Reviews of products for scale miscellaneous models.

Book Author(s)
Justin W. Williamson et al
Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Bloomsbury Publishing
MSRP
$12.00

This book provides a bounty of historical documentation on the actual “EAGLE CLAW” operation, along with the pictures of actual events taken in the run up to and aftermath of the overall event. Some aspects of the mission are still classified; sourcing data is frequently difficult for anyone attempting to produce a commercial, open-source narrative on Government operations.

Book Author(s)
M.C. Bishop
Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$22.00

The Spatha by M. C. Bishop is his third book for Osprey Publishing and probably not his last. Mike has been writing since 1983 primarily on archaeology. As part of his interest in archaeology, he has become a prolific artist in black and white illustrations, some of which are found in this book. Many of his works are available or referenced on his web site. He spends his free time doing freelance work in publishing (editing, typesetting, proofreading, etc.) and runs a considerable number of websites primarily devoted to the Roman military. Interestingly, in additions to being a model builder (Airfix), Mike Bishop has been flying gliders since 2004.

Book Author(s)
Lennart Westberg, Petter Kjellander, Geir Brenden
Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Casemate Publishers
MSRP
$79.95

The book is big and looks great from the moment you hold it. The first of two volumes, the book delves into great detail of the development, service, and full history of the III (Germanic) SS Panzerkorps, from its formation to the Autumn of 1944.

This unit was made up of various nationalities of Germanic volunteers. It was an elite unit that fought in many engagements from Croatia to Leningrad and, as will be told in volume two, it was one of the final defending units of Berlin.

I found this book so informative and full of facts and details I was never aware of.

The book is full of amazing photos of the men, machines and battles of this unit through the history of WWII. These would be great as reference for any modeler or historian.

I was amazed at the amount of information and history found in the pages of this extremely enjoyable book. The pictures alone are worth the cost of the book. I will find this book indispensable in my library.

Review Author
John Noack
Published on
Company
UGears
MSRP
$39.90

And now for something completely different! UGears contacted us and offered to send a number of kits; I believe this is the first review of the group. UGears is a Ukrainian company started in 2015, and UB LLC are their US Distributor. Their extensive product line is well worth taking a look at if you’re a fan.

Review Author
John Noack
Published on
Company
RB Productions
MSRP
$9.23

Price: RB-T028: €7 (approximately $9.23) plus S&H; RB-T043: €9 (approximately $11.87) plus S&H

First off, my apologies to the good folks at RB Productions for a late review. RB were present at this year’s Nationals in Chattanooga and were kind enough to provide us with a number of samples including these two delicate p/e stencils. Each is a carefully etched piece of brass material, the smaller measuring 2” by 3” and the larger, about 4” by 3”. They are easily bent in either axis which comes in handy for use on contoured surfaces, and I suppose one could cut them into smaller sections for use on cockpits. (Beware of some very sharp and fragile edges, however).

Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
UMM-USA
MSRP
$3.00

UMM-USA continues it tradition of innovative and useful tools with part MN040, a Flexible Scribing Ruler. What comes in the package it a 6.5-inch-long thin stainless steel ruler. I say ruler but there are really no demarcation lines on it like what is usually thought of as a ruler. But that does not affect its use at all. This can be used in combination with any of the UMM-USA scribing tools or the Template Scriber. The ruler is 0.08mm (about 0.003 inches) thick and is very flexible and strong and can work on curved surfaces.

Book Author(s)
Jack Holroyd
Review Author
Bill O'Malley
Published on
Company
Pen & Sword
MSRP
$21.94

This series by Pen & Sword features photographs from each year of the Second World War. This first volume includes photographs and illustrations of the first year, 1939 to 1940, and covers the contributing factors that led to the outbreak of hostilities. The book includes 750 images and photographs in a picture strip or collage style. It’s a quick, convenient, visual history of the first year of World War II. The text is in sidebars or captions for the photos and is easy to read. The text and photos are in chronological order as events unfolded

The book is packed with photos on each page like a collage, and includes captions describing the events and people in the photographs. Maps and illustrations of military movements, reproductions of posters, newspapers, and other historical documents are also included. The images are mostly black and white, but there is a 32-page section of color photos and images in the center of the book.

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Masterpiece Models
Scale
1/48 & EZ-Read

Master Piece Models has an impressive collection of tools for scratch building all kind of projects. Among those tools they have rulers and scale rulers (a ruler that reads you the dimension of the model, ‘scaled’ to the real object).

In this review I’ll cover two of such rules: The 48th scale ruler and the EZ-Read ruler.

Both rulers are clear (that is great for whenever you are looking at drawings) and about 1/16th inch thick. They are slightly flexible, but I wouldn’t try to bend them much. They are laser engraved and very easy to read, given the contrast of the engraved number and the clarity of the material.

The MMR-48 scale ruler is 6 inches long and has scaled readings in both meters and feet. The EZ-Read ruler is 12 inches long (only imperial units) and has all the intermediate measurements in 1/8 of an inch increments in one side and 1/16 on the other side (no more guessing if 11/16 is smaller than ¾!)

Book Author(s)
Mark Galeotti
Review Author
Bill O'Malley
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$20.00

In February 2014 the “Maidan Revolution” in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv toppled the pro-Moscow government of President Yanukovych. This started a process which led to Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, and an undeclared bloody war in southeastern Ukraine’s Donbas region.

Armies of Russia’s War in Ukraine describes the forces on both sides and how they have evolved since 2014. The book includes Orders of Battle for both regular and militia forces, descriptions of the motley range of wartime units and their weapons and equipment. Color photographs and color illustrations of the uniforms and equipment for the various combatants are also included.

The book does not discuss the political issues that precipitated the conflict or any of the current political issues but focuses on the combatants in the Ukrainian conflict.

The first 3 chapters give a brief description of the Ukrainian conflict:

Review Author
Scott Hollingshead
Published on
Company
UMM-USA
MSRP
$12.95

During the IPMS USA Nationals this year, John Vojtech was kind enough to provide several of his tools from Unique Master Models (UMM) to the IPMS Review Corps, and this was one of the items I was fortunate enough to receive. Consisting of an ergonomic plastic handle, eight drill bits, and a bit removal tool, everything you need for drilling small holes is provided in one convenient set.

Measuring 120mm in length, the handle is quite comfortable to hold and the drill bits easily slide into an opening in the end. The drill bits are designed with a grooved base that securely locks into the handle. The bits are 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, and 1.0mm in size, which are sizes commonly called out in kit instructions, and UMM recommends this set for fine detail work. The wedge-shaped removal tool aids in quickly changing out the bits.