Frank Landrus
Reviews By Author
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Arab MiGs Volume 3: The 1967 WarPublished:
Tom Cooper and David Nicolle's Arab MiG series is an incredible history that addresses the Arab air forces of Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria and from 1955 through 1973. Although MiG aircraft dominate the story, all Post-WWII Arab aircraft are included. The authors have been able to access official archives as well as the combatants involved to provide a unique perspective of the Middle East conflicts. Volume one in this series, published November 19, 2009, covered the background of the Arab air forces from 1955 focusing on MiG-15 and MiG-17 fighters. Volume two, published October 19, 2011, addressed the Arab air force supersonic fighters from 1956 through 1967. Volume three in the Arab MiGs series focuses on the Arab air forces in the June 1967 War. Three additional… more |
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Matra AS 37 Martel with PylonPublished:
PJ Production has jumped in to help 1/48 Mirage III series model builders. This new release provides one Matra AS 37 Martel along with the pylon as featured on the Dassault fighter. This set is probably focused on the new Kinetic 1/48 Mirage III kits, but it should also work well on the Academy, Eduard, Fonderie Miniatures, Heller, and Hobby Boss kits; along with the older ESCI kit that has also been re-boxed by Revell and Italeri. Notable is the re-sealable packaging that PJ Production uses that makes the parts easy to review and then stuff back into the package securely. You will want to be careful handling the rear resin fins as their small size makes them an easy sacrifice to the carpet monster. Painting instructions are included with the small instruction sheet. I found… more |
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MiG-17 / 19 Aces of the Vietnam WarPublished:
The newest in Osprey’s Aircraft of the Aces series is authored by István Toperczer, A Hungarian Air Force flight surgeon. Toperczer, has focused on the Vietnam War, specifically the North Vietnamese side, and has interviewed many of the North Vietnamese leading air aces over the last twenty years in his numerous visits to North Vietnam. He authored Squadron Signal’s “Air War Over North Vietnam: The People’s Air Force” in 1998, followed by Osprey’s Combat Aircraft 25 “MiG-17 and MiG-19 Units of the Vietnam War” and Osprey’s Combat Aircraft 29 “MiG-21 Units of the Vietnam War” in 2001. Schiffer’s hard bound “MiG Aces of the Vietnam War” was published in 2015. Illustrator Jim Laurier, a native of New England, provides the color profiles. Jim has been drawing since he could hold a pencil… more |
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AIM-9B Sidewinder with PylonsPublished:
PJ Production has jumped in to help 1/48 Mirage III series model builders. This new release provides two AIM-9B Sidewinders along with the Aero 3 missile rails and the CES-3 pylons featured on the Dassault fighter. This set is probably focused on the new Kinetic 1/48 Mirage III kits, but it should also work well on the Academy, Eduard, Fonderie Minatures, Heller, and Hobby Boss kits; along with the older ESCI kit that has also been re-boxed by Revell and Italeri. Notable is the re-sealable packaging that PJ Production uses that makes the parts easy to review and then stuff back into the package securely. You will want to be careful handling the resin fins as their small size makes them an easy sacrifice to the carpet monster. Painting instructions are included with the small… more |
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Windsock Centenary Datafile 173 Pfalz D.IIIa At War!Published:
Greg Van Wyngarden has taken a new look at the Pfalz D.IIIa service in WWI. This is but the first volume of a two volume set. Datafile number 21 by Peter M. Grosz came out in1995 so it is about time that Windsock revisited the Pfalz D.IIIa! The initial Pfalz D.III aircraft received a poor reception amongst German pilots as it was regarded as inferior to the Albatros D.V. That doesn’t negate the fact that it was still superior to most of the Allied opposition of the time. The Pflaz firm, however, did listen to the pilot’s concerns over the D.III and soon offered improvements in the form of the D.IIIa. The cover features a sensational painting, “Silver Eagles Over Flanders”. Bob Karr depicts of two German Navy MFJ “Yellow Beaks” Pfalz D.IIIA aircraft. The one in the foreground is… more |
