feet, and the toolbox and arm also have their connections in sensible locations to ease removal and preparation. The CS part of the product description seems to refer to Czechoslovakia, who dressed their military mechanics similarly just after WWII. Resin usually comes still attached to its pour block, which is where the resin is poured into the mould and acts as an overflow and also as bubble-catcher for more rustic manufacturers that don’t have access to pressure casting methods. These will have to be removed before you can assemble or paint the parts, so there will be a little extra time needed to prepare the model for construction. With resin, you should take the precaution of wearing a mask when cutting or sanding it, as the tiny particles are harmful to your health if breathed in. Washing the parts in warm water will also improve the adhesion of paint, as there may still be some moulding release agent on the parts when you receive them. Take care not to use water that is too hot, as this may cause deformation to more delicate parts, and this technique can conversely be used to fix warped parts, using cold water to “freeze” the changes in the parts. Conclusion An expertly sculpted, highly realistic figure for your next diorama or vignette. He’s a tall guy that scales out to about 6’3”, but that’s not unheard of, especially as he has a suitable stature for that height. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Brewster SB2A-4 Buccaneer "US Marines Dive Bomber" (SH72303) 1:72 Special Hobby In 1939 Brewster was selected by the US Navy to develop a larger scout/bomber aircraft based on their Brewster SBN aircraft. The new aircraft shared the design platform but had a much higher rated engine. The aircraft was a conventional single-engined, mid-winged monoplane layout with two fixed forward firing 50 cal guns in the fuselage, and two 30 cal guns in each of the wings. The aircraft was supposed to have a rear enclosed turret although this was replaced by a flexible twin 30 cal mount. 1000lbs of bombs were to be carried in an internal bomb bay. As well as orders for the USN the French, Dutch, Australians and UK Governments placed orders for the aircraft. The French order was taken over by the UK following the fall of France, however the UK asked Brewster for many modifications which lead to production being delayed. These delays they caused the Australian Government to cancel their orders. Problems at Brewster with the company being badly run led the US Navy to take over the company but deliveries were still quite slow. The type actually proved unacceptable for combat and most of the aircraft were destroyed before being flown operationally. Aircraft which did make it to units became trainers, hacks or target tugs. The aircraft which were ordered by Holland were taken over by the USMC, re-designated SB2A-4 and used to form the first night fighter squadron VMF(N)-531. The Buccaneer has been described as "overweight, underpowered, and lacking maneuverability,", "one of the worst aircraft of World War II", a failure,, and by the Truman Committee as having "turned in a miserable performance." The Kit The kit was a new tool from 2009 and has been released in a couple of boxings since. There are 3 sprues of plastic parts, a clear sprue, a sheet of PE and a bag of resin parts. Construction starts with the cockpit and rear enclosures. The cockpit is first up with the seat going in, at the front a bulkhead and the rudder pedals with the control column behind. Seatbelts are PE; all this followed by the rear bulkhead. The radio compartment and rear gunners enclosure is up next. There are resin parts for the radios and gun sights. The seat goes in again with PE seatbelts. Next up various small parts must be fitted to both fuselage halves. Once this is done, the instrument panel, cockpit, radio compartment, rear gunners enclosure; and the shelf between the front and back cockpits are all fitted into the fuselage along with the engine firewall at the front; the fuselage can then be closed up. Now we can concentrate on the wings. on both sides the wells must be boxed in, and at the rear the support rail for the dive brakes are added. The main landing gear for each side is also built up now. The wings are added along with the tailplanes, than the landing gears and its doors can go on, followed by the underside dive brakes, last on underneath is the tail wheel. Moving back up top on the wings the upper dive brakes are fitted. Moving to the front of the aircraft the engine is built up from a central core, and individual cylinders. In the rear cockpit the defensive guns are added in. If the modeller want the canopy to be posed open then it will have to be cut up, the rear sliding section seems to be of a greater dimension so it should fit over the centre section. Once the engine goes on this is followed by the cowl, the prop and the hub. Markings The decals are printed in house and look to have no issues with them. There are marking for 4 aircraft; VS-30 Operational Training Unit, NAS Vero Beach, Florida 1943 (Faded wing markings) VMF (N)-532 , Cherry Point, 1943 VS-34 Operational Training Unit, NAS Vero Beach, Florida 1944 Fictional Dutch East Indies Scheme Conclusion A nice tool of a historically interesting aircraft.. The kit is detailed inside and out. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of

This Summer, Special hobby is to release a SB-2 new variant (link) the 1/72nd Brewster SB2A-4 Buccaneer - ref. SH72303 Source: http://www.specialhobby.net/2020/02/sh72303-sb2a-4-buccaneer-boxart.html Box art V.P.

