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AZ Model/Admiral is to release a 1/72nd Douglas TBD-1 Devastator kits Source: http://www.modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=68170&start=3270 Box art+ schemes - ref. ADM7210 - Douglas TBD-1 Devastator https://www.azmodel.cz/produkt/douglas-tbd-1-devastator/ - ref. ADM7215 - Douglas TBD-1 Devastator - At war https://www.azmodel.cz/produkt/tbd-1-devastator-at-war/ V.P.

I have been hanging off far too long to build this kit and now I have the perfect reason. It will be finnished in Finnish Air Force markings. Some quick reading tells me they had a lot of spare parts issues with these aircraft and not many sorties were carried out later in the war. It incudes some resin for the cockpit and wheel wells. I couple of schemes included but I think I will go the late war one.

Hi all, A Vietnam GB should really contain at least one chopper, so this will be my attempt at building one of these: I have the AZ Model kit, as well as a small PE fret from the same source, and a spare clear vacform set from Croco (to be seen if I need to use that). As I am working on a few other builds now, it may take a while before I can actually start - but at least I have a seat reserved! Cheers for now, Patrick

I suppose just in order to annoy the soon to release Special Hobby kits, Legato is to release a serie of 1/72nd - Curtiss P-40E Warhawk / Kittyhawk Mk.Ia kits. These will be repop of the old AZmodel kit with new decals, masks etc.. Source: http://www.modelarovo.cz/velky-doprodej-info-z-kpaz/ V.P.

Hello all, While looking for an interesting OH-6A chopper to build, I came across the AOA "Low level scouts" decal sheet (which is for 1/35 models). This includes one helicopter in a rather unusual (to me at least) camo scheme. Searching a bit further, it appeared that this particular helicopter was used for so-called "Snoopy Operations" over Vietnam, where OH-6A choppers were equipped with chemical sensors (XM-3 airborne personnel detectors) to detect human presence in the jungle. Such aircraft were also referred to as "Sniffers" and flew low-level missions, in conjuction with helicopter gunships, over the Vietnamese jungle. On the ARC forums, at the time when this AOA decal sheet was released, some pictures were shared of this particular airframe (see page 2 of this topic, copyright owner unknown): http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?/topic/291968-new-decals-oh-6a-loach-in-the-vietnam-war/page/2/ This seemed an interesting Cayuse to build for this year Vietnam's GB. I used the 1/72 AZ Model kit as a basis, with some modifications: all four doors were removed, as per the reference pics, and the XM-3 detection equipment was scratched. I also used some PE parts from AZ Model's set, a Croco vacform canopy and added a bit of detail here and there. Decals are puzzled together from various decal sheets. Paints are Gunze, weathering was done with oils and a touch of pigment. Not the easiest kit to build, being short run with lots of flash on the parts, quite small and also with such a large canopy part, but I am pleased with how it turned out. For the diorama, I added Trumpeter's M706 Commando Armored Car, which was a nice side project to complete. Credits background picture: Freepik, https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/misty-morning-field-with-mountains-background_11678309.htm#query=desert foggy&position=2&from_view=search&track=ais WIP link: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235151900-oh-6a-cayuse-vietnam-1970/#comment-5245913 Thanks for looking, comments always welcome! Cheers, Patrick

