It's very much Wingnut Wings hogging the limelight in the latest bi-monthly edition of Windsock Worldwide, with no less than 5 new kits, plus decals, under review.

Pride of place undoubtedly goes to the Roland D.VIa, which is treated to a full build feature by Ray Rimell. Ray's article provides a 10-page step-by-step guide to construction, showing how to get the most out of the kit, overcome any pitfalls, and add improvements to your model. Almost 50 colour photos illustrate the build in detail and, as with Windsock's recent Gotha Special, to really get maximum benefit from Ray's build, it's best to read the article before starting your own model to fully acquaint yourself with what's ahead. I'm lucky in this respect; my own Roland is still somewhere in the post between New Zealand and Castle Aeroscale, so there's no excuse for me not to gen up in preparation for its arrival! Accompanying Ray's build are a trio of fine colour profiles, with a pair of early production a/c, and the black-fuselage machine seen in Datafile #27 and the Wingnut Wings instruction manual.

A further boon to anyone tackling the kit (or Fly's 1:48 kits) is Toby Young's study of the Krakow Museum's restored D.VIb fuselage. Bearing in mind the differences between this and the 'D.VIa, the 10 close-up colour photos, accompanied by a detailed description of the construction and fittings, will be a very useful addition to the reference shots provided by Wingnut Wings in their instructions and online.

Turning to Windsock's regular columns, Lance Krieg continues his encyclopaedic series on modelling techniques. This time the focus is on wing-skinning, with a full illustrated description of the classic Harry Woodman approach which has been a mainstay of scratchbuilders since it became popular in the 1970s. While this is obviously aimed here at early aircraft modelling, the method can be applied far wider, Harry himself using it to great effect on WW2 fighters.

And talking of Harry Woodman, it's great to see him contributing to this edition's Kitbag with his appraisals of the new Wingnut Wings Hansa Brandenburg W29 and Gotha G.IV. The full list of kits under review is:

Wingnut Wings:
DH9A "Ninak"
Hansa Brandenburg W29
RE8 "Harry Tate"
Gotha G.IV
Roden:
DH4 (Dayton-Wright-built)
Blue Max:
Macci M.5

While On The Transfer List features 1:32 Wing Rib Tape & Stitching from HGW, and a trio of Albatros D.V – The Bavarians from, you've guessed it, Wingnut Wings.

conclusion

Windsock Worldwide is justifiably the premier WW1 modelling magazine, with its unique blend of modelling and research articles. In my opinion, certainly if you've managed to resist the temptation to build the Wingnut Wings Roland D.VIa the moment it became available, this edition is worth purchasing for Ray Rimell's build alone. Recommended to all WW1 and early aviation modellers.

Please remember, when contacting retailers or manufacturers, to mention that you saw their products highlighted here - on AEROSCALE.