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I've paused on the Sea Fury for a bit, most likely I won't finish it in time for the end of the GB. I was planning to get back to the VF-1 Wolfpack Tomcat and get that finished. Then I saw this kit sticking out of the pile. I built one previously as an RCAF Sliver Star so had some familiarity with the kit. Anyways, I always wanted to do one in the Mako One paint scheme. For the longest time, I could only find decals in smaller scales. Then I found Above and Below did them in 1/32. So after opening the kit up to play with sorting the intakes- in my opinion, the most challenging part of the kit I ended up getting a bit carried away.

Definitely my last build of 2023 ! This is the Special Hobby kit of the Percival Pembroke, which also includes parts (cabin interior, nose, short wing tips) for the earlier Percival Sea Prince T.1, as used by the Royal Navy's 750 Sqn to train navigation and ASW. A rather obscure aircraft (although 41 were built), the Sea Prince saw wide use by the RN, in Culdrose, Lossiemouth, Brawdy and Hal Far (Malta). As well as radar (with multiple displays for the trainees), it has a small bomb bay and wing pylons for practice weapons. Sea Princes were used from 1951 until 1977 when they were finally replaced by the Jetstream. The earlier short-nosed Sea Prince C.1 and later long-nosed C.2 were used for transport and logistic purposes (Valom has a kit out for this variant). The RAF also operated an upgraded version of the Prince with extended wingtips and a greater range/payload, known as the Percival Pembroke. It's quite a difficult kit to build, requiring lots of filling, sanding and then filling again, but it's definitely worth it, although I really hate brush painting that fluorescent paint ! Merry Christmas to all! FredT

