There has been quite a bit of focus on WWII in the Pacific theater of late, driven in large part by HBO’s mini-series The Pacific, which was based on memoirs of some of the US Marines who fought and bled on small islands as the military pushed towards the Japanese homeland. I’ve always had an interest in this era, and have read many of the well-known books written by the guys who were there, such as Helmet for My Pillow by Robert Leckie, and With the Old Breed by E. B. Sledge.

Those books give an individual perspective on the fighting on these Pacific islands, but Dick Camp’s book Last Man Standing provides a much broader perspective. It begins with the history of the Peleliu islands, how they originally were German territories that were given to Japan as war prizes after the First World War. Japan settled the island and exploited it for minerals and coconut oil.

The Squadron Signal “In Action” series has been around for many years and is well liked by modelers and vehicle historians alike. This newest volume concentrates on the German heavy armored cars used throughout World War II. The title may be a little deceiving as it only addresses the heavies and not the smaller light armored cars. This volume does, however, look at all the heavy armored cars from the early war Sd.Kfz. 231 6-wheeled vehicle to the late war Sd.Kfz. 234 series of 8-wheeled vehicles. There is minimal text, which mostly serves to introduce the different variants. There are no technical drawings in this issue but there is an abundance of “in action” photographs, each of which has a descriptive caption. Several of the images are closeup shots that show plenty of details of the vehicles featured. This volume has 80 pages and over 200 B & W photographs. The only color illustrations are on the front and back covers.

Once again, Quickboost comes out with another addition to its resin aircraft accessories in 1/72nd scale. This time it is the oxygen cylinders for the B-17 Flying Fortress. I tried to compare it to some of the different B-17 kits that I have and none of them came with that much interior detail. This also included the new Revell tooling that is very good. I did see some on the see-through kits and I was able to compare them with actual photos.

The parts are up to the usual Quickboost standards. They are molded in a grey resin, smooth, seamless, and bubble free. It doesn’t take too much effort to get them off of the resin block. Just a quick slice with a razor saw or a #11 blade will do the trick.

If you are looking to add just that much more detail to a B-17, then this set is for you. I recommend them just for the amount of detail alone. Thanks to Quickboost and IPMS/USA for the chance to review these accessories.