Initially deployed with German forces in 1940, Sturmgeschütz (Stug) assault guns were purpose-built fully tracked armored fighting vehicles designed to support the infantry during the initial assault on enemy positions, especially useful for knocking out strong points such as bunkers. When the Germans invaded Russia in 1941 in Operation Barbarossa, they got a nasty surprise with the appearance on the battle field of heavily armed and armored Soviet tanks such as the T-34/76 and KV-1. The Stug assault guns were discovered to be excellent tank destroyers. They were quicker and cheaper to produce than tanks, making them a good “bargain” on the battlefield. As the war progressed, the Stug was up-gunned to deal with ever more lethal Soviet tanks, and spread across the battle fields as German industry struggled to keep up with tank losses.

This is the third book in this new Osprey series authored by Peter E. Davies. The previous tomes include the Bell X-1 (1), North American X-15 (3), and the future book on the North American XB-170 Valkyrie (7). Peter lives in Bristol, U.K. and as authored or co-authored at least nineteen book on modern American combat aircraft, many with Osprey Publishing. He was published by the Naval Institute Press in 1997 with his hardcover book, The Harrier Story, co-authored with Anthony M. Thornborough. His Schiffer Military History hard cover on the Gray Ghosts, U.S. Navy and Marine Corps F-4 Phantoms published in 2000 is considered a must have. Peter published a hardcover book with Crowood Press, North American F-100 Super Sabre, in 2003. He has also covered many aircraft in Osprey’s Combat Aircraft series, Osprey’s Air Vanguard series, and Osprey’s Duel series.

David Doyle’s latest book continues to expand on Squadron Signal’s long standing In Action series that initiated back in 1971. This is a completely updated and expanded edition over Squadron’s earlier Armor in Action number 23, a 50-pager on the Patton by Jim Mesko that was published in 1987. This 2017 release is essentially a new book, encompassing 80 pages.

This set is designed to be used on the MiG-29UB kit released by Trumpeter last year. It includes not only the full color set SS593 to upgrade the front and rear cockpits and both ejection seats, but also a second brass fret of external details. The detail on both sets is outstanding and the color set is beautifully printed. Based on the colors used for the cockpit side consoles, it looks like Eduard used a later build MiG-29UB as the side consoles and instrument panels are in a medium grey, not the bright blue-green color seen on many other Russian/Soviet aircraft. Unfortunately, the instructions do not include any painting references for the cockpit or other kit parts, so you must do your own matching. To my eye, the grey looked pretty close to the Testors Dark Ghost Grey (FS 36320) I recently used on a F/A-18E build, so I used this color as the base interior color.

Brengun has come to the modelers rescue, once again. This time with a set of photo-etched details for all of those that enjoy building 1/72nd scale World War One aircraft. If you are one of those folk then you already know that the finer details are often missing from the manufacturer’s kit. Gun sights, control horns, propeller details, and seats belts can be substandard or, more frequently, have just been omitted by kit manufacturers..

Brengun's World War One detail set includes:

• Two sizes of wire wheels
• Pitot tubes
• Three varieties of gun sights
• Steering controls
• Boarding steps
• Control horns
• Throttles
• Generator propellers
• Two varieties of propeller hubs
• Seat belts

In short, this set includes all the cool looking, fiddly bits. This new detail set from Brengun will definitely add piazza to your next aircraft project from the war to end all wars.