AVRO Anson Mk.I ‘Anti-Submarine Annie’ (SH48211) 1:48 Special Hobby Originally designed as a fast mail carrier in the early 30s, the original AVRO design was amended in the mid-30s in response to a specification issued by the Aviation Ministry for a reconnaissance aircraft that could also perform other roles. It beat a similarly militarised De Havilland Rapide and was awarded a contract for series production with the name Anson after an 18th Century Admiral of the Fleet. At the outbreak of war it was still performing its given roles, and was engaged in the Dunkirk evacuation where it surprisingly managed to shoot down two Bf.109s and damage another, as they found the low speed of the Anson hard to gauge, overshooting straight into the line of the nose-mounted .303 machine gun operated by the pilot. She was thoroughly outclassed as a front-line aircraft though, so was soon withdrawn from fighting service to form part of the training fleet, and as a communications ‘hack’. Despite its withdrawal from service, more aircraft were built, and they were used as trainers for radar operators, navigators and as a trainer for pilots that were destined to fly multi-engined bombers. Its replacement in maritime service was the Lockheed Hudson, which had a hugely increased range and speed, the Anson only being capable of a four-hour endurance that prevented it from covering much of the Atlantic or North Sea before it had to turn for home. It could carry a small bomb load however, so could take offensive action if it was to find a U-boat on its travels. Following WWII, Faithful Annie as she became known was used as a civilian and business aircraft, although some of the wooden-winged examples that were used overseas began to suffer from problems due to the humidity’s effect on the timber areas. Not all Ansons had wooden wings though, and some of the wooden winged aircraft were refitted with the improved metal wings, although even these were eventually retired, leaving only one airworthy by the new millennium. The Kit This is a rerelease of the Classic Airframes kit that originated in 2006 before appearing in Special Hobby boxes from 2007 onwards. While it has been superseded by a new tooling that is fully injection-moulded, that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have its own appeal, particularly if you like to include resin in your builds for extra detail. The kit arrives in a top-opening blue/white/grey themed box, and inside are five sprues of grey styrene of various shades and textures, a clear sprue, thirty-six resin parts in two bags, a sheet of pre-painted and nickel-plated Photo-Etch (PE) that is found in the same bag as the two decal sheets. The final item is the instruction booklet that is printed in colour on glossy white stock, with painting and decaling instructions on the rear pages. Detail is good, although the kit won’t fall together if you shake the box. There is a lot of detail present however, enhanced by the quantity of resin, much of which will be seen through the extensive glazing. Construction begins with the floor of the aircraft, adding two sections of spar running spanwise across the middle, fitting the port fuselage side and moulded-in framework behind the window frames. A bulkhead is fixed to the rear of the floor, with another short length and its bulkhead behind that, adding radio boxes and other gear on and around the spars. A pair of resin bucket seats are painted and detailed with pre-painted four-point PE belts, one fitted by the radio equipment, the other to the front behind the control column, and a simpler box seat by the navigator’s table, the occupant held in position by lap-belts alone, as his seat has no back to his seat. Another shallow seat has lap-belts glued on and is placed on the front spar after adding two folded PE toppers to the starboard end of each spar and a cross-brace between the rear edge of the map table and the spar. The single .303 machine gun in the nose is inserted into a groove along with its ammo feed, which requires the trough to be cut out from the port fuselage half before the almost complete interior is inserted into the port fuselage after adding a window, adding a resin bed for the bomb aimer, a fire extinguisher and two blocks of dials on the wall. A scrap diagram shows the completed interior once it is emplaced within the port fuselage, which should help with the arrangement of parts in the nose. The starboard sidewall and framework are glued to the opposite side of the interior, spacing them to the correct width with the roof framework. The starboard fuselage can then be brought in after fitting a square window behind the main windows, plus another small one in the nose, and two recognition lenses under the bomb-aimer’s position under the nose. A small fairing is attached to the wing root fairing on both sides, and another resin equipment box is glued into the starboard nose. The pilot’s instrument panel is built from a blank shape with a coaming for one decal option and sidewall behind it, fitting rudder pedals to the back, and layering two printed PE panels to the front, then gluing the throttle quadrant into position to the lower right along with three PE levers and two more on the main panel, inserting the finished panel into the port fuselage for one scheme, locating the quadrant on a peg moulded into the cockpit floor. An insert for the top turret is detailed with three-part lower framework and a bicycle seat, adding the upper framework, Lewis gun with plate mag and two-part clear dome after main painting is complete. Don’t forget to mask the hole, and similarly mask and paint the clear parts in the meantime. The instrument panel minus coaming is used in two decal options that have less aerodynamic windscreen panels, so the top won’t be seen. Firstly, the nose cone has a tubular recess inserted from behind, and is glued to the front of the fuselage, installing the top turret insert and the upper glazing for the interior at the same time, and selecting your chosen windscreen and gluing a ring sight into the front roof frame. The coaming-free instrument panel is glued to the underside of the windscreen 4.5mm away from the front lip before it is glued into position. The sloped canopy is glued over the cockpit where the instrument panel already resides. The wings are prepared by inserting a roof and bulkhead panel with a nick cut from each side into the lower along with the twin-strut gear leg and cross-brace, painting the details and gluing the upper wing into position. This is repeated on the other side, as is the insertion of the retraction jack, followed by the two-part nacelle front. The wings are butt-joined to the fairing moulded into the fuselage, and the joint would be strengthened by adding stiffening material or a pin to the equation. The elevators are each two parts, and these too butt join with the tail and would also benefit from strengthening of the joint. A diagram at the bottom of the page shows the correct dihedral of the wings, and the elevators are shown in red, as they would otherwise be invisible due to the wings being at the same height. The Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah IX radial engines have the 7-cylinders moulded as one, adding a reduction bell to the front, a spacer to the rear, and an exhaust collector ring around the rear. You are shown the arrangement of the push-rods in an additional diagram, but you must make them from 0.4mm wire from your own stock, each length 5.8m long. Another diagram shows the arrangement from the front, and once you have it painted to your satisfaction, the largest resin cowlings with extended bulges can be slipped over the engine and glued in place via the locators shown in red through the drawing. Two resin exhaust stubs are glued into the collector rings through the oval holes in the cowling, repeating it for both engines, which is probably best done after main painting is completed. Detailing of the exterior of the aircraft is the last task, starting with the underside, fitting the two-part wheels in between the twin struts, and gluing the resin radiators under the nacelles. PE actuators are fitted to each of the ailerons and elevators, adding a pitot under the nose, and the yoke with separate wheel under the tail. Flipping the model onto its wheels, more actuators and hinges are dotted around the flying surfaces including the rudder, with an antenna mast and D/F loop fixed on the roof over the interior. The two-bladed props are each sandwiched between two plastic washers, and have a PE detail plate on the forward face, sliding onto the short peg protruding from the engine’s bell housing. Two small clear lights are glued to fairings near the wingtips, painted clear green and red, adding a length of 0.2mm wire between the mast and the tail once the rest of the model is completed. Markings There are three decal options on the sheets, all wearing either A or B variants of the early war green/brown upper surfaces, with sky or silver undersides depending on which decal option you have chosen. From the box you can build one of the following: K6285/MW-F, No.321 (Dutch) Sqn., RAF Carew Cheriton, late 1940 EG359, Groupe Artois, Escadrille Arras, Point Noire, French West Africa, 1943 N5331/5, No.6 Air Observer & Navigator School, Staverton, early 1945 The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. The third decal option has upper wing roundels that originally had the white painted out, but the paint is shown wearing badly on the decal sheet, as it was a well-worn machine that the instructions advise was filthy, especially on the underside. Conclusion Whilst this isn’t the newest kit on the block, it should result in a good replica with careful building and painting, taking the time to test fit and adjust fit as necessary. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Aero A-12 The First Record Breakers (SH72466) 1:72 Special Hobby Between the two World Wars, Czech company Aero created several aircraft for their own country’s use, many of which were biplanes. The A-12 was a light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft that was a development from an earlier design that reached production after flight tests and subsequent alterations that gave the airframe the look that became synonymous with the type. It was used as the basis for the A.11, which despite an earlier number, was a later design. The A.11 served with the Czech Air Force solidly, where they were well-respected by their crews, and when they were finally withdrawn from front-line service, many were refitted with dual controls so that they could be used as training aircraft. Most airframes were out of service, in private hands or destroyed by the time WWII came around, and were considered too old to be used by the Germans, with just a few originals and replicas remaining today, one of which is at Kbely museum in Prague, so I might have some pictures somewhere, but still haven’t remembered to look. The A-12’s performance and reliability were factors in competitors choosing the type for air racing use, and on the 7th September 1924 at least five airframes were prepped for the 2nd Air Speed Race for the Trophy of the President of the Czechoslovak Republic. They competed in various payload categories over a circuit of 200kmh, and five world records were broken on that day, one by a competitor that didn’t finish, but his time over 100km was fast enough to break the speed record for his class and the distance covered before his engine failed. Four other A-12s broke records that day, which must have been quite good for the company. The Kit This is a new boxing of a tooling of the A-11 from Special Hobby, and the kit arrives in a small top-opening box, with three sprues of grey styrene, a small clear sprue, a bag containing a print-base of 3D parts for the radiators, instruction booklet and two separately bagged decal sheets within. Detail is good, especially the louvred engine cowlings and cockpit interior, as well as the fabric covered wooden wings, which have a subtle undulating ribbed surface moulded into them. Construction begins by making up the cockpit floor from two sections, adding a couple of detail parts on the starboard side, then fixing it and a small bulkhead to the starboard fuselage half after painting the details that are moulded into the interior of the fuselage and taking care of a few ejector-pin marks if necessary. A crib-like stowage area is made up from two parts plus an inverted A-frame, and that has a seat fixed to the front of the frame, installed just behind the cockpit floor, with another bucket seat added further forward for the pilot, and fixing the controls into the front of the cockpit. A bulkhead with rudder bar is glued at an angle to the front of the cockpit, with radio gear applied to the centre of the port fuselage half, along with a compass that has a decal applied to the top. The fuselage can be closed after adding the instrument panel with decal, and a skid is inserted into the tail at the same time. A rectangular panel line must be filled in the tail end of the fuselage, replacing it with a circular panel once the area has been made good, following the dimensions given on the scrap diagram nearby. Under the fuselage a rectangular insert with a small clear window is fitted, and two 0.8mm holes are drilled 1mm inboard of the wing root fairings, again according to a scrap diagram with measurements. One decal option requires a circular fairing to be fitted over the rear cockpit opening, then the two lower wings are fitted into slots in the fuselage, and a scrap diagram shows that there should be zero dihedral to them, as with the elevators, which are each inserted into the rear fuselage on two pins and have their separate flying surfaces glued to them, with the rudder pushed into a slot in the rear to complete the empennage. The pilot is in an open cockpit, so a tiny windscreen is added to the coaming in front of the opening, fitting two L-shaped exhausts to the top cowling and the 3D printed radiators on the cowling sides. The upper wings are moulded as a single span part, with an insert placed over the narrow centre section to achieve the thickness of the fuel tank, and the semi-circular scoop over the pilot. A pair of cabane V-struts are installed in the underside of the wing, with four more Z-struts added slightly outboard, and finally a pair of interplane struts are fixed to the outer wing bays on each side. A transparent impression of the upper wing is shown above the rest of the model to show it being installed from above, and the following two diagrams show the location of the rigging lines, which you’ll need to supply yourself, using your preferred method to complete the job, adding a wire brace to each of the wing rigging wires where they form an X from the front. A faired fuel line joins the upper wing to the fuselage near the pilot’s position, which is best inserted after the wings are joined. The model still needs its landing gear, using two V-shaped gear supports and their interlinking aerofoil clad axle that are inserted into holes in the underside, and have a choice of two styles of wheels added to the ends. The two-bladed prop has an aerodynamic spinner glued to the centre, and the axle moulded into the rear slides into the hole at the flat circular front of the nose. Markings There are five decal options on the two sheets, all of them record breakers save one third place, and all are camouflaged in a similar three colour pattern that is subtly different on closer inspection, but the individual markings and competitor numbers help to differentiate. From the box you can build one of the following: Aero A-12.36, Race #22, World Record Breaker of 250kg payload 189.765kmh over 200km track Aero A-12.24, Race #20, World Record Breaker of 250kg payload 202.13kmh over 100km track Aero A-12.unknown, Race #11, World Record Breaker of 500kg payload 202.988kmh over 200km track Aero A-12.36, Race #21, World Record Breaker of 500kg payload 196.099kmh over 200km track Aero A-12.43, Race #17, third place holder in 500kg payload category at 183.568kmh over 200km track The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. The second decal sheet contains just two number 17 decals for the fifth markings option (E), as both underwing numbers were printed in reverse on the main sheet, although the reversing of one underwing number seems inconsistent between the competitors depicted here. Conclusion The A-12 is an interesting aircraft from Aero that was overshadowed by the A-11 and its variants, and this group of racers are rather attractive in their camouflage, their race specific decoration taking them away from the norm. The detail is good, and should appeal to a broad range of modellers, including the 3D printed radiators. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Big, you say? Well okay. It's almost the biggest model in my stash, the Special Hobby Westland Whirlwind Mk.I. It's big: And it's been unstarted for too long: Did I mention that it's big? While waiting in the stash it has accumulated quite a bit of aftermarket; a set of seatbelts: Some resin wheels and cannons - I'm not that comfortable with the idea of the resin cannons which I think would be more vulnerable to breakage than the kit's plastic ones, but if they look much better I would probably go with them: ... and finally, canopy and camouflage masks. What can I say? I'm lazy and I'm prepared to pay any company that offers to indulge my laziness So I'm set. See you at the start line gents Cheers, Stew P.S. It's big

