Wings of Iraq-Volume 1: The Iraqi Air Force, 1931-1970

Published: February 7, 2022
Book Author(s): Milos Sipos & Tom Cooper
Company: Helion & Company

This is my first exposure to the Middle East at War series. This paperback book contains the history of the Iraqi Air Force from its inception up to the Arab/Israeli Wars of the 1970s. It contains over 130 photos, maps, 21 color profiles, and various other illustrations.

The book starts out by providing the history of Iraq, even before the genesis of the air force. This historical background is appreciated since the history of the region has an effect on the formation of the military, especially the air force. The start of air power in the region was shown by the British during WWI And immediately afterwards. Training of Iraqi pilots began in 1930 by the British and with that the beginning of the Iraqi Air Force took hold.

The book follows variety of British aircraft… more

Spitfire Mk.Ia Decals

Published: February 27, 2021
Company: Eagle Editions Ltd.

Eagle Editions has produced some of the most accurate decals on the market. Normally known for their Luftwaffe subjects, they have quite a collection of other aircraft as well, including the Spitfire. With new 1/48th subjects from Airfix, Eduard, and Tamiya these decals are perfectly timed.

There are decals for three aircraft that represent the evolution of the Temperate Land Scheme and the under-surface colors. One aircraft has the black and white belly, the next has the sky color and the following one has the Sky-Blue belly. The first one is flown by P/O Al Deere with the Kiwi emblem in front of the cockpit. The next is flown by Sgt. Bernard Jennings from No.19 Squadron and is typical of the Battle of Britain period. The final option has an American flavor, with a red spinner… more

FW-190A Decals

Published: February 27, 2021
Company: Eagle Editions Ltd.

Eagle Editions has become synonymous with quality research in their parts and decals. This sheet is no exception. With the release of the Eduard and Hasegawa early model 190s there is a need to add some marking options. Packaged in a resealable ziplock baggie are two decal sheets for four aircraft and the instructions.

The decals themselves are printed by Cartograf, so you know they are the highest quality in the world. They are in perfect register, thin and look great. The first sheet is the big sheet with all the aircraft individual markings and enough stencils for one aircraft. The smaller sheet includes enough markings for all four aircraft upper wing crosses.

The instructions are printed on 11 x 27 sheet printed in full color and folded in half and then half again… more

Against All Odds

Published: January 28, 2022
Book Author(s): Air Commodore Kaiser Tufail
Company: Casemate UK

Smaller wars are often overlooked as was the case in the India-Pakistan War of 1971, especially the air war portion. This little-known air war placed two air force with a variety of different aircraft pitted against each other. The author has spent over three decades in the Pakistani Air Force. He has attempted to be objective in his analysis and for the most part I feel he has succeeded in presenting an balanced accounting of the air war.

This book is not my normal book I would read but this one had a difference to me. I am friends with a Pakistani family in our town. While attending a Mehndi party prior to her wedding she introduced me to her father and uncle. The father was Pakistani, and the uncle was Indian. Just a coincidence of where borders were established. She said we… more

The Medieval Longsword

Published: December 19, 2020
Book Author(s): Neil Grant
Company: Osprey Publishing

I recently started to learn how to do German Longsword training, so this book was perfectly timed for me.

In common with the Osprey Weapons series of books, this paperback book consists of 80 pages with colorful illustrations throughout.

Swords have always fascinated me, whether it was Excalibur or Light Sabers, the thrill of sword play has spanned the history of modern man. The Longsword came into fashion in the 1300s until the 1500s as weapons and until the 1700s as sporting weapons. The study of Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) has really taken off in the last few decades. This book is a great introduction of the longsword both as a weapon and a tactical, economic, and social artifact.

The book is broken down into introduction, development, use, impact, and… more

Bf-109F-4 Single, No.20

Published: December 14, 2020
Book Author(s): Dariusz Karnas & Karolina Holda
Company: Mushroom Model Publications - MMP Books

These little single books by MMP Books are quite interesting. They focus on a single subject that is covered very well. The only text is the captions which are written in English. They do an adequate job.