Greetings again! Now there is one more model I built some time ago and never posted here to RFI. This time it is a little cute De Havilland Canada's Chippie in its native overall yellow uniform of RCAF trainer aircraft. I think not a lot of description is needed about this airplane. One thing that I discovered while building this model and that may be not widely known - the chief designer of this airplane was Wsiewołod Jakimiuk, an engineer born in Poland. He studied in Vilnia and later in Paris, worked in PZL in interwar Poland. He was evacuated to France after the annexation of Poland and then hired to De Havilland Canada before France was invaded by nazis in 1940. What is interesting - Jakimiuk was born in an orthodox priest family in a small village of Kozyno in eastern Poland (in 1902 it was Grodno Governorate of Russian Empire). To this day Kozyno is an orthodox village and is in the middle of Belarusian populated part of Poland. So there is something Polish and possibly also Belarusian in the Chippie character... The kit is basic one-size-fits-all AZ/KP variety. Rude in some places, but surfaces were okay with reasonable details on wings and tail. Fit of simple and straight forward parts was fine too. Wing trailing edge was enormously thick and even after trimming, it is not knife blade sharp. The kit contains some parts required to make it a Canadian version - most notably the blown canopy and tapered-tip stabilizers. However air intakes on the front engine cowling had to be moved or added. I do not remember exactly what I changed. I would advise to refer to internet photoes for accurate reproduction of Canadian version. Decals were not good. Opacity of red on RCAF insignia was so bad it would be looking like South African orange maple leaves rather than Canadian if applied over yellow paint. So after I applied tail fin badges I thought I should replace AZ decals with some proper markings I got from spare box. Model is painted in Hobby Color H329 yellow. Maybe it is a bit darker colour but given it was applied over white background, it looks right to me. I made some updates to the model by adding seat belts, wheel brake piping, landing lamp, pitot, aerial on the spine, some navigation lights and instruments in the cabin from Krystal Klear drops. See that on close up photoes below. Thanks for looking and appreciate any comments or questions in advance! Dennis UPD: I edited topic name as Chipmunk is clearly not the first mass produced Canadian aircraft as there were Fleet aircraft, Noorduyn Norseman and maybe some others too.

My entry is a Messerschmitt Bf 109E-1 of 5./JG52 which, after being damaged during combat, belly-landed in a Sussex field on Monday 12 August 1940. I'm currently mildly obsessed with Bf 109's and as I live in the middle of East Sussex., and about 14 miles from Selmeston, I couldn't resist this build. Read more about The Selmeston Red Devil here: https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/2f4436f1-1c0e-4be0-9a38-debaeaa13683/downloads/Selmeston Red Devil.pdf?ver=1722496962823

1/72nd Let L-410UVP Turbolet by (Gavia) AZ Model - ref. ADM7231 & 7232 Sources: http://www.modelarovo.cz/turbolet-bude/ http://www.modelarovo.cz/navrat-l-410-turbolet/ - ref. ADM7231 - Let L-410UVP Turbolet - Military - ref. ADM7232 - Let L-410UVP Turbolet Sprues V.P.

AZ model has re-released its Spitfire Mk.18 kit. Source: https://www.modelarovo.cz/supermarine-spitfire-mk-18e-1-72-azmodel/ "after a delay, we decided to „dust off“ the mainstream models of older release date in the AZ model. After many wishes of you customers we decided to resume the production of the Supermarine Spitfire Mk.18e model, which is still somehow forgotten by the „big manufacturers“. (...) A simple kit consisting of „few“ parts can be easily glued together by less experienced or novice modellers. Experienced ones have room for their orgy with accessories which are too many for a 1/72 scale Spitfire 14/18." Two boxings: - ref. AZ7884 - Supermarine Spitfire Mk.18e Sources: https://eshop.kovozavody.cz/10883,en_spitfire-mk.18e.html https://www.azmodel.cz/produkt/spitfire-mk-18e/ - ref. AZ7883 - Supermarine Spitfire Mk.18e - Asian territory Sources: https://eshop.kovozavody.cz/10884,en_spitfire-mk.18e-asian-territory-.html https://www.azmodel.cz/produkt/spitfire-mk-18e-asian-teritory/ V.P.

