Reviews of products for scale miscellaneous models.

Book Author(s)
Various
Review Author
Tim Wilding
Published on
Company
AMMO by Mig Jimenez
MSRP
$12.95

Faded is number 21 in the Weathering Magazine series published by Ammo by Mig Jimenez. They take one topic, in this case faded vehicles, and created nine articles to help the read improve their skill on this topic. There are 70 pages for these nine articles including many high gloss photos. The wide range of subjects should appeal to most modelers. There are three tank articles, a farm tractor, a submarine, a Star Wars A-wind fighter, a car, a railroad tanker car and a Messerschmitt BF109 airplane. One article of an Aussie M1 tank is a work in progress from the magazine before this one, the “Camouflage” issue. Most of the articles use only Ammo by Mig products, but a few use Tamiya paints too. The magazine is in the larger, A4 European style, since it is published in Spain. Since the articles appear to be written by Spanish authors and then translated into British English, some spelling is different than American English.

Review Author
Tim Wilding
Published on
Company
AMMO by Mig Jimenez
MSRP
$1.99

Here is the description from Ammo’s website:

“The Synthetic Brush range made of high-quality fibers, offers great spring and color carrying capacity, making them an excellent option to paint medium and large areas of our models. The ideal brush for working with military vehicles, aircraft, groundwork, and all manner of scale models. Thanks to the fine point, smaller sizes are also suitable for detail painting.

They are solvent-resistant and can be used with any paint type including acrylics, enamels, and oils. These are heavy duty brushes at a very economic price, making them a great option for all types of painting and weathering techniques and tasks. Both round and flat shapes can be used to apply washes, filters, pigments, splashes, mud, and a wide range of weathering effects.”

Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$49.99

This is a new tooled kit first issued in 2017. It is an excellent kit in the Hasegawa range and is very easy to build as long as you watch the instruction details carefully.

In the box is:

  • 2 x orange sprues
  • 1 clear sprue
  • 1 light grey sprue
  • 3 x dark grey sprues
  • 1 length of hose
  • 1 decal sheet
  • 4 x poly caps
  • 1 instruction booklet

The sprues are extremely well molded with no flash and great detail. The parts are all molded in the correct colors so if the build is done well there is no need to do much painting.

Book Author(s)
Yves Buffetaut
Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Casemate Publishers
MSRP
$24.95

The book goes into details of the formation, deployment and combat actions of the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich.

Das Reich was the first Waffen SS division created and was a major force where ever it fought.

The unit as formed in September 1939 as the war began and fought on most fronts from Poland, France, Balkans, Russia, back to France and then back to the eastern front at the end of the war.

I found this book fascinating and made me aware of a lot of information I have never read before. Das Reich was a formidable division and prove its worth and bravery on all the fronts it fought. It was used as a firefighting group on many occasions and resisted against the odds on many occasions.

There are a lot of pictures and illustrations that make the book even more interesting.

Book Author(s)
Terrance McGovern, Edward C. Harris Illustrator: Adam Hook
Review Author
Mike Lamm
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$19.00

Osprey’s Fortress series is a well-established line of books covering a variety of fortresses around the world. The Fortress series of books started 15 years ago with the Japanese island defenses in World War II, and with this installment, Defense of Bermuda, the series is up to over 100 titles.

Review Author
John Noack
Published on
Company
Bob Smith Industries, Incorporated

Our friends at BSI sent along a box of current and new releases across their line of CA products. Some of these may be familiar to you, others, like their new Plastic-Cure brush on product, were new to me.

Let’s take a look at the family of BSI products:

BSI-105 Plastic-Cure Adhesive: this new ½ ounce product comes in a bottle with a brush cap. Applied like many solvent based adhesives, it is applied to one of the mating surfaces and cures up in 10-20 seconds. It reacts to the Accelerator product as well, if an instant cure is desired. It won’t fill large gaps but is ideal for joints where the two surfaces make intimate contact (think fuselage seams, upper to lower wing joints, etc.)

Book Author(s)
Vesa Nenye, Peter Munter, Toni Wirtannen, Chris Birks
Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$34.95

This book I found to be the most complete and detailed account of the David vs Goliath battle between Stalin’s Russian forces and the small Finish Armed forces. This little known war has always fascinated me and I really enjoyed this book.

The book details the history leading up to the war the full war battle by battle and the aftermath. The details are incredible and there is a short biograph for each of the major players on both sides during the campaign. The table of contents shows the detail.

Book Author(s)
Mark Lardas Illustrator: Mark Postlethwaite
Review Author
Hub Plott
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$20.00

This book is the second in a new series covering major air campaigns in history. This book covers the fight against the Japanese held island stronghold of Rabaul. This island fortress was blocking the allied advance to Tokyo, Home to around 100,000 troops and numerous airfields it was felt that even an all-out assault would not lead to the taking of the island. Thus the Allies began a campaign of aerial assault adding in the use of naval and land forces to reduce the ability of Rabaul to play an important part in the war. This campaign became the blueprint for further combat in the Pacific, showing that it was not necessary to occupy the island to control it.

The book is broken down into 9 sections. The introduction discusses in brief the strategic importance of Rabaul and all the reasons it was such a natural and important base for the Japanese in WWII>

Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$20.00

Steven Joseph Zaloga was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on February 1, 1965. He graduated cum laude from Union College in Schenectady, New York, with a BA in History. He has completed graduate work and earned a Certificate in International Affairs from Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, it is one of the oldest surviving Universities in the world. Steven has over twenty years of experience as an aerospace analyst, focusing in on the international arms trade and missile systems. He has been a prolific author with published books going back at least to 1977. He is also an avid armor modeler and is a moderator on Missing-Lynx.com as well as a member of the Armor Modeling and Preservation Society (AMPS). He is currently a senior analyst for the Teal Group based in Fairfax, Virginia, and is an adjunct for the Institute for Defense Analyses. He currently resides in Abingdon, Maryland.

Book Author(s)
Jeffrey R. Cox
Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$35.00

This book is a follow up of his successful book Rising Sun, Falling Skies which I have also read and was a great read!

The book goes into details of the US Naval Campaign from Guadalcanal to the Solomon Islands.

It goes into incredible detail and covers some much of what appears to be a small book! The information is well written and draws you in as its rather Novel like in its narrative.

I learned so much from reading this and look forward to another book as a follow up to this one.

I found this book fascinating and made me aware of a lot of facts I have never heard before. The writing style is very factual a little dry at times, This made the book a little heavy going at times but well worth reading to the end.

I recommend this book to everyone with a deep interest in the Pacific war.

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