Greetings to everyone once again. Re.2000 in export version for the Hungarian Air Force, the Hungarian version of the name is Heja 1. The kit from SH contains a minimum of plastic, a lot of resin parts, a photo-etch board, a decal and two vacuum canopies. All the little things are shapeless pieces of plastic, so it was easier to make the small details yourself, the resin parts are also far from being of the best quality, and even the vacuum canopies had to be bathed in futura three times before they reached a relatively acceptable quality. And only the decal did not cause any complaints But not everything is so sad, I just had to work hard. So, in a nutshell, the following has been done: the rear support niche has been sawed out and made (the SH does not have one at all), and the support itself has also been made; the keel is cut and installed at the desired angle; The landing gear struts are made entirely from scrap materials, and the wheels are from Equipage; All deflectable surfaces of the wing and tail were cut off and rearranged, thick edges were ground off, and the ribs were restored; the antenna, radio equipment under a canopy, navigation lights, exhaust pipes along with fairings were made independently; a lot of different small things were added to the fuselage, pipes, breathers, air ducts, casings, etc. The jointing was restored anew. The engine deserves a separate description. The original one, although cast in resin and quite neat, looks like a toy. I turned to Vector products. Of what Vector has in 72nd scale, the most suitable for conversion is the French Gnome-Rhone GR-14. By replacing the gearbox housing, the GR-14 became a Piaggio P.XI, although the housing had to be slightly adjusted. The hood was cut and adjusted to accommodate the installation of the engine, which also made it possible to add more scale to its edges, make the necessary air channels under the cooling louvres, etc. Push rods, high-voltage wires were added, and at the final stage, three-beam supports for attaching the engine to the hood along the perimeter and a synchronizer were added rotation of the screw. The propeller spinner was also machined independently, because The shape of the standard one from the SH set does not correspond to the drawings. The model is riveted. Acrylic painting (Tamiya and Hobby Color). *Sorry for the automatic translation

