Luke R. Bucci, PhD
Reviews By Author
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American Destroyer USS Fletcher 1942. Super Drawings in 3DPublished:
Thanks to Casemate Publishing & IPMS/USA for the review copy! Waldemar Tubus Goralski is a prolific author of illustrated warship books for Kagero Publishing. He also makes exhibitions of his illustrations in Poland where visitors can virtually walk on ships. The late Piotr Forkasiewicz designed the ocean and battle settings (this virtual tour is not in this book). Waldemar is lucky to turn his passion into a career, igniting passions of many modelers around the world. Kagero Publishing, from Poland, is one of the major military history publishing houses. Since 1998, when Kagero started publishing in English, over 550 titles have been produced. Topics focus on individual planes, armor and ships, along with a bevy of focused topics, such as a class of warships or an… more |
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The Paraguayan War 1864-70. The Triple Alliance at stake in La Plata. Campaign 342.Published:
Gabriele Esposito is an Italian student of military history with an interest in 1800s Latin America. Giuseppe Rava contributed three two-page and a smaller paintings in color of the pivotal battles of this war. Osprey’s Campaign 342 covers the war that involved the eastern countries of South America as they joustled their own revolutions with military actions against their neighbors, setting the stage for current countries and boundaries. Like other Osprey Campaign books, this issue is 96 pages (not counting the front/back covers) –enough for a discussion on the war and its aftermath. This book provides twelve maps of the theatre, individual battles and subsets of battles. Sixteen B&W and twelve color photographs, 28 B&W and 12 color illustrations, three Tables… more |
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Portuguese Dragoons 1966-1974. The Return to HorsebackPublished:
Thanks to Casemate Publishing & IPMSUSA for the review copy! John P. Cann has written nine titles on Portugal’s colonial actions in Angola. This book is part of Helion & Company’s Africa@War Series - #42. John Cann is a Research Fellow and retired Professor of National Security Studies at Marine Corps University (www.usmcu.edu) in Quantico, Virginia. John Cann acknowledged the generous help of Lieutenant Colonel (Cavalry) Miguel Freire and Colonel (Cavalry) Paulo Manuel Madeira de Athayde Banazol for their help. In other words, the author learned about this topic from the horses’ mouths, so to speak. What You GetAn 11 11/16 X 8 1/4 inch softcover book of 96 pages (not counting covers) with color covers and four… more |
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Bomber Squadron - Men Who Flew With XV SquadronPublished:
Thanks to Casemate Publishing & IPMSUSA for the review copy! This book is a second edition, with three new chapters. Martyn R. Ford-Jones is the historian for No. XV Squadron Association, Royal Air Force (http://www.xvsqnassociation.co.uk ). His wife, Valerie, is the Treasurer and would have been a co-author but declined the honor. Years were spent interviewing the participants in this book, their families, and careful gleaning of historical records to weave a compilation of human stories set in WW2 of a squadron of British bombers. What You GetA 6 3/8 X 9 3/8 inch hardcover book 1 inch thick with 10.5 font written in British English (not American English). A short foreword by Group Captain Graham Bowerman… more |
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The Japanese Battleship Kirishima 1940 - Super Drawings in 3DPublished:
Thanks to Casemate Publishing & IPMSUSA for the review copy! Waldemar Tubus Goralski is a prolific author of illustrated warship books for Kagero Publishing, and has previously authored Super Drawings in 3D book on Kirishima’s sister ships Kongo (in 2015) and Haruna (in 2013, previously reviewed in IPMSUSA). He is still working on the Hiei, the final sister ship in the foursome of battlecruisers-turned-fast battleships. Each book shows improvements and advancements in the quality and clarity of the CG-generated drawings. He also makes exhibitions of his illustrations in Poland where visitors can virtually walk on ships. Waldemar has cooperated with the late Piotr Forkasiewicz for ocean and battle settings, and dedicates this book to Piotr. Wojciech Lizakowski collaborates… more |
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The Brandenberg-class Battleships 1890-1918. Super Drawings in 3DPublished:
Thanks to Casemate Publishing & IPMSUSA for the review copy! Kagero Publishing continues to illustrate obscure ships in exacting CG 3D detail with their characteristic dark blue background. This time the first German Imperial Navy battleships – the Brandenberg class – is the subject. This book is a softbound European A4 size (8 ¼ by 1111/16 inches) with only English language (instead of English and Polish) –probably because the author was Greek. Tassos Katsikas is a 3D Content Designer, Image Editor for Radnet and graduated from the Anotati Scholi Kalon Technon, a higher education institution in Athens, Greece. Super Drawings in 3D series are designed for modelers to have a color reference for detailed appearances of individual ships, but in this case there were… more |
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The The Russian ASW Guided Missile Cruiser Petropavlovsk. Top Drawings 74 7074Published:
Kagero Publishing, from Poland, is one of the major military history publishing houses. Since 1998, when Kagero started publishing in English, over 550 titles have been produced. Topics focus on specific planes, armor and ships, along with a bevy of focused topics, such as a class of warships or an armor type. Kagero caters to ship modelers by turning out books filled with line and 3D computer-generated illustrations, with incomparable accuracy to details. For warships, Kagero has two series: 1) Super 3D Drawings and 2) Top Drawings, focusing on a single ship per book. The topic of this book review is one of the Top Drawings series, which are designed for modelers to have a reference for detailed appearances of individual ships. Top Drawings consist of color covers with black &… more |
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British Battleship vs Italian Battleship: The Mediterranean 1940-41Published:
Mark E. Stille, a retired Commander of the U.S. Navy, and is a prolific writer and enthusiast for WW2 naval history – over 40 Osprey titles. Paul Wright painted the ships on the cover and in the text. Alan Gilliland illustrated the maps, ship profiles and armaments. Maurizio Brescia provided many of the photographs. This book is in the Duel (Engage the Enemy) series from Osprey Publishing (#101). Here is Osprey’s description of the Duel Series: “Duel is an innovative series of books from Osprey that conveys a complete picture of machine-on-machine action from design and development through to combat, with a thorough analysis of all the human, tactical and technical elements which ultimately decided who triumphed in clashes of men and their war machines. First-hand accounts of… more |
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World War II US Fast Carrier Task Force Tactics 1943-45Published:
Brian Lane Herder is a WW2 naval enthusiast and legislative librarian for Kansas state government. Adam Hook did the illustrations and Martin Windrow is the Series Editor. You get a 9.75 X 7.25 inches size paperback book with ten sections. You get 8 full-page, full color Plates (illustration by Adam Hook), 18 full color photos (most not seen before), 25 B&W photos (most not seen before), 7 tables/diagrams. The full color Plates visualize tactics of fleet deployment and attacks, and are the highlight and main reason for reading this book. Almost every page has a photograph or is an illustration, making this book an easy read with eye-catching visuals. Some of the photographs are in color and most have sharp detail. Most photos appear to be presented for the first time.… more |
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Kawasaki Type Tanker PE Scale Set #794Published:
Bottom LineTom’s Modelworks supplies a hefty, highly-detailed PE set for the Fujimi family of 12 large, Kawasaki-type Imperial Japanese Navy fleet tankers. This PE set is for advanced modelers with some scratch-building experience. Brief HistoryThe Kawasaki type tankers were twelve large (~10000 tons) tankers that were designed in the mid-1930s with the intention of joining the fleet in wartime, to be refitted with underway refueling of warships. Although there were some variations in dimensions from different yards, they were very similar in appearance and performance. Seven were used during the Pearl Harbor attack, and all were extensively used by the fleet, but none survived the war. What You GetThis PE set includes parts for twelve… more |