IPMS/USA Reviews

Special Hobby has issued a new release in their line of B-18 Bolos. This one is the ASW edition with radar nose and "mad" boom on the tail. It is a great addition to the B-18 series and a unique addition to any ones collection of large twin engine aircraft in 1/72 scale

Overview

This kit is the fourth in the B-18 Bolo series and is one of the more unique variants of this obscure aircraft. The kit is typical of Special Hobby in that it is a mix of styrene, photo etch, and resin parts and should still be considered "short run" so dry fitting and some slightly more advanced modeling techniques will be needed.

Construction

Before starting I dipped all the clear parts for this build in "future" floor polish. As there are a lot of windows and clear parts now is the best time as they are used throughout the build.

History

The Breguet 690 series resulted from a French Air Ministry competition for a heavy twin-engine fighter. Similar aircraft were being developed in Germany - the Messerschmidt Bf-110 and in Holland - the Fokker G.1. The Br.693 was the most successful of the 690 series designs. Powered by the Gnome-Rhone 14M engine, over 200 were produced and in service against German forces. These ground-attack fighters were loved by their crews but many were lost to anti-aircraft fire and Luftwaffe fighters during the furious battles in May and June 1940.

Armament of the Br.693 consisted of six internally stored 50 kg bombs, a 20-mm fixed forward firing cannon and four 7.5-mm machine guns. Three of the machine guns were fixed and one was on a flexible rear firing mount. The Br.693 was a good looking, reasonable performing twin engine ground attack fighter but it was outnumbered and overwhelmed by the Luftwaffe.

History

The CM-11 Brave Tiger (Yong Hu Shi Zhan Che ) is a Main Battle Tank (MBT) that was developed by the American General Dynamics and the Republic of China Army (ROCA) Armored Vehicle Development Center[1] It was introduced to the public on 14 April 1990. Being a variant of the M48 Patton, it is also known as the M48H Main Battle Tank. The CM-11 is a hybrid M60 chassis fitted with the turret from the older M48 Patton and the fire control system of the M1 Abrams.[2]

This is one of The New Airfix 1:48 scale Releases on the Heels of their 1/72 scale release. Compared to Legacy Airfix, this kit is cleanly molded with great detail and amazing fit. There are some different Approaches to the moldings and how the kit fits together I will highlight those in the Review. Some will complain about the panel lines. But that is opinion and they can be filled and sanded.

Background

We can thank North American Aviation for proposing to the British a more modern aircraft design. The Brits wanted someone to build P40s. The prototype appeared 102 days after contract signing. Initially fitted with an Allison engine, it suffered from poor high altitude performance. Once fitted with the Rolls Royce Merlin Engine the design came into its own as a world beater. The rest is the history we all know.

Opening the Box

You are greeted by a 16 page instruction booklet, A decal sheet and 6 Sprues all in a single poly bag. Including the clear parts. The plastic is the New Airfix powder blue grey that is somewhat soft but appears durable.

Once more a rousing THANK YOU VERY MUCH to our friends at Eduard in Czechoslovakia! How I ended up doing this review? A co-reviewer ran into some personal difficulties and I volunteered to finish his review for him. Thanks David for sending these items, and John for supporting my effort to help a fellow reviewer.

When I received the box from David, I knew what I was getting. The review will be in four separate tomes: first, this one, to cover the Overtree kit, the resin Brassin wheel set, a brassin etch detail fret, and the Overtree stencil decal set.