F-84F Thunderstreak (SH72395) US Swept-Wing Thunder 1:72 Special Hobby The F-48 Thunderjet was a post WWII early jet with straight wings that suffered with some difficult teething problems that took a long time to fix. The F-84F Thunderstreak was a swept-wing design that was intended to match the F-86's performance, and was so different from its origins that it was an almost totally new design, but stayed under the F-84 designation, probably for budgetary reasons. To maximise the performance gains, a British Armstrong Siddeley engine was chosen, which necessitated a deepening of the fuselage cross-section, resulting in the intake having an oval profile. The Sapphire was eventually to be license made as the Wright J65, but flight related problems delayed its introduction into service until 1954, at which time it still needed a long take-off roll, and was prone to unrecoverable spins. In service it was similarly problematic, and because of the improvements that the F-86 had undergone, was ear-marked for phase-out almost as soon as it arrived with squadrons. The last airframe left the front line in 1958, and was replaced by the F-100 Super Sabre in active service, while in National Guard service it soldiered on until the early 70s. Many were sold-off to NATO countries, where they operated in large numbers for many years. The US fleet was briefly reactivated in 1961 due to tensions in Europe, but after being grounded the year after due to control-linkage problems, it was gone again from front line service by 1964, and wasn’t really missed other than by aviation buffs. The Kit This is a brand-new tooling from Special Hobby, and it shows. The kit arrives in a small top-opening box with a painting of the subject matter on the front, and inside are four sprues in grey styrene, plus a single clear sprue, decals in their own bag with protective paper, and an A5 instruction booklet that also has painting and decaling profiles on the rear pages. Detail is excellent, with fine engraved panel lines, a well-appointed cockpit and gear bays, plus a selection of weapons to individualise your model to suit your tastes, although many of them won’t be used for this boxing. Construction begins with the nose gear bay, which has a V-shaped section of intake trunking joined over it, which is then sandwiched between the two intake walls and will fit into the front of the fuselage later. The pilot’s ejection seat is next, building it from base, sides and rear cushion, plus a head cushion that fixes above the seat back. The cockpit tub has the side consoles moulded-in, and has the instrument panel with dial decal, gunsight with clear lens inserted into the front, the control column plugged into the floor, and it is boxed off by the rear bulkhead. To close the fuselage, the long exhaust trunk is made from a mid-section that is in two halves, plus a tip section moulded as a cylinder, and the front support that has the rear face of the engine moulded into it, and two supports that will locate into L-shaped sockets in the starboard side of the fuselage along with a fairing at the very rear. The cockpit side walls are painted interior green before the halves are closed around the cockpit, intake/nose gear bay and exhaust, then has a spine insert and a choice of two fin parts that depend on which decal option you choose. Another insert completes the intake lip at the nose, and that includes a pair of gun troughs in the upper “ears” of the part. The ejection seat is slotted into the cockpit with a small additional bulkhead at its back, then the fuselage has a larger fairing added over the moulded-in strake under the tail for one decal option, filling a small depression in it as you work. The wings are mid-mounted, so each one moulded separately as upper and lower halves that trap the main gear bay walls between them, painting the walls and the bay roof that is moulded into the upper wing an interior green shade during building. They attach to the fuselage by slots and tabs, while the elevators fit on pins near the base of the fin on a moulded-in sway-plate. A pop-up intake on the port wing upper can be depicted retracted by fitting the cover flush, or deployed by adding an additional part at the front of the recess, and putting the door at an angle over it. The canopy is multi-part, and starts with the fixed windscreen over the coaming, plus two fixed side panels on the spine. To model the canopy closed, a single part with a tab moulded into the rear is inserted to fill the remaining space, but to pose it open, a different canopy part is included, which is shown pivoted up and to the rear at a shallow angle to the horizontal due to the folded panel at the rear and two struts at the front, and if you’re not sure how it should look there just Google “F-84F Thunderstreak Canopy”. A small flat clear light inserts into the rear of the spine behind the cockpit. The main gear struts have the lower captive door moulded-in, adding a smaller rectangular door to the upper part of the leg, fitting the one-part wheel to the bottom axle, inserting them into their bays at the outer edge, and fitting a smaller door at the inner edge. The nose gear strut has its retraction jack moulded-in, and the single wheel is secured in position by adding the other half of the yoke, plus a clear landing light on the front of the leg, and fixing another small part to the leg as it is installed in its bay. As mentioned earlier, most weapons on the sprue can be left there, using two-part pylons on the inner wing to carry two long fuel tanks with fins to the rear, and outer wing pylons that are also made from two parts. A table to the right of that instruction step details the weapons that can be mounted for each decal option, referring to them by part numbers rather than the weapon names. Markings There are three decal options on the sheet, and as was common at the time, they are all in natural metal finishes with bright markings to differentiate them. From the box you can build one of the following: FS-570 (52-6570), 20th Fighter Bomber Wing, flown by Commander Col. A G Salisbury, USAF in Europe, RAF Wethersfield, Essex, UK, 1956 FS-664 (52-6664), 401st Fighter Bomber Wing, flown by Commander Col. Van Etten, Tactical Aur Command, USAF in Europe, UK, 1956 FS-454 (52-6454), 511th Fighter Bomber Sqn., 405th Fighter Bomber Wing, Langley AFB, USAF, Louisiana, USA, 1955 The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion A brand-new kit of this type in 1:72 has got to be exciting for Cold War jet enthusiasts, and this first boxing with three bright decal options should sell well. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Greetings. The model was assembled several years ago. The old kit from Special Hobby was not easy to assemble, the contents of the cockpit are not true, empty landing gear niches, empty air ducts that are saturated in the P-40, and so on. Some castings are unsuitable in detail. I couldn’t find any third-party add-ons for the set from Special Hobby. Therefore, the modification work was not easy - in addition to significant modifications of my own, I used a lot of etched and resin products for other sets that had to be adapted for Special Hobby. Acrylic painting. Bottom surfaces are Tamiya Neutral Gray. The upper surfaces were first painted with “Olive drab” from Gunze, and on top of it – “Tan” from the same Gunze, after which “shabbyness” was done to the bottom color using “Worn effects” liquid from AK. *Sorry for the automatic translation

Hi All, After recent forays into unusual Americana (B17C, B18) I decided it was time for the pendulum to swing back towards Blighty. I haven't built a biplane for a while, and this kept winking at me from the stash: Opening up the box, here's the sprue shots: Some nice PE, and a beautifully detailed resin engine: Here's the decals - nicely printed and in register: The decals allow for 4 schemes - two in aluminium, and two Singapore-based machines camouflaged thus: Although I was nearly tempted by this option with the torpedo at such a jaunty angle, I couldn't get excited by the scheme. Now the sharp-eyed amongst you may note that the kit is a Vickers Vildebeest, which is the torpedo bomber version of this aircraft, whereas the Vincent was a general purpose aircraft. A quick search revealed it should be a pretty simple conversion: - Remove the torpedo equipment - Remove the wheel spats (the kit allows for this option) - Add an auxiliary fuel tank (possibly by converting the torpedo??) - The Vincent also had message pickup and pyrotechnic signalling gear added - any information gladly received on these. A bit more searching came up with a scheme I rather fancied (Copyright IWM - Photo is for discussion only and will be removed on request) : The IWM archives state that Vincent K4681 was part of the Aden Communications Flight, and the photo shows the aircraft under guard at Mukeiras landing ground whilst delivering supplies to the RAF rest camp at that location. Now, given that the aircraft has C Type roundels, I suspect that this would have been taken in 1942, and I suspect that the scheme would be Dark Earth/Mid-Stone over Azure, although it could also be LE/DE over Sky Blue (I suspect the former, but happy to hear otherwise). Given that the aircraft was not assigned to a squadron it may well not have worn codes, so just the serial - simples! Also of note are the leading edge strakes, which are not provided in the kit - a simple enough job to fabricate. Lovely photo of the guard too - probably keeping the pesky local population at bay. Anyway, it looks to be a nice little kit so let's see what it turns up! Thanks for looking, Roger

After the 2022 newsletters (link), here's the first one from SH for 2023. Newsletter January 2023 https://www.specialhobby.info/2023/01/news-from-special-hobby-012023.html V.P.

Special Hobby is to re-release in 2023 2024 the MPM 1/48th Heinkel He-177A Greif kit under ref. SH48???? This re-edition will include several new designed parts. Source: https://www.specialhobby.net/2022/12/heinkel-he-177a-148-navrat-trochu-jinak.html V.P.

