The F-4 Phantom II needs no introduction to serious aircraft modelers. Arguably one of the most important warplanes of the 20th century, over 5000 were built during a 23-year production period, and the Phantom was flown by all 3 U.S. air services (USMC, USN, and USAF) as well as the air forces of 11 foreign operators.

There are many great Phantom reference books on the market. Most focus on either actual aircraft pictures and reference material, or on a collection of models. As a Phantom enthusiast (I have 7 or 8 built models in my display cabinets and another 60+ in my stash), I have several of each type of book in my library, and this one is unique in that it is a combination of both.

When most aviation enthusiasts and modelers think of heavy fighters, the image of larger, usually twin-engine aircraft such as the Bf-110, P-61 or Bristol Beaufighter come to mind. In Japan during WWII a heavy fighter designation meant an aircraft that were armed with large caliber machine guns and/or cannons. So, several small single engine fighters were considered to be “heavy fighters.”

ICM continues its unique line of World War 1 related figure sets, and this one has to be unique in this regard, as it depicts equipment that never actually saw combat. The set provides four figures wearing the infamous Brewster Body Shield, designed by Dr. Guy. Brewster, capable of withstanding a hail of bullets from the standard .303 round of the time. Unfortunately, it was otherwise virtually impractical, as it weighed 40 pounds and restricted both vision and movement severely. The user could not turn his head, could not drop to the ground (and hope to get back up again), could barely reach his ammo belt under the unit, and was completely unprotected from the rear. Although studied by the U.S. Army at the time, it was never adopted for actual combat operations, although it might have proven useful for sentries or other fix posts.