ICM Holding has put out a new model of their ZIL-131 truck with the addition of a Ukrainian Sapper Team. This is kit 35018 and is titled “Danger Mines!” Ukraine, Summer 2022. It is essentially a combination of their Sapper Team kit and their venerable ZIL-131 truck kit.

The box art for the kit is first rate and lends itself well to the actual truck and figures that are part of the kit. The box is compact and will fit well in any stash until you decide to build it. Although the box is small, the material within the box was not smashed together and no damage was noted when breaking out the materials from the box.

MMP Books continues to produce high-quality references that are specifically aimed at the modeler. The latest in their “Orange” Series is this volume on the Reggiane 2001 and 2005 (as well as some further developments in the series).

This book consists of 176 pages, including black and white period photos, scale line drawings, color profiles, original manual pages and more.

The Mistel concept was born in the 1930's, but came into use as a weapon in the waning months of the war. It consisted of a control plane, a war weary Bf-109 or a FW-190, mounted on top of a Ju-88 variant. In the Mistel 1 configuration, it was a Bf-109F and a Ju-88A. When mounted with a 1800 or 2000 lb bomb nose it could destroy bridges and other key targets. There were at least three variants of the shaped nose charge. It was used operationally to prevent the Russians from crossing the Oder and against the Western Allies as well. It was grossly overweight for the Ju-88 landing gear and tires. Because of this it had to operate from improved airstrips and was still subject to blowing out the tires and destroying both airframes before takeoff. Even when it could get off the ground, flying it was not easy. The Bf-109 was a tiny aircraft, and it had to control both aircraft.