This is the third installment of Claringbould’s accounts of aerial combat between Japanese and Allied air forces. Volume 3 continues with accounts of Japanese Naval Air Force operations in the Solomons and New Guinea from 1942 to 1944 against Allied forces - USN, USAAF, Australian and New Zealand. Everything that I wrote previously about Vol. 2 applies here regarding the author’s approach to documenting both side’s account of individual actions by researching official records, eyewitness testimony, personal narratives and diaries, and often evidence obtained from recently discovered wreckage.

This set provides replacement parts for the auxiliary air intakes and associate doors for Academy’s recent 1/72 F-4J kit. The set includes replacement bays for each side, replacing the single part provided in the kit. The set also includes replacement doors and actuators for the doors, again replacing the somewhat simplified kit parts.

Osprey Publishing continues to expand its “Combat” line, this time with an installment of the Soviet Soldier vs Finnish Soldier during the so-called “Continuation War”, which lasted from 1941 to 1944.

This conflict started a few days after the German invasion of the Soviet Union, when Finland attempted to regain territories lost during the Winter War of 1940. Shortly after the fast advance of the Finnish Army, the military actions turned into trench warfare, with front lines mostly stable until the Soviet Army launched an offensive in 1944, in which the Finnish stopped the Soviet advance but were forced to seek an armistice and switch sides.

Tamiya set the standard with their 32 scale F-4 Phantom II kits and these still dominate the market with their attention to detail. While being on top of the modeling empire, the leaders do lack at times in details and the nature of injection molding that makes some detail difficult, if almost impossible. Quickboost came to the rescue with this little gem that will close out the leading edge of your Phantom tail. In 1/32 scale and on top of the model, this is a highly visible addition.

The replacement vertical tail vent comes in a sealed bag with picture of the parts and what portions to trim (on one part) and a reference to what part number it replaces on the kit. There are two identical vents in the package so depending on how many Phantoms you have, one set could last a while. This is the extent of the instructions which is all that is needed for this simple set. The resin is flash free and zero bubbles for a flawless surface.

C'est une magnifique publication, riche en prose et en photographie. Présentée en français, mon manque de maîtrise du français me fait passer à côté de la qualité de la prose, mais la photographie ne nécessite pas de traduction précise.

In English - This is a magnificent publication, rich in prose and photography. Presented in the French language, my lack of command of French means that I am missing out on the quality of the prose, but the photography and the captions for the images does not require precise translation. While the book is in the French language, some ability to read and understand French would be extremely helpful. My command of French is, at best, that of a six-year old. But even with a remarkably disappointing ability to speak and write in French, I found that the captions of the photographs were not at all difficult to roughly translate and to understand. When all else fails, one can seek an online translation tool.