Scale Aviation Modeller International Vol.19 Iss. 12

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THE No.1 MARKET LEADER MODEL MAGAZINE

Sweden’s SAAB B 17B reconnaissance/dive bomber

Carry me Home Space Shuttle and SCA

Wingosf the Once there was a War India – Pakistan in 1/72

Apache riant A-36 Allison Mustang Va

Fokker Dr.1 Stripdown Building the Eduard Fokker

First Look

Incorporating

Revell’s Airbus A350-900 A Test Shot Built

Our Monthly look in the Attic Vol 19 Iss 12 DECEMBER 2013 £4.25

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Scale Aviation Modeller International December 2013 | Volume 19 | Issue 12

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Jan Bobek Richard Bolingbroke Paul Bradley Dick Clark Geoff Cooper-Smith Andy Evans John Fox David Francis Mike Grant Ernie Lee Andy McCabe Colin Pickett Chris Sandham-Bailey Jack Trent CONTRIBUTORS THIS MONTH

Andy Brook Damian Campayo Clive Duckworth Tony Grand Andy Hazell David Holman Dave Hooper Paul Janicki Bruce Leyland-Jones Mark Taylor Steve Young

T

he Saab what? Those of you who have bought this magazine for the Mustang on the cover be of good heart. There is indeed an article in here on the A36 Apache – Mr Dick Clark’s excellent rendition of the Italeri issue of the Accurate Miniatures' tooling, a kit as good today as it was when first released round about the time I gave up photographing the sad remnants of the railway network and took up modelling after a lapse of some twenty years or more. This article is a shameless piece of signposting for our excellent new

Datafile release, which I can thoroughly recommend, but is also present here as it is a fine out-of-the-box build of an up-tothe-minute kit release by one of the mainstream names you can expect to see on the High Street shelves – if any such still exist in this day and age. Mr Clark’s work also appears in sister magazine Model Aircraft this month, where his Do 17/Defiant/Bf 109 trio make for a cracking read, and I am only disappointed that I couldn’t feature it in both titles. Here, then, in SAMI, we have something nice and mainstream in the cover article, but in this month’s

Big Build Mark Taylor has – for me at least – brought together all the best and most satisfying elements of the hobby as espoused in these pages: an obscure but fascinating and charismatic aircraft, and a kit produced as much for the love of the subject as for commercial gain, built by a modeller seeking and finding solutions, overcoming problems, and getting a result. All this and we also have Mr Tony Grand presenting an entire war. How on earth did we fit it all in? Simple – we left out a lot of the white spaces. Hope you enjoy this issue as much as I did!

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American shops and trade may obtain copies from Kalmbach Publishing Toll Free 1 800 558 1544 Canadian shops and trade may obtain copies from Gordon & Gotch Toll Free 1 800 438 5005 Scale Aviation Modeller International, Volume 19 Issue 12, December 2013 (ISSN 1356-0530) published monthly by: Media House, 2221 Niagara Falls Blvd, Niagara Falls, NY, 14304-5709. Periodicals postage pending: Niagara Falls, NY. US Postmaster: Send address corrections to: Scale Aviation Modeller International, PO Box 265, Williamsville, NY 14231

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Scale Aviation Modeller International

Build Page 1058

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Contents

Contents SAMI Forward

1058 The Big Build Sweden’s SAAB B 17B By Mark Taylor

SAMI Spotlight

1072 Once there was a War

1088 Clark’s Field

The G-Bird and the Sabre; the Mystère and the Badmash By Tony Grand

Italeri’s A-36 Apache By Dick Clark

A Test Shot Built. By Andy McCabe

1114 Previews

1064 News

An initial glance at this month’s kits received for preview

News and forthcoming products from around the world, including our At a Glance look at this month's new arrivals

1120 Reviews The review team look at more new and recent releases

1068 Czech Out News from the Czech Republic

SAMI Features

1110 Revell’s Airbus A350

1078 Carry me Home The passing of an Era – Space Shuttle and SCA By Andy McCabe

1092 Classic Plastic Our Monthly look in the Attic By Paul Bradley

1126 Accessories New aftermarket releases this month from around the world

1130 Decals This month’s new releases

SAMI Columns

1098 Modellers Portfolio

1070 Show Report Prague 2013 By Colin Pickett

1082 Under my Skin Building the Eduard Fokker Dr.1 Stripdown Kit By Dave Hooper

Pima Pilgrimage, the latest How-To, Canadian Tracker, Benchmarks, and all the rest of our regulars in the SAMI Magazine

Boeing B-47 Stratojet Artwork and scale drawings by Chris Sandham-Bailey

1134 Photo Essay Pima Pilgrimage. By Mike Grant

1138 Techniques The Big Picture. By Mike Grant

A-36 Apache Page 1088

1140 1142 1144 1146 1150

Paint it with Testors Benchmarks Book Reviews On the Road with 580 Modellers And Finally

Cover Illustration by John Fox www.avroart.com www.sampublications.com December 2013

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SAMI Forward

The Big Build

Sweden’s

SAAB B 17B By Mark Taylor

Background and History

The box top illustration

I

n July 2005 I was lucky enough to be attending the Flying Legends Show at Duxford as a Living History Pilot Display on the flight line in front of all those wonderful aircraft. When my friends and I arrived there was a buzz of anticipation on the airfield with people talking about a Swedish B 17 arriving to take part. Now my understanding of all things Swedish aviation was pretty sketchy at the time and while I was aware of their Air Force obtaining many aircraft postwar from both Britain and the United States I had never heard of them having any Flying Fortresses beyond those wartime internees. I was soon put right on this misunderstanding when it was pointed out that the B 17 in question was a reconnaissance/dive bomber built by SAAB. When it arrived I

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Scale Aviation Modeller International

The very extensive decal sheet - generous for such a small model kit The etched set from Maestro Models (made by Eduard) was amazed by its looks, especially the landing gear spats that doubled as dive brakes. I was so taken by it that I even bought the SAAB-produced booklet on the restoration process to get it airborne for SAAB’s 60th Anniversary. The aircraft, which is the property of the Flygvapenmuseum (The Swedish Air Force Museum), was passed to the SAAB Corporation for a group of volunteers and aviation experts to restore for SAAB’s 60th

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Sweden’s SAAB B 17B

The

Build

A comparison of the kit representation of the Mercury Engine (on the right) and the resin replacement from Radial Engines and Wheels

• B 17A Bomber version with Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp engine, Total Production 132 • B 17B Bomber version with copy of Bristol Mercury XXIV engine, Total Production 55 • B 17BL Reconnaissance version on wheeled landing gear, Total Production 21 • B 17BS Reconnaissance version on floats, Total Production 38 • B 17C Bomber version with Piaggio PXI engine, Total Production 77 The aircraft had a short service life in the Swedish Air Force with the postwar advent of jet aircraft and the import of aircraft from the United States and Great Britain. It was retired from service in 1955 with a few aircraft retained and converted to the role of target tugs.

The Resin Porcupine exhaust from Quickboost designed for the Airfix Swordfish but about to be heavily modified for this kit The resin exhaust during modification along with an original one to the front and the kit representation of the exhaust on the left The completed exhaust, comprising four sections, glued and faired into the engine cowling. Note the cooling gills separated using a razor saw (prior to opening up) and also the rescribed cowling panels The cowling test fitted to the main fuselage to check location and position of exhaust and upper intake which has been hollowed out

Saab B 17A Fv17239 of the Flygvapenmuseum (Kogo)

Anniversary in 1997. Restoration work started in September of 1996 culminating in its maiden flight on 11th June 1997 less than nine months later. The SAAB B 17 first flew on 18th May 1940 when SAAB test pilot Claes Smith took off from the grass airstrip at Linköping. A second prototype flew on 3rd June 1941 powered by a Pratt and Whitney engine (the first was powered by a Nohab Mercury engine, this being a licensed copy of the Bristol Mercury engine). The first prototype was equipped with floats and continued testing with water take-off and landing trials at Göteborg/Torslanda in November 1940. First production deliveries were given to the Swedish Air Force in the spring of 1942. Total production of all types was 323 aircraft that were broken down into the following sub-types:

What’s in the box? The plastic parts are well moulded with finely engraved panel lines; some of the parts are, however, far less detailed than found in many other kits. The engine mouldings are particularly poor with almost no detail at all as is the porcupine exhaust needed to model the B 17B that was to be my choice. Other than the engraved panel lines, the kit is very reminiscent of early Airfix or Italeri kits in its approach to moulding and details. The sprue attachments are heavier than those found on some mainstream manufacturers, but that is to be expected from a limitedrun kit. This is in no way meant to be a criticism, as a modeller of limited skill will still be able to build an acceptable model of this aircraft.

Included are parts for all types of aircraft produced, with the different engines, cowls and exhaust configurations pointed out. Also included are parts to build the aircraft with floats or skis as well as the target tug. The clear parts come bagged separately and comprise the front and rear canopy sections (thus allowing the gunner’s position to be modelled open if you wish), the underside viewing windows and wing light covers. The interior is very basic. I have to say that the instruction sheet really lets this kit down. The whole layout is extremely difficult to follow as it shows all parts included in the aircraft at the same time (such as the differing engines, their cowls and exhausts), the parts for the ski undercarriage and also the floats as well as a section for the parts relevant to the target tug version. In the end the best way I could see to make sense of this was to decide which version I was going to build and to use a marker pen to cross out the parts I would not be using. Even doing this I still managed to make a major mistake, but I will keep that one to myself.

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SAMI Forward

The Big Build

The wings showing the locations of the etched panels on the inside and outside The wings after the undercarriage legs have been fitted, note the filler on the rear housing

Additional items Used Overall, the kit should provide modellers with a good example of this unusual aircraft. However, I decided to improve on things by adding some aftermarket accessories to enhance the model further. These included a resin Bristol Mercury engine from Radial Engines and Wheels, and a set of etched parts from Maestro Models (these are actually manufactured by Eduard), which included some plain metal pieces along with coloured etched interior details. Also from Maestro Models came a replacement vacform canopy set. I

Work in progress on detailing the interior with a combination of etched aftermarket parts and items salvaged and/or modified from the spares box. Evergreen plastic strip of various types was also used. Note the seat pad back on the pilot’s seat fashioned from Kneadatite putty

The cockpit centre section after detailing and painting Interior of the aircraft after detail painting, note the lower observation window in place

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Scale Aviation Modeller International

also invested in a couple of porcupine exhausts from Quickboost designed for the Airfix 1/72 Swordfish that with some modification could be used to replace the kit part.

The Engine, Cowling and Exhaust As there is no identifiable order to the instruction sheet, I decided to start on the engine, cowling and exhaust system. The resin Bristol Mercury has some amazing detail and far outshines the kit part. The only problem I could see was mounting it so as to have the correct fit of the cowling to the main fuselage and also to be able to mount the propeller. The first order of play was to enlarge the cowling interior so that the new engine would fit inside. Using a Dremel and various sanding heads this was completed and final adjustment was done with small pieces of wet and dry sandpaper until I was happy with the fit. When done the engine was a push fit into place. At this stage I also thinned the rear edges of the cooling gills and using a razor saw carefully cut the openings between each one. This allowed me to flare the gills slightly for a better look to the cowl. After removing the casting plug from the rear of the engine and sanding it smooth, I then took the kit part and removed the mounting plug from its rear. I took the main fuselage halves and temporarily held them together and the plug was then glued to one half of the fuselage parts only. A small hole was drilled in the centre of both the back of the resin engine and the plastic mount, allowing a plastic pin to be fitted to line up both parts when it came to gluing them together. The plastic mount was gradually sanded back until the engine and cowl fitted correctly to the front of the fuselage. The exhaust provided for the B 17B definitely requires replacing as the kit part bears no resemblance to the actual item. Using the resin exhaust from Quickboost I was able to fashion a replacement by carving away the point where the plastic part would glue to the cowling, and then

adding part of the resin exhaust, faired into the cowling, as a starting point to add the further sections. In all the exhaust was made up of four cut, trimmed and sanded pieces, all of which were drilled and had brass wire inserted to provide strength to the joints. I also rescribed the panels on the cowl as they had been partially lost in the progress. The air-intake is supplied as a solid piece and benefits from some reshaping to correct its appearance, along with opening up for a more realistic look.

Main wing and Undercarriage Construction Whilst the engine and cowl were being worked on I began the main wing construction. Prior to putting the wing halves together an etched panel was glued inside using the lower wing undercarriage opening as a guide for its positioning. The wing halves were then glued together. With both wings glued and the joins sanded smooth it was time to look at fitting the undercarriage. A further etched detail panel is affixed in place where the undercarriage legs are to be mounted. At this point I began to realise that this was going to be no easy kit to build as there is a distinct lack of locating pins or holes for fixing the undercarriage parts. The legs are made up from three pieces, the main leg, the H shaped retracting arm, and a further small hydraulic retracting ram from the H arm to the wing. After gluing the main leg and H arm together, and dryfitting them to the wing whilst the glue set to get the angles correct, I decided to replace the retracting ram with a piece of plastic rod. This would be a little over scale but would to allow me to drill into it and use some brass rod to assist when it came to fixing the parts to the underside of the wing. The main leg was also drilled out to accept brass rod. The wing was drilled at the points that the undercarriage would fit and superglue was used to fix the whole assembly together. The rear housing parts had a couple of sink marks that needed filling and sanding before they were glued to the wing.

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Sweden’s SAAB B 17B

Building and detailing the Cockpit The cockpit as supplied is extremely basic and consists of a floor insert to which are attached the pilot’s and gunner’s seats, a joystick and a four-legged apex (actually this is part of the aerial mount) that goes on a raised section between the pilot and gunner compartments. A basic instrument panel is included. The rear machine gun is also supplied along with a spent cartridge tube and a cartridge belt, although the gun is of terrible quality and is grossly over scale for the Swedish copy of the American 0.30 Calibre Light Machine Gun. Because of the lack of interior detail and the large area to fill in both the pilot’s and gunner’s compartments I decided to add extra detail using a commercial etched set along with some scratch building. The details from the etched fret are very good though some of the locations for items in the instructions included with it do not tally with the interior photos of the preserved aircraft supplied by the museum (I discounted using any photos of the interior of the restored flying aircraft as much has been changed to comply with modern air safety regulations). Besides the etched parts, I supplemented the detail with some scratch building of further radio sets, oxygen cylinders, wiring harnesses and further structural detail to the rear of the machine gun mount. The pilot’s seat has a very large rear pad and this was formed using Kneadatite epoxy putty. The interior was primed using Halfords Grey spray primer, and when this was dry it was airbrushed with Vallejo Model Air 010 Interior Green. This colour appeared to be a good match to the interior seen in the photos of the preserved aircraft. A thin wash of Citadel Paints Badab Black was applied and allowed to settle in the recesses, and then the highlights were picked out by dry brushing using their Codex Grey. The floors and the seat edges were also dry brushed using Citadel’s Bolt Gun Metal to simulate the paint being worn away down to bare metal. Further details in the cockpit were picked out using Bleached Bone for the pilot’s back pad with

a wash of Gryphonne Sepia, Blood Red for the cylinder to the right in front of the pilot’s feet, Bestial Brown for the joystick grip and a couple of lever knobs, all again from Citadel. Once all of this had been completed it was time to start fitting the pre-painted etched parts - radio panels, seat belts etc, and there went a few more evenings.

Test fitting everything before gluing the fuselage halves together

The resin engine painted and details highlighted using washes and dry brushing

Using clamps to ensure that the join of the fuselage at the nose was perfectly lined up

Fuselage and Wings The fuselage halves had their mating faces cleaned up of all paint and primer to allow for a good join. This was carried out by doing the front fuselage joint first and holding the parts in line with some small clamps to ensure a good joint. After this was allowed to dry the rear of the fuselage was given the same treatment and the joints were allowed to dry overnight before cleaning them up the next evening. Cleaning up was an easy process using various grades of sanding sticks and finally a polishing stick to restore the smooth surface. Some rescribing of the panel lines was also necessary after the sanding process. It was then time to start attaching the wings and horizontal stabilisers. The main wing joint is a face-to-face one with just two small rounded pegs for alignment. This I thought was going to cause some problems, but on attaching the wings, using liquid glue on both surfaces to soften them, the resulting join was very good and positive. Any excess glue that squeezed out of the join was immediately wiped clean. The same was also found when fitting the stabilisers. All of the control surfaces come as

The aircraft after attachment of the main wings, horizontal stabilizers and cowl have been attached. Note all the control surfaces are separate and can be posed however you wish.

Designed as a divebomber, the Flygvapenmuseum's B 17 is an S 17 reconnaissance version. Note the huge undercarriage covers, which doubled up as dive brakes (Alan Wilson)

separate pieces allowing the builder free range to position them as they wish. At this point I decided to remove the bumps on the leading edge of the wing that are supposed to represent the wing guns and replace them with scale metal 0.30 calibre barrels as used on the rear gun.

Rear Machine Gun As stated earlier the gun supplied is of little use, meaning that the whole machine gun and mounting assembly needs work to replace it. Using the 0.30 calibre Browning taken from an old Airfix Dauntless I removed the gun barrel to leave me just the body. The front of this was drilled out to take a brass 0.30 calibre barrel with fully detailed perforated jacket and barrel opening. For the purists out there I will say now that this barrel is not a perfect match for the Swedish copy of this weapon (the pattern of the perforations being different) but it is far more accurate than the alternative. Various pieces of plastic card, rod and metal were used to detail the gun and to make the spent case chute. A www.sampublications.com December 2013

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SAMI Forward

The Big Build

rudimentary sight was made by using fine wire and twisting it around the barrel. The machine gun mount was installed into the rear fuselage and the small cutout for the barrel was carefully filed into both the metal and plastic parts.

Canopy Parts Before cutting out the parts of the vacform replacement canopy the whole thing was given a good wash with detergent to remove any trace of oils from the moulding process. The parts were then cut out and given another quick wash and dried before being dipped in Klear. Never having used vacform replacements I decided to look online at the best method for gluing them to the kit. Various different methods were found

including using white PVA wood glue. Whilst out shopping at a local model shop I came across a bottle of Formula 560, which is subtitled on the bottle as ‘the world's best canopy glue’, so I invested in a bottle and gave it a try. It has a consistency and appearance just like PVA. I used it to glue the main front canopy part to the model, but had already decided to leave the rear canopy loose to allow a view of the rear gun. The glue was allowed to harden overnight. The next evening I checked the model and the glue had dried clear and the

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Scale Aviation Modeller International

A comparison of the kit-supplied rear machine gun and empty case chute to my scratchbuilt replacement. Note the use of metal and plastic to build the receiver and chute along with a commercially available 0.30 calibre machine gun barrel

bond seemed quite strong. With this sorted I decided to mask the canopies with kabuki tape ready for painting, and half way through this process I noticed that while pressing on the canopy to affix the tape that part of the join had moved. I was able to return it to the correct position and left the model a further 24 hours to allow for further setting of the glue. Eventually all the masking was completed and the canopy section only was then given a spray of VMA Interior Green.

The replacement machine gun painted and fitted in place

Priming and Painting

The scratchbuilt front sight arrangement

The whole aircraft was given a coat of Halford’s Grey Primer from a spray can. The

loose pieces to be attached later (undercarriage covers, wheels, propeller and aerial) were also primed at this stage and the model was given a day for the primer to harden fully. When I looked at it the next day I was greeted with the sight of the primer around the canopy join lifting away with the glue that had squeezed out of the join onto the fuselage. To correct this I took a new knife blade and carefully cut away the excess glue, trying not to damage anything in the process. When this was done there was still an area where the canopy met the fuselage that was neither smooth nor clean. Not wanting to use any more of the canopy glue I decided to apply a thin amount of superglue to the join and to pray that when the mask was removed that the canopy would not be fogged. After some further clean-up of a few joins I was happy to apply some more primer and the end result was to my satisfaction. The panel lines on the model were pre-shaded with

Vallejo Black-Grey 056. The underside was sprayed with Barley Grey 051 and then a couple of drops of white were added to the cup and the centres of the panels were lightened slightly. The model was then masked and the upper surfaces were sprayed with Dark Green 012, and again white was used to lighten the shade and the panel centres sprayed.. These last two colours seem to match the colours seen in original photos of period Swedish Aircraft along with those preserved in the Museum. The propeller was sprayed Chrome 064 to match the polished natural metal finish seen in photos of the aircraft in use. It was then given a wash of Citadel’s Badab Black to help pick out the details. Once the paint had dried the model was given a couple of coats of Johnson’s Klear ready for the application of the decals. As I had decided to build the B 17B version I had a choice of two schemes for a land based aircraft. I opted for aircraft 0/7 of the 2nd Division F7 Skaraborgs Flygflottilj whose insignia was a Blue Lion Rampant on a white shield background. On applying the decals a few of them were problematic, in that after the usual immersion in warm water parts of the backing glue would still not soften to be able to slide the decal. On looking at the reverse of the backing paper it was apparent that at some stage of the printing something had been splashed on it. These

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Sweden’s SAAB B 17B

spots only showed up after dipping the paper in water. To try and remedy this using a craft knife I scored the reverse of the paper where the spots appeared in the hope that this would allow the water through to release the glue. This met with moderate success, but in three of the national insignias I ended up with decals with small areas missing. I decided to press on and apply all the decals and then when finished I would go about fixing the damage done. The decals in the main went on well but were very resistant to any softening solutions to try and get them to conform to the panel lines. I also added two sets of 5digit black code numbers as found on Swedish aircraft but strangely missing on the decal sheet. To try and fix the damaged decals I turned to my range of Citadel paints and used Enchanted Blue and a mix of Golden Yellow and Bad Moon Yellow to match the blue and yellow of the national insignia. When this touching up was finished and fully dried the model was given another coating with Klear to seal the decals.

Finishing Touches The panel lines were picked out using a thin application of Citadel Black Ink. Looking at the exhaust you may well be wondering why the flared end was not opened up but in photos of the actual

exhaust on the aircraft the main vent is a slot under the flared area and this was represented by painting the relevant area black. The whole aircraft was then given two coats of Vallejo Matt Varnish 059. It was at this point that I held my breath and said a little prayer before removing the canopy masks, but to my relief the glazing was still perfectly clear. The undercarriage legs had their oleo sections painted Mithril Silver to simulate the polished metal of the suspension. The main wheels were fitted along with the spats, and the main aerial and the lower DF loop were also attached. The glazing for the wing lights had the reverse of the parts drilled out partially so as to represent the lens under the glass. The wing navigation lights were painted silver then had Citadel’s red and green inks painted over to represent the coloured glass. The aerial wire was made from a fine filament of black nylon from an old pair of tights. I decided against any weathering on this

The model with the canopy fitted and masked prior to undercoating and painting

model as its peacetime use was short and photographs suggest that the airframes were well maintained and show no discernible damage to the paintwork. All that was done was to airbrush some mild exhaust staining using a mix of red-brown and black Model Air acrylics thinned with isopropanol.

Final Thanks Fully painted and Klear-coated and the decals applied.

I would like to take the time to express my heartfelt thanks to the staff at the Flygvapenmuseum in Sweden for all their help and assistance with accommodating my numerous requests for photos of various parts of their preserved B 17, in particular Sandra Johansson Marketing and Public Relations Manager, Anders Sandstrom and Rickard Lindqvist, Curators of the Museum.

The

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SAMI Forward

News

in association with

News in December 2013

O

uch! The first frost of the year and the boiler has been striving in vain to heat the extension, at the end of which the workbench is slowly taking on the aspect once more of the Wehrmacht’s drive on Moscow. Fluids coagulate, resolve breaks down, and all forward progress grinds to a halt as the freeze creeps in. Looks like it's time to beat a retreat to the warmer reaches of the house to bespatter the table and see if our solvents can wreck the carpet to an extent the children have so far failed to achieve with their gentler

concoctions of spilled bolognaise and ELC craft products. Or maybe a winter of ‘fantasy modelling’ – in bed with a pile of references and decal sheets, planning next year’s collections? Either way we need to keep an eye on the marketplace, and with this end in mind, let’s take a look at the News…

Subscribers’ Monthly Prize Draw – November 2013 Mr Didier, France – Winner Mr Barbaszynski, Poland – Winner Mr Alfredson, Australia – Winner Entry to the monthly prize draw is FREE to all subscribers

A Model Have you seen those 1/72 Dornier Do 26s? Where did they spring from! My word it’s a personable aircraft! Two boxings are currently available offering the Do 26 V2 in pre-war markings (#72272), and the wartime Do 26D (#72266). UK importer Hannants have no UK

produce as yet, but while we are aware some Amodel releases linger in the ‘coming soon’ file for a long time, the presence of finished boxart suggests these will be sooner rather than later.

Italeri The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, result of the Joint Strike Fighter program, is the ultimate close support and strike fighter. Its extreme flexibility makes it

suitable also for the air superiority role. The new 1/72 kit offers three decal options, and is a completely original mould. Revised releases include the Stuka, now as a tank-busting G, and the Hs 123 in 1/48, while in 1/72 the Bf 110 is back as a G-4.

Kitty Hawk Now arrived from Kitty Hawk is the 1/48 Mirage F.1CT/CR (#80111), along with the MiG-25PD/PDS Foxbat E (#80119) in the same scale.

1064 | December 2013

Scale Aviation Modeller International

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Bunny Fighter Club Novemberfest First Creative Tour at Eduard For the first time Eduard will be opening its doors to the public this November 29th – 30th. The tour will offer a peek under the hood of one of the most respected Czech model manufacturing companies. You’ll be able to try out their technology and will return home with a unique limited-edition kit, that you’ll manufacture yourself!

Basic Agenda 29th November 2013 – 16:00 – 23:00 • Arrivals, accommodating attendees. Special rates have been negotiated with neighbouring hotels. • Evening meeting at Integrated leisure-time activities centre in Obrnice 30th November 2013 – 9:00 – 24:00 • Creative tour • Lunch • Evening meeting with reception Tours will happen in groups of twelve people and will be

accompanied by a guide throughout the individual production areas. There will be special groups for English speaking visitors.

Price Fixed participant fee 40US$/30EUR – includes food, full day program and exclusive kit. This will be the MiG-15 in 1/72 with photo-etched and Brassin accessories, in a package created exclusively for this occasion. If you read this too late to book, then just remember to keep an eye out for future similar events! Remember – Eduard always delivers a full package!

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A very busy month, we are pleased to see, with a raft of Hasegawa reissues joined by their new Osprey, and for those who like a bargain it’s a HobbyBoss month, with a selection of easy assembly releases, as well as variants on a couple of previous releases. And of course the Czechs have been busy as ever…

Airfix announce the re-release of the Airfix 1/24 Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vb kit, with markings for 5th Fighter Squadron, 52nd Fighter Group, USAAF, North Africa, Winter 1943, and a machine from 401 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force, Redhill, UK, July 1943.

Minicraft

14627 1/144 KC-135E In the early 1950s the US Air Force

needed a new high-speed jet transport capable of providing midair refuelling for the new high speed jet bombers coming into service. The C/KC-135 design was chosen and has now served in the United States Air Force for almost fifty years making it among the longest serving ‘front-line’ aircraft in history. The new Minicraft KC-135E represents the KC-135 as it served Air National Guard units after extensive modifications made to extend the service life of the early KC-135A. This new kit features allnew tooling, recessed panel lines, detailed main landing gear bay and markings for two United States ANG KC-135E aircraft, including the wellknown ‘Tiger’ scheme seen on the New Jersey machine in 2004.

Hasegawa New limited editions announced from Hasegawa include a 1/72 Ju 88T-1 – a variant often overlooked but nonetheless of interest for its long-range reconnaissance role – the bomb bay fitted with extra fuel tanks.

1/72 • HAS-02073 Ju 88T-1 Limited Edition • HAS-02074 CV-22B Osprey US Air Force Limited Edition

1/48 • HAS-07362 Mitsubishi A6M5C 721st Zero Limited Edition • HAS-07364F-15DJ Eagle Aggressor Limited Edition

SAMI Forward

AT A GLANCE

Airfix

11674 1/48 Piper Cherokee on floats The new Minicraft Cherokee on floats is a new addition to the Minicraft ‘vacation series’ of small aircraft. These special floatequipped aircraft are used for landing in remote undeveloped areas near lakes and waterways. The kit features new float mounts, floats, removable engine cowling that displays the detailed air-cooled engine, and new decals printed by Cartograf with a choice of two marking options, USA and Canada.