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

Bf.109S ‘Kampf-Zweisitzer Emil’ (AZ7872) 1:72 AZ Model by Kovozávody Prostějov With almost 34,000 examples manufactured over a 10-year period, the Messerschmitt Bf.109 is one of the most widely produced aircraft in history and it saw active service in every theatre in which German armed forces were engaged. Initially designed in the mid-1930s, the Bf.109 shared a similar general arrangement with the Spitfire, employing monocoque construction and a V12 engine, albeit an inverted V with fuel injection rather than the carburettor used in the Spitfire. Initially designed as a lightweight interceptor, like many German types during WWII, the Bf.109 evolved beyond its original brief into a bomber escort, fighter bomber, night fighter, ground-attack and reconnaissance platform. The E variant, or Emil as it was more affectionately known was the first major revision of the original design, including an uprated engine and the attendant strengthening of the airframe that was required. It first saw service in the Legion Condor fighting in the Spanish civil war on the side of Nationalist forces of Military Dictator Franco, and then in the Battle of Britain where it came up against its nemeses the Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane during the critical fight for the survival of the RAF and Britain, which was key to halting Operation Seelöwe, the invasion of Britain by the Nazis. Like the Spitfire it fought against, it was improved incrementally through different marks, the Emil was similarly tweaked to keep pace, with later variants having additional long-range tankage, plus structural improvements and a simpler squared-off canopy with clear frontal armour, but apart from various field modifications and a few low-volume sub-variants, it had reached the end of its tenure, and was phased out in favour of the Friedrich and later the Gustav. It’s known that the Gustav had a two-seat trainer variant, extending the cockpit to the rear to make space for another crew member, offsetting other equipment as necessary, but an Emil variant of the type isn’t so well documented. It’s possible that the origin of the Gustav’s trainer came from experience with a field modified Emil at some point, but it’s also very possible that this isn’t the case. The Kit This boxing is based on a 2020 tooling from AZ Model with a new fuselage sprue providing the same parts as the previous two-seat boxing, and it arrives in a small end-opening box with three sprues of grey styrene, a small separately bagged clear sprue, two decal sheets, and instruction booklet that is printed on both sides of a folded A4 sheet. Detail is good, and extends into the cockpit and wheel bays, as well as finely engraved panel lines with judicious use of riveting where they are most prominent on the real airframe. You may have noticed that there are two sets of fuselage halves, because the main sprue holds many of the parts that will be needed to complete the model, while the correct fuselage parts with two cockpits are moulded on a new sprue with more parts that are needed for the rear cockpit. Construction begins predictably with the two almost identical cockpits, adding decals to the instrument panels and detail painting the sidewalls that are moulded into the fuselage interiors. A double trim wheel and gunsight are made up for the forward pilot, the control column details painted with three colours, then the seats are inserted on the rails in the two cockpit rears, mounting the adjustment mechanism on the port side of the forward cockpit, which also has the trim wheels sited there. The forward instrument panel is fitted to the front bulkhead, while the rear panel is fitted to the divider between them and glued in place along with the control column, painting and installing the gunsight to add to the centre of the front coaming. The propeller is moulded as a three-bladed part that is sandwiched between the spinner and back-plate ready for closing of the fuselage. The cockpits are glued together into the starboard fuselage half after painting the interior and inserting the two airway parts in the nose for the chin-mounted oil-cooler before bringing the fuselage halves together, taking care that the inserts line up properly. The lower wings are full-span, and have radiator faces fitted, while the upper wings are in halves and have bay detail moulded-in, requiring a little detail painting as you go, sliding them into the cut-out in the lower fuselage, ensuring that there is the required dihedral on both sides, which should leave both wingtips 10mm from the ground when the model is placed upright on a flat surface. The main wheel legs are each single parts with a wheel placed on the axle at the bottom, and a captive gear bay door glued to the inner face, plugging into the inner end of the gear bays under the wing, which was a source of the type’s instability on the ground, leading to many nose-overs and much embarrassment. An insert over the engine cowling is installed along with a C-shaped carrier of two gun barrels and the prop, a supercharger intake fairing on the port side of the engine cowling, plus a tail-wheel with moulded-in strut. A belly-mounted fuel tank can be fitted, and the instructions note that its mount is offset to one side, making the tank from two halves if you intend to use it. If not, the underside is completed by a pitot-probe under the port wing, and mass-balance horns on the ailerons. With the model on its wheels, the single-part double-length canopy should be installed with a non-fogging glue, adding an aerial to the rear, and the elevators are slotted into the sides of the tail fin, supporting them with diagonal struts from underneath. Markings There are three decal options on the sheet, and the profiles can be found on the rear of the box, all in variations of early WWII camouflage, wearing a swastika on the tail. The stencil placement instructions can be found on the bottom of the back page of the instruction sheet, reducing the number of lines and confusion on the main profiles. If the kit has been dispatched to a locale where the swastika is frowned upon under law, the corner of the sheet will have been snipped off, otherwise it’s up to you whether you apply them for historical accuracy or not. From the box you can build one of the following: The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion Another two-seater 109 with new decal options for those that enjoy building in this scale. Detail is good, the decal choices interesting, and the number etched from the dotted camouflage option is reminiscent of a famous photo of a single-seater. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

