From the Valiant Wings Publishing website: Our eleventh title in the Airframe Detail series is an essential companion for anyone tackling the 1/72 scale kit from Azur-Frrom, the Trumpeter example in 1/48 scale, or even one of the older toolings.

Contents include:

• Period detail images during production and testing including data from flight manuals and spare parts catalogues
• A wealth of historical technical photographs and diagrams
• Detailed walkaround images of preserved examples
• Over 50 full color profiles by Richard J. Caruana
• Concise camouflage and marking notes
• Lists of all Battle kits and accessories produced in all scales
• Full detailed build of the Trumpeter 1/48 Battle Mk I kit by Steve A. Evans and the Azur-Frrom 1/72nd Battle Mk I kit 'In Belgium' by Libor Jekl
• 136 pages plus covers

“The Fairey Battle - A Technical Guide” book from Valiant Wings Publishing Limited offers very interesting content in its 136 pages. The book is divided into 5 sections:

• Introduction page 5
• Technical Description page 32
• Camouflage & Markings page 79
• Battle Build page 117
• Appendices page 130

The Introduction section under the chapter Brief History provides a brief history of the Fairey Battle, RAF service, anti-aircraft and army co-operation units, testing times, foreign service summary, and survivors, i.e., existing aircraft in museums around the world.

The Technical Description section 1 provides a wealth of information covering the construction and equipment, specifically: the engine, fuselage, wings, undercarriage, armament, and other systems of this aircraft. Almost every page has black and white and/or color pictures, technical diagrams and drawings, and comments about the displayed content. I really liked the provided interpretation of the colors on page 46. For example, about the inside of the large canopy that the Battle had. These notes will be very valuable to the modelers.

Section Two is about camouflage and markings and, again, we get crisp color side views of aircraft with black and white photographs throughout, and a few top and bottom views as well. The side views provide details about depicted aircraft, very often supported by actual wartime photographs of these very planes, as well as unit, location, and the camouflage colors. There is even an attention-grabbing and colorful section about two-seat trainers. Pages 114 through 116 list different countries and descriptions of the Fairey Battle camouflage used by them.

Section Three is dedicated to two Mk.I Battle builds: a recent 1/72 scale kit from Azur-Frrom and 1/48 scale one from Trumpeter. This section will be extremely useful to the modelers, myself being one of them as I own an unbuilt Azur-Frrom kit.

The remaining pages from page 128 list various manufacturers of the Fairey Battle kits with a brief description of the kits’ quality or issues. There is also a list of aftermarket accessories for the different models, decals, and several books.

I really appreciated seeing a large number of photographs in the book. This is a great reference book for history enthusiasts and modelers. My only minor disappointment was to see several B&W pictures of the instrument panel, but none in color. Nevertheless, the book’s content has abundant detail and information, especially about the camouflage and markings. The description of the assembly of the two Fairey Battle kits and their finished pictures will be appreciated by the modelers and I highly recommend this book to aircraft enthusiasts and model builders. I will definitely be on a lookout for more Airframe Detail books from Valiant Wings Publishing. Thank you for an enjoyable and interesting reading experience.

My sincere thanks go to Simon Sugarhood, Design Director, from Valiant Wings Publishing for providing this book to review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it.