Many of us have had the distinct displeasure of ruining a canopy. I once dropped one on the floor and stepped on it. There is also the great possibility of getting CA fumes on the inside or some other adhesive which will either melt, craze or deform the canopy into uselessness. And then there’s the one where you open a kit you bought at a swap meet to find no clear parts inside.

You can find replacement canopies for “large scale” kits, including 1/32, 1/48 or 1/72, but there have been almost no canopies in 1/144. Brengun seems to be taking a position in this market.

Bohumir Kudlicka follows the transition of Czechoslovakian production of the Messerschmitt Bf 109G “Mezek” and the Messerschmitt Me 262 “Turbina” from underground facilities for the Luftwaffe to production by Avia for the Czechoslovakian Air Force. Mr. Kudlicka weaves an interesting tale of how and why the Czechoslovakian Air Force came to use the ‘hated’ German designed aircraft in lieu of English and Russian aircraft that their returning pilots had been flying during the war.

There are many unpublished photos that describe in detail the selection, modification and production of these two aircraft. The text and photos are complemented with color profiles, 3-D plan views, 1/48 scale plans, and period scrap illustrations.

The Table of Contents focuses on three major chapters:

Mezek – “Mule”

Without a long history lesson, I will say the Hindenburg has to be one of, if not THE, most famous of all the zeppelins that provided luxury air travel in the 1930s. Designed and built by the Zeppelin Company, LZ129 “Hindenburg” transported affluent passengers across the Atlantic on numerous trips in 1936, flying between Germany and Brazil, and between Germany and New York, all without incident. On the inaugural 1937 voyage to North America, upon arriving on May 6th in New York (well, actually New Jersey), Hindenburg burst into flames and went down in history. While not the absolute end to zeppelin passenger travel, this marked the beginning of the end for this chapter in aviation history. In 1975, Universal Pictures released “The Hindenburg”, a movie telling the story of that last flight, and to coincide with this, AMT released their 1/520th scale kit of the famous zeppelin.