Hi Build in parallele to the Cessna O2 Skymaster, it finished too. The details level is very impressive for the scale. Thanks to the photoetched (for the seat belt and the landing gear cylinder trapdoor) and the hundred decals marks. The kit is a little complicate to build but give you a beautifull plane of this early jet age. Other pics at this address FH-1 Phantom

DH.82 Tiger Moth Resin Updates (for Airfix) 1:48 CMK by Special Hobby Airfix’s new kit of the Tiger Moth in 1:48 has proved very popular, selling out at Airfix soon after release, but still available from their distributers. Aftermarket was inevitable, and here is a large handful from CMK, Special Hobby’s resin division. As usual with CMK's resin sets, they arrive in the familiar clear vacformed box that has a hanger cut-out, with the resin parts safely inside, and the instructions sandwiched between the header card at the rear. Decals and Photo-Etch (PE) when included are separated from the resin parts by a clear piece of acetate to prevent scratching and damage during transit. Cockpit Correction Set (4407) This comprehensive set requires no adaptation of the kit and contains 32 resin parts, plus a set of PE parts and decals for the instrument panel. A colour diagram shows the correct painting and decaling of the instrument panels, then the resin cockpit floor is detailed with resin and PE parts, plus a central raised section and rudder pedals, plus crew seats with belts. The sidewalls are similarly detailed with more parts, and wire from your own stock is added according to instructions, after which the new cockpit can be put into the fuselage and finished off with the protective leather bumpers at the front of the instructor and student’s coamings. Painting guidance is shown in colour throughout the instructions using colour names rather than numbers from a specific brand. Control Surfaces (4408) This set of fifteen resin parts includes all the flying surfaces, requiring only the ailerons to be removed from the wings with a razor saw, to be replaced by the resin parts and the small resin actuators. The tail is a drop-in replacement with separate fins, elevators and ridder parts, plus tiny triangular attachment arms for the actuators on each surface. Luggage Box (4409) Requiring a cut-out of the door on the fuselage, this three-part set includes a bay that extends the full width of the fuselage, a soft bag, and a replacement door for the area cut away. You will need to check your references for the correct colour for the bay, as there are no call-outs in the instructions. Exterior Set (4410) This four-part set includes a new highly detailed top cowling, plus a ribbed fuel tank with some exquisite detail, filler cap and vent, all of which is a straight forward drop-in replacement improvement to realism. Main Wheels & Tail Skid (4411) The kit wheels are each single parts, but have a mould seam to clean up, which is where these resin wheels come in, as well as offering a choice of two styles of hub on the inner face, and three on the outer. They’re a drop-in replacements, as is the rear skid that is moulded in a tougher black resin to resist breakage or bending over time. Main Wheels & Tail Wheel (4413) The kit wheels are each single parts, but have a mould seam to clean up, which is where these resin wheels come in, as well as offering a choice of two styles of hub on the inner face, and three on the outer. They’re a drop-in replacement, as is the tiny rear wheel that is moulded in a tougher black resin to resist breakage or bending over time. Cockpit Entry Hatches (4412) These are replacement parts for the kit hatches, which although they are reasonably thin for styrene moulding, they appear quite clumsy and thick by comparison to these wafer-thin resin ones. There are four hatches in total, all attached tenuously to their pour blocks, facilitating easy removal with a sharp blade. They’re drop-in replacements, so once removed and cleaned up, there’s nothing more to it. Conclusion You can pick and choose the areas of interest that you want to detail to suit your needs, budget and skillset. As you can see, the detail is sublime. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

AH-1G Cobra "Early Tails over Nam" 1:72 Special Hobby (72427) Most modellers will instantly recognise the Bell AH-1 Cobra Attack Helicopter. The AH-1 was the first production Gunship or Attack Helicopter to see service. During the Vietnam war the US Army began to see the need for armed helicopter to escort its unarmed UH-1 Hueys into combat. In parallel to this Bell Helicopters had been investigating helicopter gunships as early as the late 1950s. In 1962 Bell displayed a mock up concept to the US Army. This Helicopter featured a 20mm gun pod, and a ball turret mounted grenade launcher. It was felt by the Army to be lightweight, under powered and not suitable. Following this the US Army launched and Advanced Aerial Fire Support System (AAFSS) competition. This competition gave rise to the Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne heavy attack helicopter. However this proved to be to advanced for its time and was eventually cancelled in 1972 after 10 years of development (some things don't change!). Despite the AAFSS programme Bell stuck with its idea of a smaller, lighter gunship and invested its own money developing the AH-1. They used all of the proven components they could from the UH-1 platform, adding these to a newly designed fuselage. When The US Army therefore asked for pans for an interim gunship for Vietnam Bell was in a fortunate position to be able to offer the AH-1, or the Bell 209 as it was then called. Given the work Bell had already done the programme was completed in a relatively speed eight months and won the evaluation against the competition. In 1966 the US Army signed an initial contract for 110 aircraft. Some slight modifications were made to the production airframes. The heavy armoured glass canopy was replaced by Plexiglas with an improvement in 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 1100 AH-1Gs between 1967 and 1973, and the Cobras would go on to fly over a million operational hours in Vietnam, approximately 300 were lost to combat and accidents during the war. The U.S. Marine Corps would use AH-1G Cobra in Vietnam for a short period before acquiring twin-engined AH-1J Cobras. 