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RP 825 Fuel Tank with PylonPublished:
PJ Production has jumped in to help 1/48 Mirage III series model builders. This new release provides you with a Mirage center line RP 825 fuel tank along with the pylon featured on the Dassault Mirage IIIS / RS, CJ, CJ / EZ, and the Cheetah. This set is probably focused on the new Kinetic 1/48 Mirage III kits, but it should also work well on the Academy, Eduard, Fonderie Minatures, Heller, and Hobby Boss kits; along with the older ESCI kit that has also been re-boxed by Revell and Italeri. Notable is the re-sealable packaging that PJ Production uses that makes the parts easy to review and then stuff back into the package securely. You will want to be careful handling the resin fins as their thinness makes them easy to break or chip. There are no painting instructions included… more |
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A-26 / B-26 Invader in ActionPublished:
David Doyle’s latest book continues to expand on Squadron Signal’s long standing In Action series that initiated back in 1971. This is actually the third book to cover the A-26/B-26 Invader in the In Action series. Jim Mesko authored the first in 1984 (1037) followed by Jim Mesko in 1993 (1134), both of which are out of print. This edition by David Doyle adds considerably to the material provided in the first two. Veteran illustrator Don Greer provides the color artwork for the full page length color profiles within this tome. Todd Sturgell provides the line illustrations that depict the differences between variants. After many years of being published in enthusiast publications focused on military vehicle restorations, David Doyle ‘graduated’ to full-fledged books in 2003. His… more |
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The Baron and his Funfdecker FokkerPublished:
Background‘The Baron and his Funfdecker Fokker’ is a re-release of the classic H-190 kit that was released in 1971. It has been re-released through the years several times as kit number 7236 and now here as 1735. This kit was originally part of the Deal’s Wheels (named after artist Dave Deal) series that primarily focused on car caricatures (13 of them), but a companion kit was issued with it under the title ‘Lucky Pierre of the Lafayette Escadrille’ featuring Pierre hanging on to the upper wing of an inverted Nieuport 17. There were also two WWII era airplane caricatures with the ‘Weiner Moldy and his Blown Messa-Schnitzel 109’ and ‘Flt. Lft. Rif Raf & his Spitsfire’. Now, less you think, that these might not have been real, there were actually four show cars produced… more |
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Window WipersPublished:
A feature that you can quickly notice on almost any 1/48 soft-skin AFV are the windshield wipers. Often they are either molded into the clear windshield, or they are absent all together. Hauler has come to the rescue with eight different sized windshield wipers. The photoetch sheet provided gives you a total of 120 individual windshield wipers along with simple instructions on folding them to set on the windshield. Hauler uses an open plastic pouch that is stapled to the header card. You will want to be careful handling the photo-etch windshield wipers as their small size makes them an easy sacrifice to the carpet monster. Once you select the correct size to use, its simply a matter of freeing the windshield wiper from the photo-etch fret. The instructions show that a… more |
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Windsock World War Centenary Autumn 2016, Vol.32, No.3Published:
The Autumn 2016 edition of Windsock World War Centenary is the third edition of Volume 32. The cover subject is a reproduction Albatros D. Va with Rob Horne in character that is owned and operated by TVAL of New Zealand. More color photos from reproductions from TVAL (Peter Jackson) are depicted in the photo spread, “Stow Maries Photo Shoot” from Essex England. The “Our Reader’s Gallery” features excellent builds of a Wingnut Wings 1/32 Salmson 2A2, 1/32 Fokker D.VII, and a Roden 1/32 Sopwith Triplane. The fourth in a series by the late Harry Woodman focuses on an unpublished update to his rare Scale Model Aircraft in Plastic Card that is a must have. This “Practical Modeling” feature provides updates to the original and is supplemented with plenty of archival material… more |