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Book Author(s)
Gabriele Esposito
Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
August 2, 2020
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$19.00

Osprey is renowned for their concise histories of the rarer conflicts around the globe. This edition covering “Armies of the Great northern War:1700-1720) is just such an edition, covering the Great Northern War which was fought in the Baltic region and ranged all the way from Norway to southern Ukraine. In the end, it led to the destruction of the Swedish Empire acquisitions in the war of 1618-48 as well as transformation of Russia under Peter the Great. The book is 48 pages in the standard Osprey size and is illustrated with color plates, maps and text describing all the combatants and battles.

Chapters included are:

Review Author
Will Kuhrt
Published on
August 2, 2020
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$16.95

Thank you to Phil and Bill for all that you do managing and providing review opportunities!

Recommended kit: Any 1/35 Academy AH-1Z

Reviewer’s Comments

This landing skid set from SAC is a direct replacement for the kit parts. The white metal casting is superb as is usual for SAC. The kit consists of five parts: two main skids, one tail skid, and two skid braces.

Instructions are not provided, but they are not required since the parts are intended to be direct replacements for the kit parts. The parts are very nicely detailed, and clean. There are no mold seams visible, and no sanding or filing was required.

Prior to painting it is recommended to wash the parts with a mild detergent solution to remove any remaining mold release. I would recommend using a gel-type of CA adhesive to bond the parts together.

Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
August 2, 2020
Company
Kitty Hawk
MSRP
$25.00

QMEN is part of the Kitty Hawk Panda family and specializes in egg planes - planes shaped like an egg. These have been around from many manufacturers and are simplified versions of the real plane. In this case the plane is 19 parts and the pilot is an additional 13 plus a resin head. And the pilot is a kitty cat! There is even a tail and ears sticking out of a nice rendition of the F-35’s special helmet. The kit is meant to be snap fit and the tolerances are pretty tight so it all works. More on that later. The parts are well molded with no flash. Great color instructions and painting guide come with it and there is a sheet of water slide decals.

Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
August 2, 2020
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/350
MSRP
$20.00

SMS Seydlitz was a battlecruiser of the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), built in Hamburg. She was ordered in 1910 and commissioned in May 1913, the fourth battlecruiser built for the High Seas Fleet. She was named after Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, a Prussian general during the reign of King Frederick the Great and the Seven Years' War. Seydlitz represented the culmination of the first generation of German battlecruisers, which had started with the Von der Tann in 1906 and continued with the pair of Moltke-class battlecruisers ordered in 1907 and 1908. Seydlitz featured several incremental improvements over the preceding designs, including a redesigned propulsion system and an improved armor layout. As with the rest of the German battlecruisers that survived the war, the ship was interned in Scapa Flow in 1918. The ship, along with the rest of the High Seas Fleet, was scuttled in June 1919, to prevent her seizure by the British Royal Navy.

Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
August 2, 2020
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/350
MSRP
$20.00

HMS Lord Nelson was a pre-dreadnought battleship launched 04-September-1906 and completed in 1908. Her sister ship in the class was HMS Agamemnon also launched 23-June-1906 and completed in 1908. The delays between launching and completion of both ships was due to the diversion of their 12” guns to the completion of HMS Dreadnought. She was the Royal Navy's last pre-dreadnought. The ship was flagship of the Channel Fleet when the First World War began in 1914. Lord Nelson was transferred to the Mediterranean Sea in early 1915 to participate in the Dardanelles Campaign. She remained there, becoming flagship of the Eastern Mediterranean Squadron, which was later re-designated the Aegean Squadron. After the Ottoman surrender in 1918 the ship moved to the Black Sea where she remained as flagship before returning to the United Kingdom in May 1919. Lord Nelson was placed into reserve upon her arrival and sold for scrap in June 1920.