The 1980s were a busy time for sets of air and ground crew as many model aircraft companies produced them, and Fujimi were no different. For the majority of the last century it was apparent that air power was vital, and this was particularly true at sea. The aircraft carrier became the major capital ship and could effectively bring military force to bear on most parts of the world. No one has used this ability more than the United States Navy, whose personnel are the subject of this set. Naturally an aircraft carrier has huge amounts of aviation fuel, and many potential fire hazards even when not in a war zone. Therefore fire fighting is a very high priority on all such ships.

There are a couple of pilots in this set but the majority are the flight deck crew. Styles of clothing and equipment are perfectly authentic for the late 1980s, and the figures are well proportioned and adequately detailed, although in some areas such as the man stripped to the waist the surface of the figure is too smooth and featureless. About half of the figures require some sort of assembly - usually just adding an arm or two - and none have bases supplied. We thought the poses were pretty realistic and well chosen, and show a lot more life than some similar sets produced by others. The third row shows the firemen figures, both in fire fighting suits but one is carrying his helmet. It must be said that neither look much like they are tackling a blaze, which is OK as fires on US carriers are rare these days, but still they are rather dull.

The fire engine is a multi-part kit that fits together well. The set also includes some wet transfer decals to add some authentic touches to the final model.

Like many hard plastic figures, some of these have mould marks at the back, although in this case they are small and fairly easy to hide. The separate arms imply some scope for changing the poses, but this is quite limited as most of the arms would look wrong if positioned other than as instructed. The instructions themselves, both for the figures and the fire engine, and clear and easy to follow.

While a 1/72 scale aircraft carrier would be a most impressive model, there is plenty of scope for models of part of the flight deck and these figures would make a good choice for such a scene. The figures do not suggest that a fire is actually in progress, but are an interesting subject nonetheless.