Reviews of products for scale miscellaneous models.

Book Author(s)
Ian Baxter
Review Author
Michael Novosad
Published on
Company
Casemate Publishers
MSRP
$24.95

Ian Baxter is a military historian who specializes in German twentieth-century military history. He has written more than forty books and over 100 articles about the World War II era. He has reviewed numerous military studies for publication and supplied thousands of photographs and important documents to various publishers and film production companies worldwide.

The Author is an avid collector of WW2 photographs. His previous books in this Series include Hitler’s Boy Soldiers, Nazi Concentration Camp Commandants, German Army on the Eastern Front – The Advance, German Army on the Eastern Front – The Retreat, The Crushing of Army Group (North), and the SS Waffen Division series including SS Leibstandarte Division and SS Totenkopf Division At War. He lives near Chelmsford, Essex.

The Publication (from the website).

This highly illustrated record reveals in detail the largest tank battle of World War Two, the battle of Kursk.

Review Author
Jim Stepanek
Published on
Company
Flex-I-File
MSRP
$25.99

This is a review of the Flex-i-File Flex Set #550

Oh man. No engine, no interior, no wheels. And you wouldn’t expect those items in a sanding kit. I ran into the Flex-i-File family at the IPMS Nationals in Orlando a few years ago and was impressed with their products. So I bought a few items and have used them extensively over the years.

I’ve included pics of the package and the package contents. Notice that the sanding sticks and sticks are color matched to a particular grit. Makes life easier.

I’ve other sanding sticks that fall apart after being used wet. These sticks don’t separate and can also be easily trimmed to another shape if needed.

Need to sand the inside portion of a grille opening? Just hook one side of the supplied frame to a sanding strip, put the strip through the grille cavity, and connect the strip to the other end of the frame. Sand away.

The Flex-i-File Flex Set #550 is a fantastic addition to your hobby area tools.

Book Author(s)
Prit Buttar
Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$35.00

This is book is a follow up to Prit Buttar’s On the Knife’s edge and begins after the battle of Kursk that turned the tide of the Eastern front in favor of the Russian forces. Retributions goes in to detail of the massive Russian offensive that forced a now desperate and shaken German forces out of Western Ukraine.

The author gives accounts of the many little-known battles that were constant throughout the Russian offensive. The this comes from the first-hand accounts are from the German and Russian soldiers that bring this to life.

I learnt so much from this book that I was not aware of and the information and writing really draws you in. The book is 480 pages and there are only a few illustrations, and these are battle maps.

Book Author(s)
Nicholas Sekunda
Review Author
Jim Pearsall
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$19.00

Most of us have only heard of Pyrrhus through the phrase “Pyrrhic victory”, referring to someone who wins all the battles, but loses the war. There’s a lot more to his story than that one campaign, and he was a very successful general, right up to the end, where he was killed at the Battle of Argos in 272 BC.

Book Author(s)
David Campbell
Review Author
Bob LaBouy
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$22.00

In his organization of this book, Mr. Campbell provides a logical approach to this ground combat at Verdun. The Table of Contents provides for the basic outline:

  • Introduction
  • The opposing sides
  • Bois des Caures
  • Mort-Homme
  • Fort Vaux
  • Analysis
  • Aftermath
  • Unit Organizations
  • Bibliography
  • Index

The publishers’ notes include this summary of Campbell’s book:

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

The book in hand shows that it was published in January 2020 by Pen & Sword with an ISBN # 1526734958. Not being found on the Pen & Sword website, the Casemate website contained a page for this book with an ISBN # of 9781526734952.

Overview (as found on the website)

The St Mihiel Offensive, which took place between the 12th and 16th September 1918, was the first full scale attack that was under the direct command of the Americans, in the person of General J. Pershing. He combined his command of the First (at the time the only) American Army with that of Commander in Chief of the AEF, a tremendous burden.

Review Author
Michael A. Turco
Published on
Company
Flex-I-File
MSRP
$20.00

The Flex-I-File “Touch-N-Flow” (Photo 1) is the ultimate capillary action gluing system. Nothing else I know can get cement into hard to reach spots with such accuracy. It enables a modeler to put solvent cement exactly where needed, with very little chance of missing the target and marring an outside surface.

The #7000 system is composed of three components (Photo 2): A bottle of thin Plast-I-Weld solvent cement, a squeeze bottle, and the Touch-N-Flow applicator, along with an instruction sheet The Touch-N-Flow is a thin glass tube with a very fine needle applicator at one end. The squeeze bottle is used to pull the thin solvent cement up into the tube. Once the cement is in the applicator, a touch of the end of the needle releases cement.

Review Author
Blaine Singleton
Published on
Company
Masterpiece Models
MSRP
$9.99

Mottling on model paint schemes is becoming more and more popular. The item for this review makes the project much easier than trying to do it freehand.

All models require different levels of paint layers to get that realistic look. Mottling has become one of the layers of a lighter color of the basecoat to get the color variance and depth. The stencils help paint in the weathered look. People have used various freehand airbrush techniques to break up the basecoat, whether it is shading within a panel’s lines or indiscriminate lines throughout the basecoat to get color depth.

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

Overview as found on the website: By March 1945, the Red Army had closed in on Berlin. Marshal Zhukov, with almost a million soldiers and 20,000 tanks and guns at his disposal, launched his assault of the Seelow Heights. While costly with 30,000 Russians killed, it brought the Russian Army to the gates of the capital.

On 20 April, Hitler's 56th birthday, Soviet artillery began a massive bombardment of the doomed city. The Fuhrer ordered every soldier, Hitlerjugend and Volksstrum to fight to the death. The house-to-house fighting that followed was brutal and savage with heavy casualties for both military and civilians.

Using superb Russian and German imagery this fine Images of War Series book describes the Russian assault and Nazi last-ditch defense of Hitler's capital during the final days of the Third Reich.

Book Author(s)
Alexander Hill
Review Author
Marc K. Blackburn
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$22.00

This is one of the new additions to Osprey Publishing ongoing Combat series (or as I call it, their ‘versus’ series). Each volume takes a look a particular slice of a campaign or war to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the two combatants and how they fared in a campaign or set of skirmishes. This particular volume takes a close look at how Soviet Partisans fought against German security forces in the region around Leningrad from the beginning of Operation Barbarossa through 1943. As with most Osprey publications, this work is illustrated with original artwork by Johnny Shumate, historical photographs, and detailed maps of the battleground.