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Book Author(s)
Adam Jonca
Review Author
Michael Novosad
Published on
November 28, 2011
Company
Stratus
MSRP
$21.60

This publication covers the development and acquisition of armored vehicles for the Polish army from 1919 until 1939. Each page has several period images of the miscellaneous vehicles. Included are color profiles along with some line drawings and one blueprint of a Polish tractor. Although the text is minimal, it is quite informative. One gets the sense of the lambs being lead to the slaughter inflicted by the much superior German armor in September, 1939.

Vehicles addressed include the Vickers 6 ton Mark E types A , B and E, the C6P and C6T Tractors, the C7P artillery, and recovery and combat engineering tractors. Granted, these vehicles are certainly not as well known at those of the major World War II powers, but are quite interesting in their design and performance, and provide some unique topics.

Book Author(s)
Gordon L. Rottman
Review Author
Jeff Leiby
Published on
November 28, 2011
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$17.95

Military Police units have the mission, among many others, to provide armed escort to supply convoys in a combat zone. During the Vietnam War there were never enough military police combat support units to accomplish this mission. Commanders of truck companies in the 8th Transportation Group began to arm and armor 2-1/2 ton and 5 ton cargo trucks to provide convoy security. The 8th Trans Group became the major user of gun trucks during the war.

This book, number 184 in the New Vanguard series published by Osprey Publishing, describes the development and employment of gun trucks during the last half of the Vietnam War. The first half of the volume describes the U.S. Army motor transport units deployed in South Vietnam, the Army convoy system itself, and the threat the convoys faced. The second half provides a good description of gun truck design and development and gun truck tactics.

Review Author
Rick Bellanger
Published on
November 25, 2011
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$55.00

I received this conversion set with great anticipation and look forward to installing it on my latest venture.

I have built quite a few Tamiya 1/32nd Phantom kits since its debut, a total of 77, to be exact. (I know this guy's lying…but it's true.) I used to build for a decal manufacturer that had over 100 decal sets for the F-4 and he wanted a model built for every one of them, all in 1/32nd. Well, he is out of business, so now I build for myself. I have used just about every aftermarket product out there for the F-4 and I'm always looking for something new. Eduard has come aboard with a very nice exhaust nozzle set.

Opening the package revealed some nice protective foam and each assembly was in its own plastic bag. No damage or lost parts. You get direct replacement parts for two engine intakes, discharges, tubes, and nozzles. Also included is a new arresting hook. All the parts are of a very high quality resin casting and photo etch.

Review Author
Rick Bellanger
Published on
November 25, 2011
Company
Airscale Model Aircraft Enhancements
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$7.00

Airscale is a British company producing fine quality aircraft instrument decals, and this is one of those. Unfortunately, I am no expert on instrumentation; can't really tell a tachometer from an altimeter.

Airscale provides a very detailed callout of each instrument dial on its instruction sheet and a locating number to show which dial it is. Very helpful. There are 44 different decals, each with its own number. The bad side is there is only one dial of each per sheet. Many of these are very small and the only way to see them is with magnification. The instruction sheet provides detailed instructions on how to apply them, and tips on their use.

The decals are printed with a lot of excess film surrounding them, so you will have to cut each one out very carefully or use a punch set (which I haven't seemed to master yet). They go down easily and set using any standard decal setting solution. I tried Microset and Solvaset and both worked with no problems.

Book Author(s)
David Doyle
Review Author
Rick Bellanger
Published on
November 25, 2011
Company
Squadron Signal Publications
MSRP
$17.95

After the American Civil War, the railroad gun became a common weapon system throughout Europe. They provided a rapidly deployable heavy artillery gun that could defend a coastline or bombard enemy positions and fortifications. By the end of World War I, these guns grew in caliber and popularity. In the 1930s, Hitler initiated several programs to develop and procure more of these systems. Krupp initiated its own design and this program resulted in the" 28cm Kanone 5 Eisenbahngeschutz." The name is often abbreviated to 28cm K5 (E) (Eisenbahngeschutz means railroad gun) and 24 examples, the largest quantity of any rail gun, were produced. They were initially deployed along the English Channel to support the invasion of Britain. After this aborted event, they were deployed on all fronts to support other actions.