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.

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:

The book is another in the great Casemate Images of War series. This book covers images from the invasion of Sicily through the invasion and progress up Italy until the wars end.

The images in the book are excellent and inspire ideas for dioramas for modelers.

The book is full of amazing photos of the Italian campaign, it is very much an overview as the subject is very large. It does tend to focus on the US forces.

I recommend this book to everyone with an interest in WWII.

Thanks go to Casemate Publishing for providing this book to review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it for them

This is a review of the Alpha Abrasives plastic sanding needles

I wasn’t able to find the assorted sanding needles on the Alpha Abrasives website. There were only individual packages of course, medium, and fine.

The needles are evidently made in a two-part mold because there are two mold lines running down the shaft. Not very good if you want to sand a round hole. The mold lines would cause a nick in the hole.

Another item is the point. When/if you break the point or round it off, how are you supposed to get the point back?

While they may be useful for sanding contours, I can’t see them being used on round holes like a headlight or taillight.

Thank you to IPMS for allowing me to review this product.

Summary

This is a review of one of the many Alpha products designed specifically for scale modelers.

I have long been a fan of Alpha products in many of their forms. Especially their micro sanding pads which allow me to perform very finely detailed sanding and polishing. With this 5 pack I can use the entire sheet of sanding film or by combining the sheet (or smaller cut pieces) use them in model sanding. I also use smaller pieces cut into strips and held in place with double sided tape and mounted on small popsicle sticks. Alpha Graphics has produced their products for over 75 years and long established their reputation for high quality, long lasting sanding products.