This Kit

The kit’s guns are described as “The Mk 103/38 was a late-war, four-gun installation of the Mk 103 3cm gun from Rheinmetall Borsig. The Mk 103 was an electrically fired, recoil and gas-operated automatic cannon designed to be used as a dual-purpose weapon against air and ground targets.

The Mk 103 had a rate of fire of 280 rounds per minute using high explosive (HE) rounds, and 420 rounds per minute when firing Armor Piercing rounds.

The experimental Mk 103/38 four-gun installation proved troublesome dur to (the) fact that the mount was originally designed for the smaller 2cm Flak 38, and heavy vibration took its toll on both the equipment and the crew aiming the weapon.”

Thanks to Casemate Publishing & IPMSUSA for the review copy!

Piotr Olender is a Polish naval historian who lives in Gdansk, Poland. He has authored a series of books via MMP Books and Casemate that delve into the little-known, predominantly naval wars around the world in the last half of the 1800s and early 1900s.

This particular offering gives an operational history of the so-called Saltpeter War, or The War of the Pacific, that ultimately defined the geographic borders of three western countries of South American – Bolivia, Chile and Peru. This book is one of the Maritime Series published by Stratus s.j. in Sandomierz, Poland.

Sanjay Badri-Maharaj is the author of this book but also was there when it happened. As such, he has a personal stake in getting this book a wide audience. Sanjay is a native TTer (TT stands forTrinidad & Tobago, as they say on the islands), an Indo-Trinidadian. He studied at Kings College London, and received a PhD from the Department of War Studies, focusing on India’s nuclear capabilities. He has authored other books on modern-day military topics from the Caribbean and India, including an upcoming review of English-speaking Caribbean militaries. Sanjay was a visiting International Fellow at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses in New Delhi. Sanjay has also served as a Consultant to the Ministry of National Security in Trinidad, a key player in this particular book. Thus, when Sanjay explains how things are really done in Trinidad, it is not speculation, but eye-witness observation and experience, with the keen eye of a practicing lawyer.

This review looks at four new releases from the Mission Models product line. They are:

• MMP-139 RAL 7017 Dunkelbraun
• MMP-140 RAL 7016 Anthrazitgrau
• MMP-132 US Navy Flight Deck Blue 21
• MMP-169 Transparent Green

Mission Models paints are a non-solvent acrylic-based paint, which are ‘airbrush ready’ and produce a flat finish. The product line consists of a wide array of colors, thinners, finishing coats & supplies. Since prior reviews have covered how to use Mission Models paints, I will forego repeating that.

Some features I have come to really like about Mission Models paints are: bottle contains a “rattle ball” which ensures good paint mixture; some of the bottles have a flip cap which is great for counting/measuring drops of paint you add to your pan; the website contains a very good FAQ, which offers plenty of tips for using their products.

Thanks to Casemate Books (an imprint of Pen & Sword Books) & Casemate Publishers for the review copy!

Alexander Morrow received a PhD in European history from Georgetown University, and has taught history at Georgetown, Franklin & Marshall University and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Alexander is a prolific writer of military history and fiction.

Agostino von Hassell graduated from Columbia Journalism School and has taught at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. He too is a prolific writer of military history, but also of food history.