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Book Author(s)
Colin A. Owers
Review Author
Brian R. Baker
Published on
Company
Albatros Productions, Ltd.
MSRP
$17.50

History

Windsock Datafiles has produced a number of excellent reference works on various aircraft of the World War I era, and they are certainly to be commended for publishing another this subject. For those who are tired of Spads, Camels, and Fokkers, this one will be a breath of fresh air as few people have ever heard of this aircraft, let alone its interesting history.

Review Author
Hub Plott
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$17.95

This was to have been a full gear replacement review until the USPS decided to treat the package like the gorilla from the old 1970’s American Tourister luggage commercial. Unfortunately, the package did not fare anywhere near as well as the luggage did, as it looked like it had been stomped flat. After sorting through the carnage I was able to gather together enough surviving parts for one main gear leg.

What you get in the package is a full gear replacement in white metal for both main gear legs and the tail wheel. As you can see from one of the photos, the SAC gear has simplified things by making the main gear legs three total pieces and main tailwheel leg as two total piece, versus five pieces for the kit’s main gear and three for the kit’s tail wheel.

Review Author
Brian R. Baker
Published on
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$80.00

History

The Junkers Ju-88 was probably the most important multi-engined aircraft used by the Luftwaffe during World War II. Intended originally for level and dive bombing, it was later adapted to many other roles, excelling as a radar-equipped night fighter. Beginning with the Battle of Britain in 1940, the JU-88 became the standard day and night bomber in Luftwaffe units, and when the British sent up barrage balloons with cables dangling to ensnare unwary bomber pilots, especially at night, the ingenious Luftwaffe engineers came up with a system whereby a plane could fly through the cables, cutting them with special cable cutting units installed on the front of the airplanes.

Book Author(s)
Ron Mackay
Review Author
Paul Mahoney
Published on
Company
Squadron Signal Publications
MSRP
$18.95

One of the newest titles in Squadron’s Walk Around series is the Heinkel He-111. As with other titles in this series, this softcover book is in a “landscape” format and features loads of detail photos of all aspects of the He-111.

Similar to other books in this series, there is a one-page introduction covering a brief history of the aircraft, and a short discussion of the few remaining airframes. This is followed by about 88 pages of detail photos and accompanying descriptive text. All the photos are very crisp and clear, covering about ¼ of a page each. Most of these are photos of museum aircraft, but there are several WW2-era photos that show some clear details.

The bulk of museum aircraft photos are of a He-111P-2 in the Gardermoen Museum in Oslo, which has been fully restored to its original configuration. Photos of almost any possible detail area (both inside and out) a modeler would want are provided.

Review Author
Keenan Chittester
Published on
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$11.50

If you are not familiar with the Master Model name, you need to be. They are a Polish company that produces wonderful brass detail parts that have to be seen to be believed. This particular set contains two Breda 7.7mm machine guns that are made up of a gun barrel and a cooling jacket. The detail is exquisite, and the jacket fits snugly over the barrel. This type of machine gun was used in early WWII Italian aircraft.