Kit Previews
Hangar 47 strives to provide historical information along with the details of the kit…enjoy.
P-80 Shooting Star
Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star by Monogram 1/48 scale Kit No. 5428 Cost: $15.00 Decals: One version - United States Air Force Comments: Raised panel lines; first released 1977; detailed cockpit with option for open or closed canopy; detailed gun bay and wheel wells; rear...
Boeing RB-47H
The RB-47H was the recon version of the Boeing B-47 Stratojet and entered service in August 1955. Through 1969, RB-47H crews flew thousands of dangerous “ferret” missions. Flying in radio silence at night near or inside the border of the Soviet Union and other communist nations, they collected vital intelligence about air defense radar networks.
RF-4C Phantom II
Ordered by the U.S. Air Force partly in response to the Navy’s RF-8 Crusader, which highlighted deficient Air Force performance in the low-altitude reconnaissance role during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, the RF-4 ushered in a quantum improvement in USAF reconnaissance capability. Italeri’s RF-4 features a three auxiliary drop tanks, a multi-part canopy and a series of clear plastic parts depicting camera ports in an elongated nose.
RF-8A Crusader (Sword)
As of October 1962, the Vought RF-8A Crusader was the one aircraft capable of the finest, most detailed low level reconnaissance photography in the entire U.S. military. Derived from the superb F-8 Crusader, the U.S. Navy’s shipboard interceptor, with its guns and fuselage-mounted missile pylons removed, it became an equally superb photo-reconnaissance platform. During the 1962 Missile Crisis, it yielded intelligence that may well have helped avoid nuclear war.
Republic RF-84 Thunderflash
The RF-84 was the reconnaissance version of the swept-wing Republic F-84F Thunderflash, a modification of the first jet fighter to enter service with the USAF after WWII. It was the first such aircraft allowing pilots to use a view finder and camera controls to focus on specific targets, and a voice recorder to describe what was being photographed.
Dassault Rafale B
The Dassault Rafale is a multi-role fighter bomber designed to replace the venerable Mirage series of fighter-interceptors and the French version of the Jaguar strike aircraft. The Rafale has a delta wing design with canards to optimize aerodynamic efficiency and stability. It is powered by two French built SNECMA M88-3 afterburning turbofans.
Dassault Rafale M
The prototype of the Rafale M first flew in December 1991 and it entered service with the Aeronavale, the air arm of the French Navy, in 2002. One indication of its versatility and the breadth of its performance envelope is that it replaced not one, but four aircraft in French service: The Mirage 2000, the Jaguar, the F-8 Crusader and the Super Etendard. It is the only non-U.S. aircraft certified for operations from U.S. Navy aircraft carriers.
Roland D. VIa
Roland D. VIa by Fly 1/48 scale Cost: $30.00 Kit No. 48005 Decals: Three versions Comments: Engraved panel lines; resin engine and cockpit components; photo-etch seat straps and machine gun jackets History The Roland D.VI was designed by the Luft-Fahrzeug-Gesellschaft...
Ryan FR-1 Fireball
The Ryan FR-1 Fireball was the result of a 1942 U.S. Navy specification for a unique, hybrid fighter that incorporated both jet and piston engine propulsion into its design. Entering service in March 1945, the Fireball was thought to be the only hope of stopping the Japanese Ohka rocket powered Kamikaze weapon. But by the time the FR-1 was operational at squadron level, the war in the Pacific was over.
Ryan PT-20
MPM Ryan PT-20 Trainer 1/72 scale Kit No. 72084 Cost: $22.00 Decals: Three versions - One for U.S. Army Air Corps, and two for the Dutch East Indies Comments: Engraved and raised panel lines; vacuform windscreens; parts for conventional fixed landing gear or...
Saab J21A
Saab J21A by Heller 1/72 scale Kit No. 261 Cost: $10.00 Decals: One version - Flygvapnet (Swedish Air Force) Comments: Older kit, unusual twin-boom fighter; raised panel lines; decals for national insignia are out of register, aftermarket replacements highly...
Saab J21R
Saab J-21R by Special Hobby 1/72 scale Kit No. SH 72207 Price: $22.00 -- 26.00 Decals: Four versions - all Flygvapnet (Swedish Air Force) Comments: Engraved panel lines, resin wheels with radial tread, highly detailed cockpit including PE and film parts, PE exterior...
Saab JA37 Viggen
The Swedish Saab JA 37 “Viggen” (“Thunderbolt”) was the all-weather variant of a distinguished family of fighter-interceptor, attack and reconnaissance aircraft that served the Swedish Air Force for 34 years. Entering service with the Flygvapen in 1979, it had a radically modified Boeing 737 engine and shared avionics in common with the F-14 Tomcat and the F-15 Eagle.
Saab JAS-39A Gripen
The Saab Gripen is a light single-engine supersonic multi-role fighter aircraft manufactured by the Swedish aerospace company Saab AB. The Gripen has a delta wing and canard configuration with fly-by-wire flight controls. Designed to replace the Draken and Viggen fighters of the Swedish Air Force, the Gripen flew for the first time in December 1988.
Saunders Roe A.19 Cloud
Saunders Roe A.19 Cloud by Valom 1/72 scale Kit No. 72061 Cost: $45.00 Decals: Two versions - Saunders Roe touring/promotional aircraft, and Czech Airlines version Comments: Engraved panel ;detailed resin radial engines; photo-etch parts for cockpit, landing gear,...
Saunders Roe SR.45
The Saunders-Roe SR.45 Princess was a multi-turboprop British flying boat developed and built by Saunders-Roe in the years following World War II. First taking flight on August 22, 1952, it was designed to serve as a larger and more luxurious successor to the pre-war commercial flying boats, such as the Short S.23 Empire. It has the distinction of being the largest all-metal flying boat ever built.
Saunders Roe S.R. 53
The Saunders Roe S.R. 53 was an advanced hybrid rocket- and jet-powered interceptor prototype designed in Great Britain in the 1950’s. For a time it competed against both an Avro design and the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter for the prize of a contract for a NATO front-line interceptor.
Savoia Marchetti SM.86W
The Savoia-Marchetti SM.86W was a divebomber prototype of the Regia Aeronautica that actually served in a combat role despite being rejected for service. It first flew on April 8, 1939 powered by two 600 hp Walter Sagitta inline engines. After its rejection by the Italian Air Force, Savoia-Marchetti arranged for it to participate in air attacks on Malta and Greece in 1941. It performed with distinction, but the Regia Aeronautica’s mind was made up.
SB2C Helldiver
SB2C Helldiver by Monogram 1/48 scale Kit No. 6831 Cost: $5.00 (way back when) Decals: One version - U.S. Navy Comments: Old kit, raised panel lines, sliding canopies, folding wings, retractable landing gear, movable arrestor hook, functioning bomb bay doors,...
Shenyang F-8 II Finback
Shenyang F-8II Finback B by Trumpeter 1/72 scale Kit No. 1610 Cost: $28.00 Decals: Two versions, both Peoples' Liberation Army Air Force (China) Comments: Engraved panel lines and flush rivets; highly detailed multi-role fighter History The F-8II (NATO codename:...