What’s Inside

This is my first exposure to this series of photo reference guides and I kind of like the format. There is a brief one page Introduction and explanation of the format- and a reasoning of why this particular volume- which ties in to Tamiya’s recent release of the P-38 F/G. From there we get right to the meat of the guide- the many photos.

Mr. Marmo gives a brief explanation of how to navigate the photo thumbnails and then you’re set free. When you click on a thumbnail, you are brought to a whole page version of it, complete with a caption explaining what you’re seeing and a credit reference for where the photo originated from.

History

The P-3 Orion was designed for use by the US Navy as a submarine hunter and replaced the Neptune. The P-3 was nearly twice as fast as the Neptune and its range increased by almost 60% over that of the P2V. The first Orion was delivered to the US Navy Squadron VP-8 in July 1962 and within six months this unit was fully equipped with P-3's. This kit is a reissue of the old Revell kit that was first released in 1965.

What’s in the Box

Upon opening the box you will find a lot of white plastic, 48 pieces, attached to parts of sprues. The detail is raised and there are many rivets, also there is a lot of flash, pin marks and some sink marks to boot. (Face it, some of us that are this old OR OLDER have some of these same issues!) The decal sheet is printed cleanly and in register and you get a 4 page fold out for instructions.

Gabriele Esposito is an Italian student of military history with an interest in 1800s Latin America. Giuseppe Rava contributed three two-page and a smaller paintings in color of the pivotal battles of this war.

Osprey’s Campaign 342 covers the war that involved the eastern countries of South America as they joustled their own revolutions with military actions against their neighbors, setting the stage for current countries and boundaries. Like other Osprey Campaign books, this issue is 96 pages (not counting the front/back covers) –enough for a discussion on the war and its aftermath.

This book provides twelve maps of the theatre, individual battles and subsets of battles. Sixteen B&W and twelve color photographs, 28 B&W and 12 color illustrations, three Tables and a two-page Chronology compliment the text. Almost every page has some sort of visual to look at, giving a better feel for what is was like to have fought in this war.

History

The Japanese Kawanishi H8K1 flying boat, code named Emily by the Allies, was one of the best long range flying boats in its class during World War II. It is surprising that only one kit of this plane in 1/72 scale has been issued, by Hasegawa. This kit dates back to at least 1967, as I remember buying the kit then and wondering when I would have enough space to store and display the model once built. As a result I never built it although I have two in my stash, and after seeing this replacement unit, I have decided to do it in the near future.

Thank you very much to Specialty Press for providing a review copy of their new release, Vigilante! A Pilot’s Story: 1,200 Hours Flying the Ultimate U. S. Navy Reconnaissance Aircraft, by CDR Robert R. “Boom” Powell. As always, I appreciate all those in the IPMS Reviewer Corps, whose work is critical to sharing new and exciting modeling publications and products with the world.