Frontline books cover a small but vital part of the War in the Pacific in “The Battle of Tinian”.

This is another offering in the Images of War series of books. The book is 175 pages long with over 200 photographs and illustrations.

The book starts with the Battle of the Philippine Sea (occurred just before the Saipan operation began) and the great Marianas Turkey Shoot.

Afterwards, the book looks at how both sides approached the upcoming battles. The Japanese High Command was looking for a final battle to defeat the Allied Forces, and stop their advance. The A-Go battle plan. The Japanese initially thought the next allied attack would happen in the Carolinas Island chain, until air attacks on the Marianas Island chain convinced them (correctly) that the next allied attack would occur there.

Ian at Charlie’s Plastic Models has produced several “caddys” to help corral a lot of the modeling tools, glue and other stuff we accumulate in the pursuit of building the next award-winning, or shelf-dwelling model! They are well thought out and the slots and spaces are perfectly designed to securely hold regularly used tools, even my abused and worn sanding sticks!

If you are like me, there will be plastic containers, old glasses, mugs and jars strategically positioned around my modeling desk, containing everything needed to cut, file, glue, paint and scribe.

The Tool Caddy I received for this review was very nicely produced in grey 3 D printed plastic. It is sturdy, and for its size can hold lots of various items. It did not take much imagination or time for me to fill mine full.

This is the third (of four) in this TrainCraft series. The other volumes are:

• How to Build a Model Railway
• Constructing Buildings for Model Railways
• Euston – A History and Modelling the 1875 Station (available for preorder)

These intensive, informative, and well photographed books are written by David Ashwood (the Vice Charmain) with the Market Deeping MRC (Model Railroad Club), now located in Essendine, near Peterborough, England.

As a plastic scale modeler, I was pleasantly surprised that this is a book focused on model railroads. As most of us modelers are open-minded, I wanted to know what I could learn from another fun hobby I shared as a lad; I was not disappointed.

Hope you understand if this review contains some insight into the After The Battle standard presentations. These books, of which there are now over 86 issues (and this number does not count the WWI, Military, Aviation, Maritime or Ancient History books), take a photographic trip through the battles or campaigns named (e.g. Arnhem, Bastogne, Omaha Beach). These publications take great pains to compare the war time photographs to modern day images of the same location, which in most cases still stand today. Most of the titles are available as eBooks, Audiobooks, DVDs, and the original magazines.

Charlie’s Plastic Models has produced four 3D printed caddies for modelers, each with different holes, receptacles, and spaces to accommodate various modeling supplies we use in our hobby.

My review sample was billed as the “Finishing Caddy” without Micro Set/Sol holes (for those bottles). The photo of this item from his website (www.charliesplasticmodels.com) shows it containing appropriate items like panel washes, Solvaset, cotton swabs and brushes [Photo 1]. I saw another great possibility for my sample and turned it into “Gluey Louie” by loading it with more basic tools to stick one bit of plastic to another: two kinds of liquid cement, CA, and applicators from The Glue Looper. [Photo 2] tweezers and small clamps. This may not be exactly what it was intended for in the first place but boy, it works for me.