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

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

Hi all, here is my recently completed of a P-51B Mustang of the Swiss Air Force using the AZ Model 1/72 kit. The model was built as part of the P-51 Mustang STGB and built in the wheels-up configuration. Built OOB with the scheme being all painted using Tamiya and Mr Hobby paints, the only decals being used were four wing decals. Build log here: Stuart

My first place marker is this -B version by AZ Model in 1/72. The box with the obvious direction of the subject being foreign and in this case, Swiss or Swedish or Chinese. I'm liking the pretty Swiss option. The plastic Instructions and decals. Stuart

Hi all, this is a place holder for my entry into this GB. I will build the AZ Model Vought Kingfisher. The one with the little training wheels. I have wanted this kit since it came out, and I found it by chance last year while in Sardinia. Who would have thunk it would be there, with my name already written on the box? Here is a photo of the kit, courtesy of Scalemates. I am a real sucker for yellow wings! But before I start building this little beauty, I have at least two other kits to finish. No pressure when one knows my building speed! So more to it later. Cheers. JR

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

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

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

Gloster Gauntlet Mk.I (AZ7866) 1:72 AZ Model by Kovozávody Prostějov The Gauntlet bears a family resemblance to the Gladiator from the same stable because it preceded it, entering service earlier after an extended development process that would be worthy of a modern defence project. Its development began as early as 1929, but it wasn’t until 1933 that it was given the name Gauntlet, and another two years before it started to enter service with the RAF in small numbers. It was intended as a replacement to the Bulldog, which it outpaced by 50mph thanks to its Bristol Mercury engine, with heavier armament that included two machine guns in troughs in the fuselage sides, firing through the cowling and propeller. Only twenty-four of the initial airframes were made before there were improvements made, which were give the designation Mk.II, resulting in the initial batch being retrospectively named Mk.I. The Mk.II made up the majority of production, with over 200 manufactured in the UK, plus more built overseas. At its peak there were fourteen squadrons equipped with Gauntlets, but as the storm clouds of war began to gather, it was already outdated. By the time war finally broke out, only one squadron was left in frontline service, the rest having transitioned to more modern fighters such as the Hurricane, which was created by Gloster’s new owners, Hawker, still carrying over some design traits from the Gauntlet through the Gladiator to the Hurricane, particularly in the rear fuselage and tail areas. Happily for the Hurricane pilots however, the speed and armament of their new aircraft was much improved and gave them a fighting chance against the enemy. The Gauntlet lingered on as a trainer in the UK and abroad for a while, with a single Mk.II preserved in airworthy condition in Finland, one of its former operators, although the engine has been replaced by something a little more modern for practical reasons. The Kit This is a reboxing of a 2008 tooling from AZ that has been re-released with new decals that depict the Gauntlet in RAF and Danish service. It arrives in a small end-opening box with a painting of a gaggle of Gauntlets over rolling fields on the front, and profiles for the decal options on the rear of the box. Inside are three sprues of grey styrene, decal sheet, a small sheet of clear acrylic with two windscreens printed on it, plus the instruction booklet that is printed on a folded sheet of A4, with a series of rigging profiles on the rearmost page. Detail is good, with just a wisp of flash here and there, and a good representation of the fabric covered framework over the majority of the airframe. Construction begins with the simple cockpit that is based on a well-detailed flat section of floor, onto which the seat, control column and rudder pedals are fixed, applying four-point decal seatbelts to the pilot’s position for a little extra detail. There is cockpit sidewall detail moulded into the insides of the fuselage halves, and once these and the cockpit are painted and weathered, the fuselage halves can be joined together, adding a two-part instrument panel at the front of the cockpit cut-out. The engine is supplied as a single part with nine cylinders arranged around the core, which is surrounded by a three-part cowling due to the teardrop fairings around the perimeter, finishing the cowling off with a separate lip at the front. The tail fin is moulded into the fuselage halves, adding the individual elevator fins to the sides in small slots, and a tail-wheel with moulded-in strut underneath. The lower wing is a single part that is inserted into a slot under the fuselage, and once the seams have been dealt with, the landing gear can be built, made from two triangular struts that are linked by the axle that has wheels mounted on each end, positioning the assembly on the underside of the fuselage using the small recesses that are moulded into the model to locate them accurately. Four cabane struts are similarly fitted to the fuselage in front of the cockpit using more guide recesses, which supports the upper wing that is also moulded as a single part. Four interplane struts are fitted between the wings, and a scrap diagram gives details of the tensioner rods that are suspended in the rigging, which is dealt with over the page. A pair of exhausts are mounted under the cowling, cutting the windscreen from the acetate sheet and folding it to shape before gluing it to the front of the cockpit, then slotting the two machine gun barrels in the troughs