Permit me to open this review with a personal story.

My childhood home town of Iowa City had a tiny little airport – the kind that sees maybe six Cessna's visiting in a week. However, even this tiny airport managed to have a gate guard, in this case an F-86D Sabre Dog donated from the Iowa Air National Guard, mounted on posts.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t in the best of shape. At some point in the past it had lost its canopy, which had been replaced by some artlessly shaped acrylic sheet. Even so, it seemed to a kid like a proud giant, reaching endlessly for a sky it would never touch again. Honestly, I loved that gate guardian.

Raymond Giuliani covers a fairly rare subject, of the use of the Sherman tank in the Pacific. This book begins in 1943 as the Sherman began replacing the M3 Stuarts in the Pacific as the US island hopped towards Japan. The good news is that neither had to face any steel Tigers. Raymond Giuliani traces the trek across the Pacific island by island and also depicts the evolution of the flamethrower tank. The book includes over 350 photos, 25 color tank profiles, and 23 maps. There are spelling errors and interesting grammar choices due to the translation from French, but nothing that will hinder your understanding.

For those unfamiliar, Ultracast from Canada does a series of aftermarket parts and pieces for planes but also, makes some beautiful figures and in this case, it is a 1/32 German Luftwaffe Fighter pilot in 1/32nd scale. The kit comes in six parts and is very well sculpted by Mike Good. The kit has two different heads - one with a flying helmet and one with an officers hat. The parts are cast in light tan resin with minimal to no seam line.

I chose to go with the officers hat and mounted the head on a paint stick to hold it. I then added the arms and puttied the seams and mounted that on a painting stick to hold it. The arms seams were filled with Squadron white putty and then smooth with a Q-tip wet with lacquer thinner. I left off the holster for later. Once dry, all the pieces was primed and set aside a day to dry.