Kagero, the prolific Polish publishing company, has released the newest addition to their series, Top Drawings. This is number 86, the German heavy cruiser, Prinz Eugen. Distributed by Casemate Publications, this 28 page paper book provides drawings and a color profile of the famous German cruiser. I imagine most of you know the ship’s history. It accompanied the Bismarck on its first and only voyage, accompanied the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in their famous channel dash, and ended her career in the Baltic.

The Kit

Remember these? This kit is from the dawn of armor modeling in the 50's. Aurora had a series

of 1/48 tank kits that included the Stalin III, Chi Ha, M-109, Swedish “S” tank, Centurion, M-70, and Churchill, none of which would be modeled in any scale for literally decades. This is the Atlantis re-release of the M-46 Patton.

There are 127 parts, including four crewmen. The tracks are of the rubber band type, but have decent detail, especially given the age of the kit, join together and fit well. The overall kit detail is on the sparse/simplified side and the turret MG is cartoonish, but over all it does look like a Patton. The lifting eyes are given as rings that you fit into slots in the turret and hull whereas in real life they are more inverted “U” shaped, but this is easily fixed by just nipping off one end. The main gun muzzle brake is decently done, but the barrel end needs to be drilled out. There are no brush guards for the lights.

And now for something different – for this reviewer at least. I’ve always been intrigued with the bright brasswork of early automobiles and the combination of dark green paint and brass trim caught my eye when perusing the list of review items.

The kit arrives in a very sturdy cardboard box with separate cover in full color. Each tree is carefully wrapped, clear parts and rubber tires are packaged separately, and a very nice gloss printed instruction manual is included.

Construction is relatively straightforward, I deviated from some of the sequences to facilitate painting and avoid knocking off some of the smaller bits. The 10hp Renault engine is nicely detailed but I ran into problems attaching the exhaust pipe. Part of this is due to somewhat obscure illustration and compounding this was the fact that the pipe itself was broken during assembly. Let’s chalk that one up to builder error.

This book sets out to explain how the Soviets came to develop what has become arguably World War two’s most revolutionary tank design.

I have always been intrigued by the history and development of the T-34 as it helped greatly in changing the fate of Russia on the Second World War. This book goes in to incredible details and reasons behind its design and history. There is so much information included that I had not seen before. The pictures are also a great resource and will be invaluable when researching the T-34. There also a few Profile pictures are a particular favorite and great source for modeling.

I was impressed at the amount of information and history found in the pages of this extremely enjoyable book. The pictures along are worth the cost of the book. I will find this book indispensable in my library of reference books.

History

The Yakovlev Yak-1 series design work began in the late thirties, with the first flight taking place in 1939. Production started in the same year, and by 1941, these planes were beginning to be issued to Soviet Air Force fighter squadrons. The type went through a considerable amount of development, resulting in the Yak-7, Yak-9 and later the Yak-3. At first designated I-26, the Yak-1 was later redesignated Yak-1 in honor of its designer, and during its service life was upgraded in several ways, including replacing the faired-in canopy with a version allowing the pilot to see directly behind him. Some units modified their aircraft, using what was known as the Shinkarenkov Modification, which was later incorporated into all Yak production aircraft. The Yak-1 was the first of a series of fighters that became the mainstay of the Soviet Air Force for the duration of World War II.