Ron Bell
Reviews By Author
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British Escort Destroyers of the Second World WarPublished: October 25, 2022 This is not really a full history of these ships. Rather it is a brief overview of their design and development. It starts with sections giving brief descriptions of the various classes, then moves into a section on all the products, kit and aftermarket, available to construct models of these ships. After that are twelve pages of some excellent models of the ships in varying scales. The next… more |
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Scorpion and Scimitar British Armoured Reconnaissance Vehicles 1970-2022Published: September 9, 2022 This book is really in four parts. The first is a general description of the development and deployment of these two vehicles. It’s not technical and doesn’t go into the internal working of the mechanical “stuff” but it does give you a good idea of how the Scorpion and Scimitar came to be and why the design decisions that were made were made the way they were and how the design has evolved… more |
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British Bombers of the 1970s and '80sPublished: April 3, 2022 This book covers only the Blackburn Buccaneer and the Avro Vulcan. The author was intimately involved with the Buccaneer as a pilot and instructor, so most of the volume concerns this aircraft. In fact, he states that he spent most of his career avoiding the Vulcan so is not really the man to write about that aircraft. It is not really a reference book as no background, historical or technical… more |
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Scapa Flow: Home of the Royal Navy 1939-1945Published: March 2, 2022 This volume is from MMP’s Maritime Series and is a comprehensive description and history of the Royal Navy’s base in the Orkney Islands at the Northern tip of Great Britain during WW II, Skapa Flow. It starts with a complete geographic description and a brief pre-WW II history of the base and then goes into a step-by-step description of the base’s development, facilities and defenses,… more |
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Bottled Lacquer PaintPublished: February 7, 2022 Tamiya has had lacquer paints in their catalogue for a long time, but until recently, at least in the U.S, they were only available in spray cans, which limited how they could be used and incurred a rather steep price. However, Tamiya has now made their lacquer paints available in .33 fl.oz. bottles in the United States. The color range is limited at the moment, and we can only hope that more… more |
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Flying Flatiron - Gloster JavelinPublished: January 9, 2022 This book is from their Orange Series that specializes in particular aircraft types, in this case the Gloster Javelin. There are 208 pages of mixed text, photos, line drawings, charts and tables of info about the aircraft starting with a rather detailed recounting of the conception and initial design of the aircraft and how that design evolved into the final version. It then goes on to discuss… more |
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World War II British TrucksPublished: December 14, 2021 The KitThis one took me by surprise as it was listed as three British trucks. Since it was in 1/35, I assumed that meant it was a kit of a British truck with three configurations to choose from. Imagine my surprise when a rather larger box containing three complete 1/35 British truck kits arrived! They are a 6X6 W.O.T. 8, a W.O.T. 6 and a Leyland Retriever. The parts count is,… more |
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The Liberation of the Philippines, Images of WarPublished: December 10, 2021 This book from the Images of War series, consists of 239 pages of mixed text, maps and black & white photos of the campaign to recapture the Philippines during WW II. There are seven chapters and an epilogue that cover the background to US involvement in the islands, the Japanese conquest of the islands, the terrain involved , the weapons used, brief bios of the principle commanders, the… more |
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Mark IV Female British WW I TankPublished: September 10, 2021 The KitThe kit consists of 14 nicely cast resin pieces, one fret of PE parts and a small decal sheet. I found no bubbles, voids or “mushy” casting, however, as can be seen in the photos, there is more resin contained in the casting blocks than in the kit parts. These are quite frankly huge and removing them is the single biggest chore in assembly. I used a Dremel tool saw to cut the… more |
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The Aircraft Carrier HMS InvinciblePublished: August 18, 2021 This is another in Kagero’s series of books that focus on one particular ship, in this case the HMS Invincible. The book consists of one column of text about the ship that is like what you would read on a kit’s instruction sheet and 28 pages of line drawings of just about every aspect of the ship from the island down to the various aircraft that served aboard and the individual defense weapons… more |