Book Author(s)
Joe Bamford and John Williams
Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
August 2, 2019
Company
Fonthill Media
MSRP
$32.95

The book is part two of a two book history of RAF Manston, which became one of the busiest Airfields in the UK during WWII. The airbase was built-up during the pre-war days to be one, if not the most important airbases to the RAF.

The airbase was a very successful technical training center for the RAF during the years leading up to WWII and the details of this are covered extremely well in this book. The book goes into great detail about many of the officers and commanders stationed throughout the station during this period. There was even Air Races held here in the early 1930’s. Even the famous Sir Alan Cobham exhibited his flying skills here.

The book covers many of the aircraft that were operated from here, some I was not even aware of and had to look up. The aces that served here are also detailed through the chapters.

Review Author
Gregory Hansel
Published on
August 3, 2019
Company
Kitty Hawk
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$54.95

Introduction: This kit was released at the end of 2018 and features resin crew figures, photo etch details, and marking options for seven jets, including two from Russia, one from Bangladesh, and four company demo aircraft. There are almost more sprues of weapons then there are of the actual aircraft, included are Kab-500kr, Kab-500Kl, Kab-500se, Kab-1500-Kl, Kab-1500-Kr, Kab-1500-se, KH-29L, KH-29T, KH-31, KH-58, and three versions of the KH-25. It’s almost worth buying the kit just for the weapon sprues! The kit looks impressive in the box.

Book Author(s)
Brian Lane Herder, Illustrated by Paul Wright, F. Rodriguez, and A. Gilliland
Review Author
Bill Kluge
Published on
August 3, 2019
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$19.00

In the 1860s the US Navy led the world with the innovative, turreted ironclad USS Monitor - a vessel that gave rise to a series of warships whose name defined the class. However, within ten years of the end of the Civil War, the US Navy had become a mere ghost of its former size and power. Ships were decommissioned, sailors released from service, and the Secretary of the Navy was returning funds to the Treasury. By the 1880s, British built ironclad battleships of the Brazilian and Chilean navies caused panic within the halls of Congress and along the east and west coasts of the United States. Frustrated officers from the US Navy, along with insightful members of Congress and the Garfield administration determined that major changes were needed to prevent the US Navy from declining into irrelevance.

Review Author
Bob LaBouy
Published on
August 4, 2019
Company
Meng Model
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$82.50

A Very Brief History of the Leopard

During the late 60’s Germany began to plan for new primary main battle tank which would replace the M48 Patton tanks purchased from the US (in service through 1993). Early designs were grouped around the initial concept called the MBT-70, though it never got past the initial design with only a wooden hull constructed. For several years numerous prototypes were designed leading to the Leopard I design in 1965, which used a German built 105mm Royal Ordnance gun. These tanks continued in use through 2003 and included 4744 main battle tanks.

Book Author(s)
Warren Thompson
Review Author
Hub Plott
Published on
August 7, 2019
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$24.00

Designed during WWII and built in 180 days the F-80 did see some service in Italy in the final days of WWII. Post war many were stationed both in Europe and in Japan. Those in Japan were the first to answer the call when the North Koreans invaded South Korea.

The F-80 compiled a strong record in the Korean conflict. The aircraft is credited with shooting down 17 enemy aircraft, using in excess of 80,000 air to ground rockets and dropping over 33,000 tons of bombs during almost 90,000 combat sorties. A most admirable record for any aircraft. They served throughout the conflict and were the first US jet to engage in jet to jet combat.

Review Author
Bill O'Malley
Published on
June 23, 2021
Company
MiniArt
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$54.99

The normally super-realistic folks at MiniArt have loosened their imagination and wandered into the hypothetical with the first kit in their new What If...? Series, the Soviet Ball Tank "Sharotank". Possibly based on the Kugelpanzer, that Wikipedia describes as : "The Kugelpanzer (lit. "spherical tank") is a one-man tank built by Germany during World War II. It was captured by the Soviets in Manchuria and is on display in the Kubinka Tank Museum. There is no record of it ever having been used in combat".

MiniArt has a video on their website about the Sharotank, and cleverly inserts their kit model into period photos (or are they real?) showing the Sharotank after capture by the Soviets.

MiniArt also produces other versions of the ball tank:

Review Author
Mike Lamm
Published on
August 12, 2019
Company
OKB Grigorov
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$40.00

OKB Grigorov is a small model company based in Bulgaria that you may not be too familiar with. The company focuses primarily on AFVs, tanks, and naval ships in 1/72, 1/350 and 1/700 scales, and they have an extensive list of products available. They produce full resin kits with photoetch enhancements, as well as resin, photoetch and white metal conversion pieces for other models. More recently, they began producing some plastic AFV kits.

Book Author(s)
Mark Ladas, Johnny Shumate, and Julian Baker
Review Author
Robert Head
Published on
August 12, 2019
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$18.00

So, before we get into the specifics of the book. Here is a little about the author and illustrators, Mark Ladas holds a degree in Naval architecture and has written a few naval publications for osprey, he is an avid ship modeler and amateur historian. The illustrators Johnny Shumate and Julian baker both work as freelance illustrators and have both also been longtime contributors to osprey.

Here we breakdown the contents of the book.

Book Author(s)
Bert Kinzey
Review Author
Rob Benson
Published on
June 18, 2021
Company
Detail & Scale, Inc.
MSRP
$12.99

Thank you to Bert Kinzey and Rock Roszak for continuing to bring back a tremendous resource for the modeler and aviation historian in a digital format. Thank you to the IPMS Reviewer Corps for allowing me to test out this new and exciting method of researching history, details, and versions of early USN and USMC jets and related aircraft carrier design changes. The official title is Jet Fighters of the U. S. Navy & Marine Corps, Part 1: The First Ten Years. The second volume is due for release later this year.

Review Author
Ben Morton
Published on
February 3, 2020
Company
AFV Club
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$85.00

From my new, best friends at Wikipedia: The M728 is a full-tracked combat engineer vehicle designed to provide maximum ballistic protection for the crew and is a heavily armed derivative of the M60 series tank. Modified to provide a mobile and maneuverable weapon for combat support of ground troops and vehicles, the M728 vehicle is used for breaching, obstacle removal, transportation of demolition teams, and pioneering operations.