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 The kit is for the early machines in Vietnam, It arrives as two major sprues, and 3 smaller sprues if light grey plastic, with a single clear sprue. All of the parts are very well moulded with no flaws I can see or flash. There are parts for other Cobra models on the sprues so care needs to be taken to select the right parts. Construction does not start with the cockpit (shock I know!) but with adding some small parts and the exhaust nozzle to the left fuselage half. We then move reassuringly back to the cockpit! The rear bulkhead needs to be removed and replaced with the right one for this boxing. The multipart seats with their armour plating shields are made up and added to the cockpit tub, along with instrument panels and control columns. The instrument are represented by decals. Once the cockpit tub is made up it can be placed inside the fuselage halves and they can be closed up. If you wish the main rotor to rotate then the head is placed into the fuselage at this point. If the modeller does not wish for it to rotate then this step can be left until later on in the build. Following completion of the main fuselage the stub wings/weapons pylons are made up and added to the fuselage. The nose turret is also completed and added at this point as are what look to be armour panels at the side of the cockpits. Construction then moves to the tail section. A left and right handed tail are supplied on the sprues so make sure you select the correct one (right hand for this kit). The tail is constructed and the tail rotor added, along with the tailplanes. Intakes and exhaust details are also added at this stage. Next its time to arm up your Cobra if you so wish (it would be naked without armament tho !). The armament in the kit is two M18 7.62mm Minigun pods, two M261 2.75" Rocket Pods, two M158 2.75" rocket pods, and the 20mm M-35 Gun System. The modeller will need to consult their references to get the exact combination s for the Cobra they are modelling as I suspect not all of these were used at the same time. Once your cobra is "tooled up" the canopies can be added. These are multi-part and can be displayed open as needed. The landing skids are also added at this time. There are different skids for different decal option in this kit so please select the right ones. A nice touch in the box is the addition of ground handling wheels for the skids, and a vehicle tow bar. Great if you wish to add a little something to the model, or included it in a diorama. Canopy Rather than a one part canopy the canopy is a single part main centre piece with two parts for each side. This will allow the modeller to pose the canopies open if they wish. It will though make for a more difficult construction. The parts are quite thin, and very clear. Decals Decals are by Eduard and are provided for four Cobras; A. 68-15183 C Battery, 2nd Battalion, 20th Regiment Aerial Rocket Artillery, Phuoc Vinh, Vietnam 1971. B. 68-15049 C Battery, 2nd Battalion, 20th Regiment Aerial Rocket Artillery, Bu Dop, Vietnam 1970 (Cambodian Invasion Markings) C. 66-15259 Cobra New equipment Training Team, Vung Tau, Vietnam 1967 (USAF Style SA Camo) D1. 68-15189 "Wretched Mildred" D Troop, 3rd Bridge, 4th Cav, Chu Chi, Vietnam 1971 D.2 68-15189 "Wretched Mildred" 1972, after suffering damage the airframe was rebuilt with a new tailboom, this one with the tail rotor on the right side. . Conclusion These new Cobras from Special Hobby are excellent kits of an important Helicopter type. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

MPM is to re-release its 1/72nd A-17 kit as Northrop A-17 Nomad Mk.1 - ref.SH72292 Source: http://www.mpmkits.net/2015/10/sh72292-nomad-mki.html Box art V.P.

SAAB B-5 Swedish Dive Bomber 1:72 Special Hobby (72421) The SAAB B-5 was a licence built Douglas Model A8-1, which in turn was a Northrop A-17, developed for the export market. This was a land-based light bomber, developed in the 1930s for the US Army Air Force. Similar in layout to the Vought Vindicator naval aircraft, the A-17 was an unrelated development, despite being powered by the same Pratt and Whitney Twin Wasp Junior radial engine. It was capable of a maximum speed of just over 200mph, had a range of 650 miles and could carry up to 1,200lb of bombs in its internal bay or on hard points under the wings. Although the A-17 was not produced in any great numbers it was exported to a surprising number of countries, including Argentina, Iraq, Norway and Sweden. Douglas built 2 for Sweden and then 94 were built by SAAB. These served until 1944 when they were replaced in thee Dove Bomber role by the SAAB 17. The Kit The handsome Northrop A-17 hasn't been all that well supported by model companies over the years. Rareplanes issued a vacuum formed kit back in the 1970s, and that was your lot until the injection-moulded MPM kit was released in 2002. The kit has been released multiple times since then, with this new version being the latest from Special Hobby. There are two sprues of plastic parts, an injection canopy with vac form additions, a bag of resin parts, additional resin skis and two sheets of PE . The long cockpit is reasonably detailed, being made up of thirteen parts. The pilot's compartment is comprised of a floor, two-part seat, rear bulkhead, instrument panel and control column, while the rear compartment is made up from a radio set, ammunition container, rear gun ring; and seat. The insides of the fuselage halves feature some basic sidewall details, which leaves a pretty favourable overall impression. A