History

The USS Florida is an Ohio class Submarine. The keel was laid down on July 4, 1976 and was launched on November 14, 1981. Originally the Florida was designated as SSBN-728 and was converted to SSGN-728. This conversion started in July 2003 and the Florida was re-commissioned in July 2006 as SSGN-728. The USS Florida is still serving proudly today.

The Kit

The kit is molded in light gray plastic. Construction on this model is pretty straightforward with only seven steps. Now this doesn't mean that this is a shake and bake kit. This kit was originally released in 2003 as a SSBN. To convert to a SSGN requires some minor surgery. This is all called out in the instructions and the parts are provided.

Scale Aircraft Modelling's July 2015 issue focuses on some of the classic British era with everything from new kits, scratchbuilds and older kits.

The articles start with a test shot build of Revell's 1/72 C-54/DC-4 by Andy McCabe. The over 300 parts are assembled into a gorgeous military transport and the kits looks to be a must have.

Rick Greenwood builds Kinetic's 1/48 AMX kit and reports the overall fit of the kit is good but he did sand down the slightly pronounced rivets on the rear of the plane. He also reported a slight color issue with some of the decals but the result is very good.

Valom's 1/72 Bristol Bombay Mk. I is built by Ernie Lee. This is a mixed media kit with limited run plastic, resin engines and photoetch frets. The finished kit is nice and I love seeing an unusual build.

If you have never have had the chance to review one of Guidelines Warpaint series, here’s a brief description. First they provide a complete and detailed history of the subject including a complete production list of air frames, Squadron which used the plane along with a list of serial numbers and codes and a comprehensive specification list covering the technical aspects of the plane. By this, they have the historians covered. Secondly, they have 1:72nd scale multiple view plans. Also included are detail pictures, pages of superb color camouflage drawings and photography in color and black and white. There is also a list of kits, decal and accessory list. Modelers are covered too.

This is the 21st volume in Osprey’s “Air Vanguard” series. A quick look at Osprey’s website shows this is scheduled for an August, 2015 publication date.

The “Air Vanguard” series seems geared to providing an overall view of the subject aircraft’s development, technical specifications, and operational history. All other titles in this series have been available in various “eReader” formats (at a slightly lower price than the print version), so I imagine upon release that this will be the case for this volume. A glance at the publishing information in the book shows different ISBN numbers for the PDF/EPub editions, seeming to confirm this fact.

The book is broken down into 4 basic sections: Design and Development, Technical Specifications, Mark by Mark, and Operational History. A brief ‘Conclusion’ section wraps things up, and a decent bibliography for further reading is included.

This book is Part I of Volume 2 of the Camouflage S Markings series from Guideline Publications, publishers of Scale Aircraft Modelling and Military Modelcraft magazines and the Warpaint series of books. It covers British and Canadian armored (armoured? – two countries separated by a common language) forces in Normandy.