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. 

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.

Red Fox Studios are a new company to me. Based in Hungary, they are a producer of resin upgrades and decals, including a range of 3D instrument panel decals, of which this review item is one.

Designed for the Kinetic 1/48 F/A-18C Hornet kit, this product has a plastic, non-flat surface with a 3D effect. It is best glued with cyanoacrylate, but PVA or other glues can also be used. The product can be washed with both oil-based and acrylic paints. It can also be minimally bent or sanded.

Having started the kit, I first painted and decaled the pilot’s cockpit using the kit-provided decals. I used setting solution to help these settle over the kit’s nicely-moulded in detail. These looked OK and would have been perfectly suitable under a closed canopy.