set of photo etched harnesses would finish things off nicely if you happen to have some to hand. Once the cockpit has been assembled and painted, the fuselage halves can be joined. The lower centre section of the wing is next. You may want to fit this part before the glue dries on the fuselage halves just to make sure everything lines up properly. The upper wings and the outer sections of the lower wings can be fitted next. Ailerons are moulded in place, as are the elevators on the tail planes, although the stretched fabric details are pretty nice. The engine is moulded as a single resin piece with additional resin parts finished with a resin cowl. This fits onto a resin mount. For the Swedish version the main canopy will need to have the pilots section removed and replaced with the new vac form section. It would have been good if this was produced in plastic though. As with the real thing, the undercarriage is relatively simple but decent enough. The main wheels have spats, or can be replaced with the nice resi skis in this boxing. Complicated resin bomb racks need to be made up for under the wing centre section, thankfully a jig is included to get everything lined up correctly. It is a shame no bombs are included or the racks. Final details include a four-part propeller, pitot tube, radio aerial mast and resin exhaust pipe. Decals Three options are provided on the decal sheet, these look to have been made in house, they look to be in register with no issues.: B-5B 7030 N.4 Flygflotilj 4, Winter 1943/44 B-5B, Flygflotilj 6, 1943 B-5B 7017 Flygflotilj 21, Winter 1944 Conclusion This is a nice enough little kit which possesses a reasonable amount of detail and which should be an enjoyable and satisfying model to build. My only gripes are that some of the panel lines look a bit crude and having a canopy of injection and vac form parts may pose a challenge. . All the same, this kit can be recommended, which is handy if you're in the market for a 1:72 SAAB B-5 as there isn't much else to choose from. Review sample courtesy of

Special Hobby is to re-edit the Azur 1/48th Vought V-156F Vindicator "Aeronavale Service" kit under ref. SH 48213 This kit will contain the original Accurate Miniatures SB2U sprues (link) with new plastic wing for French version, new windshield, big PE parts and detailed PUR part. The decals will offer markings for four a/c instead of three as in the Azur boxing. Sources: https://www.specialhobby.net/2020/09/v-156f-vindicator-aeronavale-service.html https://www.facebook.com/specialhobby/posts/1015138792259814 V.P.

Here's another entry of mine in the MTO GB currently running. You can look at the WIP here; I built it from the Special Hobby IVf kit I had as it needed built before I started a couple of Airfix ones I have. Other parts were used as follows; From a spare sprue I got off Airfix; props, Aerials, fuel dump pipes and front under-nose gun mount. QuickBoost Volkes filters and Oil Cooler trumpet intakes. Vallejo ModelAir paint airbrushed throughout with 'Klear' Gloss and 'Galeria' Matt Varnish. Xtradecal decals. It didn't go together too bad, I thought the clear nose section would be more trouble than it was and a bonus using the SH kit is that it came with vac-formed side window blisters, which this aircraft had. I also did some moulds using 'Green Stuff Blue Stuff' for the Airfix main-wheels as they are more the correct size. I did a bit of weathering, not my forte! I think it turned out OK. Comments and critique welcome. Davey.

Vindicator V-156F Masks (M48004 for Azur/Special Hobby) 1:48 Special Mask by Special Hobby The Vindicator has a long narrow greenhouse-style canopy with a lot of panes between the many frames, which may turn some modellers into gibbering wrecks at the thought of having to mask each individual one. Fear not, because as well as reboxing and updating this Accurate Miniatures kit that we reviewed here, they have also added a set of masks to their new line, making that task oh-so-much easier. Supplied on a sheet of yellow kabuki tape on a Caramac coloured backing sheet that gives it a brownish tint, these pre-cut masks supply you with a full set of masks for the canopy, with compound curves of the windscreen handled by using frame hugging masks, while the highly curved gaps are in-filled with either liquid mask or offcuts from the background tape. Each panel is cut with the radiused corners as appropriate for the framing, so you should be able to get them finished in double-quick time. You might wonder why there appear to be two sets of masks, but this is intentional, as the dimensions for the open canopy parts are necessarily different due to some parts having to overlap others, but the instructions aren’t too forthcoming on which is which. According to their website and the pictures of the product, the masks can also be used with the Accurate Miniatures/Azur/Special Hobby SB2U kits, which is nice. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

V-156F Vindicator ‘Aéronavale Service’ (SH48213) 1:48 Special Hobby The Vindicator’s original designation in US service was SB2U, and it served with the US Navy until the battle of Midway, latterly as trainers, despite having its beginnings in the mid-30s as a scout bomber that reached its peak by the outbreak of WWII in 1939. The French ordered 40 to serve on one of their carriers, but it was mothballed as out-dated when the war began, so the aircraft had to serve from ground locations, fighting against the Italians and even providing air cover for the Dunkirk evacuation. The remainder were so few that they were phased out after the French surrendered. The British Fleet Air Arm took over the pending French order for an additional 50 airframes after capitulation, and in FAA service they were known as the Chesapeake. In US service, a number were destroyed on the ground during the Pearl Harbour attack by the Japanese that drew America into WWII, with most of the low number of airframes produced eventually being replaced by the more capable SBD Dauntless in front-line service. The Kit This a Special Hobby reboxing of the 2005 Accurate Miniatures kit that has also been seen in an Azur and Academy boxes over the years, but this boxing has been augmented by the inclusion of resin and Photo-Etch (PE) details, plus a new set of wings and decals that make a more unique product. It arrives in a standard Special Hobby top-opening box, with four sprues in grey styrene (the wings are a different grey), two sprues of clear parts, a bag of resin, a fret of PE, a clear slip of acetate with the instrument panels printed in black, plus the instruction booklet that is printed in colour on glossy white paper. The wings stand out as more modern and are moulded in SH’s style, having a more matt finish and plenty of raised and engraved detail over the surface. The Accurate Miniatures plastic that has been moulded for them by Academy, also has plenty of detail, including the ribbed surface of the fuselage, sagged and round tyres, and plenty of interior detail. The Vindicator’s cockpit is a long slot with a deck separating the two seats, which is where construction begins. The front cockpit is assembled on a short floor at the front of the raised deck, with the internal steel framing of the fuselage and instruments/controls depicted as fine parts that attach to the sides, joined by the seat with PE belts, a tie-down web for the dinghy pack and small control parts in PE, which take up a substantial number of parts. The rear cockpit has a longer floor and is built up in a similar way with fuselage framework supporting controls and accessories, with a rear bulkhead and gun mount that has fine PE parts, then the seat with PE lap belts and furniture. Before they are installed in the fuselage, the multi-layer instrument panel is made up from a styrene rear, acetate mid-layer and PE front detail parts in two stepped sections that fit to the front of the fuselage framework along with some more tiny parts and a frame over the rear of the gunner’s position. The fuselage can then be closed up around the sub-assemblies, the tailwheel and a small bulkhead forward of the tail, with some interior painting and some ejector-pin marks that may need filling. Under the rear fuselage is an insert with more ribbing, which has a slot in the back to accommodate the resin arrestor-hook. The new wings are full-width on the underside, and have their upper sections added, checking whether any of the internal ejector-turrets need cutting back before you apply the glue. The elevators have moulded in flying surfaces, and are each made from top and bottom surfaces. Before these assemblies are added to the fuselage, the engine and its cowling must be made up, beginning with the cowling flaps in open or closed position, onto which the engine mount is fixed. The radial engine is represented with both banks of pistons and a bell-housing with push-rods and some oversized wiring harness moulded-in. You can cut the wiring loom out and replace them with something more in scale if you feel the urge. The cowling is made from two curved panels that are joined into a cylinder and have internal parts added to the intake, then the lip is fitted over the engine to (almost) complete the fuselage. The wings are then inserted into the gap in the upper wing and glued in place along with the elevators. Flipping the airframe over, the landing gear is made up mostly from styrene parts with the assistance of a few small resin parts, and a choice of either round of slightly flattened smooth treaded tyres on two-part hubs on the main wheels. Separate oleo-scissors, bay doors and retraction mechanisms are included, or you could use the round tyres and hubs with extra parts for the combined leg and doors to portray the aircraft in the wheels-up pose. The Vindicator used spoilers to provide the impetus to dive, which came out of shallow bays in the upper and lower wings when needed. These are moulded-into the wings and can be fitted in either retracted or deployed positions by setting the PE spoilers flush or perpendicular to the wing surface, as shown in the instructions. The long greenhouse canopy can be fitted closed by using the windscreen and single canopy part, or you can change it out and use the four-part open canopy that is also on the sprue, checking your references for the correct angles and position of the parts. The prop is a two-blade affair and has a separate cap on the axle, then you depict the gun ports by drilling out a 2mm hole in the leading edge of the wing, and applying a PE patch over the hole, with a pitot probe on the left wingtip and aerial mast at the front on the engine cowling. More spoilers are fitted to the underside, and two resin bombs on shackles are glued into holes under the inner wing panels along with the pilot’s two panel window in the underside that helps locating the target's position in preparation for diving on its prey. Markings The Vindicator had a relatively short career in French hands, so three of the four are painted in a blue grey shade, while one has some green camouflage splotches oversprayed to give a more unusual look. From the box you can build one of the following: No.13/AB1-12, Escadrille AB1, Boulogne-Alprech, winter 1939-40 No.7/White 6, Escadrille AB1, French Vindicators’ carrier tests, aircraft carrier ‘Béarn’, may 1940 No.10/White 9, Escadrille AB3, Hyeres, 1940 No.8/AB1-6, Escadrille AB1, Boulogne-Alprech, autumn 1939-40 Conclusion A welcome niche variant reboxing of this lesser-known type that fought valiantly at the beginning of WWII but received little in the way of acknowledgement for its efforts or those brave aviators in the cockpit. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Special Hobby is to re-release (link) or new tool (?) a 1/72nd Lockheed Vega model 5 "Lady Lindy" - ref. SH72422 Source: http://www.ipmsdeutschland.de/Ausstellungen/Nuernberg2020/Nuernberg_2020.html V.P.

Vega 5 "Lady Lindy" (SH72422) 1:72 Special Hobby The Lockheed Vega was a six seater passenger aircraft designed by John Northrop and Gerard Vultee while they were working for Lockheed. Both of these gentlemen would go on to found their own successful aircraft companies. The design was intended to serve Lockheeds own airline routes with an aircraft which was rugged and fast. The Vega certainly delivered on the promise of speed. However the four passenger layout was considered too small for airline use. The aircraft was built using a wooden monocoque fuselage. Plywood sheets were laminated over a large concrete mould with a single half being built at a time. The two halves were then joined over a previously made rib framework. Due to the way the fuselage was constructed the wing spar was a single cantilever mounted at the top. The landing gear was often covered by spats to increase the streamlining. The Vega was powered by a 225hp Wright Whirlwind. In 1929 Lockheed improved the Vega, with the introduction of the Vega 5. 6 seats were originally proposed but these were found to be too small and 5 was the general configuration. This also had a 410 HP Wasp A engine. Further development lead to the DL-1 or Vega 5C with a light alloy fuselage. This was to feature 7 seats and was built by The Detroit Aircraft Corporation. The US Army would use two metal Vegas, a C-12 and a C-17. Due to its speed the Vega would set a number of speed records over the years; 1928 Transcontinental Speed record Los Angeles/New York in 18 hours 58 mins., 1928 Non Stop East to West record 24 hours & 51 mins.. In the 1928 National Air Races the Vega had a clean sweep of all the speed awards. NR-7952 Was used by Amelia Earhart. On 24–25 August 1932: she from Los Angeles, California, to Newark, New Jersey, a distance of ,447.74 miles, in 19 hours, 5 minutes. She had departed Los Angeles Municipal Airport (now known as LAX) at 7:26:54 p.m. Pacific Time, 24 August, and landed at Newark Municipal Airport at 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time the following day. This set a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) women’s World Record for Distance in a Straight Line Without Landing. Her average speed for the flight was 128.27 miles per hour. The Kit The kit was an MPM new tool from 2005 and has been released in a few boxings since. There are three sprues of light grey plastic which are shiny, so much so you might want a light sanding on the wings especially to key the paint in! There is one small clear sprue which is thoughtfully bagged on its own, and a resin rudder similarly bagged on its own. The aircraft of the day were not bristling with details and this is reflected in the kit with only 41 parts being present some of which are not for use. It can be seen immediately that both the Wooden and Metallic fuselages are present on the sprues for someone wanting to make a different kit than it is boxed for. Construction starts with the interior. The pilots cockpit is a separate entity at the front as was vogue in aircraft of this date. A basic (but adequate) seat is installed along with a control column. Once the cockpit is installed you then add the fuel tanks which replaced the rear seats. A rear bulkhead and pilot instrument panel finish of the interior. The fuselage can then be closed up (make sure you use the right one!) and the windows added. The windows seem designed to fit the openings exactly with no extra to positive fit like a lot of kits. I can see these being a nightmare to fit and not get covered in glue. It might be better to use an alternative, but then this might not be as clear. Once you have all the major structure in place its time to add all of the other parts. Landing gear is added and you can choose wheel spats or not. VH-UVK flew with both at different times. Once the gear is assembled and on the only thing left to do is add the propeller. Markings The decals are printed by Cartograf so that guarantees there will be no issues with them. The only markings in the box being or NR-7952 Conclusion A nice tool of a historically interesting aircraft.. The kit is detailed inside and out. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Loire 130CI "Colonial" (48173) 1:48 Special Hobby In 1933, the French Navy requested a new reconnaissance/light bomber seaplane able to serve aboard warships and be launched from their catapults. The Loire was a shoulder-mounted wing monoplane with a pusher engine above the wing and was produced in two versions. The Loire 130M (for Métropole) saw service in home waters while the Loire 130 Cl (Colonial) machines were sent to the tropical areas. The latter air frame was built to withstand more demanding climate, with a larger radiator and better crew protection. It was deployed on all catapult-equipped warships even before the outbreak of the war and also at shore bases in France, Africa and Indochina. The machines took part in the defence of France in 1940 and then with the Vichy forces. Several air frames were used by the Free French forces, too. Vichy France even ordered further production. Some captured machines were evaluated by the German Luftwaffe. The Loire 130s which operated from African bases struggled with the shortage of spare parts and in 1943, when French colonies in Africa were liberated as many as fifteen air frames were still airworthy and took part in war operations. Machines of the Loire 130 Cl version did their part in the French Indochina War and a handful of the machines flew till the end of the war, one was seen flying in Saigon as late as 1949. The Kit This is a re-box from Special Hobby of the Azur kit from 2006. This boxing has additional parts for the units operating overseas. The kit is a mixture of injected plastic, resin detail parts, and both injected & Vac Formed clear parts. Construction starts in the cockpit. Here plastic parts are embellished with resin ones. The basic structure is plastic