This is the first release in a new series by Mushroom Model Publications. I am a big fan of their products, so I looked forward to reviewing this book. It is a softcover publication of 24 pages, 6 of which are in color. The cover is a heavy card stock with a color top view of a Russian P-39Q. There are also color side and bottom views of the same aircraft in the book.

The text in the book is limited to photo captions. There are 36 black and white pictures along with 10 color pictures. The pictures are of a good size and of good quality throughout. There is a mixture of walk around style photos from restored aircraft and wartime photos of U.S. aircraft in the Pacific theater. A couple of the photos are of P-39s undergoing maintenance and show several areas of the aircraft exposed.

This tome is the third in this new series, Single. This series format consists of a 4-view colour profile, scale plans, and photo details of a single variant; in this case the Hawker Hurricane I. You won’t find an introduction or background summary, as this series dives straight into the drawings, illustrations, and photographs. MMP was founded in 1996 by Roger Wallsgrove, to publish "Mushroom Model Magazine". This quarterly modelling magazine was developed from "Mushroom Monthly”, a club newsletter which ran from 1985 to 1995, achieving a world-wide reputation for quality articles, fearless and honest reviews, and a great sense of humor. From 1997 the magazine was produced in collaboration with Robert Peczkowski and Artur Juszczak (Stratus), which meant a big leap in print quality and design. MMP expanded into book publication in 1999, and since then they have built up a list of books on aircraft and aviation, naval, military vehicles, and military history.

I’ve always been a fan of the iconic silver and blue Hughes H-1 Racer. I was familiar with the long wing variant, but as it turns out, two sets of wings were made for this one of a kind beauty - long wings for endurance flights, and short wings for speed records. You’ll have to decide for yourself which one appeals to you, but no worries - Special Hobby/Planet Models provide both in 1/48 resin.

The kit itself is fairly simple and straightforward - resin one-piece wings, fuselage halves and cockpit, engine “cob” and many, many cylinders, etc. Two vacuum-formed canopy blanks are included, good for those of us who need a spare. (Although I lucked out this time). The kit includes decals and a simple but thorough exploded view of the assembly sequence.