Osprey is a publishing house in the United Kingdom that should be a household name to swarms of us. Osprey continues to expand their Duel series with the 68th book in this installment. The Duel Series examines the relative strengths and weaknesses of two adversaries across a particular conflict. This particular volume turns its attention to the US Navy Carrier group’s aircraft versus the IJN Yamato class battleships.

For the Duel series, the chapters are organized as follows:

We all need a cutting mat for our hobby area. Not just as a cutting surface, but as a work area and to prevent damaging the table/surface we are working on.

Squadron has released the latest on their tool line with a cutting mat on A3 size, with a 10x15 inch working area. One side is just plain green for general work and cutting, while the other side has a square inch pattern plus angle lines at 30, 45 and 60 degrees.

The surface is made of a self-healing material, meaning that your cuts would “heal-up” (i.e. disappear) and you will have a smooth surface to continue your work. I did a few test cuts -gentle ones, just drawing the blade on the surface- and next morning I couldn’t see any cut or “scar” for what matters.

This cutting mat is likely to last you a long, long time (I would bet at least a decade if you take care of it) plus it will protect your blades and your working surfaces. Get one, you won’t regret it.

Recommended.

While at this year's National Contest and Convention, Jeff Johnston of MMD-Squadron was kind enough to provide several sample sizes of this new product. As implied in the name, the thinner is designed to work with all brands and types of enamel paints. While my paint collection isn't extensive enough to prove this, I did try the product with several brands of paint (Testor's traditional ¼ oz bottle, their 1 oz Model Master, and an old Humbrol tin). The instructions state to mix a 3 part paint/2 part thinner ratio for gloss colors, and 3/1 for flats. I tried these ratios for airbrushing and found them to work great. I typically use Testor's Lacquer Thinner (black can) for much of my enamel and lacquer spraying. The Squadron product dries a little slower, which may help to level out the paint layers a bit more – or the airbrush gods were smiling on me the day I tried it out. Who can say <grin>.

At this year's National Convention in Columbus, master modeler John Vojtech provided us with a number of new product samples from his company UMM-USA. UMM, Unique Master Models, lives up to its name by offering an extensive variety of tools, aftermarket detailing supplies, decal sets and the like. (Be sure to peruse John's National Award winning models when you enter the site) .

The Multi-Shape Punch Set is a unique approach to manufacturing small detail shapes with multiple modeling applications. The set comes with a beautifully machined, truncated cone aluminum base that incorporates a soft rubber pad used as the striking surface. Several brass punches (one each of square, round and hexagonal cross section) and a sample sheet of soft, 3mm thick aluminum. At the time this review is being written, John is offering the Punch Set for $20.95, a substantial discount from the $29.99 list price – but I don't know how long this pricing will last).

Osprey is a publishing house in the United Kingdom that should be familiar to most modelers, historians, and military history buffs. Osprey continues to expand their product line and one of their newest series is combat. The books examine the relative strengths and weaknesses of two adversaries across the historical timeline, from ancient empires to modern conflicts. This particular volume turns its attention to the Vietnam War. Rather than examine the entire conflict, this volume examines the critical years of 1967-68, through the eyes of the United States Marines and the North Vietnamese Army.

As with all Osprey series, regardless of the topic, they follow a particular format. For the combat series, the chapters are organized as follows: