Book Author(s)
John David Watson
Review Author
Andy Taylor
Published on
August 15, 2023
Company
Helion & Company
MSRP
$29.95

Chasing the Soft Underbelly - Turkey and the Second World War is an amazing, detailed and concise (for the breadth of history covered) book on Turkey’s involvement in World War II, its involvement in the Balkans, its neighboring countries, and the aftermath of World War I that saw the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. While this is not an easy book to digest if you don’t have any background with Turkey, the Balkans, or the principal players (especially the non- historically relatable Turkish leaders), it is well worth the time and money invested. It will fill in a lot of previously known factors of Turkey and its neighbors in the critical 20th Century.

Book Author(s)
Dick Taylor, Andy Brend
Review Author
Andy Taylor
Published on
August 15, 2023
Company
Mushroom Model Publications - MMP Books
MSRP
$55.00

Do modelers really need another book on weathering models? The authors defend their position in the opening paragraph of the book,

“This is a book about weathering and designed with one audience in mind – the military modeler. To be sure, there are many books concerned with weathering military models available, but they all concentrate on weathering techniques – pre-shading, washes, pin-washes, dry-brushing, hairspray, you name it, it has a name and technique. This book is different; it does not tell the modeler how to achieve a particular finish. Rather, it is a reference book showing a range of real military vehicles and their components in real military environments.”

Book Author(s)
Ian Spring and Anthony Tucker-Jones
Review Author
Andy Taylor
Published on
August 16, 2023
Company
Greenhill Books
MSRP
$34.95

Anthony Tucker Jones really doesn’t need an introduction to military history readers with his impressive book pedigree, over 500 articles and his contributions to modelers through Pen & Sword and Casemate. His latest book builds on his impressive reputation, and his ability to tie in well-known history of a pivotal and influential German Field Marshall, along with amazing color photographs from Ian Spring’s digital archive, makes this a highly recommended book.

Rommel's Afrika Korps in Colour - Rare German Photographs from the Second World War, is composed of an introduction, five parts with 14 chapters, and an order of battle:

Review Author
Bill Kluge
Published on
August 18, 2023
Company
Gallery Models
Scale
1/200
MSRP
$829.99

Now that the major subassemblies are complete, it was time to put the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together. I naively thought that it would all be downhill from here, even if it was a gently sloping downhill. I didn’t quite realize how many lengthy flat spots there would be along the way.

Book Author(s)
Desmond Brennan
Review Author
Paul Bradley
Published on
August 29, 2023
Company
Guideline Publications
MSRP
$25.00

Operation Chastise, the Dambusters Raid, hardly needs an introduction to anyone remotely interested in military aviation history. In this 80th anniversary year, there are several new books about the raid. This slim new volume from Guideline explores different aspects of the operation, its build-up, and aftermath in a general and abbreviated manner.

Author Des Brennan will be familiar to modeling magazine readers, and he approaches the subject with a number of short chapters outlining topics including:

  • The development of the Lancaster
  • Short biography of Barnes Wallis, developer of the ‘bouncing bomb’
  • Bomber Command and Arthur Harris
  • Preparations for the Raid
  • The aftermath
  • And others.

It’s an interesting, if short read. Brennan does a good job distilling the essentials into a cogent narrative.