A trend, among scale model manufacturers, is producing their own line of paints. Others (AK, Vallejo, etc.) have been packaging their paints in sets geared toward finishing a specific model. ICM Holding has positioned themselves by not only manufacturing the kits but also providing their own line of paints to finish said model. Which brings us to a recent acrylic paint set from ICM Holding, item number 3058-American Cars of the Early 20^th Century.

This acrylic paint set includes six bottles. The 12ml bottles of colors included in this set are: Grass Green, Extra Dark Green, Deep Blue, Olive Green. There is an additional 12ml bottle of Varnish Gloss and a 17ml bottle of Primer Black.

The ICM US Aerial Drone set contains a double boxing of their individual sets KDA-1 (Q-2A) Firebee with trailer (48400) and BQM-34A (Q-2C) Firebee with trailer (48401). These kits have been previously released individually in various sets, namely with the DB-26/JD-1 drone control ship kits, as well as by themselves ‘in-flight’ sets (48400 and 48401). Each drone kit is its own single part sprue tree and includes the trailer and dolly to display on them on the ground. Also included are the pylons to mount them on a mothership aircraft but no instructions on how to do so.

The assembly breakdown is rather simple for both of the kits. The internal parts consist of the engine exhaust cylinder and intake facing, and I painted the engine and fan surface with AK Metal Steel. I would also like to point out that you should paint the inside of the fuselage halves prior to assembling.

The Single Series from Mushroom Model Publications focuses on a specific airframe, sometimes even down to a specific modification or variant of an airframe. This booklet includes line drawings of the Caudron CR.714 in both 1/72 and 1/48 scale and includes some drawings (probably from a technical manual) of the engine mount, and a very complete walkaround set of pictures in black and white of the real airplane (probably in a museum while being restored). There is a selection of period (WW2-era) photographs, and there are also a handful of computer-generated full-color graphics showing the cockpit as well as a 3-view color profile that is very attractive.

The Battle for Berlin was the cumulative battle in the European theater in World War II. Three massive Russian Fronts aligned from north to south (Second Belorussian, First Belorussian and First Ukrainian Fronts) had battered two German Army Groups (Vistula and Center) and the three armies (Third and Fourth Panzer Army and Ninth Army) westward from October 1944 to mid-April 1945 to set the stage for the final onslaught and bloody Battle for Berlin.

Author Ian Baxter has once again provided a succinct, well researched and presented book on a complicated and seminal campaign.Using period photographs, illustrated pages, tables and immaculate references, this book provides the reader with the harrowing and horrifying last months and days of the Third Reich.

The Soviet Battle for Berlin, 1945 is composed of eleven chapters:

Value Gear resin products are well known to most modelers for the excellent quality resin stowage and gear to use on your models and diorama scenes. Owner Steve Munsell is a quality guy who, more often than not, throws in some extra pieces into most of the packages and one package can often inhabit more than a couple builds if used wisely- or you can completely deck out one model if you wish. His 1/16 product lines are growing as more companies release more 1/16 scale kits.

What’s Inside the Box

This set contains a small zip bag with five 75mm ammo crates for whatever 1/16 scale StuG or Panzer is sitting in your stash. A card with preparation and priming instructions are included. The quality is excellent in this scale and one might want to ding them up a bit to add some variety to the five– but the details of the wood grain, nail holes for the cross slats, and strap enclosures are amazing.