on each side of the fuselage. The final task (if we ignore the rigging for now) is the two-blade propeller, gluing a spinner to the front to finish it. Speaking of rigging, there are four diagrams on the rear of the booklet, detailing the location of the wiring, which should assist with the process along with the box art for a three-quarter view. Markings There are three options on the decal sheet, two RAF, and one in Danish service, the latter having a more interesting scheme, as the RAF were heavily invested in silver dope in the 1930s – perhaps someone had shares? From the box you can build one of the following: The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion The Gauntlet was a well-used interwar fighter that in its day was an impressive improvement over those that it replaced, but was soon to be left in the wake of the next generation of fighters due to the speed of development at the time. The kit depicts its fabric covering well, with a detailed cockpit, and it comes with some interesting decal options. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hello everyone! Here is my first kit of the year which I finished last weekend. It is AZ Model's Supermarine Spitfire Tr.9 representing 162 of A Flight, No 1 Squadron, Irish Air Corps, at Gormaston, Ireland, in 1951. Before anyone says anything, yes the port wing insignia and the starboard side insignia are wrong. Sadly, I know. Read on to know why... This kit has been a struggle almost all the way. AZ Model kits are short-run and so inherently involve extra work but this one more so. I have read favourable comments about AZ Model's Spitfire IX/XVI kits (and I hope so as I have a couple in my stash) but negative comments about the two-seater. I just about managed to overcome all the problems but it got tiresome. Apart from the usual fit issues and mismatched parts that you get with these kinds of kits here some of the low lights: - Cockpit troubles: the rear cockpit was made almost like the front one but I believe it should have been shorter. The instructions have you put the oxygen bottles on one fuselage side as per a single-seater but, thankfully, they were placed horizontally behind the front cockpit. It's impossible to fit the rear cockpit if one doesn't do this. Because of the length of the rear cockpit and the position of the control yoke, I had to move the instrument dial forward. It's not correct but I had no choice by then. Getting the cockpit parts in place was fiddly due to the poor minimal mating surfaces but somehow I managed. As a note, I used the decals for the instruments and the harnesses. The latter aren't bad but in retrospect I should have removed more of the film. - Main wings: some of the parts work best interchanged! I swapped the wheel bay cover parts and the wing tips. I was a bit confused with the instructions as to the gun arrangements, initially leaving only the outer machine guns but later restoring the other ones after reading about the type and other kit builds of Irish two-seaters. I used bits of sprue to help fill the cannon holes. - Wing to fuselage assembly: with some trimming and checking, I just about managed a reasonable join along the bottom with the fuselage and cleaning it up wasn't too bad. The upper wing roots however were another matter with large mismatched trenches of varying width. Plenty of filling and sanding here. - Canopies: the front one needed some trimming and I had a problem because the front cockpit was a little twisted and I had to sand it a bit to stop fouling the canopy. The rear one was another story... It was too narrow lengthwise and too wide at the front. I managed to thin it along the bottom and the top of the front end enough to make it almost all the way down. I glued it in place with Kristal Klear but forcing it down with tape. It held and I then filled the remaining gaps a long the bottom and the cavity in the front also with Kristal Klear and then paint. - Other bits: the oil cooler intake was a terrible fit. I didn't try to improve it, glued it as it was and filled the gaps with CA glue and finally blending the part to the underside. I had to cut away a bit of the wheel bay lips to be able to insert the legs in the proper angles. The exhaust parts had to be thinned considerably in the inserting blocks to be able fit in the corresponding holes (on a positive note, the kit comes with inner blanking plates). Once I made it through all this and painted the kit, it was looking good and I was thinking that despite it all, it was going to come out nicely. And then came the decals... These went on well and required plenty of Micro Sol to settle properly. I had some trouble with the underwing flags which ended up cracking (my fault) and I had to fix cutting bits from the markings for option 2 (to match the colours) to "fix" them. The big BUT were the insignia decals. The instructions have them shown correctly but the sheet was printed wrongly. They are supposed to be handed with the green half forwards on the sides and inwards on the wings. I tried finding replacements (no luck) and considered repainting them but matching the colours and getting the patterns right was too daunting. It was a real let down and I was unhappy for a couple of days about the kit but I decided to press on, as I just wanted to finish the kit, and use the decals as they came. My apologies to any Irish readers. As usual, the kit was painted and varnished by brush. I weathered it just enough to break the uniform scheme but didn't overdo it as these machines seemed to be quite well-kept. In the end, despite everything and the decals, I'm pleased with how it came out. Sadly, there aren't many kits of Spitfire two-seaters but this one is really only for experienced modellers and masochists. AZ Model covered all of the two-seater options and I have their kit of the Soviet home-made two-seater version in my stash. I have been warned! Thanks for looking and all comments are welcome. Miguel