News

1/200 • HAS-10718 ANA B777-300ER Limited Edition • HAS-108011/200 JAL B777-200ER Limited Edition • HAS-10802 KC-767 J/E & 767 AWACS combo (two kits) Limited Edition

A Model #14412 1/144 de Havilland Canada C-7B CARIBOU (military version) A Model #14468 1/144 de Havilland Canada DHC-4A Caribou (UN version) A Model #72255 1/72 MBB Bo-105 Academy #12505 1/72 McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18C Chippy Ho 1995 Airfix #12005A 1/24 Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vb AML #72055 1/72 Nakajima C3N1 AMT #825 1/48 Gloster Metor Mk 1 Anigrand Craftswork #2118 1/72 Fairchild C-82A Packet Anigrand Craftswork #2119 1/72 VFW-Fokker VAK-191B Art Model #7215 1/72 Sukhoi Su-25 Frogfoot Azur #11172 1/72 Morane-Saulnier MS.406C 1 Azur #11272 1/72 PZL P.11c First Shots Cyber-Hobby #3223 1/32 Messerschmitt Bf 109E-7 Trop Cyber-Hobby #5105 1/72 de Havilland Sea Vixen FAW.2 Cyber-Hobby #5112 1/72 de Havilland Sea Vampire F.20 Eduard #1183 1/48 Lavochkin La-5FN Eduard #8282 1/48 Supermarine Spitfire Mk IXc early version ProfiPACK Eduard #8465 1/48 Polikarpov I-16 Type 18 Eduard #8494 1/48 Dassault Mirage IIICJ FLY #32004 1/32 Rotachute Mk I FLY #32005 1/32 Rotachute Mk III FLY #72027 1/72 Rotachute Mk IV FLY #72028 1/72 Messerschmitt Bf 108B/D Taifun in Luftwaffe Service FLY #72029 1/72 Messerschmitt Bf 108B/D Taifun Post-War Service Frrom-Azur #023 1/72 PZL P.11F Rumania Hasegawa #02034 1/72 Fuji T-1A Hasegawa #02035 1/72 Convair F-102A Delta Dagger and Convair F-106A Delta Dart Hasegawa #02036 1/72 Grumman F9F-8 Cougar Combo Hasegawa #02037 1/72 Junkers Ju 88C-6 Nachtjäger Hasegawa #02038 1/72 Nakajima Ki-27 Type 97 Fighter (Nate) Nomonhan Aces Hasegawa #02048 1/72 Kawanishi H6K5 Type 97 Flying Boat Model 23 with Radar Hasegawa #02049 1/72 Panavia Tornado IDS Italian Air Force 25TH Anniversary Hasegawa #02050 1/72 Mitsubishi Ki-46 III Type 100 Hasegawa #02051 1/72 Eurofighter EF-2000B Typhoon two-seater Hasegawa #02052 1/72 Mitsubishi Ki-109 Experimental Interceptor Hasegawa #02053 1/72 Republic F-105B/D Thunderchief Combo Hasegawa #02054 1/72 North American P-51B Mustang D-Day Marking Combo Hasegawa #02055 1/72 Lockheed P-3C Block IIIA Orion JMSDF Hasegawa #02056 1/72 Sikorsky UH-60J(SP) Rescue Hawk Chitose Special Markings Hasegawa #07334 1/48 Supermarine Spitfire Mk VI 616 Squadron Hasegawa #07335 1/48 Nakajima B6N1 Carrier Attack Bomber Tenzan Hasegawa #07336 1/48 AH-64D Apache Royal Netherlands Air Force Hasegawa #07337 1/48 Junkers Ju 87R-2 Stuka Desert Snake Hasegawa #07341 1/48 Kawasaki T-4 Blue Impulse 2012/2013 Hasegawa #07342 1/48 SAAB J 35 Draken Demonstrator Hasegawa #07343 1/48 Nakajima C6N1 343RD Flying Group Hasegawa #07344 1/48 Mitsubishi A6M7 Zero Fighter Type 62 Hasegawa #08233 1/32 Mitsubishi J2M3 Raiden (JACK) Type 21 302nd Flying Group Hasegawa #09821 1/48 Mitsubishi A6M8 'Zero' Type 54/64 Hasegawa #10697 1/200 Boeing B787-8 Demonstrator Hasegawa #E41 1/72 Bell-Boeing MV-22B Osprey Hasegawa #MU01 1/16 Sopwith Camel F.1 Hasegawa #PT033 1/48 Douglas A-4M Skyhawk Hasegawa #PT039 1/48 Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet VFA-115 HobbyBoss #80287 1/72 Junkers Ju 87G-1 Stuka HobbyBoss #80296 1/72 Soviet Pe-2 Bomber HobbyBoss #80297 1/72 Junkers Ju 88 Fighter HobbyBoss #80369 1/48 Messerschmitt Me 262A-1 HobbyBoss #81707 1/48 Antonov An-2M Colt HobbyBoss #81717 1/48 Focke-Wulf Fw 190 D-10 HobbyBoss #81722 1/48 Northrop YF-23 Prototype HobbyBoss #81723 1/48 Lockheed F-80A Shooting Star HPH Models #48014R 1/48 L-200 Morava HR Model #72036 1/72 Phönix C.I Lloyd Italeri #1314 1/72 Messerschmitt Bf 110G-4 Italeri #1340 1/72 Eurofighter EF-2000B Typhoon Italeri #2722 1/48 Junkers Ju 87G-2 Stuka Kinetic #3204 1/32 McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18A/B/C/D Kora #72157 1/72 EFW C-3604 Prototypes in WWII Kora #72158 1/72 EFW C-3604 in Swiss Service Kora #72159 1/72 EFW C-3603 in Swiss Service Kora #72165 1/72 Benes-Mraz Be-51 civil Kora #72166 1/72 Benes-Mraz Be-51B military

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SAMI Forward

News

Revell New from Revell will be a range of spray colours, with the thirty-two most frequently used Revell colours now available in convenient 100ml

in association with

spray cans. Let us hope ‘Fiery Red’ has made it onto the short list! Revell Spray Colour is a series of acrylic paints which dry after only thirty minutes, have a high opacity and are scratch-resistant. Once dry, it can be painted over with Enamel Colour and Aqua Colour. For further information visit www.revell.eu

The One True Scale Shed Models and Decals Shed have several models on the workbench ready to be produced. Firstly, the new Sea Dart. This new kit has a correct nose and the option of twin or a single skid. The next models will be the ArmstrongWhitworth Meteor NF.11, NF.12, NF.13 and NF.14, along with a new Supermarine Walrus with some colourful civil options among the decals. The model is designed to go together easily and is very strong when finished. Hawker Hunters F.6 and F.9 follow. The intakes and exhaust on the new model are separate to allow depth. The next all-new tooling after this will be is the Douglas Skylancer. As far as I know, no 1/200 model of this has been made before. The Skylancer was basically the area-ruled corrected Skyray (think F-102 to F-106) and was a very fine aircraft. Only four were built but they had a busy and colourful life with NACA and NASA. Many people had their first experience of flight in a D.H. Fox Moth

flying from a beach or playing field. Shed have a kit due that can be made with a closed or open cockpit, and it will make a nice companion to the D.H. 86 Express, which joins the Dragon Rapide, and can be built as both the D.H. 86A and D.H. 86B. Shed tell us they have often been told by people who like dioramas that they would like some GA models for the backgrounds, so they are doing a Cessna 172. This will have options as a military trainer and civilian aircraft. Finally, Shed are waiting for the master of the Saunders Roe SR.N1 hovercraft to arrive. There is a great deal more to report in the One True Scale, and Shed Models’ output is just the tip of the iceberg. A number of other prolific manufacturers are producing kits in 1/200 under this umbrella, so take a look at www.the-one-truescale.co.uk and see what it’s all about!

Academy Arriving Soon from Academy is the next F-4 boxing in 1/48 - Col. Robin Olds' F-4C Phantom II SKAT XXVII, expected for release in November 2013. During the Vietnam War, Olds commanded an F-4C fighter squadron stationed in Thailand. He was instrumental in creating ‘Operation Bolo’, an operation designed to destroy the North Vietnamese People's Air Force. During this mission Colonel Olds destroyed one of seven NVPAF MiG-21 fighters downed that day. This was his first combat kill in twenty-two years. Later on, during his tour of duty, he

1066 | December 2013

destroyed another three aircraft to bring his lifetime total kills to sixteen. This model comes on the heels of Academy's popular F-4B Phantom II that has become a solid hit with modellers.

Scale Aviation Modeller International

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Roden Now available from Roden: # 320 1/144 Boeing 720 United This short and medium-haul variant of the well-known Boeing 707 differed from its predecessor with a shorter fuselage, a wing with greater sweep angle and new engineering. Series production lasted from 1960 to 1969, during which 154 machines were built, but despite the expectations of its developers, the type did not have the same success as the Boeing 707 and therefore production was brought to an end. Overseas customers included

Germany, Israel, Ethiopia, Ireland and Pakistan, and in some of these countries aircraft remained in service until the early 1990s. # 449 1/48 Pilatus PC-6 B2/H4 Turbo Porter This is the latest and most modern version of the famed short take-off and landing aircraft. The main differences are a more powerful engine, a four-blade airscrew, redesigned wing tips and the facility to install radar under the wing. Today the PC-6/B2-H4 is still operated by the Air Forces of France, Switzerland, Austria, Brazil and other countries.

Fisher Coming soon in 1/32 is the Ryan STM / PT-20 full kit, in versions with either floats or spatted wheels. Decals cover US, Australian and Dutch examples plus the usual exquisite resin castings that you've come to expect. A beautiful aircraft and companion piece to the PT-22. Wingspan is 11.3 inches.

Wingnuts Two new 1/32 models are available to order now from the Wingnut Wings website: #32021 Fokker E.1 (Early) US$69.00 Includes markings for five aircraft: • 1. Fokker E.1 1/15, Otto Parschau, June-July 1915 (8 victories) • 2. Fokker E.1 5/15, Kurt Wintgens, FFA 6b, July 1915 (19 victories) • 3. Fokker E.1 8/15, Uffz. Kneiste, FFA 62, August 1915 • 4. Fokker E.1 13/15, Max Immelmann (15 victories) & Oswald Boelcke (40 victories), FFA 62, August 1915 • 5. Fokker E.1 14/15, Eduard Böhme, FFA 9b, August 1915 (2 victories)

#32029 Fokker E.IV US$69.00 • 1. Fokker E.IV 122/15 prototype, Anthony Fokker & Otto Parschau (8 victories), September 1915 • 2. Fokker E.IV 127/15, Max Immelmann, FFA 62, January 1916 (15 victories) • 3. Fokker E.IV 638/15, Karl Albert, Albert Oesterreicher, Alfred Prehn (1 victory), Wilhelm Viereck (2 victories) & Kurt Wintgens? (19 victories), KEK 3, mid-late 1916 • 4. Fokker E.IV 161/16, Lt Müller, Kest 6, April 1917 • 5. Fokker E.IV 163/16, Kurt Student, AOK 3 Fokkerstaffel, August 1916 (6 victories)

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resulted not simply in reducing the size of parts from the larger kit, but a certain amount of combining and condensing the structure to cater for the smaller size. The engine is a particularly nice piece of tooling! SWS starts this new 1/48 series by offering the mystery, charm and power of the Shinden. But don't miss out – this kit is expected to sell out as quickly as the 1/32 version!

Anigrand Three exciting new releases announced from Anigrand:

1/72 • Raytheon Sentinel R 1 Airborne Stand-Off radar system - Nov 2013 • Sikorsky S-42. First of the Flying Clippers - Dec 2013

1/144 • Sukhoi T-4 Sokta Soviet supersonic bomber - Jan 2014

HobbyBoss No let-up here, with some major new toolings coming into play, as well as a nice second take on the F-80 kit:

1/48 #81724 RF-80A Shooting Star #81726 F-84F Thunderstreak #81708 A-6A Intruder

1/72 #80288 A5M2 Claude

Claude is an ‘Easy Assembly’ kit, with a basic twenty parts – let’s hope someone gets some decal sheets out for it soon, as it looks to be a fast build and one to line up by the dozen. My money is on Authentic or Print Scale…

Cyber-Hobby

Last minute news of new releases from Italeri:

Kora #72167 1/72 Benes-Mraz Be-51B/C Luftwaffe Kora #72168 1/72 Benes-Mraz Be-51C Croatian Kora #72169 1/72 Desoutter Mk II Sports Coupe (British and New Zealand) Kora #72170 1/72 Desoutter Mk II Sports Coupe Kora #72171 1/72 Desoutter Mk II Sports Coupe (Finnish) Kora #72172 1/72 Koolhoven FK.41 (Dutch Service) Lindberg #I70554 1/48 Lockheed F-94C Starfire Minicraft #11675 1/48 Cessna 150 Minicraft #14672 1/144 Lockheed C-130B USAF Minicraft #14681 1/144 Tupolev Tu-22M Backfire Mirage #481313 1/48 PZL.43A - September 1939 version Modelsvit #7204 1/72 Mikoyan MiG-21 I-2 ( Analog A-144-2) MPM #72575 1/72 Douglas DB-7C Japanese Fuku Chan Manga Captured Boston. Omega Models #48035 1/48 Borovkov-Florov I-207 4 FAB 250 Omega Models #48038 1/48 ER Engels I (Gnome 100hp) Omega Models #48039 1/48 Fokker V 17 German fighter prototype Omega Models #48043 1/48 ER Engels II with skis Omega Models #48044 1/48 Hansa Brandenburg CC Benz III (Germany) Omega Models #48046 1/48 Hansa Brandenburg CC (GF von Banfield) Omega Models #72513 1/72 SIPA 10 (French Arado Ar 396) Omega Models #72516 1/72 Arado Ar 396 (Czech, Germany) Omega Models #72517 1/72 Avia BH-19 1 Omega Models #72519 1/72 Praga BH-244 (Czech) Omega Models #72520 1/72 Praga BH-344 (Czech) Omega Models #72532 1/72 Grushin Sch-tandem (1st prototype) Omega Models #72535 1/72 Grushin Sch-tandem M-82 PH Models #72103 1/72 Blackburn Botha Mk I Revell #03981 1/72 Focke-Wulf Ta 152H Revell #03982 1/72 Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien 'Tony' Revell #04834 1/48 Sikorsky CH-53GA Revell #04871 1/144 Tupolev Tu-144 Revell #04874 1/48 McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18C Hornet Swiss Air Force Revell #04875 1/72 McDonnell F-4F Phantom JG71 Last Flight RS Models #92142 1/72 Bell P-39Q Airacobra RS Models #92151 1/72 Bell TP-39Q Airacobra RS Models #92152 1/72 Morane-Saulner MS.405 RS Models #92153 1/72 Henschel Hs 132A - with BMW 003 engine RS Models #92154 1/72 Henschel Hs 132B with Jumo 004 engine and extra cannon RS Models #92155 1/72 Lockheed P-38D Lightning S & M Models #7219 1/72 Curtiss C-46 'Fred Olsen Issue' (ex Williams Bros kit) S & M Models #7220 1/72 Curtiss C-46 'British Issue' (ex Williams Bros kit) SOVA/A Model #14467-2 1/144 Let L-410MA / L-410MU Turbolet Special Hobby #48144 1/48 Morane-Saulnier 30E1 Polish Sword #72076 1/72 C6N1-S Saiun (Myrt) Night Fighter Tamiya #60784 1/72 Mitsubishi A6M3 Zero Model 32 Hamp Trumpeter #01637 1/72 Focke-Wulf Fw 200C-3 Condor Trumpeter #02874 1/48 de Havilland Vampire FB.5 Valom #14404 1/144 RAF Royal-Aircraft-Factory S.E.5A Welsh Models #CLS7217 1/72 Boeing 727-100 Series Lufthansa Original and Later Welsh Models #CLS7218 1/72 Boeing 727-100 Series WA Twin Globes livery Welsh Models #MJ7203 1/72 Boeing 737-700 with winglets Alaska Airlines Zvezda #7403 1/144 Mil-24VP

This Month in Model Aircraft

Following in the footsteps of CMR, kitting the twin-boom de Havilland family down to the last degree, the latest release from Cyber-Hobby is the Venom NF.3 (#5116).

Late News from Italeri

SAMI Forward

AT A GLANCE

Zoukei Mura Dark heretics that we are, some of us have been eagerly awaiting the scaled-down versions of some of Zoukei-Mura’s masterpieces, and the first of these is now upon us, in the shape of the Kyushu J7W Shinden. The airframe and internal structure of the 1/32 Shinden have been scaled down to 1/48. This has

News

1/72 • 1337S F-16A ‘Special colors’ • 0017S AH-6 Night Fox

1/32 • 2502S F-104G/S Starfighter (New Tooling)

• Airwars Air Arms – The Hellenic Air Force • Firefly Forward – Fairey Firefly walkaround – Yeovilton’s TT.4 • Easy Build Buffalo – HobbyBoss F2A • Dogfight over Goodwin Sands – A Triptych in 1/72 • Off the Scales! – Antonov’s An-124 Ruslan in 1/72 • Modellers Portfolio – British Spooks. F-4 Phantom Plans and Profiles by Peter Scott • Hellenic Hurricanes – Hawker’s Finest in Greek Service • Three Shades of Frog – The T-2 in Warpaint!

• Revell’s Big Lynx • Red Dog’s Replica – P-51D in 1/32 • Workbench – This Month’s Project Plus our usual columns and regular features

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SAMI Forward

Czech News

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Czech Out

www.cmkkits.com

By Colin ‘Flying’ Pickett

Our monthly look at News from the Czech Republic MPM First from the MPM stable this month under the Azur label is the reissue of the PZL.24F / PZL.24G in ‘Greek Defender’ guise. Prior the Second World War the PZL company succeeded in exporting these all metal, high wing monoplanes (sometimes called Pulawski or gull wing) aircraft to several air forces. Compared to the PZL.11 the more modern PZL.24 featured higher performance along with heavier armament. To its detriment the Polish Air Force never acquired these fighters, however Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece found the PZL.24 more than useful. The kit contains two sprues of grey plastic parts, an injected canopy, detailed resin and photoetched parts, along with decals for four different aircraft. Now new is the North-American T-2 Buckeye in its 'Red & White Trainer' boxing (#32037). The kit contains six sprues of grey plastic parts; three of them are injected from short run moulds (fuselage, wings and a sprue with control surfaces) and the remaining three are injected from metal moulds (two with small parts and clear parts), accompanied by detailed resin and photo-etched parts. Due to their size the decals are printed on two sheets and contain stencils as well as instrument panels. Decals include markings for three aircraft. This is joined by the NorthAmerican T-2 Buckeye 'Camouflaged Trainer' boxing (#32059). In addition

to its common trainer role in white and red markings the T-2 aircraft flew or still flies in different camouflage colours. T-2s served with the US Navy’s VF-43 Challengers, the Aggressor unit that operates from NAS Oceania. This unit's T-2s served in typical aggressor camouflage consisting of various grey colours. The export versions, the T-2D for Venezuela and T-2E for Greece, received camouflage of two greens and earth brown on upper surfaces and light grey on lower. The Greek machines are equipped with a gunsight and some of them even carry weapons pylons. In addition to the parts common to kit #32037 this

kit contains more photo-etched parts. Resin parts include the T-2E gunsight and pylons. More detail has come to light regarding the forthcoming Hawker Tempest Mk V (#32049). The kit will include decals for NV969 coded SA-A of 486 (NZ) Sqn. RAF, Fassberg base, Germany, April 1945. NV969 was used as the personal aircraft of squadron commander, New Zealander Sqn Ldr Warren ‘Smokey’ Schrader, DFC and Bar. ‘Smokey’ scored, 9.5 victories, mostly in the cockpit of NV969, from 10th April 1945 to 1st May1945 becoming the second most successful Tempest pilot after Sqn Ldr Fairbainks.

Valom Valom’s new kit on the block is a reissue of their Bristol Brigand B Mk I, this time with markings for both Pakistan and RAF aircraft (#72081). The Bombay has been cancelled, but we can look forward to a pair of Magisters. What more…?

1068 | December 2013

Scale Aviation Modeller International

In partnership with Frrom Azur, MPM will be bringing us a 1/32 kit of what many regard as one of the most attractive aircraft of WWII in the form of the IAR.81-C (#FR8001). The IAR.80/81 fighter was the only home designed fighter put in service by Rumania during the conflict. The aircraft was used first against the Soviet Union, then taking part in the defence of the Ploisti oil complexes, where it fought against the US Liberators and P-38 Lightnings. Then, after the coup of the 23rd of August 1944, the IAR.80s and 81s were engaged against Germany and Hungary with the Soviet Union, until the German capitulation. SAM Publications book on the IAR.80 will be the perfect reference for this aircraft, and is available now so you can get some revision underway. The kit is due to be completed ready for release by the end of the year. Also of note is the development of a range of 1/72 Fouga Magisters, which will be available in CM.170 trainer and CM.175 Maritime Trainer variants along with IAF, French AF, Luftwaffe and Belgian.

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Czech News

AML

Eduard

Due soon is AML’s 1/72 kit of the Siebel Si 202A/Si 202B (#72054) Hummel or ‘Bumble Bee’, the low wing 1930s German light sports monoplane, which has an angular style typical of the period and makes for a most attractive proposition.

Eduard’s ‘La-5FN of Soviet aces’ 1/48 (#1183) is based on the excellent Zvezda LA-5 parts with the addition of Eduard detailing sets, including a pair of Brassin main landing wheels and the colour photo-etched details. Decals offer markings for five machines flown by Soviet aces. With only1,500 boxes available it’s worth getting your order in quickly. The second of Eduard's 1/48 Spitfire Mk IXc ProfiPACKs arrives in the guise of the ‘Early Version’ (#8282)

AZ Model AZ’s ‘Admiral’ range expands with a trio of 1/72 Grumman Wildcats in the form of the FM-2 USN (#7213), F4F-3P Recon Wildcat (#7217) and F4F-3 ‘Wildcat Aces’ (#7216). Legato’s new issue is a “What-if” version of the SPAD 51C1 (#7226) making for an eye catching example of the type. Another trio of kits, this time in 1/144, from the AZ range, include a Fokker F.VIIa in civil markings (#14408), while the range of Messerschmitt 109Gs in 1/72 is due very soon, with the box illustrations being passed to us with the kits on the cusp of release.

SAMI Forward

featuring the same high level of detail and accuracy, along with interesting and colourful marking options. Those of us who have developed an obsession with the MiG-21 will be pleased with the 1/48 Mikoyan MiG21R ProfiPACK kit (#8238) due for December 2013 release… Happy Christmas to me!

MARK 1 Models Whilst we await the arrival of the 1/144 Wessex from Mark 1 Models they have been kind enough to send us some preview shots of the sprues, just to whet our appetites. Also due from Mark1 is a series of 1/144 Luftwaffe subjects, based around the Eduard sprues with upgrades including new decals and colour schemes along with parts to allow two complete kits to be made. Quite a bonus as it’s been a while since the Eduard kits have been available on the market.

Planet Planet's next limited run release will be the Douglas R3D-1/R3D-2 'US Navy and US Marines Transport Plane' (DC-5) in 1/72 (#25672). The R3D-1 was a Military version of the DC-5 built for the US Navy as a sixteen-seat personnel carrier, with only three airframes produced. The R3D-2 Military version of the

DC-5 was built for the US Marine Corps as a twenty-two seat paratrooper version, of which four were produced.

• Messerschmitt Bf 109G-1/Bf 109G2 (#14415) • Messerschmitt Bf 109G-4 (#14416) • Messerschmitt Bf 109G-5/Bf 109G6 (#14417) • Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-6/Fw 190A-7 (#14420) • Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-8/Fw 190A-9 (#14421) • Focke-Wulf Fw 190F-8 (#14422) www.sampublications.com December 2013

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SAMI Feature

Show Report

1/48 OFAG with a stunning wood finish

Show Report Photos by Colin ‘Flying’ Pickett

S

o while our hard-working conscientious Editor was labouring to bring you the November issues, SAMI Editorial staff went to Prague – and what a splendid time they seem to have had there too! In the interests of discretion we shall not unfold the full saga of their carousing, but instead present a selection of images taken on the club tables at the show itself. The chaps suggest the show was as

‘Didn’t we have a Lovely Time’ good as ever, with astonishing bargains, a huge array of local traders offering everything under the sun, and some of the best modelling they have seen to date. If it’s not in your diary yet, then make a note for next year. Well done Eduard!

A 1/72 Orion, detailed inside and out It's Eduard’s event so don't think you can escape the BFC! This example in 1/144

Bf 110 in 1/48, Eduard's of course and a stunning build

1070 | December 2013

Scale Aviation Modeller International

What a Bounder! in 1/72 this was quite a size and beautifully weathered

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Show Report – Prague 2013

HPH's PAK-FA in 1/48 makes a stunning model

A bit of local flavour

Bf 109 in 1/48, a future colour scheme for the Editor?

1/720 Revell Hindenburg, with a metal finish to die for

1/48 Tigercat, and a masterclass in weathering and detailing

A Breda with a stunning camouflage job in 1/72

A 1/48 scrapped Fw 190D, You can't leave anything around here!

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Once there wa

The G-Bird and the Sabre; the Mystère and the Badmash By Tony Grand hat are you modelling at the moment, Dad?’ says younger son. ‘The India-Pakistan air war of 1965’, say I. ‘What, all of it?’ I had to confess that (not being a large modelling club) I was only producing a subset of the planes in that conflict: four in fact. I can’t really recall which came first, the idea for the build or the gift, at Telford 2012, of a Frrom Dassault Mystère IVA, from the Great Helmsman. Actually, I think I may already have bought an Olimp Gnat F.1 by then, but whatever the case it snowballed into a Mystère, a Gnat, a Sabre and a Starfighter. (‘G-Bird’, by the way, was the nickname given to the Gnat by USAF pilots, when it out-turned their F-100s, during joint exercises in 1964. And ‘badmash’ can politely be translated as ‘rascal’ and is the nickname given to the Starfighter by Indian pilots). There is little in book form about this part of the conflict between these two nations, which began in 1947, after Partition, and which has escalated four times into shooting wars (1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999). The two books specifically on 1965 are listed below, as are the helpful websites encompassing the conflict. Even that go-to publisher Osprey has so far produced nothing on any of these conflicts (nor indeed the Sino-Indian conflict of 1962). The Encyclopedia of 20th Century Air Warfare (a princely £6 second-hand on Amazon, including postage) has nice summaries of this and other conflicts. The 1965 war, of which the air war was a part, arose over the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir (the Indianadministered part of the geographical area of Kashmir), as have two other of the four conflicts (1947 and 1999). It started following Pakistan's Operation Gibraltar, which was designed to infiltrate forces into the provinces of Jammu and Kashmir to precipitate an insurgency against rule by India. India retaliated by launching an attack on Pakistan. The five-week conflict caused thousands of casualties on both sides and included the largest tank battle since World War II. The outcome was a strategic stalemate with some small tactical victories, and who had the upper hand when the ceasefire was declared is a matter of dispute. The war concluded after diplomatic

intervention by the Soviet Union and USA and the subsequent issuance of the Tashkent Declaration, a peace treaty between India and Pakistan. So far as the air war was concerned, a key factor, it seems, was the keeping in reserve by the IAF of a large proportion of their forces in the east, to counter any possible Chinese threat. It was a more balanced conflict than post-war Pakistani propaganda would concede, or that dubbing a plane ‘Sabreslayer’ might lead you to conclude.

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The India-Pakistan air war

as a War The aircraft India was, in the period up to the 1965 war, a strictly non-aligned nation and as such had acquired aircraft from a number of nations, including Canada, France, the USSR, the USA and the United Kingdom. Aid in particular came after the incursion from China in 1962, in the form of flying training from and joint exercises with the USAF and the RAF. So far as this build is concerned,

France supplied over 100 Mystère IVAs in 1957 and the UK supplied some 40 Folland F.1 Gnats, either already built or in kit form, which began to enter service in 1959. Pakistan, meanwhile, had in 1954 aligned itself with the US, by joining SEATO (South East Asia Treaty Organisation). As a result, it received substantial military aid from the US, including some 100 F-86F Sabres in 1956 and a dozen F-104A Starfighters in 1961. That, then, is the provenance of my subjects for today.

TECH DATA

The Kits

HAL GNAT AND AJEET F.1/F.2 SCALE: 1/72 KIT NO: 72039 TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic MANUFACTURER: Olimp

The Sabre The Gnat This resin kit comes from Olimp and is #R72-039 on the box: the HAL Gnat and Ajeet F.1/F.2. This, had I known it, was the post-1965 version but, at the time of purchase, what I now know to be the kit of the correct version, the ‘RAF and early Indian Air Force versions’ did not appear on Hannants. Confusingly, the latter kit is now numbered #R72-039 and the former is #R72-041. This matters ‘only’ so far as the serial numberss. on the decal sheet are concerned, of which more later.

The Mystère IVA This is the short-run plastic Frrom kit, boxed clearly as Dassault Mystère IVA India (FR022). It has a nice etch for the cockpit and other areas

This the HobbyBoss F-86F-40 version, #80259, one of their ‘Easy Assembly’ range. It does not come with Pakistani decals.

DASSAULT MYSTÈRE IVA INDIA SCALE: 1/72 KIT NO: FR022 TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic MANUFACTURER: Frrom-Azur

F-86F-40 SABRE SCALE: 1/72 KIT NO: 80259 TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic MANUFACTURER: HobbyBoss

The F-104A Starfighter This is Italeri kit #1234. It comes with decals for a Pakistani plane of the early 1960s. I got this on eBay and it’s a question of keeping looking. I am not a Starfighter expert but the main obvious difference between the –A model and later marks is the chord of the tail-fin (narrower on the –A) and this seems to be shared by the –C, kits that occasionally pop up. Accidentally, these kits presented me with the whole range of what’s currently available in build possibilities: Mystère, top of the range short run; Sabre and Starfighter, old and new ways of presenting the injection-moulded mainstream kit; Gnat, beautifully moulded, though occasionally challenging, resin.

F-104A STARFIGHTER SCALE: 1/72 KIT NO: 1234 TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic MANUFACTURER: Italeri

The Builds Gnat I find myself somewhat embarrassed here. Possibly because I was doing work on at least one other kit whilst building it, there are remarkably few pictures in my folder of the Gnat build. We jump from a couple of snaps of the cockpit (mistakenly painted Olive Drab, as I’d misread the colour call-out), to the fully-assembled plane, sans undercarriage, awaiting primer. The real interior colour is Black Grey, of which, as Humbrol 182 I had a tin. Not on their current list, I think. Homer nods…Simpson, that is. In truth, there is not a lot to say about this part of the build. As the Gnat is so small, I found one or two things, such as inserting the main u/c bays into the fuselage halves, a little fiddly, but most parts are nicely and delicately moulded (eg, the intake lips with the cannon openings), the breakdown well thought out and the construction diagram clear. A touch of filler blended the fin with the fuselage spine and the separate intakes with the fuselage. I found the ejection seat short on detail, so I substituted a Pavla MB Mk 4 seat (worth going to Martin-Baker’s site, by the way, to see how they developed this seat for the new class of ‘light fighter’). The seat is actually the only thing visible through the tiny vacform canopy. The latter is clear but the windscreen framing is too heavy. I was, however, feeling too weak to attempt

The Gnat at an advanced stage of assembly. A nicely produced resin kit…

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1/72 splendid DC Casper double sheet for the 1971 India-Pakistan conflict. I have found no evidence that serial IE1247 didn’t serve in 1965. Both the Olimp and Casper decals went on beautifully. One down, three to go. By the way, it seems Folland used to say of the Gnat: ‘Gentlemen fly Hunters, pilots fly Gnats’.

