Reviews of products for scale miscellaneous models.

Book Author(s)
Philip Wilkinson
Review Author
Luke R. Bucci, PhD
Published on
Company
Fonthill Media
MSRP
$60.00

Thanks to Casemate Publishing & IPMSUSA for the review copy!

Philip Wilkinson has written a tome on a topic seldom seen – Anglo-Russian air force togetherness from before the First World War to a few years ago. This book contains a wealth of historical information that is very difficult to find, along with a first-hand view of military cooperation (or not) by the author. Mr. Wilkinson served in the RAF and thus this book is chiefly concerned with British airpower and its changes through war and peace. His perspective and insights are many and astute. If you are looking for technical details or operational histories, this is not the right book. If you want to know the highlights of RAF-Russian interactions from an RAF viewpoint, this is the right book.

Book Author(s)
Amaru Tincopa
Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
Company
Helion & Company
MSRP
$29.95

Born in Lima, Peru, in 1977, Amaru Tincopa is a graduate in law. He developed a strong interest in history at a very young age and began researching and publishing about Peruvian and Latin American military aviation history quite early. His first book, covering the deployment history of the Aeroplani Caproni and that Italian company’s endeavor in Peru was released in 2003 for an Italian publisher. He has since published a dozen additional titles in Argentina, France, and the United Kingdom, while three others are in the pipeline. Amaru Tincopa is currently cooperating with numerous renowned military aviation history magazines around the world. This is his third book for Helion.

Book Author(s)
H.G. Wells and Andy Callen
Review Author
Jim Pearsall
Published on
Company
Helion & Company
MSRP
$29.95

The Book

Inside the front cover is a listing of other titles in Helion & Company’s “Paper Soldiers” series. Interested in the Civil War? Which one, American or English Civil War? They have games for both. Roman legions? American Revolution? Trafalgar? The Spanish Armada? It’s all in there.

This book is based on H. G. Wells’ 1913 book which gives rules for movement and battle with miniature armies. The book is subtitled “A Game for Boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty and for that more intelligent sort of girl who likes boys’ games and books. “

Book Author(s)
Michael Green
Review Author
Bill Kluge
Published on
Company
Pen and Sword Books Ltd
MSRP
$22.95

This edition in the “Images of War” series provides a overview of U.S Marine Corps operations in Vietnam, from the initial deployment of a Marine Hawk anti-aircraft missile battery near DaNang in February, 1965, followed a month later by elements of the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, to the final withdrawal of Marine ground troops in June, 1971. Marine air was finally withdrawn in September of 1972, with off shore Marine aircraft and security forces participating in the evacuation of Saigon in 1975 (the book’s photo coverage ends with the withdrawal of Marine ground forces).

The limited text is arranged chronologically in four chapters:

Review Author
Scott Hollingshead
Published on
Company
AMMO by Mig Jimenez
MSRP
$2.38

If reading this review feels a little like deja vu all over again, I previously reviewed five of the Shaders, and as four additional colors were still waiting for analysis, I volunteered to help out. Fortunately, I cannot plagiarize myself, so writing this was very easy indeed. Now go ahead and enjoy my assessment of some additional Shaders colors.

Review Author
Dan Brown
Published on
Company
Mission Models
MSRP
$5.75

Mission Models Paints has released several new colors recently for modern AFVs. This example is for modern Israeli armor, specifically the Merkava line of vehicles. This paint color is meant to cover most Israeli AFVs from the late 1970s to the present.

Like all other Mission Models water-based acrylics MMP-128 is odorless, fast drying, designed not to clog airbrush tips, and to produce a smooth, durable finish. Mission Models helpfully includes a guide on how to work with their paint on their website under the Tech Support Section. The paint is thicker than many acrylics I have worked with and it is not pre-thinned for air brushing. It does appear though that the paint particles are very fine and they have helpfully included a stainless-steel ball in every bottle to enhance mixing, which is a very nice touch.

Book Author(s)
Donald Nijboer
Review Author
Mike Lamm
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$22.00

As with all the Osprey Duel series books, most of the book provides a detailed description of the weapons and equipment involved. This book is no different with a large section of the book covering the various heavy bombers used by the Allies from the early RAF Short Sterling and Halifax bombers, to the US B-17 and B-24 heavy bombers. Interestingly enough, while the Lancaster is discussed, in the book, the Sterling bombers receive more attention, which is mostly based on their inadequacies. The book has an extensive section dedicated to the various flak guns, with detailed drawing and many photographs of the various types used by Germany. Osprey's Duel series is a well-established line of books providing an overview of machine-on-machine combat action from design and development through combat. The books include a thorough analysis of the elements which affected the overall outcome of specific battles, or operations.

Book Author(s)
John Grehan & Alexander Nicoll
Review Author
Bill O'Malley
Published on
Company
Pen and Sword Books Ltd
MSRP
$26.95

Dunkirk Evacuation Operation Dynamo is an excellent book that paints a vivid picture of the chaos and monumental evacuation efforts to save the British Army early in WWII. The book describes one of the most inspiring stories of World War II, the evacuation from Dunkirk, on a daily basis from Sunday, May 26, 1940 through Monday, June 3, 1940. Evacuation of Britain’s only army, the British Expeditionary Force, from Dunkirk was chaotic and rushed but miraculously saved the BEF.

Part of Pen & Swords Illustrated Series, the book is a compilation of fascinating photos. The book is organized in chapters for each of the nine days of the evacuation. Each chapter provides some text describing the major operations of the day and includes many black-and-white photographs of the rescue operations. The photographs are high-quality, quite clear, and helpful descriptions are provided in the photo captions.

Review Author
Dick Montgomery
Published on
Company
Flex-I-File
MSRP
$25.99

It is difficult to find many modelers that have never used a Flex-I-File product. Most modelers have several of the Flex-I-File aluminum sanding frames on their workbench, and several packets of the abrasive refill tapes ready for use. Then there are the Flex Pads which are available in varied grits. Just in case the reader is one of those “unfortunates”, this review will result in some of your model money being spent.

Before we dive into the review, to be clear, the sanding frame is also sometimes referred to as “the handle” to which the abrasive tape is attached. And the abrasive tape is sometimes labeled “the sanding strip”. A Flex Pad is also known as a sanding stick.

The Flex Set being reviewed includes:

Book Author(s)
Jon Diamond
Review Author
Dick Montgomery
Published on
Company
Pen & Sword
MSRP
$22.95

Jon Diamond is an accomplished author with a number of published books to his credit. His previous works include “Stilwell and the Chindits”, War In the South Pacific, Invasion of Sicily, Invasion of the Italian Mainland, Anzio and Victory at Cassino, and now MacArthur’s Papua New Guinea Offensive 1942-1943. These and other books by Mr. Diamond are published by and available through Pen and Sword.

The Japanese strategy was to threaten northern Australia by capturing Port Moresby. In this publication Mr. Diamond lays out the strategy that MacArthur put forward to thwart this Japanese plan. The text that Mr. Diamond provides is comprehensive in its coverage of the theatre of operations, the impact of the geography in which the campaign took place, and a study of the commanders and combatants involved in the fighting.