all 2014

Review Author
Dave Koukol
Published on
Company
Bronco Models
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$54.95

Background

Lightweight, compact, agile, versatile, and reliable, the ¼-ton truck, or Jeep as it is commonly known, was a natural vehicle of choice for British and American airborne forces dropping behind enemy lines in small assault gliders. Often towing small trailers, Jeeps were ideal for transporting squads of airborne troops and their gear quickly and quietly in challenging operational scenarios.

The Kit

Crisply molded in light grey and light olive styrene, this Bronco kit promises to provide many hours of high-quality modeling. A signature of Bronco’s commitment to recreating the finest of details, the kit is packed with 12 sprues of Jeep and personal gear parts, ranging in size from tiny to medium, 10 sprues of figure parts and personal gear, two frets of excellent photoetched brass, and two sheets of decals (one for the Jeep, and one for uniform rank insignia).

Book Author(s)
Jeremy Harwood
Review Author
Bill O'Malley
Published on
Company
Zenith Press
MSRP
$30.00

This fascinating book tells how the Allies and Axis powers developed aerial reconnaissance systems to gather accurate aerial intelligence, primarily during World War II. The book combines history with photography and provides a unique and different perspective of World War II – from above! The photographs are excellent, with descriptive captions for each photo. The text provides good descriptions of the aircraft used for reconnaissance, and the maps & diagrams illustrate many of the actions.

The book is divided into five sections:

  • Beginnings
  • Blitzkrieg
  • End of the Beginning
  • Turning the Tide
  • The End of the War

The book also includes a Bibliography/Further Reading, Index of Topics, and Photo Credits, all of which are handy for further research.

Review Author
Dave Koukol
Published on
Company
Bronco Models
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$37.95

Background

A product of 1930’s design, with first production in 1942, the OQF 6-pounder evolved through World War II into the Mk.IV version on the Mk.III carriage. This version, tailored to fit into Horsa gliders for deployment with airborne troops, would generally be towed by Jeeps into combat.

The Kit

Crisply molded in light grey and light olive styrene, this Bronco kit promises to provide a few hours of high-quality modeling. A signature of Bronco’s commitment to recreating the finest of details, the kit is packed with 9 sprues of gun, carriage, and personal gear parts, ranging in size from tiny to small, 4 sprues of figure parts and personal gear, 1 fret of excellent photo etch brass, and 2 sheets of decals (1 for the gun, and one for uniform rank insignia).

Review Author
Paul Mahoney
Published on
Company
AK Interactive
MSRP
$12.33

The name AK Interactive is probably familiar to many of us as a provider of some very useful weathering products. Although their weathering products work with any model, AK has primarily marketed its products to armor modelers. Recently, however, they have started producing some aircraft-specific products, such as the AK Air Series which currently has “Air Paint” sets (just Luftwaffe and RAF, but I believe more are in the pipeline) and “Air Weathering” sets (designed specifically to weather aircraft engines and landing gear). It looks to me like the “Aces High” magazine has been started to specifically showcase the usage of AK products on aircraft. A note on the cover states “Special Issue: 64 + 20 pages free”, so I suppose future issues will have 64 pages, as compared to this volume which has 84.

Book Author(s)
Jose Fernandez, Przemysiaw Skulski
Review Author
Mike Hinderliter
Published on
Company
Mushroom Model Publications - MMP Books
MSRP
$27.00

Another addition to the Mushroom Model Publications Yellow Series of books is focused on the Douglas F3D Skyknight. This book is definitely focused towards the modeler with lots of black and white and color photos, color profiles of various schemes and markings, and scale plans in 1/72 scale.

The book is divided into the following sections