Review Topic: Aircraft
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Zoukei-Mura 1/32 scale Horten 229
FineScale Modeler reviews Zoukei-Mura’s 1/32 scale Horten 229 scale plastic aircraft model. The Horten Ho 229 has to be one of the most futuristic aircraft designs to take to the air during World War II. The Horten brothers’ design was so far ahead of its time that in the early 1980s a team from Northrop-Grumman,…
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Airfix Folland Gnat T.1
FineScale Modeler reviews Airfix’s 1/48 scale plastic model airplane kit. I didn’t know much about the Gnat, a British fighter turned trainer, but I was expecting a model similar in size to the T-38 or Fouga Magister. Nope: This ornithological wonder is small, Cessna 182-size — actually the 182 is larger. I checked the scale twice.…
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Airfix Dornier Do 17Z
FineScale Modeler reviews Airfix’s 1/72 scale plastic model airplane kit. My first impression of Airfix’s new 1/72 scale Dornier Do 17Z? In a word, details! Fine surface and interior details grace the fuselage halves, wings, and nacelles, but it’s the array of additional parts for the cockpit and bomb bay that put this kit a cut…
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Kinetic Mirage IIIE
FineScale Modeler reviews Kinetic’s 1/48 scale plastic model aircraft kit. Kinetic’s new kit offers five versions of the Mirage III, including two French fighters and a French recon bird, a Spanish IIIEE, and an Australian IIIO. Don’t be alarmed at the number of parts — the kit provides a bunch of optional parts for the different…
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GWH Handley Page Victor B.2
Following its Vulcan, GWH brings us a Handley Page Victor B.2. Like its predecessor, this kit is a beauty, with finely engraved surface detail and nicely detailed wheel wells and speed-brake bay. The speed brakes can be posed open or closed. Decals provide a choice of three RAF bombers during the 1960s.
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Tarangus 1/48 scale Viggen
Seeking a fighter capable of operating from short, improvised airstrips, Sweden turned to the Saab 37 Viggen. The delta-wing aircraft featured large canards to aid low-speed handling. The turbofan engine was equipped with a thrust reverser, allowing the aircraft to back up under its own power.
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Special Hobby 1/48 scale Supermarine Seafire Mk.III
FineScale Modeler reviews Special Hobby’s 1/48 scale Supermarine Seafire Mk.III plastic model airplane kit. The carrier version of the British Spitfire, the kit includes optional clipped wings, a photoetched-metal instrument panel, posable control surfaces, and photoetched-metal seat belts.
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Special Hobby 1/32 scale T-33A Shooting Star
FineScale Modeler reviews Special Hobby’s 1/32 scale T-33A Shooting Star. The T-33A was the advanced jet training workhorse for the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy in the late 1940s. Based on the F-80 Shooting Star, it was a reliable design that kept it in active duty roles with many air forces into the 1980s.…
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Zvezda 1/144 scale Ilyushin Il-62M
FineScale Modeler reviews Zvezda’s 1/144 scale Il-62M passenger airline plastic model kit. With room for nearly 200 passengers, the Il-62 was Aeroflot’s permier intercontinental jet from the mid-1960s through the 1980s. Many of the almost 300 built were sold to airlines in Soviet-aligned nations.
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Wingnut Wings 1/32 scale Salmson 2-A2
While it probably wouldn’t be Snoopy’s first choice for going to war, the Salmson 2-A2 was a very important aircraft to the fledgling U.S. Army Air Service in World War I. Wingnut Wings has acknowledged this importance by including a USAS boxing of its brand-new Salmson 2-A2 in 1/32 scale (along with the French boxing).…