Evening all, Don't often do Luftwaffe (the occasional Battle of Britain model aside, just to give the RAF models something to aim at!), and not really into what-if, but this release by AZ tickled my fancy! More of a very-nearly...I understand that the prototype was partially completed at least, so not quite as outrageous as some Luftwaffe 46 models! The kit itself was an odd mixture of soft detail and unclear fit...that said, it did come together to provide a strangely convincing model. I think Mike McEvoy, late of Scale Aircraft Modeller Tail Piece fame ( for us modellers of a certain age) would have approved...a historically plausible paint scheme with a plausible unit badge (a BoB unit as well) over a simple but very interesting 'almost' aircraft. My first for 2024...my second will continue the futuristic V-tailed theme, albeit something that actually flew, and a little closer to today! More anon. Paints AK Interactive and Tamiya. Decals kit and from the spares box.

Hi to all In addition to all the obligations, i finally managed to finish one model AZ Model Messerschmitt in version E7. I was intrigued with those specific markings, because I did not know that this lunatic (Reinhard Heydrich) flew. Pity that he survived when he was shot down, probably more of unhappy people from Czechoslovakia/Prague would survive the war.. All in all, the standard AZ model, with few additions, AK REAL colours, and minimal weathering, as his plane did not fly long before it were shot down. I hope you like the model. Wish you all Merry Christmas and all best in New Year, best regards Djordje

