Stratus and MMP Books are two closely cooperating publishing houses offering history and modeling books. In their range you will find publications in English (some of them with a Polish insert) and in Polish.
‘Desert Storm’
“US aircraft OV-10A and OV-10D+, 1991
Summer days bring swimming, camping, and barbecuing at home. Hauler has come out with a miniaturized BBQ Grill that would be perfect for a diorama in scale.
Consisting of 19 pieces, this kit builds up into a nice little grill. Counting the airbrush painting, it took me about 8 hours total to fold the pieces, and glue them together. I used superglue to assemble all the parts. One note – there is a handle that you add to one side of the grill. I used .020 diameter styrene rod as called for in the instructions.
Painting was accomplished using an airbrush, with flat black as the color. I did not weather my sample, but a bit of weathering would make this grill really come alive.
Overall, despite it being a relatively simple kit, this photo etched grill builds up into an excellent representation of a modern charcoal grill.
Thanks to Hauler Brengun for providing the review sample.
Eduard’s new F4F-3 Wildcat is a beautiful and well-engineered kit. The recessed panel lines, raised and recessed rivets are gorgeous. The kit contains five gray and one clear sprues, beautiful pre-painted photo-etch parts and a decal sheet, which provides markings for six different planes.
The kit, however, is not without its flaws. The 58-gallon drop tank, which all productions of the F4F-3 could carry, is absent from the instructions. There is mistake with the decal callouts (what is identified as Nr. 59 should be Nr. 54). There are raised demarcation lines on the edges of the prop blades for the yellow tips. These should be sanded down. There is nothing inside the wings to hold the guns, so when you insert them into the holes, they won’t stop and you could easily lose a gun inside the wing and end up with a rattle.
AMMO by Mig describes their new acrylic Plasticator as formulated for sealing porous surfaces such as wood, plaster, or ceramic to provide a plastic-like finish. The Plasticator is applied directly from the bottle with a brush. AMMO’s website provides demonstrations of how Plasticator can be used over plaster, wood, and foam to allow finishing with enamels, oil paints and washes. The instructions say to let the product dry for 24 hours before priming and painting, but it seemed to be fairly dry after an hour or so.
Plasticator comes in two consistencies, thin and thick. The thick product is about the same consistency as fresh white glue. The thin Plasticator is more like the consistency of white glue mixed one to one with water. By comparison, Future floor finish is a little thicker than the consistency of water. I used water to clean the brushes after applying the Plasticator.
This decal set is intended for the Eduard 1/48 F4F-3 Wildcat and is one of the three Wildcat decals sets from Starfighter Decals. The Early USN Wildcats set provides markings for six different aircraft: F4F-3A Number 3916 Ens. Daniels VF6; F4F-3A Bu. Number 3914 Lt. Rawle VF-6; F4F-3A Bu. Number 4031 Lt. E. O’Hare VF-2; F4F-3A Bu. Number 3976 Lt. J.S. Thatch VF-2; F4F-3 Bu. Number 2531 Ens. McCuskey VF-42 and F-1 Bu. No. 4031 Lt. Cmdr. Paul L. Ramsey.
The decals are easy to work with, however, there are a few things to watch out for. The tail rudder decals are larger than the kit’s rudder piece. To get the edges to lay down, you will need to apply MicroSol or a similar product. Apply a decal on one side and allow it to fully dry, and then apply the opposite side. BUT…pay attention to the strips so that they line up. Next, use care when positioning. These decals are thin, and moving them around too much on the surface of the plane will cause them to tear.
Hauler is a Czech Republic company produces high quality photo-etched sets for AFVs, airplanes, cars, railway vehicles, resin accessories for dioramas and resin kits. Their provides are available online or in the US from UMM-USA or from Stevens International through your local hobby shop.
This diorama accessory set includes an interior potbelly-type stove, two exterior barrel stoves, a wood stump chopping block, and two piles of split firewood in different sizes. The parts are all crisply molded but do have some minor flash that will need to be removed. The wood piles come on a thin casting block that may need to be removed depending upon its application. All the other parts are also attached to casting blocks.
The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel off the western French coast of Normandy’s Cotentin Peninsula, composed of two Crown Dependencies – the Bailiwicks of Jersey (the largest of the islands) and Guernsey, which consists of the islands of Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, Herm and some smaller islands. Historically, they are considered remnants of the Duchy of Normandy, and administered separately since the late 13th century.
Another publication by the prolific author is the “Chevrolet G-506” second printing in softbound printing. The first printing took seven years according to the author with help from colleagues and friends. This American author is known for his writings, especially on military armor, aircraft, hardware, and warships. Having started writing in 1999 with articles appearing in publications in the US, England, France, and Poland. According to his website, he has over 200 books to his credit published worldwide by various publishers.
After the Battle were set up 50 years ago (in 1973) to publish magazines and books presenting the history of the world's conflicts through 'then and now' comparison photographs. Owner Winston Ramsey was a noted historian and his new approach to history presented a novel way at looking at the past. The magazine ran until 2020 when Mr. Ramsey retired and the company was bought by Pen and Sword Books, who announced that no new After the Battle magazines will be published.
