Frank Landrus
Reviews By Author
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Warpaint Series #149 - Aero L-39, L-59, L-139 and L-159 AlbatrosPublished:
Guideline Publications is the UK's leading publisher of modeling and hobby-related magazines. With a world-class portfolio of titles and an international Social Media presence, Guideline Publications has a dedicated readership that is constantly expanding into new areas. This English language book, Aero L-39- L-59- L-139 & L-159 Albatros, is authored by Jakub Fojtík Ph.D. with scale drawings by Sam Pearson. The latest in Guideline’s Warpaint series, 149, was published in 2025. A digital edition will soon be available. The latest on Guideline’s publications can be found on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/guidelinepub/ Jakub Fojtik attended the Police Academy of the Czech Republic in Prague,… more |
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F-16 Bel Colore Vipers MarkingsPublished:
Bob Sanchez has been in or around the military all his life. He was an "Air Force Brat" and credits his mom with getting him addicted to plastic modeling and airplanes. At the age of 10, Bob's mom came home with a Revell 1/32 scale P-51B and signed him up for the Military Book Club. From that point on, he was hooked! Bob Sanchez was in the USAF for 11 years as an Airborne Instrumentation/Telemetry Technician and flew on the Advanced Range Instrumentation Aircraft as a Chief Flight Examiner. He finished his enlistment with Project Speckled Trout as a Flight Test Engineer performing airborne Comm/Nav testing on the Air Force Chief of Staff airplane. He has over 1,200 flight hours in numerous aircraft to include the C-135C, EC-135E, EC-18B/D, E-9A, NASA 757, F-16C, F/A-18B, King Air, MH-… more |
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RWD-14 "Czapla"Published:
Stratus goes back to 1991 when they launched Fanatyk Plastiku for modelers in the Polish market. The original editorial team included Marek Bronkowski, Wlodzimierz Debicki, Artur Juszczak, Dariusz Karnas, Robert Panek, and Robert Peczkowski. A collaboration with MMP in 1997 later expanded into book publication in 1999 with Stratus, and since then they have built up a list of hard- and soft cover titles on aircraft and aviation, naval, military vehicles, and military history. Stratus / MMPBooks are distributed in North America by Casemate Publications. This English language book, RWD-14 “Czapla” [Heron], is authored by Andrzej Glass and illustrated by Dariusz Karnas and Andrzej M. Olejniczak. European publication was on March 20, 2025 with US release by Casemate in… more |
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Whisky on the Rocks, Volume 1Published:
Helion is a UK-based company that produces books on many aspects of Military History from the Late Medieval period through to the present day. Helion was established in 1996 by University of Warwick graduate Duncan Rogers. Since then, they have published over 1,200 books, with 100 or more new titles coming out every year for readers around the world. Professor Michael Fredholm von Essen is a historian and former military analyst who has published extensively on the history, defense strategies, security policies, and energy sector developments of Eurasia. He is currently the Head of Research and Development at IRI, an independent research institute. Educated at Uppsala, Stockholm, and Lund Universities, Michael Fredholm von Essen has lectured, including during conferences and as a… more |
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French Bombers of WWIIPublished:
One of the latest in Mushroom Model Publications’ White Series, French Bombers of WWII, follows up an earlier volume on French aircraft, 2013’s French Flying Boats of WWII. MMP is calling this book part of their "Rainbow Series." I am guessing that it refers to their large format camouflage and markings set of books in their "White" series that have addressed Bulgaria, Finland, Hungarian, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, and Sweden. This series seems to share a commonality of discussing the specific topic of the evolution of a country's evolution in markings. To that end, this book utilizes many previously unpublished pictures and focuses on individual aircraft and is supplemented with superb color illustrations. Jose Fernandez is a renowned aviation historian, with many books… more |
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Keeler's Kustoms '23 Competition PickupPublished:
BackgroundAtlantis Model Company was founded in 2009 by the former owners of Megahobby.com, Peter Vetri and Rick DelFavero. Atlantis manufactures injection-molded plastic model kits and hobby-related products. When they started Megahobby.com back in 2000, they had dreams of becoming more than just another retail hobby shop. They wanted to become an actual model production company like the Aurora Model Co. and Revell-Monogram. As Megahobby grew, it gave them the opportunity to create Atlantis and finally come out with our own branded model kits. On August 29th, 2018, Atlantis purchased the tooling for many plastic model kits from the new owners of Revell, Revell Inc. USA-Blitz Partners. These molds were from the tooling banks of Monogram, Revell, Aurora and Renwal, some dating… more |
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Cross & Cockade International Winter 2019 Volume 50/4Published:
The latest journal of Cross & Cockade International — Winter 2019, features photographs of Sopwith Pups on the front cover, rear cover, and rear inside cover. These pictures all support the John Grech article on 2nd Lt. Patrick Alva O’Brien. The front cover photograph is of POW Lt. S.S. Hume behind a downed Sopwith Pup, A7340, of 66 Squadron that was lost in action on May 27, 1917.
Cross & Cockade International is a non-profit UK-based group known as the First World War Aviation Historical Society that publishes their journal four times a year. They also provide a free newsletter (sign up on their website) and occasionally publish WWI-themed books like the Sopwith Dolphin monograph I reviewed earlier for IPMS USA. This journal is the sister of the US… more |
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Hotchkiss Machine Guns: From Verdun to Iwo JimaPublished:
John Walter is among the world's most prolific writers on small arms, and the author of 70 books, translated into more than a dozen languages, and authoritative articles in Guns Digest, Shooter's Bible, and The Armourer. This is John’s first book for Osprey. His next Osprey book in the Weapon series is scheduled for 2020. He lives in East Sussex, UK. Adam Hook studied graphic design, and began his work as an illustrator in 1983. He specializes in detailed historical reconstructions. Adam has illustrated Osprey titles on subjects as diverse as the Aztecs, the Ancient Greeks, Roman battle tactics, several 19th-century American subjects, the modern Chinese Army, and a number of books in the Fortress series. His work features in exhibitions and publications throughout the world. Adam… more |
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Showdown in Western Sahara, Volume 2Published:
Helion produces books on many aspects of Military History from the Late Medieval period through to the present day. Helion was established in 1996, and since then they have published almost 1,200 books, with 100 or more new titles coming out every year. The 'Africa@War' series covers African military history since 1945. Tom Cooper is an Austrian aerial warfare analyst and historian. Following a career in the worldwide transportation business – during which he established a network of contacts in the Middle East and Africa – he moved into narrow-focus analysis and writing on small, little-known air forces and conflicts, about which he has collected extensive archives. That resulted in specialization in such Middle Eastern air forces as of those of Egypt, Iran, Iraq, and Syria,… more |
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Hunt for the U-2Published:
Krzysztof Dabrowski from Poland has a lifelong interest in the subject of military aviation, and has written dozens of articles on a variety of related subjects for printed magazines and the ACIG.org/ACIG.info, AeroHisto and The Boresight websites. His particular area of interest is the air warfare during the Cold War, the aircraft involved, and the experiences of their crews. This is his first instalment for Helion and he is working on a second title (Dropping the Big Ones: Live Testing of Soviet Nuclear Bombs, 1949-1962) for release in 2021. Helion is a UK based company that produces books on many aspects of Military History from the Late Medieval period through to the present day. Helion was established in 1996, and since then they have published almost 1,200 books, with 100… more |