Lifelike Decals from Japan has issued a 1/32^nd scale set titled “Part 3- Big Beautiful Doll Special” which covers six versions of Col. John Landers famous P-51D. The set actually starts with markings when he was a major and then Lt. Colonel and then finished with Colonel so it has markings showing the progression of his career.

A quick bit of history, Col. Landers had 14.5 kills making him almost a triple ace, starting with P-40’s then P-38’s and lastly the P-51. This set only covers the P-51’s and there are two specific planes with multiple markings. The markings in the set cover the following aircraft:

Decal Sheet Contents

There are three sheets of decals included in this package: the larger of the three has the roundels and fin flash along with aircraft codes. The mid-size sheet has additional aircraft codes and numbers, while the third and smallest sheet has individual pilot nose art. There are decals to model at least two of 10 photo-documented subjects, based on carefully interpreted graphic reconstructions. Additional models built will require the modeler to provide roundels and fin flash.

The decal sheets include marking from the three squadrons: 71 Squadron, four aircraft, 121 Squadron, four aircraft, and 133 Squadron two aircraft. Six 8 1/2" by 11" pages of black and white instructions are included with the decals, along with a link to the supplier is provided from which full color instructions may be obtained and home printed. The black and white is more than adequate, but the color version is spectacular.

In collaboration with Jeremy Black, Osprey has produced several coffee table style books to highlight the history of maps, naval charts, and now fortifications. Using photographs and illustrations from the National Archives of Great Britain, Black and Osprey have produced a concise history of fortifications from around the world. Black, to his credit, uses an international approach when telling the story of the development and evolution of fortifications. The books uses a chronological format, from the beginning of recorded history to the dawn of the 21st Century. The highlight of the book are the illustrations; there is not a great deal of text with each chapter. Black provides a broad overview to each time period and uses substantial captions with each chapter to expand the story. They are professionally produced and pop out as you go through the book.