Review Author
Will Kuhrt
Published on
February 26, 2023
Company
Value Gear
Scale
1/16
MSRP
$25.00

Value Gear Details, based in Flagstaff, Arizona, produces a wide range of high-quality resin accessories for most common model scales. Many of the accessories and stowage sets are universal, which is a nice advantage. This allows the model builder to customize the look they want by mixing sets or you can use one sets intended for specific subjects, such as the “German Tank Bits” family of accessories.

The set featured in this review has 21 pieces. Also available is set German Tank Bits #1 consisting of 22 pieces, and German Tank Bits #2 with 21 pieces.

The detail of these is stellar. I never cease to be amazed at the level of fine detail Value Gear achieves!

Book Author(s)
Matthew M. Hurley and José Augusto Matos
Review Author
Andy Taylor
Published on
February 26, 2023
Company
Helion & Company
MSRP
$29.95

Reviewer’s Comments:

“- I also want to go fishing, Uncle Aliu!

You cannot, Abdulai, because it’s dangerous.

Uncle, I’m not afraid of the crocodiles!

You know, now there aren’t just crocodiles,

There are also the colonialists who drop bombs on the canoes,

[but] I cannot fear the crocodiles or the bombs.

This is my mission, as a militant of our Party.”

Thus opens the introduction of book, in the aptly named Introduction: Crocodiles and Bombs. Each chapter opens with a great quote that ties in with the chapter name – kudos to the authors for this additional nice touch. This book, while it covers Portugal’s war in Guinea (now Guinea Bissau, and not to be confused with the Republic of Guinea) is primarily focused on the Portuguese Air Force (Força Aérea Portuguesa-FAP) in its operations in Guinea supporting the counter-insurgency.

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
February 26, 2023
Company
Italeri
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$129.99

Italeri has released a brand new mold F-35B, the STOVL (short-take-off and vertical landing) version of the F-35 family currently in use by the Italian Navy, Royal Navy and US Marine Corps.

Current military planning assumes that in any conflict, stealth capabilities are needed during the first few days of combat which will see action against enemy radars and later on aircrafts can trade-off “stealthness” for payload by using external pylons. When the F-35B is carrying a full payload -ie with external pylons-, it is known as “Beast” mode and Italeri provides you everything you need to have your model in “Beast” mode, even adding a couple of trolleys to show the extra ordinance in a mini-diorama or vignette, but no figures are included.

Book Author(s)
Andy Singleton
Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
February 24, 2023
Company
Pen & Sword
MSRP
$26.95

The origin of Pen and Sword Books is closely linked with its sister company, the Barnsley Chronicle; one of the UK's oldest provincial newspapers – established in 1858 – and one of the few weeklies still in private ownership. The first books published by the company were in response to public demand following of a series of articles published in the newspaper: Dark Peak Aircraft Wrecks told the story of crash sites in the Dark Peak area of the Peak District National Park, and a further weekly feature on the history of two Kitchener battalions, known as the Barnsley Pals, aroused a thirst for more information. Following on from the success of Dark Peak Wrecks and Barnsley Pals books, a number of local history paperbacks were produced along with a series of battlefield guidebooks. Battleground Europe proved immediately successful, and as more and more titles were produced the company made the decision to launch a book publishing arm of the group.

Review Author
Gino Dykstra
Published on
February 23, 2023
Company
Red Fox Studio
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$12.70

I don’t think I’m alone in the feeling that when building an airplane kit, the most challenging aspect (at least in terms of painting) is inevitably the cockpit. And within the cockpit, the most challenging aspect is almost always the instrument panels. Over the years I’ve developed a pretty steady hand at this kind of work, but that doesn’t mean I actually enjoy it. It’s usually with a sigh of relief when I can set down an instrument panel with a full paint job on it.

Red Fox Studios, a company out of Hungary, has come up with a product line that I am now head over heels in love with. They are releasing a series of detail sets which include not only full-color instrument sets for various aircraft, but fully three-dimensional instrument panels at that, with every instrument and button fully realized. I have literally never seen anything like them before, and I am mesmerized.