Osprey Publishing continues to add titles to its long running Campaigns series, this time tackling the struggle to liberate the remaining islands in the Solomon’s Island chain in the months after the successful conclusion of the Guadalcanal campaign. Using their tried and true format, the volume looks at the opposing commanders, forces, and plans before diving into the narrative on the campaign. Using contemporary photographs, superb maps, and full color illustrations, this volume does an excellent job in summarizing the strengths and weaknesses of both sides. Since these volumes are meant as an overview, they do not go into great detail into the campaigns, but provide enough information to give the reader a grounding in the campaign.

This part 2 of a three-part review of Mission Models paints.The Clear Coats

Shortly after releasing their second round of paint colors Mission Models released three clear coat products to protect the paint once it has been applied to a model. The Clear coatings are Flat Clear, Semi-Gloss Clear and Gloss Clear.

All clear coats are mixed with the Mission Models thinner and depending what you use the clears coats for, the thinner proportions mix is varied, I found 30% thinner to the clear worked best for me. The Polyurethane may be used with the clear coat as it is with the paint products. Let the clear coats dry for minimum 3 hours and they are ready for applications of any masking material.

Spraying the clears are done by setting your airbrush air pressure to 10 to 15 psi and applying the clear coats in light multiple coats.

The clear coats are compatible with all the decal settings solutions that you would normally use on your projects.

Illustrated by Graham Turner, and authored by Romain Cansiere and Ed Gilbert, this publication is available in two versions. The paperback version, # 9781472824967, is priced at $24.00, and the eBook (PDF) version, # 9781472824943, is priced at $19.20. Osprey offers 25% off if both versions are purchased.

Mr. Turner has illustrated a number of publications for Osprey and specializes in the medieval period. His work with scenes of battle highlight the uniforms and weaponry of the battle and of the historical age, are exquisite in detail, and add drama to the publication. Figure painters and modelers will find the artwork of great value.

Ed Gilbert has authored books for Osprey’s Warrior Series, Battle Orders Series and Campaign Series. Romain Cansiere concentrates on the history of the US Marine Corps. He has co-authored an award-winning book entitled, “Tanks in Hell-A Marine Corps Tank Company on Tarawa.

I found this book to be a compelling read on several levels. It is written about the lives of women who were involved with and or married to the men who served with Charlie Company, 4thof the 47thInfantry, 9thInfantry Division, stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas.

It is certainly a book full of statistics, averages and other data to provide the reader with a great deal of insight into what life was like for the very few wives already married when their husbands were preparing to go into combat in Vietnam in early 1967. As a nation, we seemed to overlook the terrible toll—mentally and physically, that the women who stay home pay.

Company Overview

Mission Model paints – a new way to think about painting.

This review focuses on using Mission Models acrylic paints. I will present a ground up approach to the steps I follow to get the best finish from this new line of primers and paints.

Mission Models Paints is a relative newcomer to the model paint market with 118 custom colors for armor, ships, aircraft and cars in the line. An additional 75 colors will be added soon.

What are Benefits to using the paints?

They have a high pigment density, no chemical odor, are easy to work with, and have great opacity with little tendency to run, sag, or spider when sprayed. And, they’re environmentally safe. An additional benefit is that when sprayed, more paint is concentrated on the area being painted with less overspray.