In conjunction with their release of the U.S. LST-1 Class of ships, AFV Club has also release a box of 1/350 WWII military vehicles to populate the deck and well deck of the ship. Injection molded, the set includes two sprues, one the duplicate of the other allowing the modeler to build 7 different vehicles and 2 artillery pieces from each sprue for a total of 18 pieces in a box. Also included is a set of decals, which curiously does not match the number of vehicles. The instructions are isometric and printed on the box. There is no locating guide for the decals, just side view color drawings of the vehicles, so the modeler must rely on research for marking placement on the tops of the vehicles. Plus, the color call outs are poor. But aren’t all WWII vehicles olive drab?

Kagero Publishing of Poland has two lines of books that include titles with a nautical bent and aimed at scale modelers: Super Drawings in 3D and Top Drawings. The former covers a ship in great detail via the use of color 3D renderings, while the latter covers a ship in great detail via black and white line drawings. The books are sized differently, with the 3D books numbering 80 to 90 A4 sized pages, while the Top Drawings books number 20 to 30 A4 sized pages. Prices reflect the size and content differences, with the 3D books priced $28.95 to $36.95, and the smaller Top Drawings books priced $19.95 to $24.95.

The photoetch fret arrived in excellent shape in a resealable plastic package with the distinctive Eduard knight logo. The fret is 2.75 x 2.00 inches in size. The color-etched laminated figures are printed on both sides on polished metal. The fret metal is just soft enough to fold the figures, but firm enough to hold shape, whew! The 3D concept is that each figure consists of two halves, joined at the feet. The halves are folded upwards and together, creating a thicker and more-to-scale figure. Properly folded, the shoulders will match, and the boots can be folded to form feet for the figure to stand on. Trimming should be done very carefully, as should the folding. If the folding is not done correctly, it will be difficult to have the shoulders and feet line up.

Kagero’s The Russian Battleship Marat is one of the latest in their Super Drawings in 3D series. This edition is in their standard 8.25” x 11.75” format softbound publication that is 68 pages (excluding covers). This volume starts off with seven and a half pages of historical text followed by 61 pages of color 3D illustrations. There is also a Centerfold full of line drawings (~26.6” x 19.0”) that starts with profiles at 1/350^th scale and goes up to 1/50^th scale for the details. I counted 117 color 3D illustrations along with one table. There are no current nor period photographs.

Thanks to Casemate Publishing & IPMSUSA for the review copy!

This book is also available in a hardback version (302 pages) priced at $55.00.

Casemate Publishers has reprinted a definitive review of the so-called “Treaty Cruisers” by Leo Marriot. The author has a long list of military books to his credit, focusing on WW2 ground actions and WW2 to modern naval subjects, including this title. He is known for an excellent book on the Titanic and The Universe, with illustrated views from the Hubble Space Telescope.

You get a 9.25 X 6 inches size paperback book with three Parts, 14 Chapters and four Appendices. Although the covers have a red tint, the book is completely B&W (no color) inside. The small print text is interspersed with B&W photos of ships, most of which are seen elsewhere, but there are a few rare ones. There are also small line drawings of profiles of ships. But mostly, this book is crammed full of text.