ICM has released a kit of a Vickers Machine Gun in 35^th scale. The kit includes 21 parts, and that includes two versions of the body of the machine gun. One version has the water jacket molded onto the barrel cylinder, and the other version does not have the water jacket in place. An ammo can, consisting of three parts, is included. The lid on the ammo can is molded in the open position so that the ammo belt attached to the machine gun can then have its other end attached to the ammo inside the ammo can, giving the finished project the appearance of being loaded and ready for use. If one is using the barrel with the water jacket, there is a container representing the water can that consists of 5 parts. There is no “hose” part to connect the water container to the water jacket. The lack of a water hose is not a problem. That part can be made by stretching sprue, allowing the builder the flexibility to place the water container and gun as desired when building a diorama.

This book covers the complete history of the 3^rd SS Panzer Regiment – part of the Totenkopt Division. The subject is approached from the men’s stories, profiles, battles and weapons used.

The “first person” accounts are the highlight of this book. It is written in such a way that it draws you in and you are there experiencing what they did. I must admit I enjoyed this so much and learnt a lot about the feeling, day to day routines as well as the battles. The soldier’s profiles are another great way to help you understand who these people were.

The regiment was formed in late 1942 in France but was transferred to the Eastern front and was involved in many major campaigns and battles in this part of the war. The chapters are broken down well and each covers major events and periods in the regiment’s history.

The illustrations, photos and documents are impressive and significantly added to understanding the whole period in history for these men.

Belgium PJ Productions makes wonderful resin aftermarket pieces in all scales to enhance many models. This set is a couple modern European pilots in 1/72^nd scale. They are listed for a Rafale but would work in any similar plane also. The set comes with six pieces of finely cast dark gray resin- two pilot bodies and four arms. The pilots are NOT duplicates of one another and are different which is an excellent detail.

Assembly was straightforward- I removed the parts with a razor saw and scraped a couple fine seam lines off (there were very few) and glued the arms into position with super glue. The super glue filled any minor seams, so no putty was needed. I mounted the pilots on poles for painting and primed with Alclad gray.

ICM has released a new tooled figure representing a British Female Police office in this case with the Special weapons squad as British Police are not normally armed.

In the box is;

• 2 x light grey sprues
• 1 black sprue
• Plastic base part
• 1 instruction sheet

All the sprues are extremely well molded with no little flash and great detail. The inclusion of a base with optional surfaces is a great addition to this kit!

Construction

The construction is very easy, and it assembles very well. You do need to do a little filling on some of the legs to torso joint but its minimal.

I really enjoyed building these and they look great as a team of individually.

Now for only moan about this kit is the lack of decals which would have been a great addition. I made my own Police patch and black and white patterns rather than try to paint them.

Osprey Publications latest in the Elite series is Raiders from New France which covers North American Forest Warfare in the 17^th and 18^th century. At the time, warfare was a formal affair with men in lines advancing other men’s lines or the like. This area of North America at the time was wilderness, Indians and stand alone forts so a new type of warfare was developed and that is the focus of this book along with the people and weapons that fought in those wars.

The book is broken into well thought out chapters and include: