IPMS/USA Reviews

The Vietnamese use of the Skyraider during the conflict is much the same as the US. It used the Spad, or Sandy, in close air support and Combat Search and Rescue.

The Tamiya kit has been out for quite some time now and we've never really had a wide variety of options to mark it with. Well AOA has fixed that. This is the second sheet designed for the Tamiya Skyraider. These decals will fit any model of the Skyraider with just a little bit of trimming on the fuselage stripes. They are purposely slightly longer to work that way and you may need to trim them to fit.

This sheet comes in a large ziplock baggie with the decals and instructions being protected from the elements. The instructions are printed in full color and offers side views, as well as, top and bottom plan views for ELEVEN aircraft. This sheet covers aircraft that were painted similar to their US counterparts. This sheet has Spads painted in overall grey, then like the US Navy versions of grey over white and USAF Southeast Asia paint scheme. There is one unique VNAF paint scheme with a medium green painted over a darker brown and green.

The Vietnamese operated the AD-6/A-1H Skyraiders alongside their US counterparts. The Spad, or Sandy, was actually developed in the waning hours of WWII. It saw service in Korea and Vietnam. Capable of carrying a variety of ordnance and still having long loiter times the Spad was a vital part of the Air Rescue operations of the US and Vietnamese. Close air support was the name of the game and the Vietnamese were sold Skyraiders and they used them as effectively as their US counterparts.

The Vietnamese deployed the Skyraider in a variety of paint schemes. This first sheet covers the Skyraiders from 1962 all the way up to 1971 with some really colorful schemes.

The decals come packaged in a large ziplock baggie with two double-sided 8.5x11 full color instruction sheets. There is an additional information sheet on the general stencils. There are markings for TEN aircraft. The paint schemes range from overall light grey to Southeast Asia paint scheme to a very unique brown and green pattern. The tail bands add a flare for color seldom seen on US planes.

The Aircraft

The Grumman Avenger (TBF) was first used at the Battle of Midway. It was a carrier based torpedo bomber, but was also used as a light bomber, carrying one 2,000 pound bomb or 4x 500 pound bombs. The Avenger was the heaviest US single engine aircraft of WW 2, weighing in at 400 pounds more than the P-47.

In 1943 Grumman began phasing out Avenger production in favor of Hellcats. Production was taken over by Eastern Aircraft, a division of General Motors. The designation for these aircraft was TBM. There were 4,600 TBMs produced, but most of the aircraft used in WW2 were TBFs.

In June of 1943, George HW Bush, the future president of the US was shot down over Chichi Jima, parachuting from the TBF and landing in the Pacific Ocean. He was rescued by the submarine Finback, and later received the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Avengers were also part of the operations which sank the Japanese battleships Musashi and Yamato.

Avengers were used by Brazil, Canada, Cuba, France, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, United Kingdom, US and Uruguay.

Eduard Models has repacked the very good AvantGarde AMK L-29 in 1/48 scale. Eduard provides a striking Tiger finish, with decals for each stripe. It also offers a photoetch fret and masks, but these add-ons are not part of the original Weekend box. They are items FE903 and EX596. I had the opportunity to review the extra items together with the Weekend box, so I went ahead and review them all together.

I really like that Eduard now is offering PE and Masks in the same month that they release a Weekend item. That truly allows the modeler to customize the level of detail he or she wants to use in finishing the model.

In the box you find 4 sprues (one clear) of the recently released 1/48 AMK L-29. You find what you can expect of a brand new mold: no flash, sharp panel lines, small sprue gates, firm but not brittle plastic.

History

The first prototype of the Fw 190 took to the air on June 1st, 1939 but due to some minor faults (Ok, so there were enough problems that the RLM halted development) it was not accepted into the Luftwaffe until 1941. June 1941 saw the Luftwaffe accept the first 100 Fw 190A-1s that were armed with four 7.9mm MG 17s. November of 41 saw the next version, 190A-2, introduced with two MG 17s and two MG 151s of 20mm caliber in the wings. Part of this series received an additional pair of 20mm MG FFs. The A-2 was powered by the modified BMW 801 C-2 engine and problems with the engine rear bank of cylinders overheating were finally solved by the simple introduction of a ventilation slot on the two sides of the engine cowling as in the A-1 version.