Here we are with one more of SAC’s white metal replacement to improve the longevity of the models we slavishly spend so much time and cash on. In the case of the new-tool 2019 release Vulcan, it’s a LARGE model and the metal replacement is a good idea.

How do I know this? Wellllll, back in 1984, around May, I had purchased the then-new Airfix Vulcan in 1/72 scale as my first acquisition while stationed at RAF Mildenhall. I bought the kit at a housewares store on the high street. What a concept, model kits for sale EVERYWHERE back then it seems. I took a year to build it due to a lot of reasons, but in the end I had a great model. And the gear wheels and tires kept breaking off. Particularly when I moved and boxed up my built up kits.

I know this because I still have this same model baking in the garage, in it’s Xtracolor Grays and greens, and I noticed there were some missing bits over time, much of it the landing gear.

After a near decade long hiatus, the Detail and Scale series is back up and producing modeler focused references for some of our favorite aircraft subjects. In this volume, number 13 in the new series, the authors follow up volume 12 by completing their examination of the FJ Fury series of Naval fighter aircraft. The book opens with an introduction to Burt Kinzey and Richard “Rock” Roszak. I found these bios helpful since I missed collecting the original series having taken a modeling hiatus of my own. A recap of volume one backfills what the reader missed if they don’t have volume 12. The focus of this volume is primarily the FJ-4 and FJ-4B with brief coverage of the FJ-4F. A history of development and employment of each type follows. Color profiles done by Mr. Roszak highlight colors and markings of various units and a complete list of the unit assignments is included.

Painting Wargaming Figures – Allied Forces in Northwest Europe 1944-1945 covers British and Commonwealth, United States and Free French uniforms for this period.

The book covers 8 chapters to include topics on Tips and Tools, Skin Tones, display Bases, Allied Webbing, Equipment and Weapons for the service(s) combat uniforms cited above. Topics also include glues, fillers, types of paint/primers, brushes and care, painting techniques and weathering with washes. The author also gives historical background reference for colors used for the 1944-1945 time period for various units.

With 270 pictures to illustrate the steps suggested for the allied military services described for small scale figure painting it is very easy to follow along with a quite simple process to paint figures.

The British aviation industry produced a stunning variety of types in the half-century until 1953, from the famous Supermarine Spitfire and Avro Lancaster to the esoteric Planet Satellite and Armstrong Whitworth Apollo (Kudos to those who didn’t have to look up those latter two!). This new book from Key Publishing uses photos from the famous Aeroplane magazine archive to illustrate this wide variety, but does so through colourising those photos selected.

Author David Willis is well known for his aviation-related writing and he does a very good job with the concise, explanatory historical text and the informative and extensive photo captions.

Casemate Publishing continues its series on modern conflicts in Europe with the first volume of a projected two that deals with the creation and evolution of the Soviet air defense system. As with many books in this series, it is richly illustrated with contemporary black and white photographs, maps, and a series of color profiles of Soviet and US aircraft. Using English and Russian sources, the volume provides an excellent introduction to the establishment and growth of the Soviet air defense system. Readers with a passing knowledge of the Russian language will note that in the title the authors use a different form of the familiar word Rodina or homeland. It is not a misspelling but the appropriate grammatical construction.