Figures from the Vietnam War are few and far between, especially helicopter crew. With the ICM release of the 1/32nd scale AH-1G they have released a kit of THREE Vietnam helicopter crewmembers.

Packed inside a typical sturdy box are three plastic sprue of light grey plastic that features the parts for the three figures. Two of the sprues are the same with both APH-5 and SPH-4 helmets, mic booms and ear cups. This is a nice feature because the helmets can be used without the figures to spruce up any model. The plastic is very crisp and the figures, especially the faces, are very well done. The assembly and paint instructions are printed on high quality paper with color callouts in ICMs paint range, as well as, Revell and Tamiya.

Casemate Publishers just released the latest Kagero Publishing Super Drawings in 3D – The Japanese Light Cruiser Oyodo – in her 1944 fit (not her 1943 as-built appearance with the long catapult). This is a single-ship class of an odd hybrid ship that did not turn out to be a success (although she survived until the war-end harbor bombings at anchor). As always, the 3D book is jammed full of CG images of the Oyodo exterior and major fittings, including below the waterline. There is also a large foldout of B&W line drawings that are very helpful for modelers. This book is ideal for building models of the Oyodo, and will not disappoint IJN fans.

The book is volume 37 of Helion & Company’s Middle East@War series. While Volume 1 examined the delivery and use of Soviet designed combat aircraft in Egypt, Iraq and Syria, Volume 2 is limited to just Egypt and Syria and covers the time period from mid-1963 through mid-1967, ending right before the 1967 war. The book includes over one hundred black and white photographs, one page of color photographs and six pages of color profiles depicting the aircraft of the two air forces and the flight gear typically worn by flight crews during this period, along with maps and order of battle charts. Unfortunately, the quality of most of the photographs are very good, but as in Volume 1, some of them are blurry or fuzzy, which is not surprising given their age. I was pleased to see that only a couple of the photographs appear to be photographs taken of photographs published in another publication as there is a prominent line down the middle of the photograph.