Casemate Publishers just released the latest Kagero Publishing Super Drawings in 3D – The Japanese Light Cruiser Oyodo – in her 1944 fit (not her 1943 as-built appearance with the long catapult). This is a single-ship class of an odd hybrid ship that did not turn out to be a success (although she survived until the war-end harbor bombings at anchor). As always, the 3D book is jammed full of CG images of the Oyodo exterior and major fittings, including below the waterline. There is also a large foldout of B&W line drawings that are very helpful for modelers. This book is ideal for building models of the Oyodo, and will not disappoint IJN fans.

The book is volume 37 of Helion & Company’s Middle East@War series. While Volume 1 examined the delivery and use of Soviet designed combat aircraft in Egypt, Iraq and Syria, Volume 2 is limited to just Egypt and Syria and covers the time period from mid-1963 through mid-1967, ending right before the 1967 war. The book includes over one hundred black and white photographs, one page of color photographs and six pages of color profiles depicting the aircraft of the two air forces and the flight gear typically worn by flight crews during this period, along with maps and order of battle charts. Unfortunately, the quality of most of the photographs are very good, but as in Volume 1, some of them are blurry or fuzzy, which is not surprising given their age. I was pleased to see that only a couple of the photographs appear to be photographs taken of photographs published in another publication as there is a prominent line down the middle of the photograph.

Kinetic Models has been consistently releasing airplanes covering the Falklands War conflict and their latest release has been the IA 58 Pucara in 1/48 scale. This kit is part of their “Kinetic Gold” series which is a substantial improvement on the mold quality relative to previous kits of the same manufacturer. All parts are sharply modeled, with very fine panel lines and no flash anywhere to be seen.

Inside the box you find 5 sprues (one of the sprues is provided twice as there are parts that are needed twice) and one of the sprues is molded in clear for the canopy and all the lights covers. There is a small photoetch fret and a decal sheet for two aircrafts, one from the Uruguayan Air Force and one for the Argentinean Air Force during the Falkland War era. Loadout options are limited to drop tanks.

The Leyland Retriever was a 6x4 general utility lorry manufactured by Leyland Motors between 1939 and 1945. Roughly 6,500 were produced for the British Army during that period, and they served on all fronts and in a number of guises, one being General Montgomery’s caravan and also a fully armored version. Personally, I’ve always liked this beast, as it has a distinct WW1 feel to it and couldn’t be more basic – the cabin seats, for example, being nothing more than wooden tool boxes.

The Messerschmitt Me-309 was envisioned as a replacement for the Me-109 in late 1940. The aircraft was to feature a pressurized cockpit, a fully retractable, tricycle undercarriage and a variable geometry radiator. The Me-309 was never to become much of a priority for the powers that be owing to the success of adapting the Me-109 to larger engines and heavier armament and the Focke Wolf 190 coming into service. Four prototypes (V1-V4) were constructed with flight testing continuing into the last quarter of 1943.