IPMS Number
12907

Reviews By Author

Front Cover

The Aircraft Carrier HMS Invincible

Published: August 18, 2021
Book Author(s): Witold Koszela
Company: Kagero Publishing

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

Box Art

USS Pittsburgh CA-72

Published: June 4, 2021
Company: Atlantis Model Company

The Kit

Atlantis continues to re-release some of the kits a lot of us grew up with. This example is the 1954 Revell U.S.S. Pittsburgh. The kit was re-released many times over the years as the Pittsburgh, the Helena and with new parts updating it with Terrier missies as the Boston and Canberra. This release is in its WW II guise. You get decals for every ship in its class (Baltimore… more

Package

Mk.IV Male (Emhar kit)

Published: April 19, 2021
Company: Hauler

This set consists of one photoetch fret with parts to detail and/or replace kit parts on Emhar’s 1/72 British Mark IV Male tank. Mainly they are replacement parts for the kit’s un-ditching beam rails, some detail parts for that beam, replacement sponson doors, pistol port covers and parts to enable the modeler to open up the driver’s and commander’s vision ports. There’s also a piece to… more

Book Cover

Operation Colossus, The First British Airborne Raid of WW II

Published: September 22, 2020
Book Author(s): Lawrence Paters
Company: Greenhill Books

Operation Colossus was an airborne commando raid into Italy early in the war to interdict a particular aqueduct vital to the towns in the ‘heel’ of Italy. The operation is not very well known and this book is a welcome addition to anyone’s WWII library as it fills a void not covered in other publications. Author Lawrence Paterson… more

Book Cover

Crete, The Battle for Heraklion, 1941

Published: September 15, 2020
Book Author(s): Yannis Prekatsounakis
Company: Helion & Company

If you are looking to learn about the battle for Crete in WWII, Crete, The Battle for Heraklion, 1941 may not be the book for you to start with. This book deals almost exclusively with the battle for the town and airfield of Heraklion, only one of three landing areas for the German paratroopers on Crete. However, if you are interested in the stories of those on the “sharp end of the… more

Box Art

M-46 Patton Tank

Published: May 17, 2020
Company: Atlantis Model Company

The Kit

Remember these? This kit is from the dawn of armor modeling in the 50's. Aurora had a series

of 1/48 tank kits that included the Stalin III, Chi Ha, M-109, Swedish “S” tank, Centurion, M-70, and Churchill, none of which would be modeled in any scale for literally decades. This is the Atlantis re-release of the M-46 Patton.

There are 127 parts, including four… more

Box Art

The Colosseum

Published: February 9, 2019
Company: Italeri

The Kit

This is one in a series of architectural models that Italeri is producing. Kudos to them for doing some really different things in modeling, with their Leonardo Da Vinci line and now this architectural one.

No number of parts is given, but my guess is around 60 or so, most of those being the columns at the top. The parts are sharply molded in a light tan plastic with… more

Product Picture

Blenheim Mk IV Mask Set for Airfix Kit (new tool)

Published: June 28, 2021
Company: Eduard

One of the bug-a-boos of a lot of aircraft models for me is all that glass that needs to be masked in order to paint. I’ve read several tutorials and tried lots of methods, but it’s all tedious and with my skill level brings about at best mediocre results. Then along comes pre-cut masks and my life is changed.

Eduard’s mask sets are precisely die cut on the same sort of masking tape/… more

Packaging

Blenheim Mk IV Exterior Detail Set

Published: June 28, 2021
Company: Eduard

Airfix has released two 1/72 Blenheims, a Mk I and a Mk IV, and Eduard makes several detail and masking sets for both. The subject of this review is their exterior detail set for the Mk IV. Most of the “true” exterior parts are mostly access hatches and panels that are glued to the exterior skin of the aircraft. These are simple to deal with; however, they do stand proud of the surface, which… more

Front Cover

The Forgotten War of the Royal Navy - Baltic Sea 1918-1920

Published: September 26, 2018
Book Author(s): Michal Glock
Company: Mushroom Model Publications - MMP Books

From its title, this book purports to be about the Royal Navy, but only a minority of the text is devoted to that service. There is no mention of it at all until page 34 (Out of 144 pages total, or roughly almost 25% of the way through the book), where the fate of some submarines sent to the Baltic in 1915 is covered in one paragraph. The Royal Navy then does not re-appear until page 46. While… more