The Sabre

Sabre and Gnat both primed and ready for final painting The Gnat includes a very delicate undercarriage , seen here being test-fitted after a coat of Alclad has been applied

a crash-moulded replacement. The plane was clearly a potential tailsitter and I tried to avoid this by drilling a cavity in the solid nose-cone and cramming in lead (there being no space elsewhere sufficiently far forward. This didn’t work, so a tiny piece of Blu Tack between the nose-wheels keeps it earthbound. The main assembly was soon ready for the paint-shop, the delicate bits being left till later. I was feeling quite bullish at this point: masking not too hard, primer going

Eduard’s consoles and pedals added to the Sabre

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Scale Aviation Modeller International

Rudimentary detail on the HobbyBoss reardecking was replaced with scratchbuilt items

on well, airbrush depositing a very nice covering of Alclad polished Aluminium. Then I found the pinholes, lots of them on the wings and some on the body. Long story, short: filled as many as I could on this tiny machine (how do these 1/144 boys do it?), the final coat being a bogstandard rattle can silver, which I toned down with applications of Rub’n’Buff Silver leaf and Pewter. I fitted the delicate parts, including the marvellous main u/c doors, which are translucent. After applying Klear, on with the decals. The numbering system of the kit decals was appropriate to Ajeets, not Gnats of the period., so I bent the rules a bit and used the Gnat serials from a

I was building this in parallel with the Gnat and its ease of assembly was a nice counterpoint to the challenges of the former. I could quite happily have built it OOB but I titivated it a little. The panel detail is extensive but delicately done. The cockpit, which I painted Xtracrylix Dark Gull Grey, fitting references I’d found, is bare, with ledges for consoles, so Eduard etch SS219 for the F-86D added detail there and I replaced the kit seat with a Pavla item. I had to cut down the top of the Eduard instrument panel but that looks fine. Using photos on the web as a guide I built a simple representation of the gubbins behind the seat, to replace the even more simplified kit representation moulded in. That was razor-sawed off. I did the same with the lugs on the cockpit canopy, which would have interfered with the interior detailing. The slots for them were easily filled with scrap styrene. After adding copious lead behind the instrument panel (this time it worked…) I was able to close up the upper and lower fuselage assemblies, only small amounts of filler being needed, at the wing-roots and along the rear ventral portion. I added the airbrakes before decaling, having painted the inner surface and the interior of the bays red. This is all very nicely detailed and the struts are moulded to hold the brakes (always open on the ground) at precisely the right angle. Eduard masks for the Fujimi F-86F needed only a little tweaking to fit the canopy and a coat or two of Alclad Aluminium went on nicely. Pictures of the PAF Sabres show them to be quite mucky and I touched up with Rub’n’Buff, Xtracolor Burnt Iron and some railway weathering powder. Cheating again, I used the decals on the DP Casper sheet for an F-86E Sabre of 1971. Unfortunately, I couldn’t in all conscience use the striking ‘Black Spider’ emblem of 26 Sqn. PAF, as this wasn’t, the web tells me, stood up till

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The India-Pakistan air war

1966! As before, the decals went on extremely well. You will notice that the Sabre has no fuel tanks. Although the kit supplies two tanks, they are not of the massive proportions shown on the 1965 photos and I had nothing in the spares box. By the way, I discovered, having completed this build, that Sabres in the 1971 war were grey. All I can say is that the 1965 machines look natural metal to me….

HobbyBoss ‘Easy Assembly’ kits offer a unique design, and can go together very quickly The Mystère kit comes with some nice details, including an etched instrument panel

The Mystère It would seem that Frrom put this kit out in haste, as they have issued the equivalent of an errata sheet on their site. These are the major points: The painting and decaling guides and box-art of the Indian boxing, #FR022, show all aircraft with their fin flashes reversed. The sequence of orange-whitegreen leading-to-trailing edge is incorrect for the Indian Air Force, but it is correct for their Mystères when delivered because Dassault got it wrong! The fin flashes were soon corrected to run green-whiteorange, leading-to-trailing edge. It is obviously a simple matter to reverse the decals provided with the kit. The kits come with two styles of horizontal stabiliser. The instructions show the all-flying stabiliser crossed out in the parts map and direct the use of the one with elevators. This is incorrect and allflying is the order of the day. NACA ducts are missing from the rear fuselage (covered by the roundels) and there is no pitot tube included. I ignored the former and supplied the latter with brass wire. There is no load-out: tanks or weapons! The kit comes with only one type of ejection seat, a Martin-Baker YAM-4. Belatedly, FRROM realised that this seat replaced the Mystère IVA’s original SNCASO E95 seat after 1967. The kit should have come with both types of seat to cover pre-1967 aircraft, although I have not discovered which seat the Indian AF used. The cockpit looks odd, the consoles represented by very narrow ledges. Such cockpit pics as I have found show them to be narrow but wider than that. Equally, the ejector seat, whilst a nicely produced item, looks like an armchair and dwarfs a Pavla M-B Mk 4 seat. However, as that would have looked odd with all that space around it, I stuck with the kit item.

Tempted to add more detail to the cockpit, I reckoned the only really visible feature would be the seat and left it at that. The etch items make it look quite presentable. The etched instrument panel is equally good. There were no problems with the build. Fuselage, wings, stabilisers, undercarriage bays went together nicely, with only a smear of filler necessary at the upper wing roots. The bifurcated intake is nicely done, the two main parts fitting positively, with only a little filler to blend them in with the rim. The cockpit canopy fits well, though I’m not sure about the step at the rear. There is a hint of one on the original, however, and I didn’t want to get into the messy business of removing it. Despite the multiple builds, I had decided this was, for me, to be a fairly quick build. In their errata sheet, Frrom tell you to reduce the main gear length by 2mm. I do not understand this. With a load-out, the Mystère sits tail down. Without (our case), the sit matches that shown in photos and in the plans in Aircraft Archive, Vol I, Postwar jets. However, the doors fitted to the main legs are slightly short and incorrect in shape, exposing too much leg (this is a family magazine…). Be aware, also, that the main doors hingeing on the fuselage, which are shut whilst the gear is extended, close on the end of the retraction strut, such that the door doesn’t close completely. I discovered this, after wondering why the strut seemed to be hinged in the wrong place and perusing walk around pictures. After masking with Tamiya tape, a coat of Tamiya gloss black, then Humbrol rattle can Metalcote. Both coats went on well but I noticed a slight pebbly effect on the upper fuselage. Not the paint but the

The kit-supplied seat for the Mystère seems over scale compared to an aftermarket replacement, but fits the cockpit well

Modest amounts of filler around the Mystère's seams

plastic, I discovered from a build on the web. I reckoned it wasn’t of great consequence and left it. Sloppy, I know. I did the odd area of variation with Rub’n’Buff and Burnt Iron, but contemporary photos, such as there are, show a quite uniform surface, not noticeably weathered. The decals are rather fine, lying down nicely over Klear, even the tiger motif on the nose, that of the 1st (Tiger) Sqn. Adampur Air Base, Punjab (ie adjacent to the border with Pakistani province of that name), 1965. Even the ‘don’t walk’ wing stripes survived nudging into place, which I don’t always manage. And there it was, complete: all in all a satisfactory and not difficult build.

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1/72 forgot to add weight but as the main undercarriage is very far back, this caused no problem. Having fitted the canopy and masked it with a set intended for a Hasegawa F-104, we could paint and decal. I could have made painting a lot easier for myself. All right up to a point: Tamiya primer and gloss black, from rattle cans, then Humbrol rattle can Metalcote. Then came my bugbear: white. Only two relatively small areas to do, namely the lower part of the nose and the upper surface of the wings. I should have sprayed these first and masked them but reckoned I could brush paint them last, ho, ho…To cover the resultant, streaky, travesty, I applied areas of white decal sheet, boosted with a couple of coats of Tamiya matt white, pre-sprayed. By the way, I have seen it stated that the wing under surface on Pakistani F-104s was grey, but I went with the kit instructions, leaving them natural metal. Decaling was a breeze, the kit decals going on without problem. The final touch was a Master-Model pitot tube.

Starfighter After all these years, this is the first I’ve built, though I’ve often been tempted to build the NF-104 that Chuck Yeager tangled with. This Italeri kit must be of some age: the boxing that I have is 2003. It is simple and accurate in outline: went together well with the help of a simple instruction sheet. I know I shouldn’t be surprised about these things in a mainstream kit; in mitigation, I’m used to things where fuselage halves don’t match up and corrections are made with bits of knitting needle. Most of the work was on the cockpit. I bought a Pavla replacement seat (#72013), an Eduard etch and did some scratchbuilding. The Eduard etch has a control panel but, unfortunately, no consoles, as the kit has only very poor decals to represent these. I don’t know about other modellers, but I rarely use all the items from an etch. In a couple of cases (different iterations of the Blackbird) as I’ve modelled the cockpit closed and invisible I’ve had consoles left over. So one Lockheed design donated its instruments to another. Simply a question of trimming the metal to fit. The instrument bay cover behind the seat and the instrument shroud are really just blobs, so, with careful reference to photos on the web I made replacements. The rear cover is styrene with styrene strip

Conclusion

The Italeri Starfighter tub with ‘improvised’ etched details from leftover frets

Scratchbuilt instrument covers on the F-104 – awaiting the canvas ‘shroud’ Starfighter masked and ready for painting

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Scale Aviation Modeller International

to represent the hinges and the shroud is built up from layers of thin metal. In addition, there is a prominent canvas cover between the back of the shroud and the windscreen. This was made from a piece of tissue paper, dipped in Klear, painted Xtracrylix Faded Olive Drab and cut to shape to fit round the Eduard gunsight. A couple of dabs of PVA glue, painted silver, represent the large studs holding the sections of the canvas together. The build is very simple, for instance the main gear is one assembly that slots easily into place and the fit of most parts is good. I exclude the air-brakes; these are normally closed on the ground but to have them so on the kit means a little trimming and filling. When closing the fuselage up I

Any build of a military aircraft is, I find, a journey in time and space. That may sound pretentious but where are we without context? I have attempted to avoid any partisan views and am helped in that by my partner having travelled extensively in India and my close neighbours originating in Pakistan. This war is still a matter of contention. Once there was a war: there still is a war.

Books • The India-Pakistan Air War of 1965: P.V.S Jagan Mohan and Samir Chopra 2005 (a book that attempts to be very balanced, to distinguish it from Fricker’s, which makes little secret of being partisan.) • Battle for Pakistan: The Air War of 1965: John Fricker 1979 • Folland/Hawker Siddeley Gnat, Warpaint 67: Alan W. Hall 2008 • The Encyclopedia of 20th Century Air Warfare; Chris Bishop 2001

1077-Bookworld-SAMI-1213-WP_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:00 Page 1

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In association with

1/144

www.revell.eu

Carry me Home T The passing of an Era he Boeing 747 SCA (Shuttle Carrier Aircraft) was used by NASA to ferry the Space Shuttle from its landing sites back to Cape Canaveral. The first of two 747-100s was purchased in 1974 and used in extensive trials at NASA’s Dryden facility before being extensively modified in 1976 to carry the Space Shuttle; almost all of the interior, apart from the first class section, was removed, and the three struts added to support the Shuttle. The SCA was used to carry and launch the Enterprise Shuttle during the initial trials, and during this time the 747 SCA retained the red white and blue stripes and natural metal finish from its previous owner American Airlines. It was not until 1983 that the scheme was finally removed and the aircraft was painted in the current white/grey paint scheme with a blue cheatline. Two aircraft were converted. The first was a Boeing 747-100, registered N905NA, an ex-American Airlines aircraft, while the second was a 747-100SR, registered N911NA, an ex-Japan Airlines aircraft that entered service in 1990. After the retirement of the Space

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Scale Aviation Modeller International

By Andy McCabe

Shuttle programme in 2012 the aircraft were used to ferry the now redundant Space Shuttles to various Museums around the United States. N905NA was retired on the 24th September 2012 and will be preserved and displayed in Houston Texas, where it will eventually be displayed with the Explorer Space Shuttle mock-up mounted on top. N911NA was retired to NASA’s Dryden facility on the 8th February 2012 to be used as a source of spare parts. The Revell kit of the Boeing 747 SCA and Space Shuttle has been around since the early 1980s, or at least the 747 has, and the sprues bear testimony to this with the parts having raised panel lines and extensive flash to a majority of the parts. The kit comprises ten sprues of white and two sprues of clear injection moulded plastic, one decal sheet and one instruction booklet. This is basically two kits in one - the 747-100 and the space shuttle. As previously mentioned the parts have raised panel lines and plenty of flash, which is not surprising since the kit has a date of 1983 marked on one of the wing surfaces.

TECH DATA

BOEING 747 SCA & SPACE SHUTTLE SCALE: 1/144 KIT NO: 04863 TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic MANUFACTURER: Revell GmbH & Co.KG

Construction The build begins by deciding which version you want to build, either landing gear raised or lowered. I have always thought that this machine was most impressive when in the air and as there is a stand supplied with the kit it was the perfect opportunity to display the model in flight - plus it meant that I did not

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In association with

Boeing 747 SCA & Space Shuttle

www.revell.eu

NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft 905 (foreground) and 911 (rear) in formation over the Edwards Air Force Base test range. NASA 905 was on a functional check flight after undergoing maintenance, while NASA 911 was aloft on a flight crew proficiency flight (NASA) The Space Shuttle Enterprise departing NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, on the first leg of its trek to the Paris Air Show in 1983 (NASA)

have to assemble and paint all of those wheels and tyres. The forward and landing gear bays were glued into position in one half of the fuselage and then the interior was sprayed with a grey primer. There is no other interior detail to be fitted so the two fuselage halves were now glued together. The fit of these two parts is not that bad, but not perfect. I now set about sanding the fuselage assembly entirely, to remove the raised panel lines. Fortunately the cabin doors are recessed which aids decal alignment later on. There is a pronounced hump on the fuselage of the kit directly aft of the upper deck which is not evident on the real thing. Luckily the plastic is thick enough to allow this to be sanded off. The two blade aerials on the upper fuselage are also not on the real thing so these too were removed. The landing lights were now glued into place and the upper wing surface to the lower. Again each wing assembly was sanded to remove the raised panel lines, the same process applying to the tailplanes. The wings and tailplanes were now glued into position and any gaps filled and sanded flush. The two vertical tailplane fins were now assembled and fitted to the tailplanes. The landing gear doors were glued into position, but filler was required to blend these in as the fit was not that good. The engines were next. A lot of work is required to get these looking half decent as the fit of the parts is, to be honest, very bad and a lot of time and filler was

needed to get them to look anything like they do in reality. They would be better replaced by aftermarket items if you can afford it - nevertheless they were assembled and pre-painted before fitting to the wings. The cockpit glazing was now masked and fitted to the fuselage, and a bit of filler was needed to fill a few gaps. I now thought that I could fit the Shuttle support struts, then I had to think again as there are no indications on either the model or the instructions as to where they fit. I left these off and assembled the Shuttle next. The fit of the parts on the Shuttle is exactly the same as the 747 SCA, but seeing as the payload doors would be closed there was no need to assemble the payload so the doors were glued in the closed position. There is a cockpit for the Shuttle model but it cannot be seen when it is finished so only a rudimentary paint scheme was applied. Again, all of the raised panel lines were removed and in this instance were rescribed as the Carbon-Carbon wing leading edges needed some detail.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis atop the SCA) returns to the Kennedy Space Center after a ten-month refurbishment in September 1998 (NASA)

The Shuttle Endeavour arrives at Kennedy’s Shuttle Landing, returning from Palmdale, California after an eight-month Orbiter Maintenance Down Period (NASA)

The Shuttle was now given a coat of white primer followed by a coat of Halfords Appliance Gloss White. The wing leading edges and nose cone were masked off and varying shades of grey were sprayed on, along with a few liberal streaks of smoke to represent scorch marks. Aftermarket Shuttle tile decals by Ed Bisconti were purchased and applied, which added another dimension to the Shuttle and enhanced it no end. The main engine nozzles were completely sanded back and new ribs were added using styrene strip. Nozzle covers were then produced on my computer and printed out on decal paper and then fitted to the nozzles, when these dried they shrunk slightly giving exactly the same effect as on the real thing. I then glued them to the Shuttle but then when I tried to fit the fairing that covers them when the Shuttle is on the SCA it would not fit so I removed the nozzles for later on. I have a long term project in progress to model the Shuttle and its tank and boosters on the Mobile Launch Platform and Crawler Transporter, both of which require scratch building, so the Shuttle can and will be used for that. With the Shuttle finished it was now time to work out where and how it fitted

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onto the pylons on the model, and after referencing various articles and photos on the Internet the position was guestimated, however the kit pylons are inaccurate and should really have been completely rebuilt, but I chose not to, deciding to make the best of what I had. The forward pylon is too tall and was reduced in height. I also removed the square plate and pin on the top and replaced it with a single styrene pin. The two aft pylons were also slightly modified, but not until they were fitted to the fuselage. To get the position and spacing of the pylons right I temporarily taped together another Revell Shuttle fuselage model I have and then taped the struts to this fuselage. This was then offered up to the 747 SCA fuselage and the positions marked with a pencil, ensuring that they were aligned horizontally and vertically and that the Shuttle model sat on them correctly. The struts were then removed from the Shuttle and tacked into position on the SCA with just a small dot of cement.

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www.revell.eu

The Shuttle Columbia and SCA pass the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Centre (NASA)

When I was perfectly happy with their alignment I glued them into position with superglue. The two rear struts as supplied in the kit should have an extra strut that goes from their inner face to the top of the fuselage. They don’t, so one was added from styrene rod. The engines were now masked and the whole 747 SCA was given a coat of white primer. As suspected there were a few gaps and joint lines that needed attention so these were dealt with and another coat of primer applied. The fuselage and tail were then sprayed with Halford Appliance Gloss White. When dry this was masked and Grey was sprayed onto the lower fuselage and wings. The upper section of the wing was masked and the Blue/Grey was sprayed on, and finally the leading edges to the wings, tail and tailplanes were masked and Revell 36190 Silver was painted on. The decals were now applied starting with the tail. The blue cheatline is in three sections for each side, and I applied these starting at the nose and worked backwards. The nose decals have a ‘slot’ at the forward edge, which wraps around the nose, and when dry this has to be painted in with blue paint. I did not have the correct Revell colour so I mixed my own. The door outlines were now applied along with the four vertical tailplane items and the SCA was finished. All that was left was to assemble the stand. I added a small strip of thin Plasticard underneath the plate that fits to the fuselage to give the model a slightly nose-up appearance. The stand was then

painted gloss black and then the SCA was glued to the stand. The shuttle was then fitted to the SCA and then finally the fairing was fitted to the Shuttle. The very last parts to be fitted were the two wing tip trailing edge aerials, and then the model was complete.

Conclusion When I received this kit I thought it would be a relatively easy build, but a lot of work is required to clean the parts of flash and to get the parts to fit correctly or not in some cases. Compared to Revell’s latest 747-800 this kit is a generation away in terms of quality and detail, but having said that the extra time and effort is definitely worth it. If I were to do this again I would replace the engines with aftermarket items and replace the struts with the correct shape, but apart from this the kit is mightily impressive when finished, especially when shown in flight as built. At least I think so anyway, and if my wife is impressed with a finished model it must be good! Yes, there is a lot of flash and yes the parts are showing their age, but with time and effort these problems can be rectified and a good, if not superb, result can be achieved. I have been fortunate enough to see two Shuttle launches live but not the SCA and Shuttle in flight. I will however put the trip to Houston to see the SCA and Shuttle on my bucket list. The Shuttle/SCA era has come to an end, sadly, so I felt it was only right to try to make a half-decent job of this. Go on, you know you want one as well!

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Building the Eduard Fokker Dr.1 Stripdown Kit

A

rguably the most famous and iconic aircraft of the Great War, thanks in no small way to its association with the likes of Manfred von Richthofen and Werner Voss, the Fokker Dr.1 has always been a popular subject for modellers. As such there is no shortage of good Dr.1 kits in all major scales, but with the recent wave of interest in larger-scale kits it is perhaps surprising that Eduard has chosen to revitalise one of their more challenging and complicated 1/72 toolings. The Stripdown series of kits was original released at the end of the nineties and

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Scale Aviation Modeller International

TECH DATA

FOKKER DR.1 SCALE: 1/72 KIT NO: 2114 TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic MANUFACTURER: Eduard

beginning of the noughties, including four Great War subjects; The Sopwith Camel, Fokker E.III, Fokker D.VIII and the Dr.1. The kits were predominantly made from etched brass and soon became collectors’ items. This latest version is actually not a

By Dave Hooper

re-release but a new tooling as much of the substance of the kit has been either been retooled or is brand new . So what do you get for your money? Well first off you get a complete version of the 1/72 plastic kit, which includes five new parts, but much of the rest of the kit is not required. The main bulk comes on three etched brass sheets, which has been pre-coloured where parts are intended to be wooden. Finally there is a collection of new resin parts including a pair of pretty nifty tools to help you get the best out of your kit, but more on these later. What you don’t get, not surprisingly really, are any decals although a pair of Axial maker marks for the props and a few instrument

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Fokker Dr.1 Stripdown more noticeable than when constructing the wings. Each wing section is effectively made from one photo-etch part with a few trims, such as wing tips to fit on separately. Once each part is cut from the fret the piece is bent to create a rather effective wing section. The beauty of this is that you don’t need to do any initial gluing; you can simply bend all the parts in to position and then fix them with a few spots of superglue. The only thing you really need to be aware of at this stage is to ensure that the parts are bent the correct way, otherwise if you are not careful you could potentially end up with two wing sections for the same side of the aircraft. Newly-tooled plastic spars are provided to act as the main spar of each wing, conveniently providing strength and protection to the etched brass part. Unfortunately the lower wing spar is quite a lot longer than it should be and needs to be cut back from each end. The plastic wing can be used here to help gauge the actual length that the spar should be. I didn’t realise this problem until after I’d fitted one wing section to the spar and as a result of trying to remove the wing section damaged it beyond redemption. Luckily I had already devised a back-up plan, which based on my lack of confidence I had thought up in advance. The model would be built in the manner of cutaway drawings so that some of the

dials would have been useful. Before I begin I have to admit that I am not a great lover of etched brass as a modelling medium and so I faced this build with more than a little scepticism over whether I would be able to complete the thing without crushing all the parts to a pulp in the process. Thankfully Eduard has had the common sense to make the photo-etched parts from a fairly sturdy brass, which although still easily damaged is at least workable.

aircraft would be covered and some exposed. Obviously the damaged wing section would have to be replaced with the plastic wing, which was easily arranged using a piece of brass rod to reinforce the join between the spar and the plastic wing section. Another part of the wing that needs a little surgery is the lower wing tips. These have a little fitting that bends under the tip to provide a location point for the wing tip skids, however these should be positioned on the inside of the end rib, not on the wing tip and as such need to be removed and refitted. At this stage I also added bracing strips to each wing in a criss-cross pattern using knitting elastic, as well as simulated control wire pulleys on the top wing using small slivers of plastic rod.

The upper and mid wings basic assembly The leading edges are shaped using a handy little resin press

The major cockpit details

The fuselage framework was not completely folded and cemented until after the seat frame was fitted

Rib binding made from knitting elastic was added to each wing section

Plywood leading edge sections made from etched brass are ingeniously shaped using a resin tool where essentially the piece is placed into a female mould and a male part is used to force the etched brass to the correct shape. The resin tool is very effective and extremely simple to use. Once the parts have been shaped they are easily fitted to the wings, further strengthening each wing section. I expected the ailerons to be fairly delicate, but actually they turned out to be reasonably easy to handle. The tips of the ailerons have a strange kink in them and it’s not until you begin to construct the part that you realise they are there so that part of the end locates into a hole in the main framework and in doing so the kink is effectively removed. The wing sections were all primed and painted in various shades of wood colour while the ailerons were painted grey. For the covered wing section I used Gunsight Graphics’ decals to achieve the streaked fabric effect.

The engine and engine mount are assembled

Wings The beauty of these kits is the clever way that they have been engineered to have as few parts as possible and nowhere is this www.sampublications.com December 2013

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With the cockpit details fitted the assembly of the fuselage frame is completed After a disaster on the lower wing, the damaged starboard lower wing framework was replaced with the original plastic kit part It’s very surprising that Eduard have neglected to include a fuel tank. Mine was scratchbuilt

Cockpit With the wing sections more or less completed I began assembling the various cockpit sub-assemblies, which are all made from photo-etch. Anybody familiar with the Profipack Triplane Dr.1 kits will be on familiar territory here as there is nothing new in the way of parts or detail. One of the downsides of etched brass in my opinion is not the material itself but the uses that it is often put to, and some of the cockpit parts are prime examples of this, where objects that should be three dimensional are flat, like cardboard cutouts. In particular the complete rudder, aileron and elevator control assembly and pump look too one-dimensional from the box. On the control assembly I chose to use drops of superglue to try and round off the flat parts, while I replaced the main tubular section of the pump with plastic rod. The bucket seat fits onto a photo-etched frame and includes seatbelts. The frame is particularly delicate until it is cemented to the seat. Once complete, the cockpit sections were painted.

The engine mount assembly is fitted to the fuselage

The lower wing slots into the fuselage

The starboard half of the tailplane was covered with 5 thou Plasticard

Fuselage The main fuselage section comes in one piece, which needs to be bent to shape. This is not as easy as it sound as the thin longeron frames make it difficult to create a clean fold. I chose not to cement the lower half of the frame together until I had fitted the seating frame that fits onto hooks, which need to be bent inwards from the main framework. Prior to fitting the seat permanently into position the inside of the fuselage was painted in the cockpit area. Fitting the seat was not easy, requiring many dry runs before I was happy to commit to glue. With the seat in position the fuselage frame was closed up to create the shape of the airframe. I initially spot-cemented key areas of the framework and once these were dry I ran a thread of superglue along the entire length of the fold or meeting

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point. While the fuselage seems very delicate in its unassembled state, once assembled and cemented the part is quite rigid. I then fitted the floor assembly, which included the control parts. At this point I also fitted the pump. Surprisingly - and considering that so much is on show Eduard have failed to provide the combined fuel and oil tank, which sits behind the engine. Admittedly much of this will not be seen once the semi-conical shaped plywood panels are fitted, but some will be visible, which is more than can be said for some of the rear engine parts that Eduard have provided. To rectify this I carved a rudimentary tank from a discarded resin casting block and wrapped it in 5 thou Plasticard. Once painted my hastily constructed tank was fitted in position to the upper forward frames of the fuselage.

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Fokker Dr.1 Stripdown

Once the cowling was added the panels were painted

Once painted and decaled the tailplane was fitted to the fuselage The lower starboard strut was modified to take into account the use of the plastic kit wing Triangular panels shaped around a felt tip pin were fitted to each side of the fuselage framework

Engine Assembly A new resin Oberursel engine replaces the original kit engine, which is a rather fine piece of casting. In addition photo-etched push rods are fitted to the rear of the engine and I also added a piece of brass rod to the front side to give the propeller something to fit to. The engine was painted prior to fitting it into the etched brass cowling mounting plate. The instructions suggest that the carburettor intake should be fitted at this point, but as the intake is wider than the fuselage frame it is better to wait and fit this part after the engine mount has been fitted. Before fitting the engine mount the lower wing should be slotted under the fuselage as the cowling floor fits under the central wing mount. The plastic cowling was sprayed Fokker Olive Green and fitted over the engine.

Tail The tail section (minus the rudder and elevators) is made from one piece of etched brass, which is folded over upon itself. Like the fuselage longerons this is particularly difficult to fold, even when holding half flat with a metal ruler while trying to bend the other half over. Because I had modelled the aircraft with a starboard covered wing I felt that the starboard half of the tailplane should also be covered. This was achieved using 5 thou Plasticard, which was scored on the inside of each half to simulate ribs. The tail was then painted and covered in the same

manner as the starboard wing. A photo-etch support frame fits under the rear of the tail on each side and through the rear of the fuselage. A resin replacement tail skid is then fitted under the rear of the fuselage and into a wellpositioned loop on the fuselage framework. The instructions suggest that the rudder and elevators should be fitted at this stage, but as each part is very delicate I elected to leave these off until the end of the build.

The struts were cemented to the underside of the middle wing before fitting the middle wing to the fuselage.

Middle and Upper Wing Sections Prior to fitting the mid and upper wings, the triangular cowling panels needed to be shaped and fitted to the forward fuselage. The panels were shaped around a suitably sized felt tip pen so that the pre-painted part of the etch brass faced inwards. The outside was then painted after fitting. At this stage I also fitted the resin replacement struts into slots in the middle wing. On the starboard side I had to cut the end of the strut back so it fitted the replacement plastic wing section. A new hole was drilled in the starboard wing and a corresponding hole drilled in to the end of the strut. Guitar string wire was then used to locate the starboard strut into the lower wing. The middle wing in position Spandau machine guns, cabane struts, rigging and control wires are added The undercarriage is made up from plastic parts from the original kit www.sampublications.com December 2013

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The upper wing is fitted

A very useful resin spoked-wheel press I would recommend fitting the rear decking panel earlier in the build as it requires a fair amount of rough treatment in order to provide a smooth fit

located onto the ammunition box. The central cabane struts were then fitted. Rigging and control wires made from knitting elastic, which had been stripped down to thinner strands, were cemented into pre-drilled holes in the forward upper decking. Once the upper struts were in place the upper wing assembly was fitted to the top wing. Control wires running from the fuselage were fitted to the simulated pulleys on the top wing, threaded through holes in the wing ribs, and run out to control horns on each of the ailerons.

decal box for a pair of spare Axial maker’s logos. Control wires, once again made from stripped knitting elastic, were carefully fitted to the rudder control bar and control column. These were then carefully threaded to the rear of the aircraft ready to be fitted to rudder and elevator control horns. The elevator and rudder are extremely delicate but fitted easily to the rear of the airframe without any problems. It was then just a simple process of sticking the correct control wires to the correct control horns. Job done!

Undercarriage

The middle wing assembly, which by now included the ammunition box, fitted easily onto the top framework of the fuselage so that the centre section butted up against the engine mounting and the lower strut locations fitted neatly into position. The instructions seem to suggest that the photo-etch cooling jacket is fitted directly around the original plastic part, but I preferred to remove the plastic cooling jacket with a scalpel, fit a barrel made from guitar string wire, and cement the photoetch cooling jacket around the barrel. Once painted the Spandau machine guns were

The rudder and elevator are very delicate and best left to the end of the build.

Control wires are run through the centre of the airframe between the cockpit controls and the control horns

The undercarriage parts are made from the original plastic kit parts. I rigged the undercarriage struts with stripped knitting elastic before fitting them into the location points on the underside of the fuselage. The spoked wheels that come with the kit are not the most realistic photo-etched parts I have ever seen and I decided to replace them with some from my spares box (I think these came from a Choroszy Bleriot kit where the wheels were of an incorrect diameter). Now I’d like to introduce you to one of the most useful parts of the kit; a small resin press allowing you easily and accurately to give a slightly conical shape to the spoked wheel parts. You simply place the spoked wheel part into the female section of the press and apply pressure with the male part of the press. New plastic tyre parts have been provided to complete the wheels.

Finishing Touches For whatever reason the plywood decking behind and around the cockpit opening did not fit particularly well, requiring quite a lot of sanding of the fuselage assembly, and for this reason I would recommend fitting this part earlier than I did. The part tends to buckle at the rear of the cockpit opening, which I had to sand evenly. The recess in the rear of the propeller is a lot bigger than I required so I filled this with a piece of plastic tubing. I raided my

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Conclusion I expected this kit to be very scary, but in actual fact it was fairly straightforward to put together, thanks to the exceptionally well-engineered photo-etch parts, and was actually a joy to build. Obviously not a kit for the beginner but anybody with some experience using photo-etch may be pleasantly surprised. I really liked the addition of the resin parts, especially the two presses, and I also liked the way many of the photo-etch parts clipped together firmly, making what is often the hard part cementing small parts together - that little bit easier. One hopes that sales of this kit will be good enough to convince Eduard to retool more of their strip-down kits, and I would have thought the E.III combined with the current Eduard Eindecker plastic kit, would be an excellent follow-up to the Dr.1.

