With a title like this and John writing that the text was in French, I assumed this book was going to be all about French Infantry Fighting Vehicles. Yep, I was wrong! As I started thumbing through the book and scanning over the included vehicles, I realized that this was a nice collection book about Infantry Fighting Vehicles all over the world. This is very neat “recognition handbook”. A slight word of warning….This is not a definitive collection of infantry Fighting vehicles by any means. Though a great book, it needs to be more defined by the title.
First, let me thank Squadron Products for these review samples an IPMS/USA for allowing me to review them.
The recommended model for these two sets of decals is the Revell 1/48 A-6E Intruder. Revell first released their A-6E 23 years ago in 1988 (kit # 4578). They have re-released it in 2011 (kit # 85-5626). The new kit includes decals for VA-85, the Black Falcons on the U.S.S. Forrestal and VA-35, the Panthers on the U.S.S. Nimitz. The old kit contained decals for VA-196, CAG, on the USS Coral Sea and VA-85 on the USS Saratoga.
Squadron Products has issued two new decal sheets for this old, but popular war bird. Decal set MS481254 contains markings and tail art for Marine squadrons VMA-121 and VMA-224. Decal set MS481253 contains markings and tail art for VA-196 and VMAT-202. You may have noticed a repeat, VA-196, with the old Revell kit. The decals for VA-196 were added after the release of the movie, Flight of the Intruder in 1991.
When this model set became available in the Reviewer Corps back in March 2009, I got all excited, and I thought I had reason to be. This seemed to be a project made for me, as a long time ago I was a Doctor Who fan and knew the Daleks probably better than your average IPMS/USA dude. But now, I look back at this project and wish I had never taken it. Frankly, I was going to get cute and throw in all sorts of in-jokes and trivia in this review, sort of like I did with the Lamborghini Jota review I did a few years back. This kit does NOT deserve it.
Nor does it deserve a "slam job".
This is the second volume that deals with the Polish Air Force after the German invasion in 1939. Pictures of Polish aircraft are very rare, especially before the pre-war period. This was a security protocol implemented by the Polish government. Because of the success of this protocol, there are very few photos of the aircraft used by the Polish Air Force. The conquering Germans are therefore the best reference for the airplanes. Needless to say, most of these pictures are previously unpublished.
OK, what does an airplane guy know about tanks? Well, let’s see – they make great targets and make a mess of a training area. Truth be told, I did win a trophy at the Nats for a tank. Surprised? So was I. As an airplane guy I always wanted to build some tanks, in particular German tanks, but for the longest time it was the zimmerit that prevented me from buying them. Then it was all the aftermarket stuff to make the kit “correct.” Thankfully, Dragon has started retooling their kits to make them more accurate, and they contain aftermarket stuff right in the box. On top of that, they priced their new kits, with all the aftermarket, at the same price as their previous releases. Then they added zimmerit on the appropriate kits. I couldn’t think of any more reasons to not buy these kits. Of the last 20 kits I’ve bought, no less than 12 have been Dragon tanks. I feel so dirty.