Bf.109G-6 with W.Gr.21 (AZ7862) 1:72 AZ Model by Kovozávody Prostějov With almost 34,000 examples manufactured over a 10-year period, the Messerschmitt Bf.109 is one of the most widely produced aircraft in history, and it saw active service in every theatre in which German armed forces were engaged. Designed in the mid-1930s, the Bf.109 shared a similar technical configuration to the Spitfire, employing monocoque construction and V12 engine, albeit an inverted V with fuel injection rather than a carburettor used in the Spit, and a much more angular outline. Initially designed as a lightweight interceptor, like many German types during WWII, the Bf.109 evolved far beyond its original brief into a bomber escort, fighter bomber, night fighter, ground-attack and reconnaissance platform. The Bf.109G series, colloquially known as the Gustav, was first produced in 1942. The airframe and wing were extensively modified to accommodate a more powerful engine, greater internal fuel capacity and additional armour. In contrast to early 109s, which were powered by engines delivering less than 700hp, some of the later Gustavs could output almost 2000hp with water injection and high-performance superchargers. The Gustav series accounted for a dizzying array of sub-variants, some of which featured a larger tail of wooden construction. Odd number suffixed aircraft had pressurised cockpits for high altitude operation, Erla Haube clear view canopy with clear rear head armour, underwing points for tanks, cannon or rockets and larger main wheels resulting in square fairings on the inner upper wings to accommodate them. The K series or Kurt replaced the Gustavs, and was an attempt by the RLM to standardise production after the myriad of Gustav sub-variants, adding large rectangular blisters on the upper wings to accommodate wider wheels, and a more powerful variant of the DB engine that could propel it to around 440mph on a good day with the right fuelling. Despite the difficulties experienced in manufacture at that late stage of the war, a few thousand of them were produced before the end, although the lack of well-trained pilots at that stage was more of an issue. The Kit This is a reboxing of AZ’s original tooling from 2014, with some new parts along the way, and the inclusion of the newly tooled weapons and accessories set that we reviewed recently here to add value to the package. It’s a well-detailed kit with deeply moulded features in the cockpit sidewalls, details in the wheel wells, and subtle exterior detail too. It arrives in a small end-opening box with an attractive painting of the subject matter sporting a red tulip nose on the front, and the decal option profiles on the rear. Inside are three sprues in grey styrene, a tiny clear sprue in its own Ziploc bag, two decal sheets and the instruction booklet. You will need to pay attention to the sprues and instruction steps, as there are several variants catered for on the sheet, so take care which parts you use to prevent mistakes. Construction begins with the cockpit, which is well-detailed as previously mentioned, consisting of the floor with rear bulkhead, seat base, rudder pedals, control column, trim wheels, gunsight, a well-recessed instrument panel (sadly no decal), and the afore mentioned moulded-in side wall detail, plus the forward bulkhead, which has the cannon-breech cover inserted before it is added to the front of the assembly, onto which the rudder pedals fit. It is glued into the starboard fuselage half when completed, and the exhaust stacks are slipped through the slots in the cowling on both sides ready to be closed. There is a top cowling insert added later to complete the fuselage, which has the two nose machine gun troughs and a pair of gun barrels moulded-in. The G-6 has an additional flash hider on the port exhausts, and an oil-cooler bay under the nose, adding radiator cores into the wing-mounted bays, trimming where necessary. The lower wing is full-width except for the tips, which are moulded into the upper surfaces for fidelity, and these have the uppers glued over and the radiator flaps inserted, all of which gets a coat of RLM02 on the inside, like much of the interior. The wings and the fuselage are mated, then the landing gear is prepped, although they’re best left off the model until later. The struts have the scissor-links moulded-in, separate wheels and captive bay doors, using the skinnier tyres in preference to the later wide ones that are left on the sprue. A combined fin and rudder or separate fin and rudder can be applied to the rear, fitting the prominent Beule of the G series after removing a tab that was added in later marks, and head armour that is either moulded clear because it has a section of armoured glass in the centre, or solid. The elevators are both moulded as a single part, and attach to the tail in the usual slot and tab manner, then the prop with broad blades is made up with the appropriate front and back spinner parts, sliding into the hole in the flat front of the fuselage. The fixed tail wheel and a blanking insert for the bay are fixed under the rear, and the single-part clear framed canopy with angular framing covers the cockpit with a choice of two styles of aerial masts behind the cockpit. Aileron horn balances, additional cannons in fairings under the wings, an extra fuel tank on a pylon under the belly, plus a pitot probe at the tip of the port wing. The two-part supercharger air intake on the port side of the cowling is last to be fixed on its raised mounting. Weapons & Accessories Set The weapons & accessories included with this boxing adds extra value to the package that means you effectively get the aircraft for very little money. The set’s tooling is also brand-new, and we’ve reviewed it here recently. There you will find the W.Gr.21 rocket pods that can be fitted under the wings instead of the cannon fairings. These rockets were intended to be fired into the bomber stream semi-randomly, in the hope that the explosion would cause damage and panic the bombers into breaking formation, thus leaving them vulnerable to individual fighters to destroy. Note that the rockets were fitted to the wings with a distinctive nose-up attitude to take the line of flight and ballistic drop into account after firing. Markings There are three options on the main decal sheet, while the separate sheet contains all the stencils, which is good to see at this scale. From the box you can build one of the following: The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion Some interesting markings and camouflage options, including the famous red tulip motif on the nose of one. The detail on the kit is good, and the inclusion of the weapons & accessories set really increases the value, with ground equipment included to widen the appeal even more. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

