The Yellow Series from Mushroom Model Publications covers individual aircraft in great detail. This book on the Boulton Paul Defiant is an excellent example. The book starts out with the basic concept of the Defiant as a daytime bomber destroyer. It then covers night fighter operations, followed by air-sea rescue operations, its use as a target tug and other tasks.

Along with, and in addition to the description of the operational history of the Defiant, a great number of photos are included. These show experimental and operational aircraft as well as incredible details of all parts of the aircraft. The majority of the detail photos were taken of the only complete surviving example of the Defiant at the RAF Museum Hendon. The modeler will be very pleased with these detailed color photos.

The book contains ten pages of 1/72 scale line drawings providing three view representations of the various development stages of the Defiant. Also included are copies of several vintage drawings from the Defiant service manual showing details of the gun turret, internal fuselage structure, instrument panel and pilot seat. In addition, there are twenty five different color profiles covering most usages of the Defiant. Finally, there are charts covering details of each major variant of the Defiant. These include specifications, serial number ranges and production volumes. While looking at the profiles of the Defiant, I wondered what happened to the long rear antenna when the airplane landed. The book explained that the rear antenna retracted when the landing gear were extended. Good detail content.

While the Defiant was conceived as a daylight bomber killer, it could not survive in this role but it was very successful in the other usages to which it was assigned, particularly night fighting.

This book is a reprint, having been originally issued in 2005. In any case, this is a great book for the modeler and for the aircraft historian. It is rumored that Airfix will be producing a new tool version of the Defiant soon. This book will allow modelers to add all the detail that they prefer.

Well recommended. My thanks to Mushroom Model Publications and to IPMS for letting me review this great reference book. This book will be distributed in North America by Casemate publishing. It is noted that MMP provide a separate package of 1/72 and 1/48 scale drawings.