These books are designed with the modeler in mind. As such they have scale drawings in 1/72^nd and 1/48^th scale. I couldn’t find fault with these. They look very accurate to me. After the drawings there are some historical photos and pictures from the parts manual of the aircraft. Intertwined with those photos are plenty of detail photos that should satisfy most modelers. The detail photos are of the F-4 in the Canadian Museum. There are four color pages and one aircraft of Hermann Graf is presented in a three view profile.

Overall these books are… more

F-16C/D Block 40/50 GE F110 Engine Nozzle

Published: August 3, 2020
Company: Brengun

The new engine was added to the F-16 beginning with the Block 30. This engine was the General Electric F110-GE engine. Two versions were used on the F-16, the GE-100 on the Block 30 and 40. The Block 50 fitted the GE-129 model. They are virtually identical externally. This is set for the Tamiya F-16 kit, in particular the Aggressor and CJ kit,

Packaged in a sturdy cardboard box are three high quality grey resin pieces which in themselves are packaged in a resealable plastic bag. There is a small instruction sheet that tells you what you need to replace. There are no blemishes anywhere on any of the resin pieces. The detail is phenomenal throughout.

Starting at the back, the exhaust itself which is the most visible part of the set, has flawless detail for the petals and the… more

F-16C/D Block 42/52 PW F100 Engine Nozzle

Published: August 3, 2020
Company: Brengun

The Tamiya F-16 series of kits are phenomenal renditions of the real airplane. There are multiple boxings. This particular set is designed to replicate the exhaust of the Pratt and Whitney F-100 Exhaust used on the Block 42 and Block 52 aircraft. They are externally very similar. The Block 42 has the -200 version and the Block 52 uses the -229.

Packaged in a sturdy cardboard box are two pieces of light grey resin inside of a resealable plastic sleeve. The two parts are perfectly cast with no blemishes anywhere. The detail on both pieces is remarkable.

The exhaust nozzle is a gem. It includes beautiful detail inside and out. Compared to the kit parts which only hints at the detail, the resin exhaust is perfect. There are beautiful exhaust petals and actuators.

… more

DH.98 Mosquito Two Stage Merlin

Published: August 3, 2020
Company: Brengun

The Tamiya Mosquito is a beautiful kit but it does have one drawback, it can’t be built into a two-stage version. The Airfix kit is the only way to get a two-stage Mosquito out of the box, but they are hard to find and not as easy to build as the Tamiya kit. A few other conversions have been done but they are long out of production. So if you want the build one of the high altitude variants, such as the FB Mk. IX, Mk. XVI, NF XV, or PR Mk.34 or any of the later variants you’ll need this resin set.

Packaged in a sturdy cardboard box with eight resin pieces, two upper engine nacelles, two lower nacelles and four exhaust stacks. Also included is a fret of photo etch to make the intake screens. The parts are protected in a resealable bag. The resin is light grey and absolutely… more

Focke-Wulf Fw-190 A, F, S, G

Published: August 1, 2020
Book Author(s): Krzysztof Janowicz
Company: Kagero Publishing

Kagero has released books of various aircraft in the past. This is their 12th edition of the Mongraph Specials and focuses on the FW-190 short nosed variants. The beautifully hard bound book has over 250 pages of high quality paper. It has all the hallmarks of Kagero’s other books.

There are plenty of clear, large pictures throughout the book. There are also some exquisite color profiles that are an inspiration to any would be modeler or historian. On top of that there are some first rate line drawings in the book as well as separate 1/48 and 1/32nd scale fold out drawings for the FW-190A5 and A-8 that are absolutely gorgeous. There are 1/72nd scale drawings included in the book. Now that all sounds great, so lets see if the contents match the highlights.

We start off… more