Hetzer/StuG IIIG (Late) Remote Controlled MG34 (P35020 for various manufacturers) 1:35 CMK by Special Hobby There are many StuG IIIG kits and a few Hetzer models out there in 1:35, which is great for AFV modellers, and this set is designed to add a remote controlled MG34 installation that was sometimes found on the roof of these tank killers, allowing the crew to defend against troops attacks without putting themselves in the way of incoming small-arms rounds. 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. Photo-Etch (PE) when included is separated from the resin parts by a clear piece of acetate to prevent scratching and damage during transit. There are ten 3D printed parts on two bases in orange resin, which seems to blend two desired qualities of flexibility with strength to ease their use with your model. The MG34 is mounted on a circular base with mechanisms to elevate, fire and rotate the gun without crew being outside the vehicle, as well as giving them a sight-picture via a periscope that passes through the armoured roof. This is a single part, to which the gun mount is fitted, along with a short length of wire that you must source from your own stock, which operates the trigger under the weapon once it is installed. The gun is without a stock, but has a drum magazine fitted on to the left side of the breech, slotting into the mount on two locations. A clamp with turnbuckle holds it in place, and a short length of spent link is glued to the ejection port, drooping under gravity. If someone has to go outside to cock the weapon, clear a stoppage or swap the magazine, you have a choice of two styles of sharply raked splinter shields, one cut to fit the Hetzer’s roof, the other for the StuG, both of which attach to each other at the front, and four mounting pads that correspond to recesses on the bottom of the armour for a firm connection. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

source: http://modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=97&t=77712&start=720#p1880503 "Dalšími v pořadí nejbližšími rozpracovanými projekty (ono je toho docela hodně) je moderní dvoumotorák s vrtulemi a druhoválečná stíhačka." next project is a twin-engine modern aircraft with propellers And next is WW2 fighter http://modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=97&t=77712&start=735#p1880919 "ne, nebude to Turbolet, lítá to nebo lítalo na západ od nás (a na jih, sever a možná i na východ)" No, not L-410 Turbolet. It flies or flew to the west of Czech Republic (and to the south, north and maybe to the east) type is still secret

P-39Q Airacobra Engine (7515 for Arma Hobby) 1:72 CMK by Special Hobby Model manufacturers Arma Hobby have created a welcome modern tooling of the Bell Airacobra recently, and this set is intended to upgrade the detail further on the P-39Q variant that we reviewed here, adding engine details. 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. Inside the box are three cast grey resin components, plus a pair of 3D printed exhaust stacks on a single print base. The engine on the Airacobra is set back behind the cockpit, and is accessed by a large panel just behind the pilot’s door. To install the set, the first task is to remove the port panel, which is indicated by a diagram on the short instruction sheet. A boxed-in bay is installed in the space inside, which then receives the detailed portion of the engine block that will be seen through the hatch, adding the longer set of exhaust stubs with hollow tips to the recessed outer side of the engine. A shorter set is applied to the opposite fuselage half, which remains intact, as the panel is cut from only the port side. The final part is a replacement access panel, which can be left on the wing or nearby, having additional detail, a more scale thickness, and the added bonus of not having to be too careful with the section of fuselage that you must cut out, allowing you to cut it more accurately, leaving a margin around the edges that you can trim and sand to obtain a better fit. Painting of the new parts is up to you, but there is plenty of reference material out there, so it shouldn’t be too taxing. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

