This is a brief, yet very complete, book on the 21st Century evolution and current status of the organization of the British Army. Through five chapters and an introduction the author deals with the changing demands on the British Army and it's evolving structure to meet those demands as well as the changes in the traditional British regimental system. One chapter deals with actual operations and the last one concerns itself with the uniforms. Other equipment such as weapons and vehicles are only dealt with through the captions of the rather small (most measuring only around 3"X3") photos. Ten traditional Osprey full page color plates of uniforms are there as well as explanations of the drawings and one interesting color plate shows all the current badges of the new regiments of the British Army. Its interesting to see them all in one place.

Background

Armand Deperdussin made a living as a silk broker but with the help of his technical advisor and designer Louis Bechereau, he built a number of interesting aircraft including the subject of this kit. The 1911 Deperdussin shared some similarities with its contempories such as a monoplane layout with conventional control surfaces except for wing warping in lieu of ailerons, its very shallow fuselage section characterized the Deperdussin. The pilot looked more like he was sitting on top of the aircraft then in it. This particular example was powered by a 50 HP Gnome Omega rotary engine. The really cool thing about this aircraft is that a real example survives in the Shuttleworth collection in England and numerous utube videos show it in flight.

Kittyhawk Models F-101 was highly anticipated and in most cases, it delivers a modern tooling of a desirable aircraft with many options. One of these is open speed brakes. The kits parts consist of an entire speed brake as one molding with the actuator as a separate piece. Looking at the attached pictures, the kit part has severe molding sink marks. This could be due to pulling to quickly before cooling or one of several other reasons. The speed brakes are pretty smooth and they could be fixed with CA or putty and made to work.

Caracal Models continues its prodigious releases of superb decals with a Kittyhawk Models F-101 Voodoo. The decal set includes a large sheet with markings for four planes and stencils for one plane. The smaller second sheet is the needed stars and bars and a smaller yet third sheet has the corrected FB numbers for the bottom of the plane. The decals are perfectly printed by Cartograf and in register. Also included are beautifully printed full color instructions. If you have never used a Caracal sheet, this is one of their specialties in that each kit has a profile and shows much needed information to make sure they are placed correctly along with color call outs and tips on getting it just right! An example on these sheets the instructions for the fuel stencils being on one side only.

The sheet features markings for 4 different early Voodoos.

AK Interactive offers a wide variety of items for the modeler, from paint and weathering sets and books, to model kits. The website is easy to navigate and offers a button to provide an “English” translation. Another button offers a currency exchange calculator from Euros (the posted pricing) to US dollars.

AK is on Facebook and has a You-Tube presence. To quote the AK You-Tube link, “AK's Official Youtube Channel (will) show Advanced Techniques, Tutorials, Tips & Tricks and many more things. Currently working on it :-)”

AK provided a copy of “Ace High” Issue No.2 for review. This issue focuses on aircraft of World War I, being labeled a “Centenary” edition. Also included are three additional articles featuring a set of figures, a truck, and a piece of airfield equipment, a German Fuel Cart and a Mack AC Truck