1087-SpecialEast-SAMI-1213-WP_Layout 1 08/11/2013 12:59 Page 1

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A MODEL 1/48 LAGG 3 4 SERIES

22.90 €

18.50 € 18.50 € 18.50 € 18.50 €

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32.90 €

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ADMIRAL 1/48 18.90 € 18.90 € 18.90 € 19.90 €

26.90 € 19.50 € 19.50 € 19.50 € 19.50 € 19.50 € 26.90 € 26.90 € 19.50 € 19.50 € 19.50 €

MODELSVIT 1/72

ART MODELS 1/72

FW 190D-10 FW Ta 152 C-11 FW 190D-9 F8F-1B FRENCH BEARCAT

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POLIKARPOV PO-2/CCS-13/K-62

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HAWKER HART TRAINER RAF SILVER

49.90 €

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FLY 1/72

HAWKER HART COMMUNICATION RAF

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ROTACHUTE MK.III US / ENGLAND 1942 AVIA BH-21J SKI VERSION AVROCAR VZ-9

ICM 1/72

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IOM 1/72

U2/ PO-2 MULTI PURPOSE

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HAWKER HARDY RAF SERVICE

49.90 €

U2/ PO-2 VS LIGHT NIGHT BOMBER

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HAWKER HARDY BELGIAN CONGO

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S.E. 203 AQUILON GRUMMAN AF.2 GUARDIAN

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6.30 € 13.90 €

11.90 € 21.90 € 21.90 €

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SAMI Columns Clark’s 1/48Field

The unlimited canvas of

Clark’s Field By Dick Clark

Wings of the

T

Apache

he A-36 Apache was a development of the more famous P-51A Mustang. As a ground-attack platform, armed with six Browning M2 0.5 calibre machine-guns and with strengthened wings capable of carrying up to 1,000lb of bombs, the Apache saw service in North Africa, Sicily and Italy.. In mid-1944 it was replaced by the more powerful P-47 Thunderbolt. This model is a reboxing of the Accurate Miniatures kit, dating from 1994, as can be seen by the engraving inside the lower wing section. Despite being nearly twenty years old, this is a clean, crisply-moulded kit with ‘all mod-cons’: finely engraved panel lines, very good interior detail and welldepicted rivets and fastenings. There is no flash and little in the way of mould-seams. Italeri have produced a new decal sheet offering four options: Priscilla, as featured on the box art, flown by Lt. Bert Benear, 526th FS, 86th FB, Corsica 1944; Herschel

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TECH DATA

NORTH AMERICAN A-36A APACHE SCALE: 1/48 KIT NO: 2729 TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic MANUFACTURER: Italeri UK IMPORTER: The Hobby Company

IV/Dotsie (as modelled here), flown by Lt. Donald ‘Button’ Smith, 312th FS, 86th FB, Tfarui (Algeria), 1943; 36081 flown by Lt. Bill Creech, 328th FS, 311th FB, 10th Air Force, Burma 1944; and HK944, 1437th Strategic Reconnaissance Flight RAF, Foggia (Italy), 1943.

US IMPORTER: MRC

Construction As usual, the build begins in the cockpit. There are frames with moulded-on detail to be added to either cockpit sidewall, together with shelves for batteries and

A small engraved panel inside the lower wing section reveals the kit’s origins

radio behind the cockpit. I added the sidewall detail before painting, but painted the cockpit and the radio and battery parts separately before adding the latter with CA glue. You need to use slow-setting CA and test-fit the fuselage halves together to ensure each shelf sits at the correct angle while the glue sets. Both floor and seat are well detailed. The kit includes a version of what seems to be Italeri’s standard generic seat-belt decal, which might just be acceptable in 1/72 but not really in this scale, so seat belts were acquired from an Eduard pre-coloured set (RAF pattern, to be honest, but they’re better than nothing and

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I had them in stock!). The instrument panel/rudder pedals are moulded as one part, in clear plastic. I assume the idea was to have a decal for the instruments to go on behind the panel, but the decal isn’t printed that way and that method would call for very careful painting of the panel around the instrument bezels. So I painted the panel in the normal way, then put the decal over the raised detail, using Micro Set and Sol to help it settle down. Once dry the decal was sealed in with matt varnish, and

Just taped together, this shot shows the distortion of the wing parts. I can only hope they pulled together into the correct shape

clamps to bring the tail end together. However, I would recommend not gluing the join underneath the cockpit, for reasons that will become clear. The engine cowling is a separate assembly, presumably to allow for different engine/nose configurations to be fitted to the same fuselage. The machine-gun barrels below the prop have to be fitted at this stage, which makes for some awkward masking later on, but nothing too troublesome. I fitted the front of the intake on top of the cowling at this stage as this

then a drop of Klear was applied to each dial to simulate glass. There is an inverted ‘V’ frame to fit behind the seat, which doesn’t fit especially well. With this and the floor-pan I again held the fuselage sides together to ensure these parts set at the correct angle. Same goes for the vent panel under the rear of the fuselage, which is not such a precise fit. The tail wheel also has to be fitted before the fuselage halves are joined. Once everything was set in place, a wash was applied fairly roughly, switches and other details were picked out in white and red, and the fuselage halves joined permanently. This stage went well, with no more than a mere smear of filler being required, although I did find one half was distorted, necessitating the use of tape and

did need a touch of filler and filing to blend it in. The wing uppers fit to the one-piece lower, after drilling out the location-holes for the underwing pylons. My wing sections were badly distorted, needing more clamping and taping while the glue set and I can only hope they pulled together into the correct shape. When I came to fit the wings and the cowling to the fuselage, I discovered the problem caused by gluing the fuselage underneath the cockpit. I had used a Berna clamp to close this join up, but this made the fuselage too narrow at the bottom, resulting in a gap at the wing roots and the front end being too narrow for the cowling at the wing roots. Clearly, if I had not gone to such lengths to close the fuselage up ‘properly’, this problem would not have arisen. As it was, I glued the wing along the starboard root (because the cowl fitted better that side) and allowed this to set,

Showing a good level of interior detail with the addition only of aftermarket seat belts

The model ready for painting. Note the use of Bare-Metal Foil to mask the very fine canopy framing detail

then pulled the front end of the fuselage out to close up the root as much as possible on the port side, clamping it down tightly while the glue set along that root. I was then able to fit the cowl such that the discrepancy barely showed. Thankfully the tailplanes fitted without any such problems! The belly intake scoop fitted well, though it did need some attention with a rat-tail file to blend it in adjacent to the wing. The pylons went on with no trouble at all, but you do need to make sure they’re on the correct wing as they are handed to allow for the dihedral. Last thing before painting was to mask and fit the glazing and, to be

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honest, I’d been putting this off. The glazing panels are very thin and crystal-clear, but the framing is extremely shallow. While this may be close to scale, it doesn’t make it easy to mask up. I used Bare-Metal Foil as this material burnishes down well over such fine detail, giving the best possible chance to cut accurately to the edges of the framing. Well, that’s the theory. In practice it still was far from easy and, particularly on the starboard side, hasn’t gone as accurately as I’d have liked. I just hope those nice chaps at Eduard soon produce a masking set for this model. I masked each panel off the model, then fitted the panels, working from the rear to the front - you have to because the rear side windows are a butt-fit to the fuselage. My method for fixing glazing - provided it fits accurately - is, after sealing each panel with a dip in Klear, to apply a little drop of CA glue here and there around the frame, fit the panel, allow it to set, then run more Klear around the frame to seal it all the way round. However, the main canopy doesn’t fit accurately enough for this latter stage, having gaps at the bottom front and rear, so Humbrol Clear-Fix is a better option here. Note that the kit includes an optional Malcolm hood, which may be more appropriate for RAF versions, although there is no mention of it in the instructions.

Painting, Decaling and Weathering The model was given a coat of grey auto primer and a few spots given a bit more filling and sanding treatment. The instructions quote Italeri Acrylic codes and FS Numbers. FS 36173, for the undersides, seems to equate to RAF Dark Sea Grey, which seems very dark, but who am I to argue? I used Humbrol aerosol acrylics: Sea Grey 27 underneath, Light Olive 86 with a light overspray of Olive Drab 155 for the upper surfaces. The Olive Drab was polished back to allow the lighter shade to show through patchily, then the whole model

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Scale Aviation Modeller International

The inaccuracy of some of the masking only showed up when it was removed after painting

given a coat of Tamiya TS-13 Gloss Clear in preparation for decaling and the first stage of weathering, a light wash to pick out some panel lines and the control surfaces. I found the decals to be accurately printed and easy to apply, with the exception of the yellow wing stripes, which were difficult to work into the dive brake slots. I found I had to allow them to dry, then slit the decal over the slots with a scalpel and apply copious amounts of Micro Sol. Trouble is, after two or three applications the decal begins to break up, tiny spots of the colour below showing through. I decided to pass this off as wear and tear. I found the same problem trying to get the US flag to settle on the starboard side of the fin. Also, the wing stripes are provided as separate upper and lower halves, resulting in an impossible-todisguise join on the leading edge. I feel this would have been much better produced as a single piece to wrap around the leading edge. You may feel it would be better to mask and spray these stripes; certainly I would if I were doing this again (actually, spray them before any other colours and then mask them off). The decals include three rather random patches of yellow, which I assume might have been applied over bullet-hole repairs. However they are not really so random, all being exactly the same shape, and I decided they’d look a bit daft, even if I tried to disguise their sameness by putting them at different angles. So they got left off. And a word of warning. I would highly recommend separating the section of decal sheet for the version you are modelling, and the generic stencils, from the rest of the sheet. Even then be very careful you don’t get mixed up. You see, the different versions are labelled A,B,C and D on the decal sheet and on the instructions but decals for the different versions and the stencils carry the same numbers on the decal sheet. So, for example, it can be quite easy to mix up decal 11 (stencils) with decal 11B (for version B) as they are both simply numbered 11 on the sheet. Trust me, I know this. For heaven’s sake, Italeri, just give all the

decals a different number - there are hundreds to choose from! So decal 11B is missing from this model, because it got put where 11 should have gone and had to be scratched off in order to be replaced with the correct decal. Anyway, after that it was all sealed in with a coat of Tamiya TS-80 Flat Clear. Further weathering was applied, working a light grey fine pastel powder unevenly into the centre of some panels to lighten them a touch, and a darker powder to accentuate some of the panel joins a little more (a similar effect to pre-shading, for those who either don’t have an airbrush or, like me, aren’t that skilled with one).

Final Assembly All undercarriage parts, exhausts and aerials were painted on the sprues. I trim such parts down to one sprue gate, wherever possible one that will show least when the parts are fitted, for painting. Everything fitted well, although the rear inner main door actuators were a bit of a fiddle. I had left the wing landing-light off until this stage; there is no detail behind this lens and it shows, sadly. The propeller was assembled and painted separately, Humbrol Red 19 being used over black primer for the boss. The decals of the prop blades have silvered a bit, but that is doubtless my fault for not polishing the blades to a smooth-enough finish. The only parts that didn’t go together so well were the bombs, needing quite a bit of sanding along the seams. Regrettably, there are no stencils provided for these obviously not important enough. A fishingline aerial wire finished the model off.

Conclusion This was a very enjoyable kit to build, with few vices to cause problems. The markings are a bit ‘different’, and I like ‘different’. The basic model is very well detailed, but there is still scope for extra additions with the potential for it to make a real show-stopper. It is certainly to be hoped that a masking set appears soon for that canopy, but I would happily recommend this kit to modellers of all abilities.

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In association with

Edited by Paul Bradley

Our Monthly look in the Attic!

‘What if I build an Airfix 1/72 Arado Ar196 as an Italian dive bomber?’ By Steve Young

W

‘

hat if I build something different’, I thought to myself while I was staring into the Airfix 1/72 Arado Ar 196 kit. I have two Airfix Arados on the display shelf. One build is the OOB version in standard German camo; the other Arado is a ‘What if’ Ski plane fitted with scratchbuilt skis in German camo paint, with a white winter wash. I decided my third Arado was going to wear the spats that were left over from an Aichi ‘Val’ floatplane build. I thought I would build an Italian Arado dive bomber with dive brakes, swinging bomb, spats and some exterior surface detail and wrap it up in a nice Italian desert paint scheme. Let the fun begin! The cockpit reminded me of the cop on South Park - ‘go away people, nothing to see here, nothing to see’. There really wasn’t much inside the fuselage walls; although you do get a good instrument panel decal, the rest was pretty bland. The only thing I did was make a bulkhead to stop the see-

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Scale Aviation Modeller International

Steve added a few scratchbuilt details to the cockpits A few raised panels were added for effect A new intake box was scratched under the nose

through effect into the rear fuselage, behind the rear gunner’s seat. Hu 230 PRU Blue seemed like a good choice, so I gave the interior a coat of paint, and slid on the decal. I was keen to get on with the rest of

A shim was required for the tailplane to get a tighter fit

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the kit, and this build was going to be more about the outside than the inside, so after some Tamiya tape seat belts were fitted, she was done as far as I was concerned - now the outside. The fuselage was a pretty straightforward affair with minimal panel lines or surface detail, so rescribing the raised panel lines was pretty simple. All the scribing was carried out before the fuselage and wings were glued together. The fabric surface on the rear fuselage was gently sanded down to make the ribs a little softer to look at. All the ‘hand grabs’ on the forward fuselage were sanded off also. Several access panels were fitted over the fuselage and one was recessed into the rear fuselage. At this stage the fuselage halves were joined together and filler was applied to all the seams. In an effort to hide the Arado within, an air intake (from a Provost) was fitted to the port side of the fuselage. The wings were a straightforward operation with uncomplicated lines. I did scribe a panel line over every row of rivets, creating panel lines that run the length of the wing chord. Underneath the front of the fuselage, behind the cowling, there is a plastic molding that appears to replicate an intake of some sort, or maybe an oil cooler - I really don’t know. In order to make this part look better I fitted fine mesh to the front, cut out the back and boxed up the sides with card; the result looks very presentable. As mentioned earlier, several access panels were fitted to the ‘plane, made from five- and ten-thou card; they were given a soft sanding with 1200 grit to take the sharp edges off. This was done to add a little more surface detail and to add more focal points. Dive brakes were fitted under the wing these were donated from an Auster Antarctic build that went wrong. I drilled three shallow holes along a panel line for the legs of the dive brakes to sit into and they were soon anchored with thin cement. The engine cowling was scribed around its circumference and then the inner rear edge was thinned using a combination of knife, file and sandpaper. A keyway was cut in the lower part of the cowling to help with fitment against the oil cooler that was slightly bigger now that it had been boxed with card. The fitting of the elevators/tailplane was a little tricky to get all lined up. The elevators were a little loose straight from the box and had to be corrected to sit tighter in their corresponding slots. This was achieved by gluing a piece of 10-thou card into the slot in the tail and trimming and sanding. This held the elevators firm; cement was applied and they were adjusted for the correct dihedral as they dried. The wings were a straightforward procedure and the locating tabs lined up nicely. They were a good flush fit with the fuselage, although I did file and sand off of a whisker of the fuselage where the wing root met the wing - I had to remove a slight step. Card was used to fill slight gaps between the ailerons and the wings. Filler was also used underneath the wing root to fill a gap left after gluing. The wings were set in a

The new spatted undercarriage from an old Airfix Val

higher dihedral than the original spec Arado carried - again this was done to change the look of the plane. The canopy fit is too deep against the front of the fuselage and creates a step that needed to be attended to. 10 thou plastic card was used to build up the fuselage edges and the end result was a better fitting canopy that flowed onto the fuselage more smoothly. In keeping with a budget build, Tamiya tape masks were made to save a few pennies, although in saying that I doubt that anyone would make aftermarket masks for the Arado anyway. A few thin coats of Tamiya cement applied and left till almost dry and then the canopy was attached. The spats and rear wheel were all left over from an Aichi ‘Val’ build that weren’t required. The spats were promptly scribed and sanded and the wheels were halfpainted using Hu 90 Beige Green for the centres and Hu 33 Black for the tyres. The painted section of the wheel was then closed up in the spats. This was done to protect the wheels during painting of the spats, and was easier than trying to mask the wheels. Locating holes and recesses for the spats had to be drilled and sculpted, these holes ending up so deep to achieve the right angle for the spats that they broke though the wing completely. Luckily there was enough plastic left for the spats to make a good purchase in the wings. The tail wheel was a simple affair, only needing a hole drilled in the fuselage. With this new landing gear fitted, I now have a spare set of floats for another ‘What if’... What would a ‘what if’ Italian Arado dive bomber have in the way of armament? For the forward firing MGs, I stuck with the wing-mounted machine guns, drilling them out and adding plastic rod for gun barrels for a better look. The rear gunner’s MG looked more like a double-barrel Buntline

Steve set the dihedral slightly greater than on the floatplane, again for effect The engine cowling was rescribed and the inner rear edge was thinned

Pre-shading will add to the worn look of the model

pistol, so I decided to replace it with a spare from a He 115 kit that looks a bit more steroidal. Underneath this beastie, I decided to use a swing arm for the bomb release and, for a fleeting moment, I had a vision of the Arado displayed in flight - thank goodness it was fleeting. I hunted around the spares box to find a suitably sized bomb and came up with an example that is about 250-300lb in 1/72. A swing arm, left over from the ‘Val’ build, along with some sway braces from an unknown source, made up the coupling for the bomb. The swing arm is connected to the fuselage with a tow coupling from a Bofors gun trailer; with my models, I use anything I can to get the desired result. The painting process started with the whole model being cleaned down with White Spirit and the panel lines being scrubbed out with a fine tooth brush. Hu 33 Black was thinned and sprayed finely on all the panel lines and into any corners of the build as a pre-shade. Next up Hu 147 Light Grey was used to paint the underneath surfaces and given a day to dry. Tamiya tape was positioned on the fuselage for a hard edge demarcation between the upper and lower surfaces. The fuselage was given two coats of Hu 93 Desert Yellow and the preshading showed up subtly through the sandy color giving the model a slightly dirty, aged look. A combination of nine different shades of greens and three shades of brown were sprayed in small blotches/clouds across the fuselage. The Italian desert camo that I had in mind turned into an autumnal camo scheme. The engine cowling and the

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front section of the spats were painted Hu 154 Insignia Yellow. Most of the weathering was carried out before the clear coat was applied. The weathering powders and the silver pencil for paint chips achieve a better purchase on the matt surface, so I did most of the weathering at this stage. Exhaust stains, paint chips, boot marks, mud on the wheels and oil stains around the engine were all applied, then the clear coat sealed over the top ready for the decals. At this stage the exhausts, cowling and aerial were cemented into their various positions, along with the spats. An assortment of decals from four or five different kits was used to complete the build. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any Italian wing insignias with the white background, but the black examples stand out well against the camo scheme. A few serial numbers on the fuselage and a small shield decal at the front of the cockpit completed the decaling. Mr. Mark Softener was applied

In association with

to the decals to relax them on to the surface. Humbrol Matt Coat was the final spray coat to seal everything in place and take the shine off. The paint masks were removed and the donor machine gun was fitted to

Camo added – very colourful!

the gunner’s compartment and then one strand of hair acquired from my Goth niece was superglued into place as the aerial wire. I really enjoyed building this ‘What if’ Italian dive bomber from the Airfix Arado Ar 196 Classic British Kit. It’s a great little kit to build and easily lends itself to manipulation. I was very pleased that the build turned out to be the credible-looking ‘What if’ as I’d envisaged at the start.

The Hawk box art Hawk 1/96 Vickers Viscount with Capital Airlines decals

Kit of the Month – Vickers Viscount

I

’m a little annoyed at myself for missing an anniversary in the October issue – the 60th Anniversary of the England to New Zealand Air Race in 1953. That’s because I had recently acquired an original boxing of the Hawk 1/96 Vickers Viscount, which, in a later Glencoe re-issue, came with markings for a BEA machine that took part in the race. Ah, well – better late than never, I suppose. The kit itself was first issued way back in 1954, and is quite advanced for its time – while it has no interior detail at all, the

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Scale Aviation Modeller International

The kit was reissued by Glencoe with various colour schemes – this box contains Capital and BEA markings

exterior detail is a set of quite restrained raised panel lines and the outlines are pretty accurate. Clear parts are included for both the windscreen and cabin windows, there’s a set of air stairs and some basic crew and passenger figures. The model depicts a Series 700 Viscount, a type used by a lot of airlines around the globe, including BEA, Trans-Canada, Air France and Trans Australian, as well as six

air forces. Hawk issued the kit during the 1950s in a number of boxings with different markings – Capital, Northwest, Continental and United are four that I am aware of. The kit, as mentioned, was reissued around ten years ago by Glencoe, with two different boxings available – markings in one were for Capital and BEA (race markings), while the second included decals for Air France and Northeast Airlines. There are few classic kits of this type. Faller made one in 1/100 but even Airfix never got around to kitting it. More recently S&M have kitted the -800 in 1/144, while the -700 is available in 1/72 from Mach 2.

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Classic Plastic

the GALLERY The Models of Damian Campayo Here’s the second part of Damian Campayo’s Classic Kit portfolio. Damian was originally from Spain, and he has a passion for Spanish Civil War aircraft – here are a few of his models depicting aircraft of that period.

Damian’s Heller Bücker Jungmeister in Nationalist markings

Another Heller offering, this is the Bf 108, also in Nationalist markings

The Condor Legion operated many early Bf 109s this is Heller’s Caesar

The Republicans operated a variety of types, including the Boeing Model 281 Peashooter; this is the Revell kit

Not a Spanish Civil War aircraft, but nice nevertheless − Heller’s Morane Saulnier MS.225 parasol fighter Supermodel did a range of Italian bombers back in the sixties, this is their SM.81 in Nationalist markings

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The two seats compared Quiz time pt.1 – which is kit, which is MDC?

Titan Tiffy Interior Design

R

eaders will have no doubt noticed a trend appearing in my more recent reports. Things seem to be getting bigger! This is not compensation for my recent and to-date maintained, illness-induced weight loss. It is in fact a rather sad admission of the advent of time. It is with great reluctance that I have realised that ‘Antique’ Andy is rapidly getting, how can I put this, sort of old. This was not a result of some kind of epiphany or ‘Road to Damascus’ moment, rather as a result of a 1/144 Minicraft PBY that arrived for review. It looked magnificent in the box, beautifully moulded and with stunning US Coastguard markings, what more could one ask for? How about the ability to actually build the thing! The parts were so small and fiddly that I could not pick them up, even on the odd occasion when I could see them, despite my now compulsory glasses and lighted magnifier. On completion of the fuselage I gave it up as a bad job and promptly passed the whole lot on to my mate ‘Primer’ Pete Stott, who of course completed it perfectly in a couple of evenings. It will no doubt appear as a review item in a future SAMI, looking resplendent and adding the failure to my already battered ego. Anyway, enough of my mid-life crisis and back to more important matters - one ‘Titan Tiffy’. Having accepted that 1/32 or bigger is now my scale of choice, a whole new horizon of opportunities has been opened up. I was originally happy to build the kit straight from the box, as the original early 1970’s moulding provided sufficient detail to meet my then rather low personal standards. That was until I discovered the exquisite Typhoon resin upgrades available from Model Design Construction (MDC). Although meant for their own Typhoon kit, they fit the Revell item perfectly. The pictures clearly show the world of difference they make to the build. I think the reader will be able to tell which the kit items are and which are the MDC upgrades

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Scale Aviation Modeller International

By Antique Andy Hazell without any direction from me? To date, I have used the full cockpit set, which included an etched brass harness and full instrument decals. I used superglue gel to assemble all parts and Lifecolor Interior Green acrylic over Halfords Grey Plastic Primer. A thin black wash was used to lift the considerable detail present. The instrument panel was painted with a very dark grey, but here is the clever bit - when dry, I used a medium Squadron/Signal sanding stick to rub back the raised detail to the primer, thus highlighting it without the need for any additional painting operations. Once fitted to the recesses, the instrument decals were given a drop of Johnson’s Klear to represent the glass. I used the end of a length of plastic rod to add yellow or red dots to a couple of the switches and job done. A vast

The kit cockpit is OK; the MDC cockpit is superb!

improvement on the kit item - I doubt even the kit-supplied instrument decal would have saved it, assuming, that is, it had not disintegrated on contact with water... This prompted me to ditch all possibility of using the kit decals and I ordered the MDC upgrade decal set there and then. I annealed the brass harness over a flame, then having bent and folded it to shape, painted it in dark cream and glued it into place. I utilised the sanding stick once again to reveal the original brass on the buckles and eyelets. I have chosen to leave the rear armour plate off until later in the build as it sits vulnerably high above the cockpit sill at present. Initially I intended to ‘super-detail’ the engine. However I quickly lost heart, as the only part that would be completely visible on the finished model would be the air intake. Therefore I put all my efforts into that

The interior detail in place

Andy didn’t add much detail to the engine – it won’t be seen – but did work on the radiator

Quiz time, pt. 4 – which is kit, which is MDC…?

area. I added lots of subtle washes and shading to lift the detail, at the same time toning down the metallic finishes so they did not look too garish. I have finally learnt not to overdo things - less is most definitely more and when it looks right, just leave it alone and move on. Resist that temptation to do ‘just one more’ finishing touch - it always ends in tears before bedtime. Another area I chose to invest in from MDC is the exhaust stacks. To be fair, the kit items were not that bad, it is just that the MDC set is so much better. They are supplied on a base to be fitted from the inside, complete with arrow pointing forward to ensure you fit them the correct way around. The stubs, which are already hollowed out, then fit individually into pre-drilled holes. I chose to open the holes out with a pin drill to ensure an easier fit later on in the build, although on reflection I am not sure that this was actually necessary. In the next month I intend to get the fuselage halves together and fit the wings and tailplane. There is however just a slight thought recurring in my mind... looking at the MDC website, the upgrades for the prop and cannon barrels look really good. Also, the aftermarket wheels look much better than the kit items, and the 500lb bomb set, and the...here we go again!

Mastered-Adverts-AV-1213_AV-0606 08/11/2013 12:57 Page 1097

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Václav Lomitzki – VALOM Zlešická 1808, 148 00 Praha 4. Czech Republic Tel. 00420 271910470 Email: [email protected]

Fouga CM. 170 Magister (FAF)

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Fouga CM.170R Magister (Luftwaffe)

NOW AVAILABLE! Bristol Brigand B.Mk.I (PAF, RAF)

Nieuport Ni 17 1/144

Other forthcoming kits: Fouga Magister in Israeli and Belgian marking, Albatros D.Va 1/144

1098-06-ModellersPort-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:26 Page 1098

MODELLERS Portfolio

Wolfpak Decals’ classic sheet is a must-have item for modellers in the finest scale

Modellers Portfolio

Silver Machine SAC’s Shiny Stratojet By Gary Hatcher.

T

Sprue images courtesy of Cybermodeller

he B-47 Stratojet is such a graceful piece of loveliness that many – like ‘Dutch’ Holland in the classic film Strategic Air Command – fall in love with the thing on sight. Strange then that is is so poorly represented in kit form. Looking at the three major scales, Hasegawa’s vintage 1/72 kit is pretty much the only game in town, while the Sanger 1/48 vacform is a typical example of the genre, with a fine model achievable for those with the skills and the patience to get there. By far and away the most ready option is 1/144. The Academy/Hobbycraft kit, a nicely designed tooling that builds up into an attractive and manageable model. More than one boxing floating around out there means at least four aircraft can be modelled from various kit sheets, while the groundbreaking Wolfpak decal sheet, #144001 Heavy Metal Part 1, will allow two more. The most readily available boxing currently is Academy’s #4443, which includes options for an E or a B, with optional tail parts, one sporting the large

‘P’ on the tail (see accompanying profiles) that is so redolent of the B-17 formations of WW2. This kit typifies the opportunities 1/144 allows, with a good level of detail, a smart overall appearance and most of all, a model of a large aircraft that won’t have to be boxed in the attic for lack of room to display it. Academy also offer a B-58 of similar quality, and with two good B52s on the market, and even a B-36 in the smaller scale, SAC’s classic line-up should not be beyond the scope of most modellers in terms of both budget and space. Let’s just get that Minicraft KC-135 across the workbench first – then we’ll have to see about some silver stratostuff!.

