Reviews of products for scale miscellaneous models.

Book Author(s)
John Franklin
Review Author
Jeff Leiby
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$21.95

Background

As described on the Osprey Publishing website, “Waterloo is one of the defining campaigns of European history. The name conjures up images of the terrible scale and grandeur of the Napoleonic Wars and the incredible combined effort that finally ended Napoleon's aspirations of power in Europe. Drawn from unpublished first-hand accounts, and using detailed illustrations, this comprehensive volume is the ideal resource for studying the intense fighting at the battles of Waterloo and Wavre, the final, decisive engagements of the Waterloo campaign. Those two battles are at the heart of this study, which explores the action at Mont St Jean where Wellington managed to hold the French at bay until the arrival of the Prussians under Blücher saw the Allies secure a hard-fought victory at the dramatic climax of the ‘Hundred days'”.

Review Author
Mike Van Schoonhoven
Published on
Company
Model Art
MSRP
$9.84

Model Art Magazine is a monthly magazine that covers aircraft, armor, ships and car modeling. Model Art started releasing magazines in 1966 and has evolved from there over the past forty nine years.

The February issue starts off with a build article of the Zoukei - Mura 1/32 Horten Ho229, IJA/N Airplane Illustrated and a special report from the 2014 Reno National Championship Air Race and Air Show.

The main article this month is a feature of many of the new ship models that have been released in 2014 and 2015. Some of these releases are the Fujimi 1/700 Kaga with 3 stage flight deck, Aoshima 1/700 Kanmusu Light Aircraft Carrier Chitose, Hasegawa 1/450 JMSDF Atago and the Pit Road 1/700 IJN Special Cargo Ship Kashino.

Book Author(s)
Richard Brooks
Review Author
Ned Ricks
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$21.95

At the crescendo of the Second Barons' War were the battles of Lewes and Evesham. It was an era of high drama and intrigue, as tensions between crown and aristocracy had boiled over and a civil war erupted that would shape the future of English government. In this detailed study, Richard Brooks unravels the remarkable events at the battles of Lewes and Evesham, revealing the unusually tactical nature of the fighting, in sharp contrast to most medieval conflicts which were habitually settled by burning and ravaging. At Lewes, Simon de Montfort, the powerful renegade leader of the Baronial faction, won a vital victory, smashing the Royalist forces and capturing Henry III and Prince Edward. Edward escaped, however, to lead the Royalist armies to a crushing victory just a year later at Evesham.

Book Author(s)
Clayton Chun, Illustrated by Giuseppe Rava
Review Author
Steve Zajac
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$25.95

Osprey Publishing’s latest campaign monograph focuses on the battle waged by the US to regain the Philippine Islands held by the Japanese since 1942. This from the website: "The loss of the Philippines in 1942 was the worst defeat in American military history. General Douglas MacArthur, the 'Lion of Luzon', was evacuated by order of the President just before the fall, but he vowed to return, and in August 1944 he kept his word when he led what, at the time, was the largest amphibious assault of the Pacific War on the island of Leyte. This is the full story of that fateful battle, one of the most ferocious campaigns of World War II and one of huge strategic and symbolic significance. In the face of stubborn Japanese resistance, including the first systematic use of Kamikaze attacks, the US forces ground slowly forwards before another amphibious assault took the vital position of Ormoc in the last decisive battle of the campaign.

Book Author(s)
Richard Marmo
Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Smash Words
MSRP
$2.99

Richard Marmo is publishing a series of ebooks under the name of “The Marmo Modelbulding Guide Series”. This is the 3rd installment of the series. These ebooks are available in epub, .mobi and/or .pdf format, based on your preferences.

I have read this guide regarding to model math and scale jumping and honestly, I think there is good information on it, but the way it is presented makes it a bit difficult to follow.

The book mainly deals on how to convert scale drawings from one given scale to a different one. This book includes the “Marmo’s Three Laws”. While the name of them is grandiose, they are accurate from a mathematical point of view and helpful to avoid common mistakes.

Review Author
Bill O'Malley
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$9.95

This is an excellent book that briefly summarizes many of the major campaigns of the Pacific War, and provides detailed descriptions of the significant sea and land battles. The book is 264 pages, plus 56 pages of black-and-white photographs, and eight pages of colored maps of several of the military operations. Each of the chapters are written by different authors and have previously been published as separate titles.

The Forward by Captain Dale Dye, USMC (retired) prefaces the book, describing the war in the Pacific as a dollar job on a dime budget. When the rest of the country was worrying about Europe and Hitler, the fighting men in the Pacific had a perverse pride fighting an obsessive enemy without the publicity that attended allied advances in Europe.

Book Author(s)
Neil Short
Review Author
Tom Moon
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$18.95

The book is divided into 8 chapters with an introduction, index, a Bibliography and Glossary & Abbreviations:

  • Chronology
  • Design and Development
  • The Principles of Defense
  • Tour of the Sites
  • The Living Site
  • Operational History
  • Aftermath
  • The Sites Today

This illustrated volume analyses the different defensive elements of the East Wall, the phases of their construction, the shifting strategic focus, and what life was like for those manning the defenses in the final days of the war.

Conclusion

The book is a quick read and is well researched and documented. From the modelers perspective this will not give you many ideas for dioramas, but as a quick review of the East Wall German fortifications it does the job.

Thanks to Osprey Publishing for the review copy and to IPMS/USA for the review space.

Book Author(s)
Philip S. Jowett; Illustrated by: Stephen Walsh
Review Author
Steve Zajac
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$17.97

Osprey Publishing’s latest Men-at-Arms monograph focuses on the fighting men, weapons and equipment used during the war between the Greeks and Turks, in the aftermath of World War I. This from the website: "This is a comprehensive guide to the armies that fought a devastating and decisive conflict in the Eastern Mediterranean between the two World Wars of the 20th century. From the initial Greek invasion, designed to "liberate" the 100,000 ethnic Greeks that lived in Western Turkey and had done for centuries, to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's incredibly efficient formation of a national government and a regular army, this was a war that shaped the geopolitical landscape of the Mediterranean to this day. It gave birth to the modern Turkish state, displacing millions and creating bitter memories of atrocities committed by both sides.

Review Author
Mark Aldrich
Published on
Company
Hauler
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$11.75

Another neat set from Hauler comes this wooden barrel and milk can set. Do not be fooled by the box photo. You do not get two large barrels. You get one large, medium, small wooden barrel, 2 large and 2 small milk cans. You also get a small PE set for the milk can handles. The only thing that would make this set better would have been to include tops for the large milk cans and wire for the handles. The small milk cans have lids attached and maybe the large ones should have been designed that way as well.

Review Author
Mark Aldrich
Published on
Company
Hauler
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$9.40

Hauler has been around for a few years now. I mostly thought they produced resin items in the 1/48 scale arena. I was surprised to see this 1/35 item offered in the review area and since I had requested the Bronco Loyd Carrier and I figured I could knock this nifty looking item out as well.

The items come packed in a cellophane bag with a hard paper backing. Included are a small instruction sheet and three resin parts. The resin parts are the stove, the stove pipe and a small pile of wood. The parts are beautiful castings. The only thing I would have changed is the pipe attachment. The kit has you gluing the pipe to the stove. I think the stove should have had a depression that the stove pipe actually fit into. This would have provided a far more secure join.