German Luftwaffe Weapons Set and Accessories (AZ7860) 1:72 AZ Model by Kovozávody Prostějov During WWII, aircraft on all sides were loaded down with additional weapons as the war rolled on, including rocket pods, bombs of different weights, and the equipment needed to load them in addition to the run-of-the-mill repairs and maintenance of the ground-crew’s charges, refilling and topping off the life-giving fluids that made the aircraft move during the process. The Kit This brand-new set includes numerous pieces of equipment found on, under and around Luftwaffe aircraft during WWII in one handy place. Not all the assemblies go bang when you drop them, and there is a smattering of tools, equipment and other items mixed in for good measure. The kit arrives in a small end-opening box with a selection of the supplied parts laid out in colour in front of a greyed-out 109, with a little text above making it totally clear that the aircraft isn’t included, as some folks need extra information before it sinks in. Inside the box is a single sprue of grey styrene and a sheet of instructions on both sides of a sheet of A5 paper, printed in black and red. As it is a new tooling that was designed using CAD-CAM software, the finesse and detail is crisp and modern-looking, so should work well with a Bf.109 kit of any brand to add some interest and ground-handling equipment that increases the individuality further. The back of the box gives a full visual indication of what’s included in the box, which is as follows: 2 x Watering cans 2 x Buckets 2 x Chocks 2 x Tool Boxes 1 x Fuel Tank (Late War, we think) 2 x W.Gr.21 Rocket Pods with rockets inside 2 x Fuel Drum 1 x Manual Fuel Pump 1 x 500KG Bomb on Centreline Mount 4 x 50KG Bombs on Large Centreline Mount 1 x Fire Extinguisher on two-wheeled Cart 1 x Bomb Carrier Cart with Lifting Arm The watering cans are made from two halves plus the handle, the bucket a single part with handle, while each of the chocks have a T-shaped struts inserted. The toolbox is another three-part accessory, and the fuel tank is a simple two-parter. The pair of W.Gr.21 rocket pods are built from a two-part launch tube that has two pairs of supports that insert on a C-shaped portion of the tubes, adding the rocket in the rear. To top-up the fuel, there are two fuel drums, and one hand-cranked pump that inserts in the drum’s filler along with the crank, and a choice of two types of nozzles that will need some wire from your stock to represent the hose. The big bomb body is in two halves, and has two pairs of fins inserted into the rear at right angles to one another, adding four ‘screamer’ whistles to the fins, then mounting it on a curved base via two sway-braces. The smaller bombs are each two parts including the fins, each one fitting into the large base in recesses. The bomb carrier cart is the most complex assembly, consisting of sixteen parts, including three small wheels and the crutch that carries the bomb, raising it by moving the handle above the pivot to pump it up into position. The last assembly is a large fire extinguisher with a flared nozzle on the hose, mounted on a tubular frame that is raised to an angle, using the top of the tubular frame as a pull-handle and rolling along on two cart-style wheels, totalling ten parts overall. Markings There are no decals, and no painting guide to speak of, but there are colour cues on the front of the box that should help you choose the correct shades for these accessories. Conclusion Whilst many recently tooled Luftwaffe models do include some weapons, these are extremely well-detailed compared to the usual kit parts, and the accessories won’t be in any kit that I’ve seen, and certainly not as detailed. It’s all in there, and certainly won’t break the bank. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of