1098-06-ModellersPort-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:26 Page 1099

Modellers Portfolio

B-47 Stratojet

Boeing B-47E-110-BW s/n 53-2276 22nd Bombardment Wing Delivered to 303rd Bombardment Wing, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona in February 1955. Transferred to 22nd BW, March AFB, California in September 1957. Deployed to Guam twice, once in 1959 and again in 1962. Also served with 2881st Air Defense Division and 40th BW. Currently on display at March Field Air Museum, California

Boeing B-47E-110-BW s/n 53-2275 303rd Bombardment Wing Served with 303rd BW. Moved to the Air Force Special Weapons Centre, Kirtland AFB, New Mexico in 1957 where it was later converted to a JB-47E. Retired in February 1968 and now on display at the 8th Air Force Museum, Barksdale AFB, Louisiana

Boeing B-47E-35-DT s/n 52-1412 301st Bombardment Wing First served with the 301st BW, Barksdale AFB, Louisiana from May 1955 to October 1957. Also served with 97th, 384th, 321st, 4047th and 70th Bombardment Wings. Supplied to the Strategic Air & Space Museum, Ashland in June 1964 where it is still on display in 301st BW scheme. Interestingly upper wing and fuselage walkways were filled in with black

Boeing B-47-120-BW s/n 53-2336 384th Bombardment Wing Only flew with the 384th BW, based at Little Rock AFB, Arkansas, retired and put into storage at the AMARC bone yard in January 1963. Standard scheme but drop tanks painted dayglo orange and heavily faded

Boeing B-47E-25-DT s/n 52-166 40th Bombardment Wing Served with the 9th BW, Mountain Home AFB, Idaho and 40th BBW, Smoky Hill AFB, Kansas. Later used by the US Navy. Ferried from China Lake to Castle AFB, California on 17th June 1986 and placed on display. It is believed to be the final flight of a B-47. Details on the nose: Pilot Maj Gen J.D. Moore, Co-Pilot Lt Col D.E. Wolfe, Crew Chief Mel Hedgepeth, Asst Crew Chief Ted Pappe

Colour artwork by Chris Sandham-Bailey/Inkworm www.inkworm.co.uk

1098-06-ModellersPort-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:26 Page 1100

Modellers Portfolio

B-47 Stratojet

Boeing B-47E-75-BW s/n 51-7069 High visibility striped markings painted over the standard natural metal upper surface and anti-flash white undersides. 51-7069 was employed in a series of bomb test exercises

Boeing B-47E-35-LM s/n 52-326 100th Bombardment Wing First served with the 25th Bomber Squadron, 40th BW, based at Smoky Hill AFB, Kansas. In 1965 transferred to 100th BW, based at Pease AFB New Hampshire. Put into storage in October 1965. Unusually carries the ejection triangle on the fuselage, otherwise standard B-47 scheme

Boeing B-47E-85-BW s/n 52-462 Assigned to the 98th Bombardment Wing, Lincoln AFB, New England in June 1956 and served for a brief period before being retired. Tail bears the double bands of the 98th BW

Boeing B-47E-90-BW s/n 52-501 9th Bombardment Wing Only served with 9th BW, based at Mountain Home AFB Idaho. Retired and stored at AMARC Bone Yard, January 1965. Interestingly the code was repeated on the external fuel tank

Boeing B-47B-40-BW s/n 51-2212 367th Bomber Squadron Served with the 367th BS, 306th BW and based at MacDill AFB, Florida. Standard early B-47 scheme of NMF with insignia on the fuselage and a large P on tail, which was applied to squadron aircraft of this period

Colour artwork by Chris Sandham-Bailey/Inkworm www.inkworm.co.uk

1098-06-ModellersPort-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:26 Page 1101

Modellers Portfolio

1/144 Scale Plans B-47 Stratojet B-47B

B-47B Crossbow

B-47E Front

Scale Drawings by Chris Sandham-Bailey/Inkworm www.inkworm.co.uk

1098-06-ModellersPort-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:26 Page 1102

MODELLERS Portfolio

Plans

1/144 Scale Plans B-47 Stratojet

B-47B Bottom

B-47E

1098-06-ModellersPort-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:26 Page 1103

Modellers Portfolio

B-47B Top

1098-06-ModellersPort-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:26 Page 1104

MODELLERS Portfolio

Plans XB-67 Crossbow Top

XB-67 Crossbow Bottom

1/144 Scale Plans XB-67 Crossbow XB-67 Crossbow

XB-67 Crossbow Front

Boeing B-47B-40-BW (S/N 51-2212) of the 306th Bomb Wing (Medium) landing with drag chute

Boeing B-47E-50-LM (S/N 52-3363) in flight

The B-47E was an improved version of the -B model and more than 1500 were produced by Boeing, Douglas and Lockheed. Improvements incorporated into the -E model Stratojet included a more powerful version of the General Electric J47 turbojet and Rocket Assisted Take Off (RATO) packs with 18 or 33 rockets which were jettisoned after use. Other features of the B-47E included 20mm cannons in the tail instead of the .50cal. machine guns of the -B model and upgraded avionics including the A-5 fire control system

Boeing B-47E-65-BW (S/N 51-5257, the last Boeing-built block 65 -E model) during rocket-assisted take off test, with a Lockheed F-80 as a chase plane

USAF Boeing B-47E Stratojet 51-2394

1098-06-ModellersPort-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:26 Page 1105

Modellers Portfolio

B-47 Stratojet

Boeing TB-47B-20-BW s/n 50-076 USAF Headquarters 15th Air Force Converted from a B-47B and initially assigned to the USAF Headquarters, 15th Air Force. Later served with the 320th BW, based at March AFB, California. Whilst on approach to Mather AFB it crashed into Palomar Mountain killing all three crew, 18th December 1957

Boeing B-47B-20-BW s/n 50-052 Based at Eglin AFB, Florida and exclusively used for ejection seat trials during 1953 before being struck off charge

Boeing B-47B-30-BW s/n 51-2120 Airways and Air Communications Service Entered service with 1800th Airways and Air Communications Service and used for high altitude testing. Was the only B-47 to be operated by the AACS in the very distinctive anti-flash white and dayglo orange scheme. Since been repainted in standard B-47 SAC colours and on display at Whiteman AFB Missouri

Boeing TB-47B-20-BW s/n 50-057 3520th Combat Crew Training Wing Built as a standard B-47B, 50-057 was converted to a TB-47B upon entering service and assigned to the 3520th CCTW, based at McConnell AFB, Kansas

Boeing WB-47B-30-BW s/n 51-2115 55th Weather Research Squadron Served with 321st BW but converted to a WB-47B in June 1956. Assigned to the 55th Weather Research Squadron, 9th Weather Research Wing, based at McClellan AFB, California in November 1957 where it received the high visibility scheme of dayglo orange with black trim over anti-flash white. Reassigned as a ground trainer in October 1962

Colour artwork by Chris Sandham-Bailey/Inkworm www.inkworm.co.uk

1098-06-ModellersPort-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:26 Page 1106

Modellers Portfolio

B-47 Stratojet

Boeing B-47E-105-BW s/n 52-609 1,000th B-47 Built 52-209 received special nose art when it left the Boeing factory to commemorate being the 1,000th built, late 1954. It was operated by the 40th, 97th, 98th, 341st and 96th Bombardment Wings before being put into storage at the AMARC bone yard in July 1967. The commemorative scheme was all over natural metal finish with just the serial and national markings on the upper wing

Boeing B-47B-45-BW s/n 51-2291 369th Bomber Squadron Carries the emblem of the 369th BS, 306th BW, based at MacDill AFB, Florida. Later served with the 320th BW. Standard natural metal with blue band on tail

Boeing TB-47B-25-BW s/n 51-2059 (X059) Used by the 321st BW before being loaned to Canadair and used as a testbed for the Orenda Iroquois engine for the Avro Arrow programme in 1956. Following cancellation of the programme the aircraft was returned in August 1956

Boeing YDB-47B-50-BW s/n 51-2350 Modified in 1956 to carry 4 XB-67 Crossbows by the addition of two pylons on each wing and given the designation YDB-47B in 1956. Following the project cancellation it was converted back to standard B-47B configuration and provided to the 321st BW. Retired in April 1960

Radioplane XB-67 Crossbow Constructed by the Radioplane Company as an anti-radar missile the project led to 14 being constructed and tested by the B-50 and B-47. The Crossbow was powered by a Continental J69 turbojet engine. The project was cancelled in July 1957.

Colour artwork by Chris Sandham-Bailey/Inkworm www.inkworm.co.uk

Mastered-Adverts-AV-1213_AV-0606 08/11/2013 12:57 Page 1107

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1110-12-FL-Airbus-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:25 Page 1110

SAMI Spotlight First Look

Revell’s Airbus A350-900 A Test Shot Built

By Andy McCabe

FIRST LOOK

TECH DATA

T

he A350 took off from Toulouse in France for its maiden flight on the 14th June 2013 powered by two Rolls Royce Trent XWB engines delivering 75,000 to 95,000lb of thrust; the XWB engines are derived from the Trent 1000s. The A350-900 will seat between 314 and 475 passengers, depending on the configuration, with a cockpit crew of two. The aircraft is due to enter service mid2014 with the launch customer Qatar Airways. The -900 variant is the middle one of three intended variants, the -800 will seat 270 passengers in a nine-abreast layout and the -1000 variant will seat 350 passengers in a three-class cabin layout and will also have a slightly larger wing than the two other variants. 473 orders have so far been received for the -900 and a total of 725 to date for all three variants. The Revell kit, as received, has six sprues of grey and one of clear injection moulded

1110 | December 2013

Scale Aviation Modeller International

SCALE: 1/144 KIT NO: Test shot of 03989 TYPE: Injection Moulded Test Shot MANUFACTURER: Revell GmbH & Co.KG

plastic, although this may change when the kit goes on sale, hopefully later this year. The parts are superbly moulded with finely engraved panel lines, and very fine trailing edges to the wing, fin and tailplanes. The attention to detail is amazing, especially on the Rolls Royce Trent XWB engines where Revell have followed the production process used in the Zvezda/Revell Boeing 747-800. They each feature two separate sets of fan blades that are not solid and can be seen

through, the moulding is very intricate and delicate, as are the other parts to the engines, and are quite simply, extraordinary. The same has to be said for the undercarriage parts, which have the same amount of exquisite detailing. No decals or finished instructions were supplied, however I did receive prototype assembly instructions which have CAD drawings and hand written step and part numbers on them. There were no colour callouts, which was not a problem as it is easy to work out which colours are required.

Construction The build begins by assembling the cockpit bulkhead to the cockpit floor. There is some nice detail to the cockpit, which was painted using photos from the Internet and is a decent representation when finished. The next step should have been to assemble the nose landing gear and then

1110-12-FL-Airbus-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:25 Page 1111

First Look

SAMI Spotlight

joined together, and again the fit was excellent, the two halves aligning perfectly. There was only a very small amount of cleaning up to do along the joint lines and no filler was needed. The lower centre fuselage cover was then fitted, again this was a perfect fit; this is a nice kit so far. I now masked the cockpit glazing and slotted it into place, yet another good fit. The wings were assembled. The landing lights were inserted into each lower wing section and then the upper wing halves were mated to the lower parts. The trailing edges of the wings are very thin - perfectly to scale almost. The flap and aileron actuators were now assembled and fitted to each wing and then the wings were dry fitted to the fuselage. The fit is so good that I will not need to glue them to the fuselage later on which makes painting a lot easier. The two tailplanes were now assembled, cleaned up and set to one side. Now on to those marvellous engines.

fit this to the bay, but I only fitted the upper section of the gear leg and the retraction arm at this stage as the parts are very finely moulded and would more than likely break off during the main assembly. The next steps, 04-05, should be to assemble the main landing gear but similarly these were skipped, as were those after this up to steps 15 and 16, which entail inserting the clear plastic parts for the cabin windows. This I also omitted, as I will use Micro Kristal Klear later on instead of having to mask all of those windows. The cockpit and nose gear bay assemblies were now fitted into one of the fuselage halves, and then 35g of nose weight was added. The main landing gear bay was now assembled into the same fuselage half. This was split into two different steps in the instructions but it can be done in just one as the fit of the parts is excellent and very positive. The two fuselage halves were now www.sampublications.com December 2013

| 1111

1110-12-FL-Airbus-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:25 Page 1112

SAMI Spotlight First Look

Very clever moulding has resulted in the best 1/144 plastic airliner engines on the market, equal to those on the Revell/Zvezda 747-800. The fans are moulded in two parts, one front and one rear, which means that the each fan blade is moulded separately and is held onto the hub by the smallest amount of plastic possible which in turn means that the fan blade assembly is totally see-through. This assembly then fits into the inner engine cowl, which has more finely moulded blades. It is quite easy to break the fan blades off the hub if you are not careful as they are very delicate and a steady hand is required. This assembly then fits into the forward end of one of the main engine casings, where the internal raised/recessed lip in each engine casing ensures that the assembly is very positively located and a nice tight fit ensues. The rear engine parts are just as good and when the whole engine is assembled the last part to be fitted is the one-piece intake ring. Again the fit is so good you cannot see the joint between this and the inner intake part, and no filler was needed either. Superb! Once assembled the engines were masked and sprayed with white primer and Halfords Appliance Gloss White. I hope that the production kit is moulded in white plastic when it is released as the numerous coats of paint required to cover the grey would hide the very delicately engraved surface detailing, which would be a shame. The wings and tailplanes were now given a coat of grey primer followed by a coat of Gunze H308 Light Grey. I am not sure whether the prototype or production versions of the A350 will have the grey Corrogard walkways to the wings. It also looks as though the leading edges are not bare metal but a darker shade of grey, so I masked off the leading edges and walkways and sprayed them with Gunze H334 Barley Grey. This may not be right and will be corrected, I guess, when Revell release the kit. As there were no decals with the kit I had a choice of what I could do with the

1112 | December 2013

Scale Aviation Modeller International

aircraft - either the Airbus house colours as flown on the prototype or a British Airways version. However, from what I can see British Airways will be purchasing the 1000 version and not the -900 so the Airbus House Colours it was! I set about creating a set on my computer then printing them out on Lazertan decal paper. I would guess the kit will feature either Lufthansa or Airbus House Colours when it is released later this year. The undercarriage and gear bay doors were fitted and then the tiny aerials, pitot tubes and navigation lights, and a rather impressive 1/144 scale Airbus A350-900 was finished. There is a stand supplied with the kit, which was sprayed gloss white and a decal was made just to liven it up a bit. I modified the part where it joins to the fuselage as there is only a narrow strip with two pins that fit into the fuselage. I added four transverse triangles to the top of the stand to support the fuselage and stop it from rocking from side to side.

Conclusion

FIRST LOOK

I was really impressed with this kit when I removed it from the box and cannot see how Revell can make any further improvements before it is released. The quality of the parts has to be seen to be believed and no doubt the decals and instructions in the box will be equally impressive. I will be getting another one of these for sure and maybe more if they release the -800 and -1000 versions as well. The parts fit together like a dream, align accurately and, as with the wings-tofuselage joints, perfectly. I have never yet made a model airliner where I could paint the wings and fuselage separately before assembly. This review will hit the magazine after Scale ModelWorld in Telford this year. I hope that Revell will have had a finished article on their stand so that I can compare theirs to mine, just to see if they have made any changes to the kit. I cannot see how they can, but you never know. Many thanks to Revell for the test shot one of my favourite kits this year so far.

Mastered-Adverts-AV-1213_AV-0606 08/11/2013 12:57 Page 1113

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1114-15-Previews-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:25 Page 1114

SAMI Spotlight Previews

Previews

Meng’s Komet In the Box By David Francis TECHNICAL DATA

Messerschmitt Me 163B-0/1 SCALE: 1/32 KIT NO: QS-001 PRICE: £44.99 US$79.95 DECAL OPTIONS: 3 PANEL LINES: Recessed STATUS: New Tooling TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic PARTS: Plastic 171, Clear 10, Etched 4 MANUFACTURER: Meng UK IMPORTER: Hannants, Creative Models US IMPORTER: Stevens International

UH-60J(SP) Chistose Special Markings TECHNICAL DATA SCALE: 1/72 KIT NO: 02056 PRICE: TBC DECAL OPTIONS: 1 PANEL LINES: Recessed STATUS: Reissue TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic MANUFACTURER: Hasegawa UK IMPORTER: Amerang

For the last 40 years if you wanted a Komet in 1/32 your choice was the Hasegawa kits with various resin and etched upgrades plus some rescribing to bring it up to modern standards. Well now you can save yourself a lot of time and work as Meng have brought out an all-new Komet as their first 1/32 release. The history of the Komet is well known so I will not repeat it here, but like many I have always been attracted by its modern shape, which would have worried the Allies. Though in reality it was far more dangerous to its ground crew and pilots than to the Allies and could never have had any major effect on the outcome of the Second World War.

US IMPORTER: Hobbico

Fokker E.IV

Fokker E.1 (Early)

TECHNICAL DATA

TECHNICAL DATA

SCALE: 1/32 KIT NO: 32039

SCALE: 1/32 KIT NO: 32021

PRICE: US$69.00 DECAL OPTIONS: 4

PRICE: US$69.00 DECAL OPTIONS: 6

PANEL LINES: Recessed

PANEL LINES: Recessed

STATUS: Revised Tooling

STATUS: Revised Tooling

TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic

TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic

PARTS: Plastic 163, Clear 5, Etched 23

PARTS: Plastic 137, Clear 5, Etched 22

MANUFACTURER: Wingnut Wings

MANUFACTURER: Wingnut Wings

AVAILABLE FROM: www.wingnutwings.com

AVAILABLE FROM: www.wingnutwings.com

1114 | December 2013

Scale Aviation Modeller International

On opening the box I was impressed by the quality of the plastic. The engraving is just on the right side of fine, but this is not going to be a kit for the beginner as there are a lot of small parts as well as etched brass items for the seat belts and instrument panel. This uses the individual instrument dials supplied on the decal sheet sandwiched by the etched brass and plastic. You are also supplied with an injectionmoulded part with raised dial detail that will look good with a little dry brushing. One thing that makes this kit really stand out is the ability to open most of the access panels to reveal the fuel tanks and ammo bays on the spine as well as the cannon bays in the wing roots for which you are supplied with both the early MG151/20 fitted to the early production models or the MK108 as fitted to the production B-1 models. The fully detailed Walther rocket motor can be exposed by using the stands supplied to remove the rear fuselage and pose it next to the model. More options enable you to pose the landing skid raised or lowered as well as adding the wheeled

handling trolley. The tyres for this are supplied in vinyl and these were my only disappointment in the kit as they have a very distinct tread pattern that I have never seen in period photos. However, an easy fix is to use a set of resin Bf 109K wheels like those produced by Barracuda studios. The decals supply markings for three interesting options as well as a very complete set of stencils: • 1. Me 163B-1, White 13, 2./JG 400, Brandis, Early 1945. A classic splinter scheme of RLM 82/83 over RLM 65 • 2. Me 163B-0, V-41, PK+OL, Major Wolfgang Spate, 13th May 45, overall red scheme • 3. Me 163B-1, VF241, RAF, piloted by Eric Brown on 7th July 1945. RLM 82/83 splinter wings with 82/83 mottle on the fuselage over RLM 76 with yellow undersurfaces I am really pleased that Meng have released an all-new 163. This manufacturer seems to have a knack of picking interesting subjects in both their armour and aviation ranges. I just wonder what their next 1/32 scale release will be, and based on the 163 I cannot wait.

1114-15-Previews-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:25 Page 1115

Previews SAMI Spotlight

Mitsubishi Ki-109 Experimental Interceptor TECHNICAL DATA SCALE: 1/72 KIT NO: 02052

Lockheed P-3C Block IIIA Orion JMSDF

Boeing 787-800 Dreamliner Demonstrator

PRICE: £39.99 US$65.00 DECAL OPTIONS: 2

TECHNICAL DATA

TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic

TECHNICAL DATA

SCALE: 1/200 KIT NO: 10697

SCALE: 1/72 KIT NO: 02055

PRICE: £26.99 US$42.95 DECAL OPTIONS: 2

PRICE: £44.99 US$72.95 DECAL OPTIONS: 2

PANEL LINES: Recessed STATUS: Reissue

PANEL LINES: Recessed STATUS: Reissue

TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic

TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic

PARTS: Plastic 79

PARTS: Plastic 125, Clear 15, Resin 8

MANUFACTURER: Hasegawa

MANUFACTURER: Hasegawa

UK IMPORTER: Amerang

UK IMPORTER: Amerang

US IMPORTER: Hobbico

US IMPORTER: Hobbico

First Look – New Tool Osprey By David Francis TECHNICAL DATA

MV-22B Osprey SCALE: 1/72 KIT NO: HAE41 PRICE: £39.99 US$60.00 DECAL OPTIONS: PANEL LINES: Recessed STATUS: New Tooling TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic PARTS: Plastic 124, Clear 27

PANEL LINES: Recessed STATUS: Revised Tooling MANUFACTURER: Hasegawa UK IMPORTER: Amerang US IMPORTER: Hobbico

The Ki-109 was developed by Major Hideo Sakamoto as Japan's answer to the Allies' B29 Superfortress. The Army Heavy Fighter Interceptor was equipped with one 75mm cannon and a 12.7mm machine gun in the tail turret. The 107th Flight Regiment received their aircraft in 1945; unfortunately, it proved too slow against

undercarriage extended or retracted and the flaps in either raised or lowered positions. The cockpit is well detailed for the scale and includes two crew figures, which if used with the supplied stand makes an in-flight model a good way to display the unique features of the type. Markings are supplied for two Ospreys, both of which are unit commanders' aircraft so have full colour national insignia and attractive coloured tail trims: • 1. MV-22B, VMM-165, MCAS Miramar, 2011 • 2. MV-22b, VMM-265, MCAS Futenma, 2012 Like many Japanese decals these are quite thick so if neither of these options float your boat the recent Xtradecal sheet (72-170) supplies both more colourful

the B-29. This limited-edition kit features resin nose and upper rear parts and metal 75 mm cannon parts.

squadron commanders' birds as well as pure low-viz options in aftermarket quality decals. The instructions certainly pack a lot in and you do have to study them quite carefully before applying glue to plastic. This is also true of the decal and painting guides with over 100 small decals needing to be placed. By the time you read this the second boxing covering the USAF CV-22 Special Forces variant should be nearing its release, and if you need inspiration do a search on You Tube for some amazing videos of the type doing things that no other aircraft in the world can do! Our thanks to Amerang for supplying the review sample. Highly recommended!

MANUFACTURER: Hasegawa UK IMPORTER: Amerang US IMPORTER: Hobbico

It has taken nearly twenty years but now the tilt rotor V-22 Osprey is maturing into a competent combat aircraft, though whether it will see service in the numbers originally planned remains to be seen. Over the course of its development Italeri have modified their original toolings in both 1/72 and 1/48 to try and represent a current version but this kit is still not 100% accurate and long overdue for replacement. Now Hasegawa have released an allnew tooling of the Marine MV-22 Osprey. On opening the box crammed with plastic the first thing I noticed is that engraved

surface detail is minimal but looking at reference photographs this seems to be accurate. One surprising omission is the lack of any rear cabin detail and both the side crew-entry and the large tail ramp are moulded in the closed position. I am sure we will not have to wait long for the aftermarket to supply the missing detail. What you do get is lots of detail in areas you can see and options to show the rotors in both vertical and horizontal position,

www.sampublications.com December 2013

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1116-17-CreativeTimes-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:24 Page 1116

SAMI Spotlight Creative Times

Sponsored by Creative Models www.creativemodels.co.uk

Creative Times A selection of new releases now available

From Creative Models

Messerschmitt Me 410A-1 High Speed Bomber TECHNICAL DATA SCALE: 1/48 KIT NO: LS 003 PRICE: US$89.95 £46.99 DECAL OPTIONS: 2 PANEL LINES: Recessed

Cessna 150

STATUS: Revised Boxing TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic PARTS: Plastic 243 Clear 14, Etched 22 MANUFACTURER: Meng UK IMPORTER: Creative Models US IMPORTER: Stevens International

This is the second boxing of Meng’s Me 410, and is supplemented by a small sprue of bombs and pylons and an alternative windscreen. Decals are included for KG 51 and ZG 1. The kit looks beautiful in the box, with fine engraving and beautiful detail. Markings include a KG 51 option. Apparently the unit received its aircraft as hand-me-downs in 74/75/76, and while the 70/71/65 bomber scheme may not be out of the question, there are a number of learned researchers and authors who would pay good money to see the photograph upon which Meng have based this scheme, as so far they have been unable to confirm this camo on a KG 51 Hornisse.

The one issue remaining still is the rear canopy, which comprises six parts that will need to be assembled with great care, as it includes some very thin edges that will need to be butt-joined without damaging the canopy surface. Some might think twice before committing a little short of £50 for a kit in which the make-or-break area offers such a potential for mishap, and certainly it puts the kit beyond the skills of this modeller. This aside, it’s a beauty!

Tupolev Tu-22M3 Backfire C

TECHNICAL DATA

TECHNICAL DATA

SCALE: 1/48 KIT NO: 11675

SCALE: 1/144 KIT NO: 14681

PRICE: US$29.99 £19.99 DECAL OPTIONS: 3

PRICE: US$39.99 £29.99 DECAL OPTIONS: 2

PANEL LINES: Recessed STATUS: Reissue

PANEL LINES: Recessed STATUS: Reissue

TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic

TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic

PARTS: Plastic 41, Clear 6

PARTS: Plastic 61, Clear 3

MANUFACTURER: Minicraft

MANUFACTURER: Minicraft

UK IMPORTER: Creative Models

UK IMPORTER: Creative Models

USAF C-130B TECHNICAL DATA SCALE: 1/144 KIT NO: 14672 PRICE: US$39.99 £29.99 DECAL OPTIONS: 2

F-80A Shooting Star

PANEL LINES: Recessed STATUS: Reissue TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic PARTS: Plastic 64, Clear 5

TECHNICAL DATA

MANUFACTURER: Minicraft

SCALE: 1/48 KIT NO: 81723

UK IMPORTER: Creative Models

PRICE: $US46.99 £16.99 DECAL OPTIONS: 2 PANEL LINES: Recessed STATUS: New Tooling

Possibly the most attractive boxing so far of this excellent kit. This boxing offers markings for a SEA camo machine based in Germany in 1980, or a bare metal option from 1964.

TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic PARTS: Plastic 101, Clear 7, Etched 6 MANUFACTURER: HobbyBoss UK IMPORTER: Creative Models US IMPORTER: Squadron

This certainly looks promising in the box, and as a taste of things to come is a very welcome new tooling indeed! Decal options offer two very attractive machines, cockpit and wheel well detail are certainly sufficient from the box for most, and a choice of tanks and bombs is included. The fuselage is split halfway, right across the wing root fairings, for no good reason, and this will complicate the build somewhat,

1116 | December 2013

USAF YF-23 TECHNICAL DATA SCALE: 1/48 KIT NO: 81722 PRICE: US$69.99 £29.99 DECAL OPTIONS: 2 PANEL LINES: Recessed STATUS: New Tooling

but it’s one of those things like wingfolds, cannon bays, and cockpit canopies that manufacturers seem to take delight in. I would have preferred to see a complete fuselage with a groove scribed where the cut could be made to display the engine. This way it would have been optional instead of requiring the inevitable filling, sanding and loss of detail. Presumably the chief goal is to facilitate further variants. Hopefully it will be a flawless fit, as otherwise the extra work engendered may well influence whether you build one or half a dozen. Certainly it’s a type that offers enough potential colour schemes to excite multiple builds!

Scale Aviation Modeller International

TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic PARTS: Plastic 91, Clear 3 MANUFACTURER: HobbyBoss UK IMPORTER: Creative Models US IMPORTER: Squadron

So when did X-Planes become Y-Planes? This new tooling of the machine that lost out to the Raptor is a fine, though slightly baffling, piece of plastic. Nicely tooled, relatively low in parts count due to the economy of the airframe design, it seems an unlikely choice for a mainstream kit in this scale. Still, it will build into an

impressive kit of the ‘Black Widow’ – a substantially sized machine when all is said and done – and we can be grateful to companies like HobbyBoss for providing us the means to do so.

1116-17-CreativeTimes-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:24 Page 1117

Sponsored by Creative Models www.creativemodels.co.uk

Junkers Ju 87G-1 Stuka

Creative Times SAMI Spotlight

Soviet Pe-2 Bomber

TECHNICAL DATA

TECHNICAL DATA

SCALE: 1/72 KIT NO: 80287

SCALE: 1/72 KIT NO: 80296

PRICE: £8.99 US$15.99 DECAL OPTIONS: 2

PRICE: £8.99 US$17.99 DECAL OPTIONS: 2

PANEL LINES: Recessed STATUS: New Tooling

PANEL LINES: Recessed STATUS: New Tooling

TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic

TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic

PARTS: Plastic 44, Clear 3

PARTS: Plastic 29, Clear 4

MANUFACTURER: HobbyBoss

MANUFACTURER: HobbyBoss

UK IMPORTER: Creative Models

UK IMPORTER: Creative Models

US IMPORTER: Squadron

US IMPORTER: Squadron

Messerschmitt Me 262A-1a TECHNICAL DATA SCALE: 1/48 KIT NO: 80369 PRICE: US$31.99 £16.99 DECAL OPTIONS: 2 PANEL LINES: Recessed STATUS: Revised Tooling TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic PARTS: Plastic 134, Clear 4 MANUFACTURER: HobbyBoss UK IMPORTER: Creative Models US IMPORTER: Squadron

Antonov An-2M Colt TECHNICAL DATA

At last! After a number of prototypes, variants and one-offs HobbyBoss give us the main production variant, armed with 30mm MK 108 cannons. To recap, the kit features a well-appointed cockpit and central wheel bay, interior fuselage stringer detail, aft radio equipment with separate

access panel, gun bay with detailed cannon, optional position gun bay access doors, separately moulded rudder, RATO bottles, segmented optional position canopy and white metal (weighted) nose gear well. Markings offer Red 2 of I./KG51 and Red L of 10./NAGr 11, but aftermarket options are endless and lining up a dozen of these will be effortless. Now bring on the two-seater!

SCALE: 1/48 KIT NO: 81707 PRICE: US$61.99 £34.99

Ju 88C-6

DECAL OPTIONS: PANEL LINES: Recessed STATUS: Reissue

TECHNICAL DATA

TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic

SCALE: 1/72 KIT NO: 80297

PARTS: Plastic 127, Clear 25

PRICE: US$21.99 £9.99 DECAL OPTIONS: 2

MANUFACTURER: HobbyBoss

PANEL LINES: Recessed STATUS: New Tooling

UK IMPORTER: Creative Models

TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic

US IMPORTER: Squadron

PARTS: Plastic 38, Clear 2 MANUFACTURER: HobbyBoss UK IMPORTER: Creative Models

Focke Wulf Fw 190D-10 TECHNICAL DATA SCALE: 1/48 KIT NO: 81717 PRICE: US$28.99 £14.99 DECAL OPTIONS: 1 PANEL LINES: Recessed STATUS: Revised Tooling TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic PARTS: Plastic 117, Clear 5, Etched 6 MANUFACTURER: HobbyBoss UK IMPORTER: Creative Models US IMPORTER: Squadron

This latest in the Dora dynasty is a bit of a curious one, inasmuch as the combination of parts and decals provided do not allow you to build any airframe that actually existed. Certainly not a D-10 – a variant that only existed in prototypical form. The parts offer a machine with a Ta 152 tail, no upper cowling armament and markings for airframe 0045 with the codes GH+KT. Various elements do not add up with this, but this aside it’s a wonderful kit, and Mr Bill Bunting has kindly offered to look into it, and see what precisely he can make of it! Presumably the airframe actually depicted by this kit is the V23 prototype (Wnr 0045). In a world where the best Doras available either have the wrong wheel well,

US IMPORTER: Squadron

Now this really is a marvellous little kit! The box calls it a ‘German Ju 88’. What you get are parts to build the initial main fighter version, the Ju 88C-6, with a solid cannonfilled nose that has allowed the ‘Easy Assembly’ tooling to be carried off without being compromised by the glasshouse nose of the bomber version. What really makes this kit are the transparencies. The one-piece bulged upper part is crisp and immaculately cast, while the gondola is a complete single transparent part that will make life easy. Detail is fairly rudimentary but all the important elements are there for a finelooking model, and there is scope to add

such interior detail as you see fit. Having been a party to the Editor’s ‘issues’ with his 1/48 Ju 88 transparencies I am tempted to offer him this little gem. It’s the kind of kit that can make a fellow seriously contemplate changing scale!

I-16 Weekend Edition TECHNICAL DATA or separate cannon bays that require some patience to fit (euphemism), there is certainly room for one that offers a quick build. Now that HobbyBoss have tooled those parts for the undercarriage bay that were sadly absent in the earlier Ta 152Cs, perhaps we can look forward to some more mainstream options? A JV 44 kit would be nice at this price!

SCALE: 1/48 KIT NO: 8465 PRICE: US$19.95 £10.99 DECAL OPTIONS: 1 PANEL LINES: Recessed STATUS: New Tooling TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic PARTS: Plastic 93, Clear 10 MANUFACTURER: Eduard UK IMPORTER: Creative Models US IMPORTER: Squadron

www.sampublications.com December 2013

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KINGKIT

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We stock the largest ranges of plastic, resin and vacform kits, accessories and conversions, photo-etch sets, paints, airbrushes, tools ands books. Everything under one roof from Academy to Zvezda. We specialise in decals and stock ALL available sheets from just about every manufacturer in existence. We carry over 21,000 items from all over the world.

