Following up the first three in this series, The Russian Aviation Colours 1909-1922: Camouflage and Markings, Volume 1 Early Years, Volume 2 “Great War”, Volume 3 “Red Stars”, comes MMP’s latest tome. This book, focused on ‘Against Soviets’ is the final volume in the series. The author leans heavily on Russian private archives, as well as archives, libraries, and museums.

The book is a nice hardbound, with a nice glossy cover, and 128 pages on high-quality stock with a matt finish. Mainly clear black and white period photos are supplemented with modern day color photos, color period posters and postcards, colour side and top views, and colour unit emblems and personal markings. The text is in English and quite readable. I counted 173 black and white photographs to go with an additional 21 color pictures. There were 79 color side profiles and another 51 color drawings highlighting markings details.

Here’s the second review of some new tools from our friends at Xuron up in Saco, ME.

The Photo-Etch Tool Kit consists of three discrete tools:

• Model 9180ET Professional Photo-Etch Scissor
• Model 450 Tweezer Nose Pliers
• Model 575 Micro Bending Pliers

I’m currently working on an Eduard Spitfire in 1/72 scale with some incredibly tiny p/e parts, several of which have found their way to carpet heaven. Using the tweezer pliers to hold parts, and the extremely sharp scissors to cut them, I’ve eliminated the problem. Figure X shows the results of cutting the cockpit armor plate part off the p/e fret – almost no cleanup required. A couple of swipes with a sanding stick while holding the part with the tweezer nose pliers and I am done.

Highly recommended as an alternative to hours spent under the workbench searching for bits of brass! Thanks go out to Abby at Xuron for the opportunity to review this tool set

Introduction

You can’t enter a discussion of World War II tanks that made an impact on the course of the war without the T-34 coming up somewhere along the line. While it was a surprise to the Soviets to see their “allies” attacking, the grit and determination of Soviet industry did not leave the attacks unanswered. While it may not be as aesthetically pleasing to the eyes, the design of the sloped frontal armor, rough weld lines, and wide tracks to accommodate Mother Russia’s terrible winters made it more than able to be up to the task of staving off German armor. Starting out with the 76mm cannon to fight off the Panzer III’s and IV’s of the time, the advances in design allowed for a new turret to house the much more powerful 85mm long barrel gun- which was more than a match for the dreaded Tigers and Panthers.

The R-3S (AA-2 “Atoll”) air-to-air missile was developed by the Soviet Union as their equivalent of the AIM-9 Sidewinder missile. It was used extensively by the Soviet Union on its fighters and it was exported widely to its allies.

In conjunction with Eduard’s release last summer of its new MiG-21MF kit, Eduard released several photo-etch and resin accessory sets for the kit. This set is actually the combination of two other sets: MiG-21MF pylons (672 184) and R-3S missiles for MiG-21 (672 185). As a result, the set not only provides replacement pylons for all five stations, but also four R-3S (“Atoll”) air-to-air missiles and their associated launch rails. Buying this set instead of the other two sets individually will also save you a few bucks as the suggested retail price of this set is $3 cheaper than the combined price of the other two sets.

Gareth Williams has been a curator at the British Museum since 1996, with responsibility for British and European coinage, about AD 500 to about 1180. Within this area, he specializes in Anglo-Saxon and Viking coinage. Much of his work focuses on the use of coinage as evidence within broader historical and archaeological studies. Gareth has authored at least fifteen books and led several projects at the British Museum, with a "Viking Voyages" exhibition that recently finished a run from March 2015 through February 2017. He has been actively involved in historical re-enactments. Check him out at the British Museum.