Background

The following is taken directly from the publication.

The REFERENCES series books are a compilation of photographs, illustrations and drawings already published in other KAGERO PUBLISHING series as well as content that have not been released there yet due to lack of space. The REFERENCES will also feature previously unedited material.

What You Get

An 8.5 x 11.5 soft-bound book.

A small set of decals for Ju-87D-1 T6+BC in 1/72 and 1/48 scale.

The book has a heavy glossy card-stock cover enclosing 30 pages of heavyweight paper. All photos are black and white. Text/captions are in the original Polish with English translations underneath.

The first 11 pages contain 18 photos of Ju-87D variants D-1, D-3, and D-5 as well as detail views of the cockpit, under-wing drop tank mounting, drop tank, and gun pod.

Page 12 has two color side view drawings of different aircraft, while page 13 is a right and left view of a single Ju-87D-1. Page14 is right side and left side views of a Ju-87D-5. Page 15 is a top and bottom view of the same aircraft. Page 16 is a color rendering of a D-5 instrument panel viewed from the left and right sides. The final color page (page 17) is a color rendering of the left side of a D-5 cockpit.

Pages 18 through 23 are line drawings, in 1/72 scale D-1, D-3, and D-5 variants. Most of the line drawings have a left and right-side view and either a top of bottom view. The drawings have highlights that indicate external changes. Pages 24 through 30 are left and right-side views, in 1/48 scale of D-1, D-3, and D-5 variants. The last two aircraft are night bomber versions with flame dampers.

The rear cover shows three views of a completed model highlighting the camouflage scheme.

Bottom Line

This book is an almost eclectic mix of photos, details, color schemes, color renderings, and line drawings. The detail photos are certainly some of the lesser shown items in other reference books. The color drawings are well executed, but I found it unusual that the one four view image was not for the aircraft that matched the decals. The color renderings of the instrument panel viewed from the left and right show little additional detail, while providing only a rendering of the left side of the cockpit leaves a huge blank as to how the right side is laid out. The line drawings show early and late production versions of the variants noted.

All in all, this is an interesting reference document, but unlikely to provide any new information that cannot be found in other more complete reference books.

I would like to thank Kagero and IPMS/USA for the opportunity to review this book.