1:16 Scale Sopwith Camel F.1 No. of parts : 293 Model size: Length: 358.5 mm Width: 536 mm

Kit features: * Museum quality structure model with very fine details * Kit is made by all plastic with rubber tyre parts * Cowling parts with silver metal plating process * Functioning Rudder and flap parts

Price: £169.99

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UK Distributors for MPM, Azur, Special Hobby, Eduard, Classic Airframes and many more. If it’s advertised or reviewed in this magazine try us first. We probably have it in stock now. Mail Order:

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Open Mon-Sat at 11 Pydar Mews, Truro, Cornwall TR1 2UX And at shows and events throughout the south west

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REVIEW

F4U-4B Corsair

By Andy Brook TECH DATA

I

just love the HobbyBoss boxes. They’re sturdy, ‘no nonsense’ and built to last….words which pretty much sum up the Chance Vought F4U Corsair. HobbyBoss’s latest iteration is the F4U-4B, a sub-variant relatively few in number (only 297 were built). The F4U-4B was optimised for the ground attack role, being armed with four 20mm cannon instead of the usual six 0.5 inch machine guns. Arriving towards the end of World War II, the F4U-4B gave sterling service in the Korean War, primarily in support of ground troops, serving with both the US Navy and Marines. Back to the box… It’s a top opening job, which provides ample protection for the parts inside. The two colour options are on the sides, and the top has a depiction of a bombed-up and rocket-armed US Marine Corps aircraft from VMA-332 overflying a carrier, presumably off the coast of Korea. The instructions attribute the ‘Polka Dots’ to USS Bairoko (CVE 115). The carrier on the box top, however, for the fish-heads and pedants reading, is the USS Point Cruz (CVE 119). I commend HobbyBoss’s research. Though the sources are a bit confusing on dates, VMA-332 was embarked onboard both carriers during 1953, so they’ve hedged their bets on the artwork! The ten sprues themselves are individually bagged, and the most delicate parts are protected by foam. There is obviously commonality of sprues with other variants of this kit. There’s minimal flash and mouldings are crisp, with finely engraved panel lines. The aircraft’s fabric covered surfaces are obvious without being overdone. Sprue

1120 | December 2013

Scale Aviation Modeller International

SCALE: 1/48 KIT NO: 80388 PRICE: US$55.99 £29.99 DECAL OPTIONS: 2 PANEL LINES: Recessed STATUS: New Tooling TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic

gates are a little on the heavy side, so care is needed when cutting the parts away, but it all looks good in the box. Instructions comprise an eight page A4sized sheet and a separate full colour sheet for the painting and decalling. Construction, as usual, starts with the cockpit. Judging by the photos, this is a pretty good depiction of the real thing. There’s a floor, which is correct for the F4U-4 series, and both port and starboard consoles, correct for the F4U-4B. Side consoles and main instrument panel all have engraved dials and instruments in the correct places, but decals are also provided. I used the decals for the main panel, easing them into the spaces for the dials with a cocktail stick, but painted the rest. Actually, painting was a bit of an issue for me here (and for internal spaces more generally). The instructions aren’t clear on whether the cockpit is black overall or Interior Green. I went for Interior Green in the cockpit with black consoles and instrument panel, which seemed to match best the photos in the Warpaint series book. And, surprise, surprise, you have to make your own seatbelts (mine are from that soft metal around the top of a wine bottle). Then it’s on to the impressive seventeen-part engine. I found it difficult

PARTS: Plastic 198, Clear 11 MANUFACTURER: HobbyBoss UK IMPORTER: Creative Models US IMPORTER: Squadron

to work out from the instructions and the plastic where the various bits of exhaust pipework went. I got there in the end, but it didn’t really matter as most of it is hidden once the cowling’s fitted. The kit correctly models the exit points of the exhaust pipes and the extra chin scoop air intake at the bottom of the F4U-4’s cowling. Although it would benefit from some extra wiring, the engine is good enough to be displayed without the cowling, though some cutting of the various panels would be required. Next up is the central wing section. This builds up into a very sturdy structure. Wheel wells are nicely ribbed, but devoid of any detail. The flaps (like all the control surfaces) can be posed in any position. I left them in the ‘up’ position, but regretted it later, as they’re often seen lowered on parked Corsairs. At this point, one has to choose to have the wings folded or spread, or indeed, one of each. I thought I’d go for both folded, if only, like the real things, to save storage space, but more on that later. The central wing section, cockpit, engine, cowling, tail-wheel and hook subassembly, rudder and elevators are all then married up with the fuselage. Getting the tail-wheel sub-assembly into place was a bit of a fiddle, but, overall, the fit, it’s fair to say, was very good, and the filler stayed in its tube. The plastic, though, is quite hard, so sanding down the joins on the fuselage halves wasn’t easy, and some rescribing was necessary. The outer, folding wings have accurately positioned panel lines and the fabric-covered areas are nicely done. The intricate five parts of the gun access panels are moulded separately, so could be left open if one wanted to detail the interiors. If not, getting them into place is tricky, and risks smears of plastic cement in very visible positions. The home stretch is to put together and fit the sturdy, reasonably well detailed

1120-24-Reviews-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:24 Page 1121

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04929 P P-47D Thunde rbolt

O D E L K I T SE S
P L A ST I C M O N E Y P R IC AT P O C K E T M main undercarriage and doors and the large under-fuselage fuel tanks. The F4U-4B’s distinctive stubs for rockets must remain empty as, despite the promise of the box-top artwork, nothing else is provided by way of stores. The canopies are beautifully clear. Final details are the pitot and pole aerial just aft of the cockpit. After painting, I realised that HobbyBoss has a small aerial mast on top of the rudder which needs to be removed for the F4U-4B and has omitted an antenna just forward of the tail. To be fair to them, I’m not sure about that antenna. The Warpaint colour profile of the ‘Polka Dots’ aircraft has it, as does a photo on Wikipedia of an aircraft from the same squadron at the same time. Most F4U-4Bs in photos in the Warpaint book don’t have it, although a lot of those are US Navy aircraft. That decided me: I was modelling the Marines aircraft, so I fashioned an antenna from plastic card. The aerial from tail to mast is from invisible thread. I left off the folding wing sections until after all painting, decalling, weathering and varnishing. But I ought to address the technicalities here. HobbyBoss has had a reasonable go at what is usually a tricky area. The ends are quite well detailed but all the mass of wiring is missing. They’ve modelled what I think is the mechanism for moving the control surfaces on the outer wing but haven’t realised that one of the rods should connect from the inner to the outer wing half. It’s a shame as, if you do fix it into position, it provides a bit more strength to what is otherwise a very weak joint. The joint is weak because it’s relying solely on a small lug on the 1/48 version of the hinge mechanism, which folds the wings on the real aircraft. Superglue and patience are required, and a diagram of the wings in the folded position would have been helpful. As it was, I don’t think I angled the outer wings sufficiently far forward; there should be more of an overlap at the forward end. Two options are provided in the basic US Glossy Sea Blue finish. Both are from the Korean War era. One aircraft is 302-S/BuNo 97473 of

the US Navy’s VF-53, onboard USS Essex in February 1952. The other, more colourful, option is the ‘Polka Dots’’ 16-MR/BuNo 62969. The Marines’ version gives a bit more interest, but I followed the Warpaint profile, which shows it to have had a white propeller boss and tail cone. For the overall paint job, I used Humbrol’s gloss Midnight Blue, with a bit of weathering on the wing roots and from the exhausts, and with the panel lines picked out with a metallic pencil. As I’ve noted earlier, I wasn’t sure which internal spaces should be blue, Interior Green or even white, so went for a bit of colour at the wing fold and the rear undercarriage to break up the overall blue. All was toned down eventually with Games Workshop’s satin varnish for a more weatherbeaten finish. As seems to be the case with HobbyBoss’s kits, there are no stencils, other than on the propeller blades, so decalling didn’t take very long. The main decals, though, really are excellent. They’re thin, but easy to apply, and when in place, you would be hard pressed to know they weren’t painted on. They are predominantly white, of course, but hold their intensity well over the dark blue paint. HobbyBoss supplies a two-part decal for the arrestor hook, but I just masked and painted. The only difficulty was with the red-spotted polka dot band around the cowling. The decal is rectangular but the cowling isn’t a perfect cylinder, so, despite my best endeavours, I ended up with a few wrinkles. There are a few errors in this kit, but, as far as I can tell, they’re minor and easily rectified. A bit more ordnance under the wings, a stronger wing-fold and some clarity over internal painting wouldn’t go amiss, but, overall, this is a good kit. The wing-fold option, poseable control surfaces, and engine all bode well for an interesting model or a lively diorama. Some basic scratch-building would be enough to improve it, but there’s a lot of aftermarket stuff out there, should you wish to go to town. I enjoyed this kit. It’s sparked my enthusiasm to learn more about this impressive aircraft and I’ll be building a few more.

untless 04934 SBD-5 Da

04928 P-51B Mustang

1 Corsair 04930 F4U-

Also Available: 04931 F6F-3 Hellcat 04932 P-40E Warhawk 04933 F4F-4 Wildcat 04935 P-39Q Airacobra

Available from your local Toy and Model retailer

Visit our international web site at www.revell.eu Revell GmbH, HP23 5AH. Tel: 01442 890285. Email: [email protected] © 2013 Revell GmbH. A subsidiary of Hobbico, Inc. All rights reserved. Trade enquiries welcome.

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onto a block of plastic card and used them effectively to support the model. As for all the final details, the instruction sheet states that the tailskid needs to be constructed from stretched sprue so I made this to represent the original right-angled unit. The original also had an aerial mast just behind the cockpit attached to the coaming. I made this from stretched sprue and then following the scale plans added the rigging made from fuse wire between the wings. The clear vacform canopy requires the framing to be scribed on the windshield. The casting block features this and I found it invaluable when scribing the detail onto the clear part. To finish the model, I looked for images of what the actual aircraft looked like at the time of testing. From black and white photos found on the Internet I noticed that the wings were a different colour to the fuselage, being bright red. The only markings present on this machine, were the military registration codes given, which featured on the decal sheet. I gave the whole model a burst of Halfords white plastic primer and then sprayed the wings with Xtracolor Post Office Red. The remainder of the fuselage was sprayed with Tamiya Silver and then given a few coats of Klear. The decal sheet provides markings for a proposed silver-doped RAF machine with roundels and codes. The decals had been well printed using an ALPS printer and the colours were in good register. The codes applied well using the Micro Sol/Set system. On the whole this is a fairly straightforward and quick kit to build. The assembly diagrams on the instruction sheet take a bit of getting used to but if you tick the parts once you have attached them you will find it easier. According to dimensions taken from Putnam’s Blackburn Aircraft since 1909, the model is also accurate in scale. It would make an excellent base canvas for a ‘what if’ subject for one of those highly colourful RAF squadron schemes featured on 1930s silver biplanes. The next kit to emerge from Mr Koyanagi’s workshop will be the Vought V143 carrier-borne fighter that the Japanese bought from the Americans and redesigned as their famous Zero. All Akatombo kits are available directly from the website, or HLJ also carry the range.

REVIEW

Blackburn F.3 (F.7/30)

T

his is another little known subject from this cottage industry Japanese manufacturer who specialises in short run resin kits of historic experimental and research aircraft. Built in 1934, the Blackburn F.3 was a contender for a British single-seat fighter interceptor aircraft to replace the Hawker Fury and Bristol Bulldog in service with the Royal Air Force. Powered by a Rolls Royce Goshawk Mk III V-12 engine the design was unique in having an air scoop under the lower wing and robust fixed undercarriage units recessed into protective spats. The pilot sat above the wings giving him optimum all round visibility suitable for night interception. During the taxying trials, stability issues were experienced with the airframe making it an unstable platform when handling. Unfortunately, by the time these problems were being investigated and solutions sought, the Air Ministry had chosen the Gloster Gladiator to meet their requirement. The sole Blackburn F.3 prototype was retained as an instructional airframe for ground use only meaning that this machine was never given the chance of a maiden flight. Inside the thin box are two large sprues containing thirty-two pieces of grey resin that carry a lot of flash from the moulding. There is also a vacform canopy on a casting block and a set of decals for a proposed all silver RAF scheme. Some of the smaller parts are extremely fragile and replacements are included in case of breakages. The fuselage features recessed fabric detail and the control surfaces also have some accurate detail. The first job is to remove all the flash from the parts and then wash them with

1122 | December 2013

Scale Aviation Modeller International

By David Holman

detergent. When cleaning up, some of these are difficult to identify within the casting. I found the sprue map and parts list on the A4 instruction sheet useful for this exercise. In the past I have received review kits from Akatombo that only feature Japanese text in the instructions. On this occasion however, Mr Koyanagi has courteously provided an English translation as he now has American and European suppliers for his kits. The build begins with the joining of the fuselage halves and lower wing. The fuselage sections have no locating pins so dry fitting was necessary before applying the super glue. The lower wing section is in one piece that also provides a plug for the air scoop, which neatly fits into place under the fuselage. As far as cockpit details go only a bucket seat is provided so all the other refinements need to be made from scrap. Next to fit are the rear tail section and undercarriage, spinner and two-bladed propeller in correct pitch. The tail unit needed a considerable sanding down to fit snugly. The combined fin and tailplanes section slides into a groove above this and is a perfect fit, while the half wheels fit nicely into the recesses on the spats. Exhausts are included and fit into recesses on the side of the engine compartment. This leaves just the main top wing to attach. I found the main support struts were a little too short according to the scale plans on the instruction sheet, so I added some plastic strips to lengthen these pieces accordingly. At this point I needed to apply filler around the lower tail join and along the joining of the fuselage. When fitting the main wing two useful jigs are provided to ensure the correct dihedral and distance from the lower wing is achieved. I stuck down these two pieces

TECH DATA SCALE: 1/72 TYPE: Resin MANUFACTURER: Akatombo Works WEBSITE: http://homepage3.nifty. com/AKATOMBO/

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1/72

REVIEW

Curtiss BFC-2 Goshawk

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his classic American kit is widely touted as an exMonogram, but it is actually an ex-Revell - for those aghast at such a suggestion and those who delight in tracking down the provenance of such kits… Anyway, I consider this to be a little gem of a kit and one that pays appropriate homage to those colourful aircraft, bearing bright yellow wings and more, serving the US Navy between the two World Wars. It might be described as a product of its time, but it is no less a kit because of that and it is well worth seeking out amongst the pre-owned hoards, now readily available, both in The Real and on-line. For some time now, Starfighter Decals have had separate decals available, alongside a photo-etch rigging set and a resin ‘turtleback’, to facilitate conversion of the fighter Goshawk to the fighter-bomber. This new package brings it all together in one sturdy...er...acetate package. As a bonus, of course, you get a fresh supply of clear acetate, which might come in handy for replacing those paint-smeared windows you’ve been meaning to repair for a while now. I’m sure that there will also be some debate, heated and otherwise, re the correct pronunciation of Goshawk. Is it Goss-hawk, Gozz-awwk, or Gosh-orc? To take a phrase from the instruction sheet of this kit, ‘modeller’s discretion’! There is not a huge amount of plastic to contend with, but that present is very cleanly moulded, with a clear distinction between doped fabric and metallic areas. The few panel lines are finely raised, with control surfaces engraved. and I had very little flash to wipe away. Construction begins with instructions to remove the rear, upper decking, to make

By Bruce Leyland-Jones

way for the raised resin piece. Mention is made of the topmost panel line and I made an error in following this line with my trusty razor saw. I should have made my cut level with the forward fuselage and, as a consequence of my mistake, I had some gappage to fill. Once the fuselage halves were joined together, I used superglue gel for this task, ‘accelerated’ with Zipkicker. Of course, you won’t be making the same mistake, because you are reading this before you carve your own plastic. Internal detail, as befits a kit of this vintage, is basic to say the least. That said, with a bit of paint, Johnny Pilot is more than adequate to the task of filling the cockpit hole and you’d never know that there was no instrument panel, cockpit floor, or other doo-dads deemed necessary by many. Note that the kit is thoughtfully engineered, so as to guarantee the correct angles for both cabane struts and undercarriage. As mentioned previously, I used superglue gel to fill my gaps around the resin. No other gaps presented themselves, as fit of all other parts was truly splendid. Oh happy day. My next task was to get to grips with a new experience, that of photo-etch rigging. Looking at the fret, I could

certainly see the benefit of having appropriately flat rigging, arranged in nice, parallel lines. That said, I knew that the individual pieces would have to be placed exactly right and that, once in place, they would be vulnerable to the many stresses yet to be visited upon an incomplete model. My usual elastic Lycra thread did not present such challenges. Clear instructions and a steady hand enabled me to place the rigging where it was required and I confess to being pleased with the overall look. In particular, the etched stuff was an improvement upon my Lycra around the attachment points, and the provision of the built-in cross braces enhanced the look. With hindsight, I could have placed the rigging after I’d attached the upper wing, but I fell prey to old habits and, as a consequence, I had to be extremely careful whilst handling the model. (Lycra thread, being elastic, can take all sorts of rough handling and will always return to a prefect, tight line afterwards). Besides the Chrome Yellow, colours involved doped aluminium, Light Aircraft Grey and white. I used Humbrol Aluminium Metalcote and Humbrol H129, with Humbrol H154 for the yellow. Decals are provided for two aircraft, based upon the USS Saratoga, of 1937 and these were lovely to work with. Finals details involved a pair of etched bomb racks and a canopy frame and I got to stretch some Lycra after all, for the aerial wires.

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and wheels are very precise and create the correct angle with no need for adjustment. A selection of armaments and fuel tanks is included in the kit with options for a choice of mountings. I used two 500lb bombs for the wing racks, the six underwing rockets, and the flat 200 gallon fuel tank in the belly position. A useful section in the instructions shows the optional fixing points for your choice. I next fitted the two-part canopy, which is very clear and sits well, and, apart from some other items such as radio mast and pitot tube, the build was complete. Paint colours are given for Italeri Acrylic paint plus the relevant FS number but in general the silver REVIEW or olive drab paints are fairly universal regardless of brand. I used Humbrol enamels to portray the most colourful of the optional schemes as illustrated on the box top with Silver 11 and Olive Drab 86 as the main colours used. Revell 330 Fiery Red was used for the engine cowling ring and Revell 9 for the matt black propeller blades. Once painted I applied two coats of Klear to reduce silvering and then applied the decals. TECH DATA The instructions have one non-colour SCALE: 1/48 section for the common decals and then KIT NO: 2728 each version has its own colour section for PRICE: US$49.00 £25.50 the individual markings. As stated the DECAL OPTIONS: 4 quality is generally excellent and the decals PANEL LINES: settled well without softener in most cases. I Recessed did find that some of the numbering was STATUS: Reissue incorrect and I failed to find a duplicate 46 TYPE: Injection on the sheet - the top wing yellow stripes Moulded Plastic are reversed, and I could only find one decal PARTS: Plastic 128, Clear 8 46 for the very visible ‘flap cylinder bleed MANUFACTURER: port’ stencil on the upper wings, which, Italeri unless I am in error, should be rectified. UK IMPORTER: The Once the decals had set I applied an overall Hobby Company matt coat to the model, and apart from a US IMPORTER: MRC stretched sprue radio wire the kit was complete. I thoroughly enjoyed making this kit, not least because of the quality of the mouldings and precise fit of the parts. When I applied the decals I enjoyed it even more as they really do look good and bring the model to life. Before choosing the principal USAAF version I did dally for a few days with the thought of either the Brazilian or French option as the decals and overall finish were very tempting, but as it was for review I opted for the box top version because it displayed more of the decals to great effect. Only thing I can now do is get another couple of the kits to complete the set! Highly recommended and easy to make straight from the box for any level of modeller.

1/48

P-47D Thunderbolt ‘Italian Campaign’ By Clive Duckworth

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he P-47 Thunderbolt is so well known it needs little introduction, but suffice to say it was the largest, heaviest and most widely produced American fighter in WW2. The D model topped the number of P-47 variants built, at over 12,000 aircraft, and the distinctive bubble canopy, as featured in this kit, was introduced from May 1944. Although primarily used by the USAAF, it was also used by many other Allied air forces and it is noteworthy that this kit includes Brazilian and French versions to mark their contribution to the Italian campaign. Originally based on the Academy moulding, the kit comes on five grey plastic sprues holding 130 parts, plus an eight-part clear sprue, each packed in poly bags inside the top opening box. All the pieces are well moulded and sharp, easy to work with and have no flash. The box top artwork is dramatic and depicts the most colourful USAAF version, which certainly makes you want to investigate the decal sheet. Four options are available covering the Italian campaign in 1944/45 and include two USAAF bare metal schemes plus one each from the French and Brazilian squadrons involved, the latter in Olive Drab schemes. The decal sheet is very comprehensive and includes all the small detail stencils covering the aircraft. It is worth noting the quality of the stencil decals and the fine printing on the reference sheet in the instructions, as the writing is very clear when (necessarily), viewed through a magnifying glass. There are some numbering errors and omissions on the sheet so care is needed to get the correct decal, but nevertheless the sheet quality is excellent and most decals apply easily. Instructions come in A4 fold-out form and include an introduction to the Thunderbolt, a parts diagram, paint

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Scale Aviation Modeller International

references and a ten-step plan for the build. Two further colour pages show the paint and decal schemes for the four versions. The build commences in the cockpit with just twelve parts plus decals for the seat harness. There is some moulded detail for the instruments and sidewall panels but it is fairly basic and doesn’t offer anything really worth fixing the canopy open for. However it all fits together well and needed only minimal shaving of the edges to the cockpit assembly before the fuselage halves were joined. A small amount of filing off was required across the fuselage joint. A number of holes need to be opened up in the lower wing sections for the fitting of the pylons, and the gun racks, while the landing lights are fixed in place before the top and lower wing sections are mated up. The stepped length in millimetres of each gun barrel is noted in the instructions, which is extremely helpful. Wings and tailplanes are easily and precisely attached with no need for any filler or shaving. Optional parts for open or shut positions for the intercooler exit doors on the fuselage sides are included. The two-part engine has good moulded detail and when assembled holds the prop shaft tight against the bulkhead in order for the prop to rotate. Once the three parts to the panels are fitted around the engine the propeller is fitted, and again this is excellent with a very precise tolerance for a smooth rotating function. At this point the instructions suggest fitting the canopy, but as always I keep it well away until the very end of the build to avoid the probability of spoiling it with sticky fingers. It can be posed either open or closed with the slider mechanism fixed to the canopy rail. The wheels have round or flattened tyres so, as I chose the latter, I needed to fix the tailwheel and use eye level judgement to get the compressed part of the tyre at the correct angle. The fixings for the oleo legs

SAM-MDF21-Mustang-Advert-Nov-13-issues-A4_Layout 1 08/11/2013 17:38 Page 1

A CO MP REH EN SI VE GUI DE

Part 1 Allison Powered By Malcolm V Lowe The North American P-51 Mustang is one of the most well-known fighters of World War II. Possessing excellent range and maneuverability, the P-51 operated primarily as a long-range escort fighter and later as a ground attack fighter-bomber and went on to serve in nearly every combat zone during WWII, and later fought in the Korean War. The Mustang was originally designed to use the Allison V-170 engine, which had limited high-altitude performance and was first flown operationally as the Mustang Mk I by the RAF in the role of a tactical-reconnaissance aircraft and fighter-bomber. The later addition of the Rolls-Royce Merlin to the P-51B/C model transformed the Mustang's performance at altitudes above 15,000 ft, giving it an ability that matched or bettered the majority of the Luftwaffe’s fighters at altitude. The definitive version, the P-51D was powered by the Packard V-1650-7 a licensebuilt version of the Merlin 60

M DF 21

P-51 MUSTANG

Series, with a two-stage, two-speed supercharged engine and was armed with six .50 calibre M2 Browning machine guns. In the first of two volumes on the P51, acknowledged author Malcolm V Lowe looks at the genesis of the P-51 and the Allison engined versions, detailing the NA.73X Prototype, the A-36 Apache/A-36 Invader, and the early P-51’s in US and RAF Service. This is all backed up with Colour Artwork by Andy Evans, fold-out Scale Plans, Understanding the Subject, Technical Diagrams and Specifications, Airframe Walk Arounds, Modelling the Mustang in Popular Scales and a comprehensive Kitography, listing all available kits, decals and accessories.

ORDER HOTLINE: 44 (0)1234 211245 PRE-ORDER ONLINE: www.sampublications.com

9

P-51 MUSTANG

10 T E1 ! AG OU OWON P

N RM O RF DE OR

THE NORTH AMERICAN AVIATION

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SAMI Spotlight Accessories

Accessories Eduard A well above average month from Eduard sees a broadside of brass in 1/32 and 1/72, with a couple of kits really getting the treatment, among them Eduard’s own little MiG-15, a kit some heretics are regarding as of greater moment than the recent Spitfire. Goodness! One other kit in 1/72 welldeserving of Eduard’s lavish attention is the Revell Ju 88C-6, which gets the works this month, as does their Bf 109G in 1/32. For 1/48 modellers it’s a quieter month, but two items do stand out – the etch for the Kitty Hawk Jaguar A, and masks for the Special Hobby He 115, a kit so invested with glazing that it would be positively reckless to attempt it without this set!

Tamiya’s Corsair gets a good dose of brass as well, but one of the neatest releases in the current batch is for the Academy Il-2, a kit not new to the market, but one currently exciting interest among modellers – possibly inspired by the arrival of the Tamiya kit, and looking around for the cheaper option…

1/32 • • • • • • • • • • • • •

32343 F4U-1 Birdcage engine for Tamiya kit 32344 F4U-1 Birdcage exterior for Tamiya kit 32351 Bf 109 tools and boxes 32760 P-61 placards for HobbyBoss kit 32781 F4U-1 Birdcage interior for Tamiya kit 32784 F4U seatbelts for Tamiya kit 32785 Spitfire placards 32788 Bf 109G-6 for Revell kit 32791 F4U seatbelts (fabric) for Tamiya kit 32792 Bf 109G seatbelts (fabric) for Revell kit 32794 Bf 109G seatbelts for Revell kit 32795 F4U-1 placards for Tamiya kit 33126 F4U-1 Birdcage interior ZOOM for Tamiya kit • 33128 Bf 109G-6 interior ZOOM for Revell kit

1/48 • • • • • •

48788 Jaguar A exterior for Kitty Hawk kit 48790 MiG-21PFM accessories for Eduard kit 49642 Jaguar A for Kitty Hawk kit 49658 MiG-21PFM interior for Eduard kit FE642 Jaguar A ZOOM for Kitty Hawk kit EX406 He 115 Masks for Special Hobby kit

1/72 • • • • • • • • • • • • •

72568 Ju 88C-6 exterior for Revell kit 72569 Ju 88C-6 antennae for Revell kit 72570 Ju 88C-6 surface panels for Revell kit 72572 Il-2M landing flaps for Academy kit 72573 Il-2M3 landing flaps for Tamiya kit 72574 MiG-15 landing flaps for Eduard kit 72575 MiG-15/MiG-15bis exterior for Eduard kit 73486 Il-2M for Academy kit 73487 Ju 88C-6 interior for Revell kit 73488 F/A-18F for Revell kit SS487 Ju 88C-6 interior ZOOM for Revell kit SS488 F/A-18F ZOOM for Revell kit CX371 Tu-2 Masks for HobbyBoss kit

products and Eduard have been quick to recognize the value of providing masks for some of the more unique toolings. Eduard’s full range can be viewed at www.eduard.com and product is available widely from importers Creative Models, LSA and Hannants in the UK, and various sources including Sprue Brothers and Squadron in the US.

At this point it’s worth noting the mask set for the HobbyBoss Tu-2. These ‘Easy Build’ kits are superb

Brengun This month Brengun have done Spitfire modellers a major favour by producing a full conversion for the 'brewer's drays' Spitfires. These aircraft were used to ferry beer to thirsty RAF aircrew in France and the set comprises a simple conversion by adding two resin beer barrels to

the resin underwing bomb racks. Markings are supplied for two aircraft on a small decal sheet, which includes unit codes and serial numbers. This option was available to anyone buying the Eduard Royal Boxing but now anyone can produce it by buying this set and an Eduard Spitfire IX. But it gets better because the conversion has also been produced in both 1/72 and 1/144, so whatever your scale Brengun have it covered. Other new sets include etched brass details for the AZ Model 1/48 Blanik glider and a nice intake mesh

for the 1/72 Airfix Typhoon. Also in 1/144 we have a decal sheet that supplies six markings for F-86 Sabres of the 335th FIS including Chuck Yeager’s Glamorous Glennis. Finally we have an identical pair of 1/144 resin modern US pilots in suitable heroic pose with flight helmet underarm.

1/48

1/144

Conclusion

BRL 144082 US Modern Pilots

As normal all of these sets are high quality and each in its own way fills a niche in the market place. I am particularly pleased to be able to model the beer bomber and I hope we also get this set in 1/32 in due course. The full range can be viewed at www.brengun.cz and can now be purchased from Hannants in the UK. US importer is UMM-USA, whose website can be found at www.umm-usa.com

BRL 144084 F-86F Sabre of the 335th Decals Designed for Trumpeter BRL 144085 Beer Spitfire Mk IX Designed for Eduard

1/72 BRL 72063 Beer Spitfire Mk IX Designed for Various BRL 72058 Typhoon Air Intake Mesh Designed for Airfix

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Scale Aviation Modeller International

BRL48052 Let L-13 Blanik detail set Designed for: AZ Model BRL 48054 Beer Spitfire Mk IX Designed for Eduard

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Accessories SAMI Spotlight

The Airbrush Company

Aero-line By Plus Model

New from Iwata

Recently both Plus Model and the aviation-orientated Aero-line range have been releasing a whole selection of US Scooters from WW2. The Aero-line range includes a selection of three-wheeled types, and the samples we received include an example used as a miniature fire engine carrying four fire extinguishers that will make an interesting addition to your flight line. Even more unusual is another trike that looks like a mobile bench or a back to front rickshaw with the two wheels at the front. This was apparently used as a crew transporter and includes a standing USN pilot as well as his driver. Each set is beautifully cast with etched brass details and a small decal sheet. A small instruction manual gives you painting information and decal placement

IW-NEO-TRN1 Neo for Iwata GravityFeed Trigger Airbrush - £130.00 The latest new airbrush releases from Iwata, via their UK importers The Airbrush Company, comprise a couple of very good value triggeraction brushes that combine the quality and versatility of the Iwata range with an excellent price. Available both as a gravity feed and a side feed model, the brush is robust and comfortable to handle, while offering the unique ‘trigger’ design that for many has made a world of difference to operating an airbrush. Our sample has the gravity feed, with the cup sitting atop the brush, and features a 0.35mm needle and nozzle combination, which will allow for finer detail spraying as well as medium-sized patterns. One feature that impressed this reviewer was that the cup is detachable – not cast integral with the brush, and is interchangeable with the alternative part provided. These are funnel shapes to facilitate both flow and cleaning. This particular brush is ideal for detail work, or for smaller areas, and can be recommended for beginners to airbrushing both for its price and its utility.

