Luke R. Bucci, PhD
Reviews By Author
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HMS Rodney and Nelson ShipsPublished:
Casemate Publishers presents Seaforth's ShipCraft 23, Rodney and Nelson battleships by Les & Robert Brown. This book is an update of the original 2015 ShipCraft of Rodney and Nelson. Les Brown is a well-known and accomplished British warship aficionado and builder of beautiful models, with a long history of championing British warships, typically destroyers and smaller warships. He is also a luminary in the Small Warships Group of the IPMS. Canadian Robert Brown has also authored other craft books, including HMS Warspite and British Aircraft Carriers. This heavily illustrated paperback is the ultimate single resource for building accurate models of both Rodney and Nelson, some of the oddest but successful battleships of the 20th century. The book has very little open space,… more |
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The Battleship HMS WarspitePublished:
TopDrawings18 is a magnum opus of research and detail. Oddly, but luckily, this older Top Drawings from Kagero Publishing from 2013 was up for review. No complaints, and had to bring out the drool cup again. Kagero's Topdrawings softbacks are legendary for scale modelers. For ship modelers, they are an ultimate reference of appearance at a particular time, or sometimes several timepoints. Glossy color plates from covers and inserts are welcome, but color renditions of more views are found in the hefty companion 3D Drawings books of the same subjects. TopDrawings are specifically handy for scale modeler workbenches. Scale line drawings can be easily resized to fit whatever scale the modeler is building by modern copiers, a boon for scratchbuilding or replacing inaccurate parts. … more |
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Skoryi-class Destroyer Top Drawings 82Published:
Kagero's Super Drawings in 3D version was released in 2020. Kagero Top Drawings are geared for model builders in a more affordable and benchtop-useful format. Another excellent pictorial book with large line drawings in color and B&W of an obscure subject - the most numerous class of post-war destroyers until the US Navy Arleigh Burke class, all started post-WW2. Project 30bis served as the backbone of Soviet fleet destroyers until the 1960s. This publication is designed for modelers, including scratch-builders, for any scale desired. The accuracy and number of views of the entire ship, ship sections, and ship fittings (even down to fairleads and bollards) are stunning, as usual. Even the colors appear to be accurate. This issue shows the class (named Smelyi class in Russia)… more |
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Polish Armored Trains 1921-1939, Volume 3Published:
Beyond expectations! Everybody loves a trainwreck, right? And yes, this book ends with trainwrecks, but in a very good way. We all know how it ends – with duty, honor, courage, defeats, little victories, explosions, derailments, disaster – after all, it does end in September 1939 with the German invasion outcome. But from 1921 to 1939, it chronicles the continued saga of national defense after the Poles kicked invading Russians out against all odds, using armored trains as mobile artillery and troop transports, until these trains became one of the first victims of blitzkrieg. This book is jam-packed with such detail, photos, illustrations, maps, and color plates (by the author) there is almost zero open white spaces and not much text. A quick read, and with all the visual content… more |
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MINURSO: United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, Peace Operation Stalled in the Desert, 1991-2021Published:
Number 64 in Helion’s Africa @ War Series details the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping efforts for the past 20+ years from the former on-the-ground head of the UN mission. The book illustrates what it is like to oversee trying to keep groups of nomadic tribes that have been warring for centuries over some of the most inhospitable areas on planet Earth from continuing the process. Not pretty or heroic. A treatise on absurdity. This book was painful to read, but a reviewer’s duty and morbid curiosity won out. Tip: the history chapter alone is worth the effort to read this book! Chapters
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HMS ColomboPublished:
Thanks to MRC for the review kit and IPMSUSA for the opportunity to conduct and publish this review. Bottom Line: 1/700 scale models of Royal Navy light cruisers built in WW I and repurposed as anti-aircraft (AA) cruisers in WW II have been long awaited as injection-molded plastic kits, and HMS Colombo is the latest arrival, and well done. HistoryHMS Colombo (Pennant D89) was a later C Class light cruiser (also called Carlisle or Capetown sub-class) built near the end of World War I and launched in 1918, too late to see action. There were 28 C class light cruisers in seven groups built, and Colombo was in the last group along with Cairo, Calcutta, Capetown, and Carlisle. The later C class cruisers had a peaked forecastle to give better… more |
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Royal Navy WWII 1920-1941 Paint SetPublished:
Bottom Line: I am going to purchase other paints from Tru-Color Paints after my excellent experiences. Tru-Color Paint was founded in 2008 in Phoenix Az by Rick Galazzo & Scott Cohen. They have hundreds of paints, mostly for automobiles and railroad train hobbyists, but also military colors for aircraft, armament and ships. Starting in 2017, Tru-Color provides paints for German, Japanese, Royal Navy and US navies, from 1920s to modern era, but particularly WW2 colors. This review tries out the Royal Navy early WW2 basic warships colors in Set #1, TCP-13002. This is the first Royal Navy warship paint set from Tru-Color Paint, with more sets promised. What You Get: TCP-1302 Set#1 has six 1 fl oz. size bottles used from 1920-1941 for early WW2 Royal Navy colors. Tru-… more |
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British Light Cruisers. Leander, Amphion and Arethusa ClassesPublished:
Thanks to Casemate Publishers & IPMS/USA for the review copy! Casemate Publishers presents ShipCraft 31, British Light Cruisers Leander, Amphion and Arethusa Classes by Les Brown from Seaforth Publishing. This heavily illustrated paperback is the ultimate single resource for building accurate models of WW2 British Light Cruisers with twin turret 6in main armaments – the Leander, Amphion and Arethusa classes. Class history, appearances of each ship over time, available model kits, model accessories, many photographs, camouflage examples, line drawings and color plates of finished models make a superb reference for these busy warships with many possibilities for modelers. Les Brown is a well-known and accomplished British warship afficionado and builder of beautiful… more |
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IJN Carrier Photoetch SetPublished:
Thanks to Squadron Hobbies for the Gold Medal PE set and IPMSUSA staff for handling the request and publishing this review. Bottom LineOne of the original 1/700 PE sets for WW2 IJN aircraft carriers, designed to complete at least one carrier and having specific parts for 12 carriers. GMM IJN Carrier PE set is basic, supplying generic railings, antenna masts, 3-bladed aircraft props, flight deck nets, inclined & vertical ladders and two Type 22 radars for any IJN aircraft carrier, as well as specific details for older kits of Akagi, Amagi/Katsuragi, Hiryu, Junyo, Kaga, Ryujo, Shinano, Shokaku/ Zuikaku, Soryu and Unryu from early original-molds Aoshima, Fujimi, Hasegawa and Tamiya kits. Still serviceable for more recent IJN carrier kits, including Hiyo, the sister… more |
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Cruisers of the III Reich. Vol. 2.Published:
The author, Wikold Koszela, has written 25+ books on warships – mostly British, United States and German battleships/cruisers, and modern Polish and Soviet Navy warships. Twelve of his publications are in the Kagero Top Drawing series. For this and other books, Witold also supplied the line and color drawings, and they are top quality and very helpful for modelers. I could not find additional information on Witold. What You Get You get a hardbound book, 11.875 X 8.5 inches (A4 size), 136 pages – not counting the covers and blank pages fore and aft. Unlike the 1st Volume, there is no 3-D photos or glasses. Cruisers of the Third Reich Volume 2 is loaded with 141 B&W photographs, nine tables and 24 line drawings. The last two pages of the book have… more |