Reviews of products for scale ship models, including submarines.

Book Author(s)
Hrvoje Spajić
Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
April 27, 2022
Company
Pen & Sword
MSRP
$22.95

The book is another in the great Images of War series. This book covers the history and actions of the German SchnellbootWaffe units though out the second world war.

The book really is about the development of the use of the SchnellerBootwaffe on its various forms and the operations it carried out. Also, the British forces actions and defenses against the units.

The Chapters are

  1. Introduction
  2. Precedents and First Actions (1915 to 1940)
  3. The British Response (1941)
  4. The Mediterranean (1941-1945)
  5. British Pressure (1942)
  6. American Intervention (1943)
  7. Maritime Operations and Operation Neptune (1944)
  8. Final Battles on the Western Front (1945)

The images in the book are excellent and cover all levels of the action and history of the units.

The book is full of amazing photos, and they provide so much information. I learned so much from reading it.

Review Author
Paul Bradley
Published on
April 19, 2022
Company
Brengun
Scale
1/72 and 1/144
MSRP
$18.43

The Clarkat Type B was a flight deck tractor used by the Royal Navy on its carrier fleet from 1942 until the mid-1950s. They were first seen on HMS Illustrious following her repair and refit in the USA in 1941-2 and served right through the Korean War. It was developed from an existing commercial tractor and was also used by the USAAF in the UK, so the possible uses for this kit go beyond an RN flight deck diorama.

Brengun has been releasing its aircraft-related accessories in a variety of media for some years now; they released a 1/48 resin kit of this type a couple of years ago, so it was natural for them to release it in smaller scales. Both kits come in their standard mid-grey resin with a small PE fret that includes the various small controls and instrument panel/dashboard. Each kit also offers a small decal sheet, containing two schemes and marking options, for a tractor based on HMS Victorious in 1944 and the other on HMS XXX in 1948.

Book Author(s)
Oleg Pomoshnikov
Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
March 15, 2022
Company
Kagero Publishing
MSRP
$37.95

Based in Central Europe, Kagero Publishing House is the biggest publisher and exporter of English-written publications about military history, releasing nearly 60 titles every year. Founded by Damian Majsak in 1995, Kagero expanded in 1998 to release new publications in English. Illustrator Waldemar Góralski is one of many Kagero contributors, and has authored over twenty five publications.

Book Author(s)
Krzysztof Kubiak
Review Author
Ron Bell
Published on
March 2, 2022
Company
Mushroom Model Publications - MMP Books
MSRP
$35.00

This volume is from MMP’s Maritime Series and is a comprehensive description and history of the Royal Navy’s base in the Orkney Islands at the Northern tip of Great Britain during WW II, Skapa Flow. It starts with a complete geographic description and a brief pre-WW II history of the base and then goes into a step-by-step description of the base’s development, facilities and defenses, including several maps of the locations of anti-aircraft defenses, mine fields and, anti-submarine barriers I am sure Germany would have liked to get a hold of. There are chapters dealing with the antiaircraft defenses, coastal artillery and barrage balloons, the RAF’s presence, minefields and wrecks, and everyday operations as well as the eventual fate of the base at the end of the war. There is even one chapter that details U-47’s raid under Gunter Prien into the harbor that sank the battleship HMS Royal Oak.

Book Author(s)
Witold Koszela
Review Author
Luke R. Bucci, PhD
Published on
February 5, 2022
Company
Kagero Publishing
MSRP
$24.95

Thanks to Casemate Publishing & IPMSUSA for the review copy!

Kagero Publishing, from Poland, extends their Top Drawings Series with No. 116, the French Marine Nationale aircraft carrier Clemenceau (le Clem). She was placed into service in 1961, incorporating the latest advances in aircraft carrier technology. She and her sister ship, Foch, were active for more than 40 years, forming the backbone of French military power projection. The TopDrawings series is designed for modelers to have a reference for detailed appearances of individual ships and aircraft. TopDrawings consist of color covers with black & white (B&W) line drawings of the ship, particular features, and equipment, especially armament (including aircraft). But the main attraction is the separate, large foldout of B&W scale drawings – 1/400 in this book, to match existing model kits.

Book Author(s)
Venner F. Milewski, Jr.
Review Author
Luke R. Bucci, PhD
Published on
February 1, 2022
Company
Stratus
MSRP
$52.00

Venner Milewski, Jr., a longtime naval sailor and shipbuilder, decided to catalog all the ships used by the US Navy since 1883. This ambitious program has borne fruit in his first Volume of aircraft carriers. This review looks into the 2nd Part of Volume One – Escort Carriers. If you ever wanted a comprehensive who’s who of US Escort Carriers, with loads of photographs and camouflage patterns, this encyclopedic reference is it!

Book Author(s)
Les Brown
Review Author
Luke R. Bucci, PhD
Published on
December 14, 2021
Company
Seaforth Publishing
MSRP
$28.95

Casemate Publishers presents ShipCraft 27, British Sloops and Frigates of WW2 by Les Brown from Seaforth Publishing. This long-awaited book is a ship modeler’s dream come true as a reference work on the large numbers obscure but important Royal Navy antisubmarine warships that helped turn the tide in the Battle of the Atlantic. This easy-to-digest book details each of the 17 classes of sloops and frigates used by the Royal Navy in WW2. These mostly forgotten, smaller warships focused on convoy escort duties and helped revolutionize antisubmarine warfare tactics. This book lists class history, available model kits, model accessories, many photographs, camouflage examples, line drawings and color plates of finished models – a superb reference for these plentiful ships with many possibilities for modelers.

Book Author(s)
Witold Koszela
Review Author
Luke R. Bucci, PhD
Published on
October 7, 2021
Company
Stratus
MSRP
$52.00

The author, Wikold Koszela, has written 24 books on warships, mostly British, United States and German battleships and modern Polish and Soviet Navy warships. Twelve of his publications are in the Kagero Top Drawing series. For this and other books, Witold also supplied the line and color drawings, and they are top quality and very helpful for modelers. I could not find additional information on Witold.

Book Author(s)
Dr Jorge Boveda
Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
September 12, 2021
Company
Helion & Company
MSRP
$29.95

Helion & Company continues to expand its series “Latin America @ War”, with its 23rd installment devoted to the Argentine Navy operations during the Falklands/Malvinas War.

The author is the son of an Argentine Navy officer, and himself was a cadet of the Argentinean Navy. As such, he can speak to the Argentine Navy culture like an “insider”, which provides insights often lost by regular historians.

The book is divided in 4 sections:

  • Culture and the Argentinean Navy (12 pages)
  • Culture, Strategy and the Falklands/Malvinas War (15 pages)
  • Culture and Operations in the South Atlantic (31 pages)
  • Conclusion (5 pages)

The first section is about the history of the Argentinean navy (the book goes all the way back to the mid-1850s) and mainly describes it’s tradition and the skills desired in their officers.

Book Author(s)
Ingo Bauernfeind
Review Author
James Kelley
Published on
September 4, 2021
Company
Casemate UK
MSRP
$49.95

From the Publisher

A comprehensive account of the development of American aircraft carriers up to and during World War II.

This extensively illustrated volume tells the dramatic yet successful story of US aircraft carriers in World War II by class, ranging from early pre-war designs to escort carriers built from destroyer hulls, to the gigantic fleet carriers serving as the predecessors of modern-day super carriers.

Besides covering the famous great carrier battles in the Pacific, this book also tells of the equally important actions of US flat tops hunting and destroying German U-boats in the Atlantic, making an enormous contribution to the elimination of the U-boat dangers and the safe arrival of transatlantic supplies, so desperately needed for the launch of D-Day.