The larger size offers easy in-cup paint mixing. The medium size makes it easy to see over and good to view the working surface. The nocup option is great for quick touch-ups when only a tiny amount of paint is needed Specifically designed to work together, the Neo-Air for Iwata Miniature Air Compressor and the Neo for Iwata Pistol Trigger Airbrushes make the perfect set... affordable and compact. IwataMedea back Neo Series airbrushes with their usual five-year warranty. www.airbrushes.com

guide, which is supported by the illustration on the header card.

1/48 US Scooter Fire Fighter Part No. AL4028 US Scooter with crew Part No. AL48027

Conclusion Something a little bit different that will make nice models in their own right, but will lead to some head scratching if you want to enter them in a competition - though I suspect that most will end up in a diorama. If you are interested in this range you can purchase them direct from the manufacturer at www.modelchoice.net and also see the rest of the scooter range, which includes examples in both 1/32 and 1/35.

Features Include: PTFE needle packing, which is more solvent-proof than rubber O-rings. PTFE packings will last much longer than rubber parts and avoid the swelling and cracking that rubber can suffer when subjected to solvents The Neo Series, including these Neo for Iwata Pistol Trigger Airbrushes, are unique in that they are designed to work at low air pressures. The benefits of the Neo Pistol Trigger Airbrushes working with low air pressures are minimal overspray, precise control, detailed spraying, fine atomisation and affordability The interchangeable gravity feed cups offer paint capacity options.

Eduard Brassin Interchangeable cups on a gravity-feed airbrush – an attractive feature

Eduard’s 1/72 MiG-15 is barely cool in the moulds yet already they have the Brassin accessories on line! These little kits look excellent too, and welldeserving of a little extra detail. In other scales items of note include wheels for the Airfix Lancaster, while the Bf 109G items in 1/32 will add to the etched sets covered elsewhere to make a very nice job of the new Revell kit.

The medium-sized 2cc cup in place

1/48

648110 MiG-21PFM wheels for Eduard kit 648122 R-13M / AA-2 Atoll-D

1/72

672020 MiG-15bis airbrakes for Eduard kit 672021 MiG-15 airbrakes for Eduard kit 672022 MiG-15 cockpit for Eduard kit 672024 MiG-15bis cockpit for Eduard kit 672023 OFAB-100 bomb 672025 Lancaster wheels for Airfix kit

1/32

632018 Bf 109G-6 wheels for Revell kit

True Details The latest in the resin parachute series sees a pair of chutes in 1/48 for WWII era US aircrew.

1/48 48553 US WWII Era Aircrew parachutes Two resin Type AN-6510 parachutes sculpted to represent aircrew gear in preor post-mission repose with integral pack, cushion, harness and hardware.

Eduard’s full range can be viewed at www.eduard.com and product is available widely from importers Creative Models, LSA and Hannants in the UK, and various sources including Sprue Brothers and Squadron in the US.

Conclusion These beautifully cast little items were very welcome arrivals in 1/32. In 1/48 they are even more exquisite, and will add a nice finishing touch and a dash of character to any model they are used in connection with Available from www.squadron.com

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SAMI Spotlight Accessories

Scale Aircraft Conversions Latest sets from Scale Aircraft Conversions include one I have a personal interest in as I supplied the legs and wings from my Merit SBD so SAC could produce a set of heavy-duty replacements, something this kit could do with as it is incredibly heavy, which may be a bit of a challenge long term for the kit’s plastic legs. Other large-scale kits also getting upgrades are Revell’s new-tool Bf 109G and the venerable Hasegawa F-104 Starfighter. In 1/48 we have legs for the recent Kinetic Alpha Jet as well as replacements for the spindly legs of the Aeroparts Mi-2 Hoplite. The Boeing 707 and 720 get new legs in 1/72 and 1/144 respectively, while also in 1/72 are legs for the F-101 and Typhoon.

1/144 Boeing 720 Undercarriage Legs Product No: 14415 Designed for: Roden

1/72 Boeing 707/C-135 Undercarriage Legs Product No: 72072 Designed for: Heller Hawker Typhoon undercarriage Legs Product No: 72073 Designed for: Airfix This set includes enough parts for two models. F-101B Voodoo Undercarriage Legs Product No: 72074 Designed for: Revell

Messerschmitt Bf 109G Landing Gear Product No: 32078 Designed for: Revell This set is suitable only for the new 2013 tooling, not the older Hasegawa rebox; it also includes two alternative tail legs, both long and short versions.

1/18 SBD-3/4 Dauntless Landing Gear Product No: 18001 Designed for: Merit

Conclusion As always only minimal clean-up is needed before use, and though some smaller parts might be slightly distorted they are easily reshaped with no effect on the strength of the

1/48

finished assembly. These samples were provided by Scale Aircraft Conversions and will be available to purchase in the UK from Hannants, www.oxonianplasticfantastic.co.uk, and LSA Models; SAC have their own website at www.scaleaircraftconversions.com

Alpha Jet Undercarriage Legs Product No: 48241 Designed for: Kinetic Mil Mi-2 Hoplite Undercarriage Legs Product No: 48242 Designed for: Aero Plast

1/32 F-104 Starfighter Landing Gear Product No: 32077 Designed for: Hasegawa

Scale Resin Passed to us at Eday, this range of 1/72 and 1/48 resin offers a variety of ‘quick fixes’ and is sure to included something of use to most readers. How many sets of Short Stirling wheels are there on the market at present, I wonder…?

1/72

• 7301 Hawker Tempest Mk V Wheels, Exhausts and Cooler (Academy Kit) • 7302 Fairey Fulmar Wheels, Exhausts and Pitots (Revell Kit) • 7303 Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero Wheels, Exhausts and Pitots (Hasegawa Kit)

1128 | December 2013

• 7304 Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat Wheels, Exhausts and Pitot (Hasegawa Kit) • 7305 Arado Ar 96B / Avia C-2 Wheels, Exhausts and Propeller (Kopro Kit) • 7306 Sukhoi Su-7BKL Undercarriage Details and Air Intakes (Kopro Kit) • 7309 Ilyushin Il-10/B-33 Wheels, Exhausts and Cooler (Kopro Kit) • 7310 EE Canberra PR.9 Wheel Set (Airfix Kit) • 7311 Supermarine Spitfire Mk XIV Propeller and Exhausts (Academy Kit) • 7312 Hawker Typhoon Mk Ib Wheels, Pitot and Cooler (Academy Kit) • 7314 Avro Lancaster Wheels Late / Post War (All Kits) • 7315 Hawker Typhoon D.H. Propeller (Academy Kit) • 7316 Hawker Typhoon Rotol Propeller (Academy Kits)

Scale Aviation Modeller International

• 7318 Grumman F9F-2 Panther Wheels, Hook and Nose (Hasegawa Kit) • 7319 Hawker Hurricane Mk II Wheels and Optional Tailwheels (All Kits) • 7320 HP Victor Wheels and Air Intakes (Matchbox / Revell Kit) • 7321 Short Stirling Wheels (Airfix Kit)

1/48

• 4901 Supermarine Spitfire Mk XIV Wheels and Exhausts (Academy Kit) • 4906 Dassault Mirage Wheels (ESCI / Italeri Kits)

Conclusion Many kits on the market just need that extra bit of pizazz to bring them up to a decent standard, and this is where the Scale Resin detail sets

come in handy. If the parts look a little familiar it’s because they were originally marketed under the ‘Resin Art’ name. It’s great to see them back with their new owner CMR Moulding and Casting and available from www.cmrmodels.com

Mastered-Adverts-AV-1213_AV-0606 08/11/2013 12:57 Page 1129

New releases DutchDecal DD32021: Dutchies In The RAF. Tempest, Typhoon, Spitfire. DD72075: Lockheed P2V-7B/SP-2H Neptune eptune RNeth.NAS. RNe Neth Ne etth.N N

CRACKING

Christmas books! from www.dutchdecal.nl/dutch profile.nl. Facebook.com/DutchDecal

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1130-31-Decals-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:35 Page 1130

SAMI Spotlight Decals

Decals Starfighter Decals The Grumman Panther in Korea came in only one colour - glossy Sea Blue with squadrons limited to applying coloured tips to the rudder and occasionally a flash on the nose. So, not a rich picking ground for the aftermarket manufacturers but Starfighter have managed to find three nice offerings starting with future Apollo astronaut Neil

Armstrong’s -2. The second option is the aircraft that made the first kill for the navy in Korea, while the third carries an impressive mission scoreboard as well as being the aircraft that made the first USN Jet on Jet kill.

Eduard Decals The latest decal sheet from Eduard is a handy set offering more options for their new Spitfire kit:

1/48 D48019 Spitfire Mk IX Czechoslovak National Insignia and Squadron Badges

Eduard’s full range can be viewed at www.eduard.com and product is available widely from importers

Creative Models, LSA and Hannants in the UK, and various sources including Sprue Brothers and Squadron in the US.

1/72 Grumman Panthers Part 1 Killer Cats Part No: 72-141 Designed for HobbyBoss • F9F-2, 125127, VF-51, S/116, USS Essex, 1951-52, as flown by future astronaut Ens. Neil Armstrong • F9F-3, 123071, VF-51, S/109, USS Valley Forge, 1950, as flown by Lt (JG) Len Plog, Yak-7 kill • F9F-2B, unknown, VF-111, V/209, 1950, as flown by Lt Cdr Amen

Conclusion Once again another good value sheet that supplies the national insignia as well as the individual markings for all three Panthers. If you are interested in US Navy and Marine aircraft you should really visit Starfighter’s site as they have so much of interest in all the major scales. Their address is www.starfighter-decals.com UK importer is Hannants.

Old Propeller Available in 1/72,1/48 and 1/32 scale, Old Propellers lozenge decals are much different from those you've seen before as they have a delicate fabric effect as well as a slight faded finish, making them ideal for producing authentic German WWI era aircraft. Each pack comes with appropriate rib tape decals. The lozenge decals come in

separate packs of top and bottom wing finishes to apply over a white finish, and are available from Hannants in the UK.

H Models Nicely timed for the release of the new Eduard MiG-15 kits come more of H-Models’ 1/72 decal sets. The two sheets includes stencil decals for one aircraft as well as full markings.

1/72 #72014 Czech Air Force Part II • 1. MiG-15 (S-102) EP-03, 613631, 1st Air Division Command Section, used by

Colonel Kukel's aerobatic team between 1953 and 1955 and flown by Capt. Jiri Hajek • 2) MiG-15bis (S-103) 3934, 623934, 22nd SLP, Caslav AFB 1957, provided with blue air-combat manoeuvring markings

• 3) MiG-15 (S-102) CN-02, 231803, 9th Air Fighter Regiment, Command Section, Flown by Lt. Belacik, Bechne Air base, 1955 • 4) MiG-15 (S-102) RT-50, 47th PZLP, also flown by Capt. Emil Racek, Mlada Air Base, 1954-1955 #72005 Russian Aces in MiG-15s in the Korean War • 1) MiG-15bis,11811, Lt.V.I. Chizh, 72nd GvIAP, Anshan, November 1950

1130 | December 2013

Scale Aviation Modeller International

• 2) MiG-15bis, 2915316, Maj. S.A.Fedorets, 913th IAP, Antung, July 1953 • 3) MiG-15, 1915394, Maj. M.I Mikhin, 518th IAP, Tatung-kao, June 1953

Finally, you'll need extra stencils to model all of these aircraft, and these come on sheet #72019, which includes stencils for the UTI version too. If any of these decal sets takes your fancy it's a good idea to hurry as each is limited to three hundred, and they are available from Hannants in the UK.

1130-31-Decals-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 17:52 Page 1131

Decals SAMI Spotlight

Fundekals New releases from Fundekals follow the usual format with the decal sheet coming in a plain plastic bag, and the paperwork available online as a download. This is beneficial for all parties, enabling the manufacturer to keep the price lower, while at the same time – with no printing costs – there is no limit to the amount of images and information that can go into the instructions. The new Vulcan sheet is a typical recipient of this approach. Offering as it does such an extensive range of options, one can only imagine the

problems that Fundekal would have had producing something costeffective in print.

1/144 Avro Vulcan B Mk 2 This sheet will allow you to build virtually any Vulcan B Mk 2 that ever flew and includes full stencil data and national insignias for both the anti-flash white and

the later camouflage schemes. Multiple variations on several squadron badges are provided, as are several non-standard 'zaps'. The instructions offer no less than fourteen pages of artwork and placement details. Twenty-six colour side views illustrate the specific individual options, and the whole package is extremely comprehensive. Perhaps one of the most tempting aspects of this set is the second sheet, which features all the aircraft serials. Quite apart from the choice this offers you in terms of Vulcans, in a world bereft of 1/144 serials this effectively offers a number jungle for RAF aircraft incorporating the letters X, L, M, J and H in either black or blue.

1/48 North American P-51D Stencil Data Starting from NAA factory drawings, the Fundekal P-51D/K stencil data was

painstakingly recreated using the original and unique style of lettering seen on the actual aircraft. The sheet includes all of the external stencil markings found on the factory documents, as well as some extras. National insignia also included.

Conclusion The Vulcan sheet is simply staggering. It looks like a Modeldecal sheet, and is as comprehensive, and that is about the highest praise this reviewer could offer for a set of decals! As for the online instructions – while it may not initially appeal to the traditionalist among us, there is no denying the practicalities, and anyone with a PC and a basic user’s knowledge will have no problem downloading the pages and printing them to whatever format you choose. Check out the website at www.fundekals.com to see the current range. The Vulcan sheet retails at US$12.00, and in terms of the scope it offers the modeller, this is exceptional value indeed!

WIN! Revell’s Winning Streak! SAM Publications, in association with Revell, is offering a monthly opportunity to win the latest kits from Revell’s catalogue. Up for grabs this month is the brand new Airbus A350!

Last month’s winner: R. Lindsay, Warminster, Wilts

To win Revell’s kit just answer the following question:

Q. What is the seating capacity of the A350-900 A. 350 B. 314 C. 286 Answers on a postcard please to: Revell’s Winning Streak Competition, SAM Publications, Media House, 21 Kingsway, Bedford, MK42 9BJ

03989 Airbus A350-900 The A350 XWB is one of the most successful commercial airliner designs in the aviation industry with a wide customer base around the world. With the A350 XWB, Airbus has introduced an entirely new family of wide-body medium capacity airliners. The aircraft features the quietest and most comfortable cabins in the ‘Wide-Body’ category, and brings together the very latest achievements in the fields of aerodynamics and aircraft construction. This produces an optimized fuel efficiency 25% better than the Boeing 777 and a ‘Seat-Mile Cost’ 25% lower than those of its competitors. The exceptionally weightefficient airframe is made from composite materials (53%) combined with titanium and advanced aluminium alloys. Modern Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines and an aerodynamic design both contribute to a large reduction in atmospheric emissions. The A350 XWB family comprises three passenger versions (A350-800, -900 and -1000) with 250 to 400 seats, and boasts a long range capability of up to 15,580km.

Competition Rules Employees/volunteers working for SAM Publications, Revell and associated companies or their families are not permitted to enter. Entries are limited to one per person/household. No correspondence will be entered into. The judges’ decision is final. All entries must reach Media House by 13th December 2013, when the prize draw will take place.

Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit www.revell.eu or email [email protected]

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1134-36-PhotoEssay-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:33 Page 1134

SAMI Feature

Photo Essay

Close-up of the B-36’s bulbous nose

Photo Essay

Pima Pilgrimage I By Mike Grant.

Photos © Mike Grant, used with the permission of Pima Air & Space Museum, Tucson, Arizona, USA

’d often heard the Pima Air & Space Museum in Arizona referred to as a sort of modelling Mecca by my USbased online friends, so on a recent trip to Phoenix my wife and I decided to make the two-hour drive South to the museum in Tucson. Long before we even reached the gates we could see the hulking shape of the Super Guppy and the tails of several B-52s on the horizon, which should have been a clue as to the sheer scope of this attraction. According to the museum’s website www.pimaair.org there are over 300 aircraft on the 150-acre site. The majority of the aircraft are parked outside, but there are also five hangars packed with exhibits, including a B-29, B17, F-107, A-26 and a full-size X-15 replica. Not surprisingly since they’re exposed to blazing Arizona heat and sand, the outside aircraft have seen better days. Canopies

and glazing have been painted over, grilles installed over exhaust and intakes, and many of the planes’ tyres are flat. On the plus side the vast majority of the aircraft are still in their original paint schemes. The wear and tear caused by the conditions is fascinating in itself and I took many photos specifically as weathering reference – admittedly not applicable to in-service aircraft put perfect for modelling abandoned and derelict subjects (or outside museum exhibits). Despite the lessthan-pristine condition, the huge variety and uniqueness of the types make this an amazing experience for any aircraft enthusiast. Where else could you stand alongside a B-36, B-58, Skycrane helicopter, Constellation, B-47, SR-71 and a C-141, all in the same day? Adding to the enjoyment is the fact that the museum is adjacent to the Davis

One of several Stratofortress exhibits, this NB-52A was used to launch the X-15 from below its starboard wing. A C-130 from the Air Force Base is taking off in the distance Nose of the Boeing EB-47E Stratojet.

1134 | December 2013

Scale Aviation Modeller International

Monthan Air Force Base, so we were treated to a steady display of A-10s and C-130s flying over. Although we didn’t have time to sign on, the museum runs tours to the nearby ‘Boneyard’, the vast outdoor storage area of mothballed aeroplanes handled by the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG). Five hours of wandering the exhibits in intense heat was gruelling (hint: pack lots of water) but nowhere near enough time to take everything in, so a return trip is already being considered. After the museum I enjoyed a visit with the friendly guys at the Tucson IPMS monthly meeting, rounding off a memorable modelling-related day.

1134-36-PhotoEssay-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:33 Page 1135

Pima Pilgrimage

Warts’n’all, the nose of a B-52G. An Avro Shackleton can be seen in the background

Detail shot of the X-15 launch pylon on the NB-52A. Although there isn’t an actual X-15 at the Museum, there’s an impressive full-size replica in the Space Gallery

The many different shades of metal on the B-58 reflect the Arizona desert sun

Looking like a Gerry Anderson creation, the iconic Convair B-58 Hustler was much larger than I’d realised

The 168 feet long Lockheed C-141B Starlifter

One of the museum’s larger helicopter exhibits is this CH-37B Mojave. Special Hobby kitted one of these in 1/72

Giant clamshell doors in the nose identify this as a Douglas C-124C Globemaster II

Another exotic 50s subject, the Lockheed F-94C Starfire in a typical hi-vis scheme

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SAMI Feature

Photo Essay

Heavy weathering is apparent on the Vought/LTV DF-8F Crusader. A line-up of helicopters, including two Kaman Huskies (photo by Kerry Grant)

Spot the modeller. The author taking detail shots of the T-2C Buckeye’s undercarriage for reference - it was nice and cool under there too. (Photo by Kerry Grant) Navy blues: well weathered Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon.

Colourful nose art adorns this S-3B Viking of VS-21

Contrasted against a deep blue sky is the US Coast Guard Sikorsky HH-52A Seaguard

1136 | December 2013

Scale Aviation Modeller International

Detail of the Viking’s wing-fold mechanism

The extensive weathering on this GM FM-2 Wildcat is a result of spending decades at the bottom of Lake Michigan, where many Wildcats ended up as a result of training mishaps

This should be enough to deter anyone from attempting to detail the old Revell Skycrane kit

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Also Available: RA4912 Early Beaufighter 1/48th Conversion Set (for Tamiya kit) £12.50 LIMITED EDITION

RA4914

Build & Convert number 7 Classic Warplanes New Kits and Old Tricks – the Airfix Spitfire and Friends By Alec Smith This latest episode of Build and Convert offers a selection of newly-comissioned articles by prolific modeller and IPMS Stalwart Alec Smith, taking a look at some of ‘tomorrows classics’ – new toolings of old favourites, brought up to date by the manufacturer - along with one or two original toolings to compare and contrast. Alec’s work will be familiar to many from his involvement with IPMS Brampton and the Latin American Aviation SIG, and he is a regular on the show circuit. As a modeller he knows all the tricks and techniques and adds a few of his own ideas into the mix to demonstrate that whist modern injection moulding techniques may have improved the plastic, there is still scope for adding those personnal touches and taking a kit just that little way beyond the box, stamping your mark on it, and making it your own.

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1138-39-HowTo#7-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:32 Page 1138

SAMI Columns Techniques #7

How-To MODELLING GUIDE MIKE GRANT’S

Photo Finish. Part 1:

The Big Picture Our Monthly ‘How To’ Guide

By Mike Grant

M

A close-up showing the inside of the light tent

any of us are active members of online forums, and posting photos of our models enables us to share our experiences, successes (and failures) with like-minded hobbyists from all over the world. There are also several websites that run online contests requiring pictures of the models to be uploaded. And keeping a digital record of our builds ensure we’ll be able to look at our work long after the propellers have broken off or the model’s been dropped in a dusting accident. I often wish I’d photographed the models built when I was younger as they’ve long since been destroyed. In any of these scenarios, it makes sense to create the best possible photographic image of the model. Let me preface this by stating that I’m not a professional photographer, nor have I had any formal training except for an hour-aweek, one-term long photography module back when I was in art school. There will be many readers of this magazine who are far more qualified and adept at the art of picture taking than I am. However, I’m asked frequently about the set-up I use to create the images that I post online or that appear in this magazine, so I hope the information is useful to some modellers, and that the real experts will grant me some leniency. The photography discussed here is strictly the studio-type, record shot; a clean, sharp, clearly lit image of the model (or part of it) against an uncluttered background.

The basic set-up

There are many other ways to shoot models and manipulate the images, but they’re outside the scope of this short series. And we’ll focus solely on digital photography, although many of the principles apply for those who still use or prefer film cameras. Like any hobby (including ours) photography can cost as little or as much as we want to spend, but in order to achieve reasonable results it’s necessary to have some basic, good quality gear. Just as in modelling terms we wouldn’t expect to obtain superb results using only Starfix kits, cheap plastic brushes, children’s acrylic paint and a penknife, the same applies with

photography: to create good quality photos requires more than a mobile phone and the model propped on top of a wheely-bin. The good news is that it needn’t cost an arm and a leg either, and several of the items in my set-up were obtained second-hand. The illustration shows the basic configuration used, and the equipment can be summarized as:• Light Tent • Camera • Light source • Tripod • Background

Airfix 1/72 F-5E shot only with the camera’s flash, resulting in ugly dark sharp shadows

1138 | December 2013

Scale Aviation Modeller International

1138-39-HowTo#7-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:33 Page 1139

Techniques #7 SAMI Columns

Using two lights but without diffusion results in distracting double shadows

The light tent

Light Tent

Two light sources and the diffusing light tent results in soft shadows and even overall lighting, and a nice highlight on the canopy and engine panels

Placing a box to raise the model inside the tent allows this type of low angle shot, here used on Gavia’s 1/48 Bristol Scout

How-To

A sheet of glossy white paper was used for the background to this Airfix 1/72 Fiat G.91 and resulted in a subtle reflection beneath the aircraft

to the level of the lower edge and enable the aircraft to be shot from a ‘ground plane’ view, a cardboard box is placed in the tent and the coloured background paper tucked under the front edge. In the next installment we’ll look at some of the other items of equipment, including the camera and what features to look for.

MIKE GRANT’S

We’ll look at some of the equipment more closely in the next article, but it’s worth starting with the light tent, which diffuses direct light and helps to create soft shadows and even lighting. There are various sizes, configurations and manufacturers; mine was purchased off eBay several years ago for less than $50.00. It’s a 28” cube made of a thin, silky white fabric with a steel frame top and bottom and will comfortably fit most 1/72 models or 1/48 single/twin-engine kits, although it’s too small for, say, a 1/48 B-17. With some wrestling it will fold flat for storage, although I’m fortunate enough to have a dedicated space where it can be left set up. There are several articles online about creating your own light tent from cardboard and paper, which might work perfectly well, although I wonder how robust they’d be; this purpose-made tent has withstood numerous model club meetings, model contests and regular home use for several years. As can be seen in the photograph, there’s a border surrounding the opening in the front face. In order to raise the model

www.sampublications.com December 2013

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1140-41-Testors-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:32 Page 1140

SAMI Columns Testors 1/48

Sponsored by

www.testors.com

Paint it with

TESTORS

Canadian Tracker S-2A Tracker

W

By Paul Janicki

ow! What a box full of kit!! Kinetic have already produced the later variant of this aircraft and now we have an earlier version that had every extremity shorter. The box is packed to the gunnels with all the parts necessary for the S-2A with parts from the earlier issue of the kit with the differing wings and engine nacelles and lots of associated smaller pieces. The kit instruction booklet has all the parts frames to help locate the appropriate items needed for this issue. Many are common with the two kits and the clear parts are just one set, for example. The new parts are mainly on frame ‘I’ and consist of the outer wing panel with the shorter span wings with the square tips, the shorter span tailplane and shorter, shallower tail engine nacelles without the ‘parrot's beak‘ sonar buoy launcher cover. All the parts are very well moulded and have nice surface detail. The clear parts are good but this example suffered with some short moulding at a critical place with the

1140 | December 2013

Scale Aviation Modeller International

TECH DATA SCALE: 1/48 KIT NO: 48039 TYPE: Injection Moulded Plastic MANUFACTURER: Kinetic

centre line join at the windscreen. Hopefully this won’t be the case with your kit. Decals are designed by Fightertown and printed by Cartograph so quality is assured. Nine pages of the instructions deal with the build and the last three deal with the painting and decal placements. So what’s it like to build? The first steps deal with the clear cockpit cover and flight deck area. The instrument panel is rather nice with raised detail that should help with painting to one’s own taste and standard. There is an overhead console that lacks any detail but this wouldn’t be seen by the end so is no great loss. The cabin floor and wall detail is lacking as too are the seats, but again little

can be seen, and if you so desire, you can add your own extra detailing to suit. In addition to the cockpit, assembly of the wing-mounted searchlight pod is done at this stage. Disappointingly, there is no detail at all here, an omission visible through the very clear cover. I feel this is quite a shortcoming for a 1/48 kit. The next step covers the assembly of the main fuselage halves incorporating the weapons bay, underfuselage radome, and some other parts as well as including the fitting of the previously assembled flight

1140-41-Testors-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:32 Page 1141

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Federal Standard 595a/b FS17178 FS17038 FS37038 FS15050 FS11136 FS37875 FS34558 FS36118 FS36099/FS36076 FS36173 FS36099/FS36076 FS36314 FS34424 (~) FS36270 FS34504 (~)

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Ask your hobby shop for Testor® products — or visit www.testors.com

Testors® Paints — Hitler’s Factory Wat

deck. A couple of points worthy of mention are the lack of detail in the weapons bay and the suggested fitting of the nose cap. If you wish to finish the model as the Canadian option - as I did - then the part you need is the one indicated as not used in this issue. The suggested part is probably OK for the US or Japanese options but for the CAF one you will need to fit the appropriate one from sprue ‘C’ and not the new sprue ‘I‘. One other major alert is that you will need a lot of weight in the nose to prevent a tail sitter. These aircraft rarely rested on the tail bumper so it’s no excuse to omit the weight. I added strips of lead and packed as much as I could in the nose compartments wherever it would fit. Even in the backs and base of the seats.. A lot of trial and error will be needed in order to get this right so good luck. The weapons bay doors are OK but if you do choose to close them up then you’ll find that the fit isn’t too brilliant. One could get around this by gluing in supports from scrap plastic to help keep the doors in place squarely. I didn’t think of this until too late, though. Other fuselage adornments are attached now like the arrestor hook, MAD boom etc. The undercarriage assembly and nose doors are shown at this stage (3) but I feel it's best to leave these sort of fittings until later to prevent accidental breakages. Step 4 deals with the wing stubs for assembly. No problems with these and the assemblies fit very well to the fuselage with no major issue regarding gaps. The tailplanes are assembled now, as are the very nicely detailed parts (F16 and F17) for the wing fold. A note is included to illustrate this as there are alternative parts if you wish to build the model with the wings spread. The engine nacelles follow, with reasonably detailed engines and main undercarriage bays, legs and doors. The nacelles fit well to the wing centre section undersides with just a smear of filler on the tops to ensure a good blend with the wing upper surface. Step 6 covers the fitting of the upper fuselage antenna and radar pods according to which version is being built. The easily knocked-off antenna I always leave to the end so part of this step can be skipped. Choices, choices! To fold or not to fold? I

Testors SAMI Columns

wasn’t sure which way to go with the wings so I tried both and decided that I would fix the wings spread for durability reasons. I found that the folded wing option, though looking fine and adding interest to the model, was quite weak and liable to get damaged at anytime, especially in transit. Furthermore, should one wish to build the model with the wings spread, you’ll need to cut off the tiny little tabs around the edge of the outer wing panels where they meet the inner as they do not line up at all well with the recesses they lock into. Failure to remove these tabs will reveal a very badly out of position wing join from leading edge to trailing edge. Ask me how I know! The underwing pylons and rocket pods can be fitted now but again it's better to add these later if you decide to use them. As a little surprise when I opened this kit, I found a little packet by Quickboost with resin replacement pylons with some better detail. As they were included (not part of the kit, I hasten to add) and intended for this review I used them and found that the holes in the wing underside needed opening up a little more to accept the new

parts. Something that I was also pleased to see is that Kinetic correctly included the UPD-501 ECM pods for the wingtips for the CAF version. These were sometimes known as ‘bean cans’.. The finish really needs to be decided fairly early on as optional details for the various operators are required during the build. From the outset, I decided to finish this kit as a Canadian operated CP-121. The scheme and period is from the middle of the Tracker’s life in Canada and is in the strange greenish light grey overall colour 501-109 (FS16480). This colour doesn’t appear anywhere, to my knowledge, so I resorted to mixing it using Sky (type S) with a light grey, as recommended by a modelling colleague in Canada, to try and get the effect. The decals are very well produced and I had no problems at all applying them. All in register and done correctly left no silvering. The other two options in the kit are for a JMSDF S2F-1, s/n 4104, 1975 in Dark Sea Grey and White undersides and a US Navy S2F-1 of VS-32, code AT s/n 136613, 1962, finished in the well known Light Gull Grey over White. Quite colourful actually, with a yellow checked rudder. Overall, a nice kit with a few pitfalls that should be easily overcome. Careful study of the instructions is recommended to ensure you are using the right parts for the version chosen. I quite enjoyed building this model despite some moments of anguish, and now, what to do with all those large leftover parts? Go ahead and enjoy adding a fairly unusual subject to a popular scale.

www.sampublications.com December 2013

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SAMI Columns Benchmarks 1/48

Sponsored by Hobbylink Japan

Benchmarks I When at First you don’t Succeed have lost track of how many weeks I have now been embroiled with the Ju 88 in 1/48, but the task lingers on and while it sometimes seems that I am no nearer completion, in reality I have – by a timeconsuming process of trial and error – reached a point at which the end may very soon be almost in sight. Three times I have assembled a collection of interior parts. Twice I have failed, but this third time I have benefitted from previous mistakes, and things seem to be moving ahead. It has been suggested to me that Benchmarks is nothing but a wearisome catalogue of errors, and in all honesty I am as weary as anyone of the way things keep going pear-shaped. It would give me no end of pleasure to be able to report a string of uninterrupted successes, but alas it was not to be. The first Junkers fell by the wayside, as reported last month, and the bulk of its interior was transferred into the airframe of a G-6. This rapidly progressed to a point at which I had to paint the thing, but no amount of effort could change the fact that I really wanted an A-4. The more I looked at the spotty thing, the more frustrated I grew, and the more I began to resent the time and effort spent on a kit I was only really building because the canopy was easier to finish. Modelling time is too precious to spend building models you don’t want. Eventually I realized that there was only one option…

Back in September it all seemed to be going so well. Most of these interior details have been salvaged and will be re-assembled, in some cases for the third time The first attempt. The nose glazing has been salvaged for re-use – still masked! The rest just turned into a mess… Nasty tatty paint job with out-of-scale overspray. This has been ‘backdated’ to a Ju 88A4 again

1142 | December 2013

Scale Aviation Modeller International

By Gary Hatcher

The third attempt at the 1/48 Ju 88 has been expedited not only by the lessons learned, but by some of the work that has gone into the first two. The wings and fuselage of the part-built G-6 were salvaged intact, the cockpit section torn out, and the tail fin and planes replaced with those that had gone into the spares box after the first A-4 was scrapped. I had made a much better job on the wings and fuselage the second time round – adding the wing tips to their respective upper and lower wing halves is an essential prerequisite to a successful assembly – and with the engine mountings ripped out and replaced I soon had an entire airframe minus the cockpit – nothing a bit of filler and sanding couldn’t deal with. The real job has been getting the canopy to match the cockpit aperture. My previous attempt at the A-4 had seen me painstakingly assemble the entire interior before trying to match the three

parts of the Dragon bulged canopy. This, as we have found, leads only to tears, and to the spares box (now burgeoning). This time I took a different approach: • Step 1: Soak all three canopy parts in Klear and leave to cure for at least three days • Step 2: Add a thin lip to the rear end of the front canopy part. This will provide a solid base to fit the rear parts to, otherwise you are trying to butt join them. The finished assembly will need to be strong as it requires a lot of handling, with all the masking, and a great deal of interior detail, so I wanted a strong assembly • Step 3. Add the port rear canopy half first. Make sure it is a tight and accurate fit in the centre, and along the edge adjoining the front canopy part. It will not – and never will – be an accurate fit

1142-43-Benchmarks-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:32 Page 1143

Sponsored by Hobbylink Japan

Assembling the canopy. The lip has been made from thin white plastic card – note a shim added to the bottom of the front transparency too

at the bottom edge, but it will be easier to trim excess from this edge than to try and bodge it elsewhere • Step 4. Add the starboard rear half. Concentrate on the centre, where the three pieces meet and make this, and the join between the two rear halves as accurate as possible. You will end up with a solid single piece on which the bottom edges of the rear half are sticking out. This is unavoidable, but is the least of all evils • Step 5. My previous error had been to assemble the cockpit halves and try to fit the canopy to these. Much better to do it the other way round. I added shims to widen the aperture at both ends of the cockpit, and some were also added in various places on the cockpit sill and on the bottom edge of the canopy. The end result fits together. It might not stand up to a micrometer, but it looks like it fits – and that is better than the mess I had achieved before

Benchmarks SAMI Columns

The three parts, assembled, now fit where it counts. I will no doubt need to spot fill the main seams when it is painted. Just needs another clean now!