with the seats, rudder pedals, side consoles, radios etc in resin. Once the cockpit sections (left and right) are built up these can be added into their respective fuselage halves along the mid & rear bulkheads, and walkway to the rear position. The side cabin windows are also added at this time. As well as the general instructions there are two detailed side views for positioning of all the cabin equipment. Once all of this is inside the fuselage can be closed up, Construction then moves up to the tail. The tail planes are added on and the small vertical parts towards the ends. A scrap view shows the positioning of these and the stays. Once these are on the engine can be built up. The radiator and exhausts as well as the propeller are resin parts fitting it to plastic ones. Once this is built up the small open cockpit area behind the main cockpit can be built up. Next up the main wings are added along with the cockpit glazing and the small open cockpit just built up. There is a single part upper wing with left/right lowers. There is a main strut to add to each side and some flap actuators. For the main strut there are two parts of rigging to be added. One each wing there is a stabilising float to add, this has two braces each side and again a small amount of rigging. There are also 2 main stays which attach to the main fuselage. Once the wing is on the engine can be attached. On the rear of the fuselage there is an open or closed in area depending on the decal option being modelled, this is where the vac form clear part can be used. Markings There are printed by Cartograf so should pose no problems. 4 marking option are provided; SHM2 Navy Hydrographic section Saigon late 1940. CNo6 Sqn 1/CBS operated from Vatchay, French Indochina 1944. 19S-1 19 Sqn Vichy Naval Service, Tripoli 1941 17S-2 17 Sqn Vichy Naval Service, Fort-de-France, Martinique 1942. Conclusion It is great to see this kit being re-issued. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hello all. While I'm away on a course, I thought I'd take this opportunity to start no.2 in this GB. Some of you know that I like building Sabres, so here I will be killing 'two birds with one stone', Nordic and Sabre. The box, lovely. Fuselage sprue. Wings and tanks sprue. Everything else sprue and it looks a bit 'flashy'. Decal options. Resin wheels. Vac canopies. The subject Stuart

MPM SH32049 boxart: http://www.modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=97&t=71717&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a translation: Main parts from short run and small details from metal mould.

F-5A Recon Lightning Conversion Set (4399 for Tamiya) 1:48 CMK by Special Hobby The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was a fast aircraft, and when stripped of unnecessary weight and combat equipment it was faster still. Lockheed developed the F-4 as a reconnaissance airframe with a new nose to house the cameras where the guns had been, plus the necessary controls and avionics to perform the task. The F-5A was a P-38G conversion, with 181 airframes made. The Set This set arrives in one of CMK’s yellow card boxes, with six grey resin parts on four casting blocks, seven clear resin parts for the camera windows, a sheet of decals and even some masks for the camera windows. The two largest parts make up the new nose, which entails cutting a small section from the two fuselage nacelle parts, which are shown on the accompanying instructions. Before gluing the new nose in place, the window apertures should be de-flashed and the crystal-clear resin windows glued in place, then the nose cone added. Later in the build a small antenna is fitted to a pit on the upper nose behind the faired over gun troughs. Inside the cockpit is a new more rounded control yoke, and an instrument to fit inside the centre cockpit. Another yoke is included on the casting block, but this is unused. Markings There were only 20 of the type made, with two on the decal sheet. F-5A 4213965 "Shark", 12th PRS, Florennes, Belgium 1944 F-5A, Groupe de Reconnaissance 11/33 "Saviie" , white 80 maned Jeane, Sardinia 1944 The decals are well-printed with good register, sharpness and colour density, and you will need to complete the decals with the kit supplied stencils, as this set includes only the national markings and individualisations. Conclusion An interesting set that will fill a gap in the market that will either be missed by Tamiya, or arrive sometime before the heat-death of the universe knowing their glacial release schedule. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

F-104G/J & S Starfighter Ejection Seat (Q48369 & Q48370 for Kinetic) 1:48 CMK by Special Hobby Kinetic’s new Starfighter kit is part of their new and growing range, and has been well-received as it’s a while since we’ve had a new tooled kit in this scale. The new Luftwaffe G that we reviewed here used the Martin-Baker seat, but other marks used the factory-fitted C-2 seat, and Special Hobby are cognisant of that fact. As usual with CMK's resin sets, they arrive in the familiar clear vacformed box, with the resin parts safely inside, and the instructions sandwiched between the header card at the rear. Decals and Photo-Etch (PE) when included is separated from the resin parts by a clear piece of acetate to prevent scratching and damage during transit. F-104G/J Starfighter Seat (C-2) (Q48369) A single resin part that needs cutting from its pouring stub and fitting with a wire ejection handle between the pilot’s knees as shown in the instructions, for which you’ll need to source from your own supplies before painting and installation. F-104G/S Starfighter Seat (M-B Q Mk.7) (Q48370) Again a single resin part that needs grab handles in between the pilot’s knees and a double-loop at the top of the headbox, this seat has the revised fibreglass para-pack either side of the seat frame that was requested by the Luftwaffe after concerns over the original seat were raised. Conclusion Two exquisitely detailed ejection seats that will be a big help to the detail of any 1:48 Starfighter cockpit, although it is designed to fit the new Kinetic kit. Remember to have some fine wire on hand for the ejection initiator handles, and you’ll be good to go. