History

This book is part of an excellent series on the course of World War II in the air, and although it is a little more inclusive than the title implies, it covers the action between the 3^rd Kokutai and the Tainan Kokutai, Japanese Navy units equipped with Mitsubishi A6M-2 Zero Sens, Mitsubishi G4M-2’s, and Nakajima C5M2 reconnaissance types and based in the former Netherlands East Indies, and the U.S. Army 49^th Pursuit Group, (Later 49^th Fighter Group), armed primarily with Curtiss P-40E “Warhawk” fighters, and base in Northern Australia around Darwin. The Japanese were attempting to destroy Allied installations in Northern Australia, while the Americans were attempting to defend them. In general, the Japanese were probably better trained and more experienced than the Americans, but given the conditions of combat, the outcomes were fairly even.

The Jadgpanther was a Heer (German Army) tank destroyer based on the Panzer Mark V Panther tank chassis. They had an 8.8cm anti-tank gun installed in a fixed superstructure that replaced the Panther’s turret and 7.5cm gun. This Meng Model’s Jadgpanther is the last production run made from November 1944 to May 1945.

Once again ICM is modeling one of the worst man-made disasters of the 20^th century – the catastrophic explosion and meltdown of the Number 4 nuclear reactor at Chernobyl in 1986 – an event that would impact most of the world in one fashion or another. That ICM has the boldness to create such a fascinating look at recent history in model form says a lot about this company’s choices of subject. The fact that they are continuing with this series says even more.

In the Chernobyl #1 set, we explored the sealing of the area and the first radiation checks by local authorities. In this set, we confront the conflagration itself, with firefighters taking the first steps to control the resultant fires caused by the explosion of the reactor. This set combines a large fire engine, four new firefighter figures, a bit of debris and a picturesque backdrop that duplicates the cover of the box.