Reviews

Book Author(s)
David Greentree
Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$10.56

The book is set up to introduce the groups involved- British Light Infantry versus French Light Infantry (Skirmishers). Each group has the specifics from recruitment, formation of the group and morale discussed along with very well detailed drawings of each soldier showing their weapons, dress and equipment. One thing detailed early on was the use of muskets versus rifles. The British used Baker riffles with smaller rounds, rifled barrels and an increased range. He French used a Charleville Dragoon Musket with larger caliber rounds and no rifling. There are specific sections on the training of each group, its weapons and their command and control strategy.

The table of contents looks like this:

Review Author
Brian R. Baker
Published on
Company
Brengun
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$30.28

The Kit and Assembly

The kit consists of 23 gray resin parts, 3 injection molded plastic rotor blades, and two sheets of photo etch metal, altogether containing approximately 50 parts, of varying size and complexity. None of the parts is named, but most are identifiable. One thing to remember is that this is not a kit designed for beginners, and wondered while I was assembling the kit whether it was really intended for experienced modelers. There are a LOT of parts to this kit, especially considering its size, and you will have to be very careful cutting the PE parts off of the sheet, as they will do their best to escape. Some are so small that if some reason they should become lost, they will be gone forever. Use of a magnifying glass is highly recommended, both for assembly and for looking for parts on the floor.

Book Author(s)
Jakub Fojtik
Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
Company
Mushroom Model Publications - MMP Books
MSRP
$45.00

MMP was founded in 1996 by Roger Wallsgrove, to publish "Mushroom Model Magazine". This quarterly modelling magazine was developed from "Mushroom Monthly”, a club newsletter which ran from 1985 to 1995, achieving a world-wide reputation for quality articles, fearless and honest reviews, and a great sense of humor. From 1997 the magazine was produced in collaboration with Robert Peczkowski and Artur Juszczak (Stratus), which meant a big leap in print quality and design. MMP expanded into book publication in 1999, and since then they have built up a list of books on aircraft and aviation, naval, military vehicles, and military history. MMP Books are distributed in North America by Casemate Publications.

Review Author
Will Kuhrt
Published on
Company
ICM
Scale
1/16
MSRP
$41.99

First Impression

ICM Holding, a Ukrainian-based company known for outstanding quality, has produced excellent figure kit with this brand-new tooling release of a Roman Centurion from the 1st Century. The box contains one bag containing two gray sprues and a separate black sprue (and bag) for the base. The kit contains a total of 49 parts. The parts are crisply molded and engraved; the detail is outstanding and all parts are flash free. The double-sided assembly guide combines the assembly and painting guidelines.

One very impressive aspect of this kit is that fact that the arms and legs are solid molds and you will not have to worry about filling lots of seems as is typical with many plastic figure kits. In my view, this kit is so close in quality to resin figure models that I believe many in the figure modeling community will really enjoy this model kit.

A very nice bonus is a full-color frameable art print (matching the box art).

Review Author
Dave Koukol
Published on
Company
AMMO by Mig Jimenez
MSRP
$2.50

Background

For the 10-15 years, modelers have been enjoying the “golden age of weathering products.” Be it in the form of pre-mixed washes, filters, effects such as mud, dust, grime, streaking, etc., or pigments in all shades, it’s never been so convenient or easy to come up with convincing weathering effects on our models. One of the leading innovators in this field has been Mig Jimenez, who has brought us many of these off-the-shelf, ready-to-use products. Ammo by Mig Shaders are the latest addition to this growing product line.

The Product

Mig’s website touts Shaders as “acrylic based paint specially formulated to apply shadows with the airbrush,” which are packaged in handy little 10mL dropper bottles. This review looks at the following Shader colors:

Book Author(s)
MMP Books, Casemate Publishers
Review Author
Brian R. Baker
Published on
Company
Mushroom Model Publications - MMP Books
MSRP
$11.99

The Book

This book provides a lot of information on the P-38L-5-LO. This variant was only marginally different in detail from other P-38’s in the “L” series, so it would probably be useful for anyone wanting detail information on any of the later P-38’s. The book consists entirely of scale drawings in 1/72 and 1/48 scale, a series of captioned color and black and white photos of entire airplanes and details, and a set of color drawings in back. It would serve as a very good reference for anyone wanting to build a model in either of those scales. The detail photos are from existing warbirds or from actual maintenance manuals, and there are even some interior views of the cockpit and engine compartments.

Recommendation

If you are doing a late model P-38 in either of those scales, this book is the one to get. Highly recommended.

Book Author(s)
Mariusz Motyka
Review Author
Dave Koukol
Published on
Company
Kagero Publishing
MSRP
$24.95

Background

A variant of the iconic M3 series of half-track vehicles originally fielded in World War II, the M16 was fitted with 4 each .50 caliber machine guns in an electrically-drive rotating turret adapted from aircraft use. Used primarily as an anti-aircraft platform, the M16 also held great utility in suppressing enemy infantry. First seeing service in 1944, replacing the twin-gunned M13, the M16 proved a valuable asset for the remainder of the war and following, namely in service with US and South Korean forces during the Korean War.

The Publication

This softbound volume sports 24 pages consisting of a brief 1-page introduction, with the remainder of the book devoted to black-and-white line drawings with descriptive captions in English and Polish and 3 loose, large, folded sheets with vehicle and detail drawings in 1/72, 1/48, 1/35, 1/16 scales.

Review Author
Bill O'Malley
Published on
Company
Mission Models
MSRP
$5.75

Mission Model Paints Iridescent Colors

Mission Model Paints has added some beautiful iridescent colors to their excellent line of acrylic paints. These luminous paints seem to change color when seen from different angles. The iridescent paints have a silver base and produce a display of lustrous, prismatic, rainbow-like colors. MMP has also issued Pearl paint colors. The Pearl colors have a translucent pearl-like depth, either in color or luster.

Review Author
Doug Hamilton
Published on
Company
Iliad Design
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$12.00

Iliad Decals is a firm based in Canada that produces decals for many subjects in both 1/48 and 1/72 scales. Printing is nicely done with all colors in register and true. They’re traditional water slide configuration, are thin and look good.

The sheet carries markings for seven F-104s. All aircraft depicted are combat aircraft.. There are a variety of schemes worn by these warriors, so there is a nice selection of colors and nationalities present. There are three USAF birds, two of which that were flown in the Southeast Asia scheme that were based at Udorn Thailand in 1966-67 during the Viet Nam war and escorted F-105s into action. The third one is a sleek looking bird in white over ADC gray that has an interesting back story, with the pilot being held as a POW in China for about 8 years!!

Review Author
Will Kuhrt
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$13.95

Thank you to Phil and Bill for all that you do managing and providing review opportunities!

Recommended kit: 1/72 F-35B Lightning II STOVAL (1425) from Italeri

Reviewer’s Comments

This landing gear set from SAC is a direct replacement for the kit parts. The only exception being is that you will add some plastic kits parts to the nose landing gear. The white metal casting is superb as is usual for SAC. The kit consists of seven parts: a replacement cockpit tub and six landing gear parts.

Instructions are not provided, but they are not required as they are intended to be direct replacements for the kit parts. Only three pieces need to be removed from the pour runners, and these came off easily with a nipper.