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Review Author
Dana Mathes
Published on
Company
Value Gear
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$11.50

Value Gear has produced a complete line of stowage items that are useful for adding those finishing touches to armor projects or dioramas of all types. This set contains 25 cast resin stowage items for armored vehicles, although some of these items could also be useful in aircraft, sci-fi, or automotive dioramas.

There is a lot of variety here. This assortment includes backpacks, bedrolls, duffle bags, toolboxes, cardboard boxes, equipment bags, and sleeping cots. The vendor’s website claims that all 25 items are unique. That may indeed be true, but the six backpacks supplied seem to be of two types, with only subtle differences among them. The resin is a neutral, medium-dark gray color. The surfaces are slightly textured, again with variability. The sculpting of these parts is excellent, with the appropriate creases, straps, buckles, and in some cases, a little wear and tear.

Review Author
Dana Mathes
Published on
Company
Value Gear
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$11.50

Have you ever needed some items, like cardboard boxes, to add that finishing touch to a modeling project? Value Gear has just what you need. This company has produced a complete line of stowage items. They are great supplements for armor projects or dioramas of all types.

This set contains 25 1/35 cast resin cardboard boxes. There is a lot of variety here. The boxes come in three sizes: small, medium, and large. Each box has a different level of wear and tear. Some are smushed, while others are dog-eared. Others are fresh and new. Some are even shown as taped shut. The resin used is a medium brown color, approximating the color of dark cardboard.

Book Author(s)
Alan Durkota & Thomas Darcy
Review Author
John Shimek
Published on
Company
Aeronaut Books
MSRP
$24.99

Volume 2 of the Medal of Honor series documents the 6 aviators who earned the Medal of Honor during the interwar years 19191939. This book of 80 pages has 215 photos and color profiles of 10 aircraft relating to this period.

Only 1 of the 6-aviation related Medal of Honor awarded in this period was for action that involved combat by USMC Lieutenant Christian Frank Schilt in Nicaragua in 1928. 3 of the other 5 men awarded the Medal of Honor were presented for exploration including Admiral Byrd (North Pole flight) and the other 2 awarded were for lifesaving efforts.

It is very interesting that Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr received the army designed Medal of Honor for his solo flight across the Atlantic 20-21 May 1927 even though he was no longer on active US Army duty. Authorized by a special act of Congress in December 1927 Lindbergh was presented the medal by President Coolidge in 1929.

Book Author(s)
Paul Malmassari
Review Author
Marc K. Blackburn
Published on
Company
Editions Heimdal
MSRP
$97.00

Heimdal is a prolific French Publisher of military history and is distributed by Casemate Publishing. It is a large book at 520 pages and hundreds of black and white and color photographs as well as contemporary drawings and profiles done by the author. The text and captions are in French, though it appears there was an English version of this work from another publisher. My reading knowledge of French is minimal, but that did not take away from my enjoyment of this work. In many regards, the photographs speak for themselves, but a rudimentary knowledge of French might be helpful in reading the captions. It would have been nice to also see color profiles of the trains. There is a plethora of material, so each page is loaded with photographs.

Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Croco Models
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$45.00

Croco Models from Latvia produces some very interesting and unusual kits and this one is another great additional to their line up.

The Kit is resin

Included is:

  • 67 resin parts
  • One Photo Etch Sheet
  • One Decal sheet
  • One instruction sheet

The resin casing detail quality is great; The parts are very delicate parts that need careful removal from the resin bases. Some arrived broken so I would suggest improving the packaging.The instructions need a lot of experience to work with to get a great model as they are not very clear. The assembly is good but needs a lot of patience, pre-fitting and time to the build going together correctly. There were a few gaps that needed filling. The PE sheet has some parts that are not for this version, it is also very thick and made it harder to remove parts from it. There are a few decals but no directors for location, so I used online references for this.