• Step 6. By the time the canopy had been trimmed, sanded, and coerced into fitting the aperture it had lost some of its sparkle. With the superglue cured I was able to bathe it in ammonia, which removed the previous coat of Klear – along with all the muck, grease, fingerprints and dust that had accumulated. Dried off, and bathed in Klear again, it ended up crystal Klear, and none the worse for its adventures Meanwhile the cockpit section had been added to the rest of the airframe – with minimal necessary interior work done. The gondola was added (a terrible fit), and a better job was made of blending in the transparency at the lower cockpit front, which had also benefitted from the spacers added to the cockpit halves. Much masking and spraying later and I had the basic splinter of 70/71 achieved. At time of writing it just needs touching up, and I need to select a colour scheme that I am happy with. I am writing this four days before Telford, and AIMS will be there, as

Following another bath in ammonia, and another soak in Klear, the finished canopy is much clearer, and ready for another bout

Painting underway. Lifecolor RLM 71 has been lightened with RLM02 and pre-shaded with itself. I find this is more subtle than using black or brown. Simply spraying along all the panel lines first then filling in achieves a nice ‘toned’ effect without being obtrusive

will Paul the Decals man, and hopefully someone selling Airdoc sheets. In the meantime masking the canopy is a full day’s work and there is plenty to be getting on with. No sense finishing it in one of the schemes I have to hand but don’t really like – I’d only end up stripping it later… So there we are. Nothing finished, but a lesson or two learned. Readers may well be bored with the Ju 88, or may never have been interested in the confounded contraption in the first place, but I hope that some of the steps outlined above will stand me in good stead when I come to face similar issues with different kits further down the line. Of course I could just stick to those kits where you ‘shake the box’ and a model comes out. I have read about these – but as yet I haven’t found one. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Lifecolor RLM 71 added and just in need of touching up where my masking has been a little clumsy

www.sampublications.com December 2013

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SAMI Columns Books & Media

Books

Topcolors 38

Fw 190s over Europe Part II TECH DATA AUTHOR: Maciej Goralczyk, Janusz Swiation PUBLISHER: Kagero ISBN: 978 83628 787 27

Topcolors 37

FORMAT: Softback, 104pp

Last Hope of the Luftwaffe Me 163, He 162, Me 262 TECH DATA AUTHORS: Jacek Pasieczny, Simon Schatz, Arkadiusz Wrobel PUBLISHER: Kagero ISBN: 978 83628 787 27 FORMAT: Softback, 104pp

Finding decals for Luftwaffe subjects that are neither 109s nor 190s is not as easy as you might suppose, so any • He 162A-1 WNr 310003, of the addition to the existing Yellow 5 of 3./JG 1, Leck, available options is always Germany, May 1945 welcome. This follows the • He 162A-2 WNr 120067, familiar Topcolors pattern and White 4 of 1./JG 1, Leck, offers markings in three scales for Germany, May 1945 ten aircraft, backed up by exquisite • He 162A-2 WNr 120028, White 3 of artworks and in-depth captions: 1./JG 1, Leck, Germany, May 1945 • Me 163B V53, WNr 16310062, White 9 • He 162A-2 WN. 120231, White 6 of 1./JG 400, August 1944 1./JG 1, Leck, Germany, May 1945 • Me 163B White 10, 1./JG 400, Brandis, • Me 262A-2a, WNr 110613, 9K+DK, Germany, late February 1945 2./KG 51 February 1945 • Me 163B V52 WNr 16310061, Yellow 1, • Me 262A-1a, Yellow 2 of 3./KG(J) 54, 7./JG 400, Nordholz, Germany, April 1945 Prague-Ruzyně, Czechoslovakia, May 1945 • Me 262A-1a, White 34 of III./EJG 2, Brunnthal, Germany, May 1945

Book Month!

Nicely timed with the release of Meng’s Komet and the new HobbyBoss Me 262A-1a. Excellent! www.casematepublishing.co.uk Jack Trent

The eight options offered in this edition of Topcolors fill two sheets and give the following choices in three scales: • Fw 190A-2 WNr 0125228, Chevron L, Stab I./JG 26, St. Omer-Arques July 1942 • Fw 190A-2 WNr 0125299, Blue 2, 10 (Jabo) /JG 2, Caen-Carpiquet, mid-August 1942 • Fw 190A-4/U7 WNr 0147092, Kommandeur II./JG 26, Vitry-en-Artois, spring 1943 • Fw 190A-7 WNr 430170, Yellow 5, 3./JG 1, Dortmund-Brakel, December 1943 • Fw 190A-8/R6 probable WNr 171172,

Black 8 of 3./JGr 10, Redlin, January 1945 • Fw 190A-8/R2 Red 10, 5./JG 300, Löbnitz, , January 1945 • Fw 190A-8 WNr 737435, White 20 of 9./JG 5, Herdla, Norway, March 1945 • Fw 190A-9/R11 WNr 206000, White 2 of III./KG(J) 27, Wels, spring 1945 www.casematepublishing.co.uk Jack Trent

Spitfire, Merlin Variants Walkaround TECH DATA AUTHOR: Ron Mackay PUBLISHER: Squadron/Signal ISBN: 978 08974 773 21 FORMAT: Softback, 80pp

Now with a mass of superb colour walkaround shots, the present volume focuses exclusively on the early mark landbased Spitfires incorporating the Rolls Royce/Merlin engine, including the Mk I, Vb, and IXc. Both internal and external aspects of the airframe are covered in exhaustive detail, and if you thought you didn’t need any further reference material

on the type then prepare to be surprised, as this book really does cover the subject in depth. Very highly recommended to anyone modelling the Spitfire in any scale. www.squadron.com Samuel Weller

Units 5

P-47 Thunderbolt with the USAAF in the MTO, Asia and Pacific

JG 2 Jagdgeschwader Richtofen TECH DATA AUTHOR: Marek J Murawski

TECH DATA

PUBLISHER: Kagero

AUTHOR: Tomasz Szlagor

ISBN: 978 83628 787 03

PUBLISHER: Kagero

FORMAT: Softback, 28pp

ISBN: 978 83628 786 73 FORMAT: Softback, 80pp

How the ‘Jug’ has escaped the adulation accorded the Mustang in the mainstream is a mystery, as everything about it is designed to appeal! Its burly outline, brutal combat efficiency, flamboyant colour schemes and the dash and bravado of the men who flew it. Books on the type are always worth a look, and this one is particularly splendid, covering as it does the aircraft’s use in all major WW2 theatres. While its service in Europe is betterdocumented, in the Pacific the Thunderbolt held its own against Japanese fighters over New Guinea, and later over Japan's Home Islands, while in the China-Burma-India theatre it excelled both as fighter and fighter-bomber, with the Air Commandos, among other units. The book is packed with inspiring illustrations and photographs, while the decal sheet provided offers colourful options in three scales – including an

1144 | December 2013

This brief overview includes a chronological history of one of the Luftwaffe’s most famous units, illustrated by over forty historical photographs, but as with other books in this series offers a selection of colour profiles and a decal sheet in three scales as the main event. Artwork is superb, and captions detailed and informative.

The decal sheet offers a Bf 109E-4, a Bf 109F-2/B, an Fw 190A-2 and a D-9. www.casematepublishing.co.uk Martin Parry

USN-USMC Collection No. 6 TECH DATA PUBLISHER: Aero Research Co.

attractive ‘N’, a Razorback, and a couple of Ds in natural metal finish, festooned with artwork. Highly recommended – especially with the excellent Academy 1/48 kit popping up in so many guises at the moment! www.casematepublishing.co.uk Mark Tapley

Scale Aviation Modeller International

CAT NO: 1048 FORMAT: CD-ROM

Nearly 170 images make up this latest release, with excellent colour shots of a wide range of US maritime aircraft in a variety of schemes. www.aeroresearchcds.com Jack Trent

1144-45-Books-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:31 Page 1145

Books & Media SAMI Columns

Monograph 51

Walk Around #17

Focke Wulf Ta 154 Moskito

B-17G Flying Fortress

TECH DATA

TECH DATA

AUTHOR: Marek J Murawski, Marek Rys

AUTHOR: Steve Muth

PUBLISHER: Kagero

PUBLISHER: Peregrine Publications

ISBN: 978 83628 787 27

FORMAT: CD-ROM

FORMAT: Softback, 104pp

The enigmatic Ta 154 was ostensibly to be deployed as a counterpoint to the RAF’s Mosquito, and was to serve as a nightfighter. This volume covers the development and brief service history of the type, and includes such details as are available on the aircraft’s combat evaluation and limited service with NJG 3. For modellers the book is a goldmine of detail and information, with some sixty period photographs, along with some excellent 1/72 plans, and well over 100 artworks – most of them depicting various details of the airframe and interior, but there are also a number of beautifully rendered overviews of the aircraft. Highly recommended to anyone looking into the type with modelling in mind. I doubt if you will find another title

This latest CD from Peregrine adds an essential subject to the growing catalogue. With the big B-17 kit now out there the type is very topical, and a 1/32 model is going to want some time invested in it. With the help of this CD you can really go to town! Includes impressive walkarounds, interior shots and close-ups of all those important places you need to see! Available from the publishers at 70 The Promenade, Glen Head NY 11545 USA [email protected] George Rouncewell on the Ta 154 as user-friendly as this! www.casematepublishing.co.uk Jack Trent

B-25J Mitchell

Royal Air Force

Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War Volume 1 1939-1940, 2nd Edition

in Combat over Europe (MTO) TECH DATA TECH DATA

AUTHOR: WR Chorley

AUTHOR: Marek Katarzynski

PUBLISHER: Classic

PUBLISHER: Kagero

ISBN: 978 19065 374 01

ISBN: 978 83628 786 59

FORMAT: Softback, 372pp

FORMAT: Softback, 80pp

Another of Kagero’s inimitable albums offering an enticing glimpse of the Mitchell in action in the MTO, with plenty of excellent original combat photos, including thirty-six in colour, as well as the trademark colour profiles and decal sheet link-up. This time round we get three aircraft - MMR s/n 43-27751, Paper Doll s/n 43-27473 and My Naked Ass! s/n 43-27704 – in 1/72, 1/48 and 1/32, and of course all three scales are now well-represented as far as the type is concerned. Text is in both English and Polish (the book does include an

interesting piece on Polish aircrew in the B-25), while the photographs speak volumes in any language! www.casematepublishing.co.uk William Guppy

Early US jet Fighters

This remarkable work of reference is now in its second edition, and we are pleased to note Volume 1 includes prewar losses from July 1936 to September 1939. Set out chronologically, the book is a day-by-day log of aircraft losses, by squadron and serial number. Entries are as comprehensive as possible, including aircrew involved and where known the location of their record on war memorials is provided. In the case of survivors subsequent details of their career or ultimate fate are recorded. Details of the incident leading to the loss of the aircraft are given where known, and altogether these add up to a fascinating account for the modeller interested in adding

a history to their latest project. The only thing missing is an index crossreferencing serial numbers to dates – but this aside the book is a mine of useful information. www.ianallanpublishing.com Jack Bamber

Monograph 52

Vought F4U Corsair Vol 1

Proposals, Projects and Prototypes TECH DATA

TECH DATA

AUTHOR: Tony Buttler

AUTHOR: Tomasz Szlagor, Leszek A Wieliczko

PUBLISHER: Hikoki

PUBLISHER: Kagero

ISBN: 978 19021 093 05

ISBN: 978 83628 787 34

FORMAT: Hardback, 207pp

FORMAT: Softback, 104pp

Jet fighter design quite literally took off through the 1940s, and with the end of WW2 and the onset of the Cold War development gathered pace as the budding superpowers began to line up their pieces. This book tells the story of these developments backed up with three-view drawings, manufacturer’s models and rare photographs, with entries laid out alphabetically by manufacturer, and a number of useful appendices detailing American research establishments and test facilities, chief designers, flight characteristics and an additional study of an in-flight refuelling concept.

Far too big a subject for a single volume, this first part deals with the aircraft’s design and development phase up to and including the F4U-1D, as well as the F4U-2 night fighter and the high-altitude XF4U-3 prototype, and takes in the Corsair’s wartime service in the Pacific Camouflage with the US Navy and US Marine Corps between 1942 and 1944. There are plenty of excellent wartime images to dwell on, as well as a vast amount of anecdotal text based on pilot’s accounts, and these have been distilled into a chronological war diary that takes the story up until March

A useful guide to an area well-covered by kit manufacturers that will demystify the concept of X-Planes, and to some degree place them in context. www.crecy.co.uk Jack Bamber

1944 and the attacks on Rabaul. This design offers a comprehensive overview of the Corsair’s wartime record in this theatre, and is an excellent approach for readers more interested in action than walkaround. Text is English throughout, and the book is topped off with eight pages of large-scale profiles. www.casematepublishing.co.uk Jack Trent

www.sampublications.com December 2013

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SAMI Columns 580 Modellers

Oh my, I couldn’t possibly...

Coming into Form! Expo 2014, Sunday 13th October 2013

K

nown by several other names, including ‘Lincoln’ and ‘Newark’ as it is actually run under the aegis of a conglomerate of local clubs and IPMS Special Interest Groups, Expo 2014 is actually held at Southwell racecourse in Nottinghamshire. In truth it is a bit of an enigma for 580 Modellers as it is a show we very much enjoy attending, for a variety of reasons, but there are a few things that take the edge off which if addressed could, in our eyes, make it an ‘A1’ show. Firstly, we simply love the venue, which is the hospitality suite at the racecourse, particularly the fact that a ‘time out’ can be taken by

reposing in the leather armchairs and sofas at one end and quaffing a lunchtime ale while doing so. Secondly, the food is great and although not cheap is of most excellent quality and good volume and hence good value. Thirdly, we also think the organisers have a great mix of traders and exhibitors and a simply fabulous competition to complement it all; the competition is well organised, located in a naturally lit glass walled atrium and has a goodly number of classes, some of which are quite quirky (who else has a ‘Stick & String’ class?). However, and the reason why I am raising this again will become apparent soon, we definitely do not like the ‘freefor-all’ in obtaining a table to

One of two F-18s with ‘digicamo’ in the competition. This 1/32 example took 1st place in Class 4 (1/69 and larger, basic kit)

1146 | December 2013

Scale Aviation Modeller International

By Geoff Cooper-Smith

Organisers' delight, a thronged venue display on upon arrival. Having been caught out in previous years, a decision was made to depart unusually early for the venue this year in order to secure a suitable set of tables. This paid dividends

although some were evidently up even earlier (or drove even faster) than ourselves. IPMS Cleveland, who seem ever present at shows this year, were inevitably there before us.

This 1/32 D.H.2 took multiple awards including 1st place in Class 11 (Stick & String), the Peter Westbrook Memorial Trophy and Best Aircraft in Show

1146-47-580Modellers-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:31 Page 1147

580 Modellers

SAMI Columns

UK 2013 Show Diary

Compiled by Geoff Cooper-Smith of 580 Modellers Sunday 24th November Aircraft Enthusiasts Fair & Model Show Presented by the Museum of Army Flying, Middle Wallop, Stockbridge, Hampshire, SO20 8DY from 10am to 4pm. Admission is £5 for both the museum and the event on this day. Contact: [email protected], for further details. Sunday 01st December Winter Fayre and Model Show Presented by Coventry & Warwickshire IPMS in association with the Midland Air Museum at the Midland Air Museum, Coventry Airport, Baginton, Warwickshire, CV3 4FR from 10am to 4pm. Normal museum admission rates apply. Free parking, hot & cold refreshments, disabled access. Contact: Peter Hyslop on 07756 195121, for further details.

Sunday 08th December HaMeX 5 Organised by Paul Fitzmaurice at Hanslope Village Hall, Newport Road, Hanslope, Bucks, MK19 7NZ from 10am to 5pm. Admission is £2 per adult, accompanied children under 16 free. Model show and swap meet with all profits donated to the village hall. Contact: [email protected], for further details. Sunday 08th December Mind the Gap Organised by Guideline Publications at the Islington Business Design Centre, 52 Upper Street, London, N1 0QH from 11am to 4pm. Admission is £6 per adult, accompanied children free. Competition, demonstrations, free parking, less than ten minutes walk from Angel, Kings Cross, Euston or Highbury & Islington train stations. Contact: [email protected], or call 01908 274433, for further details.

If you would like your event included in this show diary then please do not hesitate to contact me on 07841 417680 or at [email protected].

This Hungarian Bf 108 took first place in Class 13 (Foreign Forces) and the Sheffield Trophy

Now a couple of our number hadn’t experienced this show before and although they enjoyed it immensely (suitably enhanced by one of them having multiple success in the competition) and could see the attraction, were absolutely ‘gobsmacked’ when told how tables were ‘obtained’. Now, to their credit, we were asked by the organisers to complete a feedback survey in the last hour of the show and one of the questions asked was whether we would like to see allocated tables. Naturally we ticked this box as emphatically as possible and look forward to this being instituted in the hope that in 2014 we can have an extra hour in bed then trundle across the M62 and down the A1 safe in the knowledge we have tables on which to display our carefully assembled and decorated dotages for all to enjoy. Further, it may also

eradicate the incidence of empty tables, which is never a good thing to see at a show. During the show our ‘great experimenter’ Peter Eccles introduced us to his new technique for obtaining a shiny natural metal finish using nothing more than a loaded paint brush and a proprietary model paint in a rather different way. He effectively completed ‘painting’ a model, without recharging the brush, in a couple of minutes, complete with different lustres on panels using nothing more than a finger! His already completed B-17 attracted a lot of interest on the day and acted as testament to his revolutionary new technique. It is hoped to post a video of this technique on the 580 blogspot, which is to be relaunched in the near future.

Unbelievably this is the SMER Hurricane desertised and taking the honours in Class 2 (1/72 basic kit)

This immaculate Hunter T.7 took 1st place in Class 3 (1/72 modified kit)

The host club stand had a nice stack of small-scale Vulcans on their table

www.sampublications.com December 2013

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1148-49-ShopWebGuide-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:29 Page 1148

Shop & Web Guide

Promote your company here and appear in all 3 titles – Scale Aviation Modeller International, Model Aircraft and Scale Military Modeller International – with a total 133,000 circulation. Contact Christine McCarthy on +44 (0)1234 224995 [email protected]

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HUNDREDS OF RARE & OBSOLETE KITS Dioramas - Scenic Materials - Plastic, Metal & Wood sheet and sections - Modelling Tools, Paints, Brushes, Airbrushes & Compressors Also Model Railways, Die Cast Models and Scalextric WORLDWIDE MAIL ORDER

598-600 Attercliffe Rd, Sheffield S9 3QS 0114 2449170

Open 10am - 5pm, 6 days • Situated 2 miles from M1 (junc 34) • 200 yds from Attercliffe Tram Stop

City Cycle Centre We have a large selection of Plastic Kits from Airfix, Revell, Tamiya, Italeri, AFV Club, Academy and more. Decals from Model Alliance Also Paint and Sprays from Humbrol, Tamiya, Revell and Games Workshop

CITY CYCLE CENTRE 3 7 Market Street, Ely, Cambs, CB7 4PB Q [email protected] $www.citycyclecentre.com p

CAMBRIDGESHIRE

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STANG MU

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“The world’s finest hobby kits, figures and toys.”

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Mustang-Hobbies.com Specializing in white metal landing gear 3795 Shady Hill Drive, Dallas, Texas 75229, USA +1 (214) 477-7163

www.scaleaircraftconversions.com

52 Holdings Road, Sheffield S2 2RE South Yorkshire England

Tel: [0114] 2761587

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1148-49-ShopWebGuide-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:30 Page 1149

Shop & Web Guide OXONIANS

PLASTIC FANTASTIC

Promote your company here and appear in all 3 titles – Scale Aviation Modeller International, Model Aircraft and Scale Military Modeller International – with a total 133,000 circulation. Contact Christine McCarthy on +44 (0)1234 224995 [email protected]

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SMS At least 5-10% discount off manufacturer’s prices Fast and friendly service Easy to navigate webshop Large range of over 3500 models, figures, tools and accessories from Revell, Airfix, Italeri, Tamiya and many more, ready for immediate despatch Based in the Midlands since 2001 with worldwide shipping available

Web: www.models2u.co.uk Email: [email protected] Phone: 01543 433999

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YOUR ONLINE SOURCE

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email: [email protected] Tel: 01656 858083 70 New Road, Porthcawl, Bridgend CF36 5DG Opening Hours: 10.30am to 5pm Mon - Sat

A comprehensive range of tools, decals and fittings for the bi-plane and general aviation modeller.

We stock: Aoshima, Vallejo paints, Trumpeter, Italeri, Tamiya, Hobbyboss, Academy ........and many more!

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www.affinitymodels.co.uk Stockists of Tamiya, Dragon, Trumpeter, Hasegawa, Italeri and Mini Art Plastic Kits. Full range of paints from Tamiya Vallejo (Model & Gamecolour), and Humbrol. Evergreen Centre. Excellent range of tools and glues. AFFINITY MODELS 3 38 Trentham Road, Longton, Stoke-on Trent, Staffordshire ST3 4DL Q [email protected] V Mon - Sat 9am till 5pm (closed all day on Thursday)

PARABELLUM www.freightdogmodels.co.uk

+44 (0) 01342 716004 Fairlight, Sandy Lane, Crawley Down, Crawley, RH10 4HX

Home of Blue Max and Pegasus Models ranges. Online shop for kits, decals and accessories. UK Stockist for High Planes Models

Aircraft, armour, vehicles and figures, Vallejo & Tamiya Paints

open 11 to 5.30 Thu, Fri, Sat PARABELLUM 54 Vyse Street, Hockley, Birmingham, BI8 6HR

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MATADOR MODELS and

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If you are looking at this... then it’s working! Promote your company here and be seen in all 3 of our quality titles – Scale Aviation Modeller International, Model Aircraft and Scale Military Modeller International – with a combined circulation of 126,000!

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1150-AndFinally-1213_Layout 1 08/11/2013 13:28 Page 1150

SAMI Columns And Finally

Luftwaffe in Focus Edition No 22

I

’m always astounded at the amount of previously unpublished photos and information that Axel Urbanke and his team manage to include every time an issue of Luftwaffe im Focus (Luftwaffe in Focus) is published, and this edition is no exception. Right from the front cover photo of a 2 Staffel KG 26 Ju 188A-3, and the shots of a Luftwaffe Jagdflierschule (Fighter School) Dewoitine 520 on the inside front cover, you just know you’re going to be in for another treat! The mix of subjects and aircraft types in this edition are as eclectic as they are fascinating, and include Regia Aeronautica Fiat G.50s and Caproni Ca.133s in Belgium in late 1940; Ju 87Ds, Fw 189s and Bf 109G6s in Russia, rare colour photos of II./ZG 76’s Bf 110Cs in the summer of 1940, an Fi 156 in a forest crash, and

By Neil Robinson a Kopfstand KG 30 Ju 88A-5 in night bomber finish; a feature on Prinz Eugen’s Arado Ar 196s; a selection of little-known emblems seen on Bf 109s and Ju 87Ds; Henschel Hs 123s in Russia in well-worn RLM 61/62/63 finishes; and a feature on the ‘Dobbas I’ transport device fitted under Ju 88s, Bf 110s and Ju 87s. There are also, as usual, several superbly rendered, full colour airbrushed illustrations, by Claes Sundin and Juanita Franzi, to add the colour details to selected black and white photos. If you’ve never seen this series of books (written in dual GermanEnglish) you really don’t know what you’ve been missing, and if you have, then I can confirm that the standards haven’t dropped and you can buy this edition with confidence. Recommended! www.luftfahrtverlag-start.de

Coming Next Month Next month’s SAMI offers our monthly combination of ‘Why’, ‘How’ and ‘What’ to do: • The Big Build – Tamiya’s 1/48 Betty as ‘the Admiral’s Barge • Modelling the D.H.106 Comet • Crossing the Line – The difference between ‘what if’ and ‘what isn’t’… • Modellers Portfolio – Junkers Ju 88 Plans and colour profiles • Clark’s Field – Meng’s 1/72 F-102

Questions to Contributors If you have a question or query you wish to raise with any of the contributors to this magazine, they should be made IN WRITING to the Media House address. Neither the Editor nor any of the contributors are at Media House on a daily basis and the Editor asks for all enquirers to appreciate this fact and be patient. Please understand that the staff at Media House do not have access to the information you require and therefore cannot answer your questions on the phone. Please enclose a stamped SAE with all enquiries, if you anticipate a reply. Thank you. Samples for Review Scale Aviation Modeller International is always happy to review new products within its pages. Any item which you feel is appropriate will be given due consideration for inclusion in the title. Any company, trade representative, importer, distributor or shop which wishes to have products reviewed within Scale Aviation Modeller International should send them directly to the editorial address and clearly mark them for the attention of the Editor. Confirmation of receipt of the samples will be supplied if requested. For all international companies etc the above applies, but please ensure that the package is clearly marked for customs as a ‘sample, free of charge’ to reduce the risk of unnecessary delays. Thank you.

TECH DATA COMPILED AND EDITED by Axel Urbanke

Company/Suppliers Addresses & Enquiries Please note that the Editor and staff at Media House cannot help with general enquires about contact details for companies, importers or model shops whose products may be mentioned in Scale Aviation Modeller International if the address information is not included with the review etc. Please check the advertisements in this journal for all suitable UK sources and only contact the firm directly if it is noted that there is ‘No UK stockist’. We are sorry, but we cannot help with details of companies which do not advertise in this magazine. Also note that neither the Editor nor contributors will undertake specific or general aviation research for enquirers. Thank you.

ISBN 978 39414 372 03 FORMAT: Softback, 52pp

Copyright Warning Due to the growing misuse and breach of copyright apparent on the web Media House gives notice that no-one is permitted to reproduce in any way (in original form or ‘modified’) anything published in this, or previous editions of this magazine. All design, layout and studio photography is the copyright of Media House. All profiles, scale plans and supporting photographs are the copyright of the individual authors. None of these may be used without prior written agreement from both the author/artist and Media House. Infringement is a breach of international law, so if you see items posted on the web from this magazine other than on the official Media House website (sampublications.com) please advise the publisher immediately.

Plus all our usual News, Reviews, columns and regular features.

© Media House 2013 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted (including posting to a website) in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.

Scale Aviation Modeller International is published monthly by Media House and is distributed to the news trade on the second last Saturday of each month. Next on sale 19 December 2013

1150 | December 2013

Scale Aviation Modeller International

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and all good Toy & Hobby Stores.

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Revell GmbH, Orchard Mews, 18c High Street, Tring, Herts HP23 5AH. Tel: 01442 890285. Fax: 01442 827919. Email: [email protected] © 2013 Revell GmbH. A subsidiary of Hobbico, Inc. All rights reserved. Trade enquiries welcome.

offer 20% OFF online 20% off everything on our site when ordering online using the code: APP20

www.sampublications.com