Dave Morrissette
Reviews By Author
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Raiders from New FrancePublished:
Osprey Publications latest in the Elite series is Raiders from New France which covers North American Forest Warfare in the 17th and 18th century. At the time, warfare was a formal affair with men in lines advancing other men’s lines or the like. This area of North America at the time was wilderness, Indians and stand alone forts so a new type of warfare was developed and that is the focus of this book along with the people and weapons that fought in those wars. The book is broken into well thought out chapters and include:
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Armies of the Great Northern War 1700-1720Published:
Osprey is renowned for their concise histories of the rarer conflicts around the globe. This edition covering “Armies of the Great northern War:1700-1720) is just such an edition, covering the Great Northern War which was fought in the Baltic region and ranged all the way from Norway to southern Ukraine. In the end, it led to the destruction of the Swedish Empire acquisitions in the war of 1618-48 as well as transformation of Russia under Peter the Great. The book is 48 pages in the standard Osprey size and is illustrated with color plates, maps and text describing all the combatants and battles. Chapters included are:
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Q-Men F-35B Lightning IIPublished:
QMEN is part of the Kitty Hawk Panda family and specializes in egg planes - planes shaped like an egg. These have been around from many manufacturers and are simplified versions of the real plane. In this case the plane is 19 parts and the pilot is an additional 13 plus a resin head. And the pilot is a kitty cat! There is even a tail and ears sticking out of a nice rendition of the F-35’s special helmet. The kit is meant to be snap fit and the tolerances are pretty tight so it all works. More on that later. The parts are well molded with no flash. Great color instructions and painting guide come with it and there is a sheet of water slide decals. Construction starts by adding the intake inserts to the bottom of the lower fuselage. I snapped these in and glued. Fit was… more |
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Olkhovskiy Torpedo (two seat)Published:
When this first came up for review, I’ll admit I never heard of this plane or company which is intriguing. A little quick research and I found that this was one of the first Russian monoplanes and it had an interesting difference with many planes - no ailerons. The ends of the wing bias because of their tether tension control wiring. That was enough for me. Omega Models located in the Czech Republic makes limited run resin models of lesser known subject. This kit comes in cream colored resin in 23 pieces with decals, instructions and a length of wire. My first action was to wash the parts with dish detergent to remove any mold release and let dry. Next, I separated the parts from casting blocks and sanded down the minimal seam lines. All this prep work is critical as finding… more |
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Depth Charge Mk. 54Published:
One of the under recognized armaments for after market has been the depth charge. It is fairly simple to find missiles, bombs and other under wing things all very well done and in most scales but not so much depth charges. Brengun has issued a set (which looks like a rerelease of the Attack Hobby set) of the Mk. 54 Depth Charge in 1/72nd scale. Looking at the set, you get two gray resin blocks which contain the depth charge body and the nose pin for the front arming propeller. There is also a photoetch fret containing 18 pieces, a set of decals and the instructions for assembly, painting and decaling the set. Assembly starts with cutting the depth charges free- make sure the front is flat. You will need to drill a hole here for the front arming pole.… more |
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Dog House with DogPublished:
One thing I find very refreshing amongst the modeling community is some of the ideas that come out and this one caught my attention immediately- a dog and his (or her?) doghouse. The set is very simple and comes as five parts. The doghouse is cast as one piece and the roof is separate. The dog, a burn drum and a milk container also come. All are cast perfectly and the only preparation was washing the parts and removing the casting blocks. In looking at this review, I could have just painted the parts but it just begged for a little base and a diorama. So before paint, I grabbed a little wood plaque and added some groundwork with Durham’s Water Putty. I impressed the doghouse and drum into it and grabbed a 1/32nd scale pilot and pushed in some shoe prints and let… more |
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MiG-25PU Foxbat-CPublished:
Kitty Hawk continues their release of the MiG-25 line with the MiG-25 PU Foxbat-C version. This version was a 2 seat conversion trainer for the MiG-25 P interceptors. It has a new nose section with 2 separate cockpits and has no combat capability. Looking in the box, you get lots of sprues. There are sixteen gray sprues with well done parts with nice engraved panel lines. There is also two decals sheets representing the four markings included. There are resin parts supplied for the landing gear, cockpits and two superb pilot figures. Lastly, there is one sheet of photoetch. The markings allow the building of:
IPMS/USA did a… more |
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AIM-9X Sidewinder (2pcs)Published:
The AIM-9X is the latest version of the venerable Sidewinder first used in 1956. If you are going to build a modern jet past 2003, it probably would have carried the AIM-9X. For modelers, AIM-9X missiles are scarce in the 1/32nd scale range. Brengun comes to the rescue with two superbly cast examples in set 32039. Inside the package, you will find one casting block containing the missile body and two different motor sections- one for training and one live. There are two of these blocks to make two missiles. Also included is a PE fret for the fins, two cast seeker head covers, and a magnificent clear casting for the seeker heads. Lastly, a complete set of decals is included. Assembly is straightforward and the only decision you need to make up front is live or… more |
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British Rifleman vs French Skirmisher- Peninsular War and Waterloo 1808-1815Published:
The book is set up to introduce the groups involved- British Light Infantry versus French Light Infantry (Skirmishers). Each group has the specifics from recruitment, formation of the group and morale discussed along with very well detailed drawings of each soldier showing their weapons, dress and equipment. One thing detailed early on was the use of muskets versus rifles. The British used Baker riffles with smaller rounds, rifled barrels and an increased range. He French used a Charleville Dragoon Musket with larger caliber rounds and no rifling. There are specific sections on the training of each group, its weapons and their command and control strategy. The table of contents looks like this:
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Hungarian Armored Fighting Vehicles in the Second World WarPublished:
The coverage of WWII in print has been profound covering many aspects or the Untied States, Britain and Germany in the European theater. What hasn’t been covered as well is the remainder of the Axis powers and their contributions and participation in the conflict. Writer Eduardo Manuel Gil Martínez aims to correct part of that with this book covering Hungarian Armor in WWII. The book covers from prewar to the end of WWII with superb period black and white photos and an explanation of the people, battles, and equipment involved. The table of contents looks like this:
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