Coastal Kits was founded in 2011 and is based in Blackpool, Lancashire, UK. It is a family-run business that originally retailed model kits and their associated supplies. Coastal Kits began marketing their own range of display bases at the end of 2012 after their bases were well received at Telford’s Scale Model World. The Business soon decided to concentrate solely on their display base product line. The range currently exceeds 220 bases in multiple scales and subjects. They also provide custom bases upon request.

The display bases are manufactured from 3mm Foamex board which is a rigid, waterproof plastic. Laminated matte vinyl is used to print the subject with the latest odorless latex ink providing a permanent and waterproof finish. The benefit over alternatives like paper-based products is that the display will not fade, lift, or bubble.

This book tells the story of the Canadian Corps during 1917 when it battled against the distinguished Royal Bavarian Army. These battles started at Vimy Ridge through to Passchendaele.

The book is very nicely illustrated with great photos and many illustrations commissioned for the book. The details of the combat action, preparations, and the outcomes are very well written and help you understand the period and hardships of these battles. The book contains many extracts from personal diaries and reports from the time by commanders and foot soldier’s alike. I learned a lot from this book and look forward to more from this series from Osprey.

I recommend this book to everyone with an interest in WWI. It has some wonderful pictures that are great for modeler’s as well for some dioramas.

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

Vallejo’s name is well recognized in the scale modeling field. They have a huge array of products, and their specialized modeling products line is one of the best in the world. At our last IPMS Chapter meeting, Keith Pieper of Avalon Books gave me a tube of Vallejo’s new white Plastic Putty.

The putty itself is an acrylic medium with white color and marble dust. The added marble dust makes the putty more durable than most.

The tube is fairly small, 20 ml., but with the fine applicator “spout”, it goes pretty much where I put it, so I have less waste of putty when I’m doing a seam. The first time I tried it, I put the putty on the cab of an Italeri Opel Blitz ambulance in 1/72, which needed a pretty good fill between the hood and the doors of the cab. After I let it set up overnight, I sanded the seam, and it worked pretty well. Because it’s white, it made painting easier, the color covered better than they would red or white putty. No primer required.

I did a review of Tru-Color Paints a while back, (http://web.ipmsusa3.org/content/tru-color-paints ) and I asked the guys at Tru-Color if I could do a review of their new Frisket Paper. They said OK, and I bought a 3-pack of the paper at our last IPMS Chapter meeting. I bought the 3-pack, because I thought I had a project which might need a couple of sheets, but not much more.

My project was a 1/144 Model Lancaster, which I wanted to convert from a Dam Buster to a Grand Slam carrier. RAF camouflage is usually quite difficult to do, or at least it’s a fairly long project.

Massimiliano Afiero was born in Afragola (Naples Province) in 1969. Massimiliano is a computer programmer and teacher, but has long been a serious historian of World War II. He has been extremely active in writing articles for many history magazines in his native Italian, Spanish, and English. You can also find him as an active participant in many military history websites. Massimiliano has personally interviewed many Waffen-SS veterans and has published their experiences in World War II. He published his first book, ‘Hitler’s Foreign Volunteers’, in September 2001, and has now amassed 33 published books. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the magazine SGM (Second World War), Ritterkreuz, The European Volunteer, Fronti Warning, and The Axis Forces. You can find his website at http://www.maxafiero.it