The author of this tome, Mario Eens, is well known to those on the international modeling scene as an award winner at European model shows, together with being a regular contributor to the excellent French modeling magazine, Steelmasters. The book itself consists of a master class in building, painting and finishing scale models, divided into five chapters, and spanning 128 pages measuring 8” x 10”.

David Doyle is one of the most prolific US writers of books on military subjects, and over the years has penned literally dozens of excellent titles on military aircraft, ships and armored vehicles. One of his most recent is this book on the Stuart Light Tank of WW2 fame. The book is 112 pages in length, and is printed on high quality glossy paper, the pages measuring 9” x 9”. As the title suggests, the book is divided into main sections on three variants of the Stuart. The Light Tank M3 Stuart had been powered by a radial aircraft engine, but as the US ramped up production of tanks AND military aircraft, efforts were made to find alternative power plants so that the radial aircraft engines could be reserved for actual aircraft. Thus was born the Light Tank M5 Stuart, which retained the original turret of the M3 Stuart, but with a new hull required to house the twin V-8 Cadillac car engines now replacing the original radial aircraft engine.

Italeri’s Description of the Sherman

“The M4 Sherman medium tank was the primary tank used by the United States during World War II. It has been produced in a significant number of units and it formed the backbone of United States Armed Forces during that time. It has been produced in several variants and versions. The first version to be produced on wide scale was the Sherman M4A1, characterized by the rounded edges of the fully cast upper hull. Even the turret had a rounded appearance. The Sherman would enter combat in armored corps of the United States Army in 1942 during the first months of the war. It was armed with the 75mm gun that was replaced in the A1 version with the high-speed 76mm gun. The Sherman was reliable, cheap, and easy to produce in great numbers.”

This is another book in the Tank Craft series which details tanks and also covers model kits and accessories to build the tanks covered in the book. This book covers the Chieftain a British Cold War main battle tank. The Chieftain was designed in the late 1950’s as the replacement for the successful Centurion tank. It was believed to be the best tank in service with the NATO allies during the 1960’s and 70’s.

I found this book contains so much detailed information and pictures of the Chieftain and its variants. The Profile pictures are a particular favorite and has given me a few great ideas of the color schemes for when I build my Takom and Tamiya Kits.

It covers the use of the tank during the Iran- Iraq war and the Gulf war.

The chapters on the different model builds and kits are of great interest and will provide a good resource when modelling this tank.

Total number of parts: 25 each package.

As I’m scratch building a 1/16 scale PT boat, when I saw these neat little shells and cartridges I was curious. What arrived was 4 small packages which included 25 shells or cartridges each in both .50 caliber and .30 caliber. For a large scale I was surprised at how small they were. I was able to compare the .50 caliber ones with a real .50 caliber cartridge and shells, and there is a gigantic difference in size.

These detailing parts are made from brass, have the right dimensions for their scale, and the shell cases even have a hollowed-out end on them. I have photographed them with a real shell just to show the relative size of them. Overall they are very consistent and I’ll bet they will look awesome on any 1/16 scale vehicle, boat, or tank. Their Master-Model website calls them the Ground Master Series.

I want to thank Master-Model and IPMS USA for the opportunity to review these accessories.