T-2 Buckeye Anniversary Markings (SH48231) 1:48 Special Hobby Following WWII, the US Air Force embraced the jet engine wholeheartedly, with the Navy lagging behind a little due to the slow spool-up of the early jet engines that made wave-offs and go-arounds a cheek-clenching prospect. By the early 50s the T-28 Trojan was showing its age, so those in command began looking for a replacement. North American of P-51 Mustang fame won a contract in the mid-50s, and the T-2A flew by 1958, entering limited service a year later, with only one jet engine installed in the earliest variant, which was also called the T2J-1 at the time, although consolidation of naming in 1962 renamed it as the T-2A. By the time the T-2B entered service, the engine count had increased by one to give it more speed and similarity of operation to the aircraft that the trainees would eventually fly after graduation. Around 600 airframes were built in total, and the type had a long career that spanned around 40 years, with most pilots during that time having spent part of their training flying a Buckeye, the name given to it that relates to the location of the factory in Ohio that made them, which has a state tree by that name. The T-2C was the final variant in US service, with GE engines replacing the Pratt & Whitney units, presumably for efficiency and maintenance reasons, as they brought no extra power to the party. 50+ D and E variants were built for overseas operators in South America and more notably Greece, who took 40 and are still flying them at time of writing. In US service the Buckeye was retired in 2008 when it was replaced by the more modern T-45 Goshawk, which is a substantially re-engineered and Navalised version of the BAe Hawk, as used by the RAF and the famous Red Arrows. The Goshawk is faster and more agile than its predecessor, getting close to the sound barrier and with advanced avionics that mimics those of the current fighters better than the worn-out Buckeyes could manage. A few T-2s are still flying in private hands, and make appearances at air shows, as do the Greek airframes if you’re lucky. The Kit This is a welcome reboxing of the 2009 tooling that initially appeared under another manufacturer’s name, but with Special Hobby doing the tooling, while subsequent boxings were released under Special hobby’s own name, so if you missed out on those, now is the time. The kit arrives in a top-opening box that has a pair of profiles of the decal options laid over a merged US and Greek flag. Inside are five sprues of grey styrene, two small clear sprues, one for the canopy parts, a small bag with thirty-nine resin parts, two decal sheets, a fret of pre-painted Photo-Etch (PE) parts, and finally an instruction booklet printed in colour on glossy white paper, with painting and decaling profiles on the rear pages, followed by some adverts for some of Special Hobby’s other products. Detail is good, and improved further by the resin that’s included, especially a pair of ejection seats and four side consoles that are very well done, as is the rear-seater’s coaming, especially the wiring on the rear. Engraved panel lines, accompanied by raised and recessed features where you’d expect them go to make a good-looking model that has a reputation for being one of those models that you need to keep your wits about you when building, as there are fit issues that will need fettling. It’s certainly not unbuildable as some wavers-of-hands would bemoan, as it has been made by many a modeller in the years since it first appeared, with results varying according to level of skill and patience applied during building and painting, as with most things. Please note that the swirls visible on some of the parts above are from the moulding process and will disappear under paint. Construction begins with the cockpit, diving straight into the instrument panel, which has a lamination of two pre-painted instrument panels layers placed over the flat front under the coaming, with a styrene part with raised and recessed details on the surface for those who don’t like PE wrangling, a job that is repeated to make the rear instrument panel, which is a different shape, with the deeply recessed rear of the panel depicting the backs of the instruments and their wiring. The four resin side consoles are detailed with additional parts, including the rudder pedals from the sides, all of which has colour call outs using letters that correspond with a table of Gunze Sangyo paint codes, which carries on throughout the build. The next step is bringing together the various sub-assemblies on the cockpit floor, adding bulkheads behind each pilot, control columns, two more small parts on the tutor’s coaming and one on the student’s, and a rounded enclosure on a shelf behind him. There is a lamination of two PE parts for the mini-coaming around the instrument box on the top of the tutor’s coaming, which represents the instruments deep within. Finally, a small bulkhead is fitted to the front of the cockpit assembly. The rest of the internals need to be built and painted before closing the fuselage, starting with the long intake trunks, which are each made of two halves, attaching to a bulkhead that has the first compressor faces moulded-in, which should be painted metallic before installation. The same part-count and a similar bulkhead is used to create the exhausts, although the painting will be more of a burnt metallic shade for the whole assembly, thanks to the high temperatures there. The nose gear bay is in two halves, so mating them neatly will reduce any clean-up work before you can apply the paint. Adding 10 grams of nose weight during closure, along with the cockpit, intakes, nose gear bay, and exhausts, after which you can deal with the fuselage seams in your preferred manner. The rest of the flying surfaces are made up for a break from detail work, including the ailerons, elevator panels and separate flying surfaces, flaps and the two rudder panels, each one put together from two halves. The main planes are separated by the fuselage and are provided as top and bottom surfaces, adding two gear bay wall sections before closure, painting them and the detail moulded into the upper wing interior as you go. The wings, elevators and their panels, plus the two rudder halves are all installed, leaving the flaps until after completion of the lower fuselage. The open lower fuselage is filled with an insert with a small resin insert in the insert to be inserted (yikes!) to add detail where it would otherwise have been impossible with a two-part fuselage design, then a quartet of small intakes are fitted on marked locations on the lower sides of the fuselage where the engines are found. The exhaust trunks are finished with their pen-nib fairings, and the intakes are extended with a two-part fairing and fine lip to complete the assembly that is plugged into the fuselage sides under the rear cockpit. Finally, the arrestor hook is glued under the tail with a PE support near the hinge-point, the whole length of it painted in black and white stripes. The flaps can be attached tucked away for flight, or deployed for take-off and landing by adding three brackets per side to the leading edges before installing them in their wells. A clear light is inserted into a socket under the belly, and another flat light with a PE bezel is fixed under the nose, just behind a probe. The main gear legs have a sturdy upper section that needs the pegs cutting from the pivots, and these are joined to the lower on a stepped join for strength, adding PE tie-down lugs, separate scissor-links and a retractor jack that needs a 2mm piece of 1.5mm diameter rod fitting on one side. The leg has a two-part captive bay door applied to the outer surface, while the inner bay door hangs down, and is retracted by a delicate resin H-frame. The wheels are two parts, and slip over the stub axle at the bottom of the yoke, facing inboard. The nose gear is a single strut with an additional cylinder added to the front, and two scissor-links at the rear, installing another two-part wheel that is different from the main gear wheels. The bay doors are simple side-opening parts that hinge along the bay sides. Flipping the model over, the two-part tip-tanks with clear light added to the centre outboard and with a clear tip insert, are fitted to the wings, with three more lights on the tail fin plus a pitot probe, and two strakes on the fuselage sides under the tail fillet. A conformal landing light lens is inserted into a cut-out in the port wing leading edge, fitting the two resin ejection seats into the cockpit, which were painted and decaled while the cockpit was being made, adding a stripey black/yellow actuation handle to the headbox from the resin parts. The windscreen is glued into the front of the cockpit over the forward coaming, fitting the canopy in either open or closed positions. Before it is installed, a bulkhead is fixed under the rear of the canopy, with a resin bracing strut in the centre and a pair of rear-view mirrors in the front frame. To pose the canopy closed, a short ram is fixed under the cross-brace, with a longer one used to lift the canopy up for crew access. Markings There are two decal options on one sheet, with the second sheet containing stencils for around the airframe. From the box you can build one of the following: T-2C Buckeye, Bu.no.155241, No.309, VT-23 ‘The Professionals’, NAS Kingsville, Texas, 1976, marking the US Bicentennial. T-2E Buckeye, Bu.no.160084, No.84, 363 Air Training School (MEA) ‘Danaos’, 120 Air Training Wing (PEA), Kalamata, Hellenic Air Force, celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the 363 MEA. The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion It’s good to see this kit back on the shelves in my preferred scale, and with marking for US and Greek aircraft included to widen the appeal. The resin does a good job of increasing the detail of the model, especially those ejection seats and other cockpit details. Incidentally, if you have one of the early boxings and don’t like the vacformed canopies that come with those, Special Hobby have released just the canopy sprue for purchase separately, which you can find here. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Morris CS9 British Light Armoured Car ‘Battle of France’ (MV132) 1:72 Planet Models by Special Hobby In the years before WWII, British military spending was dangerously low on the agenda of the government, who were hoping that another expensive war could be avoided, before the realisation dawned that Adolf Hitler and the Nazis weren’t going to be stopped by appeasement, but could only be routed by military action. During the mid-30s, a light armoured car was designed by Morris Motors’ commercial arm, based upon their C9 truck, but with the chassis instead covered by an armoured hull, and an open turret that accommodated two crew members that could either operate a single Vickers Machine gun, or a Boys Anti-Tank Rifle and a Bren gun. That may seem like a light armament by WWII standards, but pre-war, tanks were lightly armed and armoured to a level that the Boys rifle could penetrate. Whilst combat with other armoured vehicles wasn’t high on their to-do list, they had to be able to defend against the likelihood, as scouting and reconnaissance could result in an unexpected encounter with armour by its very nature. After two years of development, the type went into service with the British Army in small numbers, serving in the Battle of France once war broke out, where all of them were either destroyed or abandoned, and if time permitted, scuttled so that they were of no use to the enemy. They also served in the North African campaign, where they were found to be good over sand and soft ground once fitted with appropriate tyres. They were quickly outpaced in terms of armour and armament, so were withdrawn during the African campaign, with only around a hundred built. Their poor design and lack of success was typical of pre-war British armour, which was generally short-sighted and penny-pinching to the sometimes fatal detriment of the British soldiers that were using them. This is a state that wasn’t entirely resolved until the last year of WWII in terms of indigenous production, wartime fighting forces relying heavily on Lend/Lease equipment from the US. The Kit This is a brand-new tooling in resin of this little armoured car, and it is well-detailed to say the least. The kit arrives in a small cardboard box with a captive lid, and inside are a Ziploc bag full of grey resin parts, a smaller bag with orange 3D printed parts, and an even smaller bag that contains the decals and a Photo-Etch (PE) fret. The instruction sheet is folded over the parts to reduce movement during transport, and this is printed in colour, with painting and decaling instructions to the rear. Detail is excellent, with a high part count of thirty-four resin, twelve 3D printed, and thirteen PE parts in the box. Construction begins with the floor pan, which has four seats, two stowage boxes, radio equipment, gear lever and hand-brake added, the latter in PE. The dash is mounted on the bulkhead, which has the foot pedals moulded into it, and receives the steering wheel with integrated column slipped into place under the dash. The hull is moulded almost structurally complete, just adding the radiator and two 3D printed leaf-springs to the front, a pair of Lee Enfield rifles and a Lewis machine gun strapped to the insides over the rear axle. A resin bumper is fitted below the grille, and at the rear, six ammo boxes in racks of three are mounted on the rear deck, with a hatch inserted between them, and a PE number plate on the bottom right valance. A PE footstep is joined to the rear opposite the number plate, and the interior is mated under the hull, flipping the model onto its back to mount both axles and wheels, drive-shaft between the rear axle and the underside of the engine that is moulded into the floor, and adding a piece of wire from your own stock to replicate the steering linkage behind the front axle, and another 3D actuator part mounted in front of the left wheel. A PE number plate is fixed to the front along with width indicator stalks, rear-view mirrors, and a placard for unit markings. Two headlights are fixed next to the 3D printed front arches, and on the top deck a curved bullet-splash guard is bent from a flat piece of PE around the turret opening. The open-topped turret is placed over the circular cut-out, fitting three ammo boxes on ledges around the sides, then mounting the 3D printed Boys rifle in the front offset slot, a Bren gun on the rear side, and a small 3D printed part inserted through the central slot at the front, adding a PE flap at the front in the open position. Markings There are two decal options provided on the sheet, although as usual with AFVs, the number of decals is fairly small. From the box you can build one of the following: 12th Royal Lancers Regiment, A ‘Arravale’ Sqn., Avesnes, France, Autumn, 1939 12th Royal Lancers Regiment, C ‘Cores’ Sqn., France, Autumn, 1939 The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion This is the only kit of the type, which wasn’t used in large numbers or for very long due to its failures, so it’s a boon that it’s a well-detailed kit that should be relatively simple to build once the parts are removed from their casting blocks. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Bactrian Camels x 2 (F72399) 1:72 CMK by Special Hobby The camel, known colloquially as the ‘ship of the desert’, is a large mammal that is as cantankerous as it is capable, having a huge fatty water storage hump on its back that allows it to travel for up to 40 days without a proper drink, its long legs and large padded feet making it a capable of travelling vast distances without taking one step forward and two back on sand dunes. They’re still used everywhere there’s a desert, although 4x4 transport is taking over where the need arises. We have already reviewed a few more camels than we ever thought we would, and still they keep coming. This set from CMK is something like the 7th now, if we count both 1:48 and 1:72, and it’s highly likely that we’ll be updating this review with additional pictures to show the 1:48 Bactrian camel set, as they have a habit of arriving in pairs, much like the humps of this shaggier camel variant. Unlike the Dromedary, the Bactrian is also capable of enduring extreme cold and high altitudes, which along with their stamina and tolerance for meagre rations, were probably prime reasons for their use travelling the Silk Road in days of yore. The set is 3D printed in 1:72 for your next desert diorama, or one already built that simply needs more camels in it to achieve perfection, whether it’s in the background or playing a more central role. The set is supplied in the usual clamshell box with card header, with the small instruction sheet trapped in front of the header, all secured by a single staple. The instructions are simple, consisting of a line-drawn visual of the model with markings examples. There are two camels in different poses in the box, and they each still have supports attached to the underside, which are easy to clip off and sand the remaining pips back flush. One camel is sitting with its legs folded, while the other is in an ambiguous standing pose that could be walking or stopped to admire the view, and both have shaggier fur that is concentrated around the tops of their humps, necks and in a fringe around the top of their heads. Conclusion They’re camels, miserable spitty things that are lucky they’re good beasts of burden, or they wouldn’t be so numerous. CMK's designers have done a good job of replicating their look and the texture of their fur, then it's up to you to paint them as well as you can. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

In Autumn 2022, Special Hobby is to release a 1/48th Potez 631 kit - ref. SH48221 Surprisingly announced as new tool in the Hannants eshop and not just a rebox from the AZUR kit. To be confirmed. Source: https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/SH48221 V.P.

In 2024, Special Hobby is to reissue its 1/48th Fiat Br.20 Cicogna kit - Bomber over Two Continents - ref. SH48229 Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=623277613141146&set=pb.100063767391074.-2207520000 V.P.

B-25D Late/G/H/J Mitchell Pilot Seats (P48007 for HK, Acc. Miniatures & Revell) 1:48 Special Hobby For a long time the Accurate Miniatures’ B-25 Mitchell has been the dominant kit in 1:48, but the status quo has been upset recently by the arrival of the Hong Kong Models (HK) kit in this scale, which brings modern tooling and 3D CAD design to the process, and results in a more detailed model. You can always improve on “more” however, which is where Special Hobby come in. This set arrives in Special Hobby’s orange themed blister pack, with a header card and the instructions forming the slot-in back to the package, and holding the resin in place within the blister, using a sheet of clear acetate to separate the Photo-Etch (PE) parts to the rear. The printed resin parts are supplied in orange resin on a single printing base, and comprises three seats, one taller pilot’s seat with headrest, and a choice of two low-back seats for the other crew member, one with a wood framework, the other metal. It also includes a sheet of PE that is nickel-plated and pre-painted in colour to depict the seatbelts, with enough parts for lap belts for your chosen seats, and having fine unpainted areas at the outer ends that are folded up into position to represent the clasps that link the two parts of the belt together. Detail on the seats is stunning, as we’ve come to expect from 3D printed sets from Special Hobby, with a large back cushion for the pilot that has organic, natural looking creases and indents that will look great with sympathetic painting, while the base cushions are flattened out by the weight of crew, with a slight crushed look to them. The seat frames and panels are extremely well-detailed, and all the seats are attached to the base from underneath, so clean-up should be simple, especially as this orange resin is strong and flexible, so quite forgiving whilst removing parts. A simple upgrade that increases the detail in your Mitchell’s cockpit without too much effort or expenditure. Incidentally, the Accurate Miniatures kit has been in several other manufacturer’s boxes over the years, including Academy, so the set should be appropriate for almost any Mitchell kit in 1:48. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hi all I have been enjoying this absolutely wonderful kit from Special Hobby, they have really excelled themselves with this one, it was a joy to put together apart from a moment when the glazing came apart on me, but that was more likely my fault🙄 The kit is very well engineered and is very detailed, I only added Throttle levers inside and the springs either side of the tailwheel, but that was all that was needed ontop of the kit parts. The model is of an sircraft allocated to the 196th Field Artillery Battalion one of 4 aircraft that landed near the Victory Arch in recently liberated Paris. The crew stayed in Paris for a few days with the aircraft parked in front of the Marinelli Hotel in Avenue de laGrande Armee. The scheme called for overprinted ID stripes and Special Hobby have done a great job with the decals to represent this. the Stripes that remain are neat but the photo I have seen of this aircraftcat the side of the road in Paris shows they are very neat. The model was brushpainted using Humbrol enamels and I really enjoyed fading the surfaces and representing the overpainted Stripes anyway enough waffle from me, if you like a Piper Cub , I certainly recommend this kit. Thanks to those who have followed the build and offered support and encouragement, it is very much appreciated. Thanks for looking in Chris

Pre-Cut Canopy Masks for Various Kits & Scales 1:72 & 1:48 Special Mask by Special Hobby Some modellers are a little bit phobic about masking the canopies of our models to keep them crystal clear during the building and painting process, as they can be tricky if you’re inexperienced or a bit ham fisted. Special Hobby have created their own Special Mask line to help with that, and we’ve got a bundle of them in the review queue in various scales. Supplied on a sheet of yellow kabuki tape, these pre-cut masks give you a full set of masks for the canopy, with compound curved handled by using frame hugging masks, while the highly curved gaps are in-filled with either liquid mask or offcuts from the background tape. In addition, you usually get a set of hub/tyre masks for the wheels, allowing you to cut the demarcation perfectly with little effort. They each arrive in a resealable clear foil bag with a card header behind and a sheet of instructions sandwiched between them. F-84F Thunderstreak Canopy & Wheel Mask (M72049 for Special Hobby) A-20G/K Havoc/Boston Canopy & Wheel Mask (M72021 for Special Hobby) Super Mystère B2 Canopy & Wheel Mask (M48021 for Azur Frrom/Special Hobby) Seafire Mk.XV Canopy & Wheels Mask (M48019 for Special Hobby) T-2 Buckeye Inside/Outside Canopy & Wheel Mask (M48018 for Special Hobby) Conclusion Pre-cut mask sets save a lot of precious modelling time and don’t cost a ton of money, so they’re always worth picking up, even if you’re not averse to masking. Add in the new Inside/Outside masks to the mix, and they’re a great boost to realism in my estimation. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

My build for this GB will be the 1/32 Special Hobby Tempest II. This is the Hi-Tech boxing with lots of resin and other goodies. There are lots of things to show in the box, so I will do it in stages.

Army Zetor Tractor Driver and Mechanic (F72390) 1:72 CMK by Special Hobby If you’ve seen the 1:72 Military Zetor Tractor (reviewed here) that was used heavily around Soviet era air fields to tow smaller aircraft around the base, you might be interested in this figure set. As usual with CMK's resin sets, it arrives in the familiar clear vacformed box, with the resin parts safely inside, and the instructions sandwiched between the header card at the rear. There are two resin figures in the box, each attached to a casting block by their feet, although the seated driver is also connected by the chair that is moulded into his behind. The driver and standing figure are both wearing the overalls of Soviet era mechanics and forage caps of the kind that fold flat. Both are looking to their right, presumably in the direction that they are intending to travel, perhaps the dispersal bay of the MiG-15 they are towing in the drawing, which isn’t included just in case it hadn’t dawned on you. They are well-moulded and sculpting is good, with realistic poses and fabric drape on their overalls. The moulded seat of the driver will allow you to glue him directly in position without worrying about locating him on the seat, as the original seat is left off the tractor. He has one hand on the wheel and the other on his lap, so locating him on the kit wheel should be easier after removing the supporting flash that has been used to improve moulding success, and can be scraped away quickly and easily. Adding human scale to any model is a great way to improve it, especially well-detailed figures like these, and transporting a shut-down MiG around the airfield was a common task during the Cold War and beyond. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Concrete Hedgehog WWII Anti-Tank Barrier (8066 & 2062) 1:48 & 1:72 CMK by Special Hobby Tank barriers are important aspects of any defensive line of the 20th century onwards, and they are intended to stop tanks in their tracks to prevent their advance, and therefore leave any infantry without their mobile heavy weapons support, or render them immobile and vulnerable to artillery fire. Various designs have been used over the years, and we’re looking at the concrete type fielded during WWII, which was nicknamed Hedgehog for fairly obvious reasons, as it’s a prickly customer. Made from cast concrete with metal reinforcement within, forming a similar shape to a jack from the game of the same name, the lower ends dig into the ground under their own weight, and if a tank rubs up against it, there is a good chance it will become snagged on the obstacle, stopping it from advancing any further. The rebar projects from the ends of the arms in a pig-tail curl to accommodate barbed wire entanglements, which would make the chances of stopping the enemy even greater. Similar style obstacles are still in use today. Both sets arrive in clear-fronted vacformed boxes, with the header card and instructions at the rear, whilst the resin parts inside are safely stored inside a cocoon of dark grey foam. There are four Hedgehogs in the smaller 1:72 set, while the larger 1:48 set has two Hedgehogs due to the extra size, and they are all cast on individual blocks with narrow attachment supports reducing the amount of clean-up on the underside. You’ll need to find some wire to create the pig-tail curls at the ends of the arms, and there are pictures on the instructions that will help you in this regard. Concrete Hedgehog x 2 (8066) Concrete Hedgehog x 4 (2062) Conclusion These sets are great for the diorama modeller, and their level of detail is excellent, down to the fine concrete texture and the tiny holes to accept the wire tails. Minimal clean-up of the parts further sweetens the package. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of