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Short Sunderland Mk.III "U-Boat Killers" (SH72304) 1:72 Special Hobby The Sunderland was developed by Short Brothers to an RAF requirement R.2/33 for a long range general purpose flying boat. It is thought Shorts took their work on Imperial Flying Boats to design the Sunderland, however the RAF requirement was released before the Imperial Airways requirements, and Short's decided to pursue both at the same time. The Sunderland would be a large four engined flying boat with both defensive and offensive armaments. The large wings with would mount 4 Bristol Pegasus engine were able to hold 200 Gallons of fuel giving the aircraft a 14 hour range. For defence initially four guns were mounted in a rear turret, two guns in the nose turret, and two guns on each beam. Later a dorsal turret would be added. Offensive weapons were carried internally and winched out under the wings through doors in the aircrafts sides. Later aircraft would also gain 4 fixed forward firing machine guns. German pilots nicknames the Sunderland the flying porcupine and there are numerous cases of Sunderland fighting off superior numbers off attacking aircraft. Radar fitted to these flying boats enabled them to become accomplished submarine hunters. Production shifted to the Mark III in December of 1941. This had a changed hull to improve seaworthiness. With 461 built this was the most numerous mark. The Kit This is a new boxing for the Mark III based on Special Hobby's new tool Mark V from 2019, with new parts. The parts breakdown on the spures would also indicate other earlier marks are planed as well. This is an impressive kit with good quality large mouldings and a full interior. Construction starts in the cockpit. The instrument panel and pilots seats are built up onto the deck with the control columns being added. The cockpit bulkhead goes in and there is an additional seat to fit on the bulkhead. At the other side what appears to be the navigators position goes in. The lower deck under the cockpit then is assembled with its bunk areas for crew rest on those long flights. The next stage is to build up the weapons carriers and the rails which winch them out under the wings. 8 bombs are provided. The top and main decks can then be joined and the weapons section added to the rear of this sub-assembly. To the front is added the mooring deck/access to the front turret with a realistic grating effect to the floor, Additional parts can now be added inside both main fuselage halves before you can think about closing them up around the main internal section. The modeller can have the weapons windows open or closed but this needs to be done now as they swing inwards. At the rear of the main cabin the gunners position and access to the top turret parts need then to be added. At the bow the anchor needs to go in. Only once all this is done can the fuselage be closed up. The exterior now needs to be looked at, The main top insert for the turret goes in, then underneath the hull step part is added. Both of these being inserts to allow for the different marks to be kitted. At the rear the vertical fin and separate rudder go on, then the tailplanes, here the moving surfaces are moulded in. The main wings go on next. These are conventional left/right upper/lower surfaces; again the moveable surfaces are moulded in. The wings have large tabs which slot into the fuselage which should help then fit on correctly and not droop over time. If you opted for the bombs slung out under the wings now is the time to add the racks there. We are now on the finishing straight. Still on the main wing the four engines are assembled, each with its own resin exhaust. The two main wing floats then go on. Next up its the gun turrets. All these are fitted from the outside which is a great help when it comes to masking and painting them as separate items. The front turret can be mounted slid back for mooring or in its forward position. The front boarding door can also be open as all the structure behind it is in place. The props and exhausts go on here. The last step is to attach all of the external aerials. Given there are four on the top, eight on each side; and two on the wings it's probably better left until after painting! If wanted by the modeller then beaching gear is provided for the aircraft. Clear Parts These are of the same excellent quality as the other kit parts, and again it can be seen there are parts for other marks on the clear spure. Markings The decals are printed by Cartograf so that gurentees there will be no issues with them. A generous four aircraft can be modelled using the kit decals, EK591 - 2U, No.422 Sqn Royal Canadian Air Force, Castle Archdale Northern Ireland, Early to Mid 1944. On 10th March this aircraft sank U-625 EJ168 - J, No.343 Sqn (French) RAF, Dakar 1944. Aircraft of this Sqn normally flew with the Dorsal turret removed. EJ134 - N, No.461 Sqn Royal Australian Air Force, Pembroke Dock, 1943. This aircraft successfully defended itself againt 2 JU 88s, and 2 Fw 190s on 13/02/43. Then on 02/06/43 it was attacked by more Ju 88s shooting down 3 of them, the aircraft ditched in South Cornwall and was wrecked. DV969 - E, No.10 Sqn Royal Australian Air Force, Pembroke Dock, spring 1943. On 31/05/43 she managed to sink U-563, then on 27/07/43 escaped four Ju 88s. Sadly on 21/09/43 she encountered more Ju 88s and was shot down over the bay of Biscay with the loss of all the crew. Conclusion This is great new tool of an important though often overlooked aircraft for the RAF. The kit is very detailed indie and out. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of