Eduard has released a PE exterior and interior upgrade for their new 1/144 MiG-21bis. I’ve reviewed the kit separately.

The “Kit”

Inside the envelope, you get a 2 ½ by 3 inch PE fret, cockpit and canopy detail, decals, and the instruction sheet. There are enough parts on the PE to do one of the two MiGs in the kit, and some “extras” which could be used on the second aircraft, such as the two different sets of chocks or the tailpipe interior which doesn’t need to be installed if you’re using the exhaust cover.

We think of General George S. Patton Jr. as one of our greatest combat leaders in World War II. Certainly our “fightingest” General, and someone who must have been a constant threat to the enemy. Did the Germans fear this hard-charging tank commander and watch his every move? The answer may surprise you. There have been many books written about General Patton, but the author says “This is the book that hasn’t.” And one would have to agree with him, as Fighting Patton is more about German generals than it is about Patton. Author Harry Yeide has searched German archives for reports from the men who faced Patton on the battlefield to see how they fought him and what they thought of his leadership skills.

German generals such as Hasso von Manteuffel, Paul Hausser, Gerd von Rundstedt, and many more appear in this book. It’s interesting to note that all of Patton’s counterparts had much more combat and leadership experience than Patton did.

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.