The Eduard OVERTREE and Weekend Edition kits are really nice kits, but I think they benefit from having the pre-painted photoetch added to the model. I personally love the pre-painted photoetch. There is detail printed on them that I could never be able to replicate with a paint brush.

Packaged in the typical resealable package with a card stock protective backing is one fret of pre-painted PE. This single fret contains many essential interior parts, but the biggest impact would have to be from the seatbelts, shoulder harness and the instrument panel. Besides these key parts there are photoetch deflectors for the engine exhausts, as well as, some other panels and rudder pedals. These parts are all important. There are oil cooler faces as well. Personally, I don’t use them as I like the way that the kit parts look, but that is up to the modeler.

The Spatha by M. C. Bishop is his third book for Osprey Publishing and probably not his last. Mike has been writing since 1983 primarily on archaeology. As part of his interest in archaeology, he has become a prolific artist in black and white illustrations, some of which are found in this book. Many of his works are available or referenced on his web site. He spends his free time doing freelance work in publishing (editing, typesetting, proofreading, etc.) and runs a considerable number of websites primarily devoted to the Roman military. Interestingly, in additions to being a model builder (Airfix), Mike Bishop has been flying gliders since 2004.

MMP keeps coming up with new and interesting series in their catalog of books. This “Camera On” series is not restricted to aircraft but presents essentially photo albums dedicated to different types of equipment (appearing to be limited to WW2 subjects from what I can gather).

This nicely produced, softcover book is typical of MMP’s publication quality. That is to say everything has a refined look and feel to it, with thick paper and good glossy, heavy-weight cover pages.