The book opens with the developmental history of the P-51 Mustang. In early 1940, as World War II was developing in Europe, the British approached North American Aviation in about building P-40s for the Royal Air Force under license from the Curtiss-Wright Corporation. North American countered with an offer to design and build an improved fighter aircraft. The next phase of history is well known, as the NA-73 design was accepted by the British and eventually the US Army Air Forces took notice. The original design utilised the same twelve-cylinder Allison engine as the P-40, but the laminar-flow wing and other aerodynamic improvements allowed the new aircraft to fly faster and with great range. However, the Allison-engined P-51A version had weaknesses at higher altitudes so the airframe was modified to use the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine that had proven its value in the British Spitfire.

This set is designed to be used with Modelsvit’s Ye-152 experimental aircraft. The set consists of 5 resin parts providing the portion of the exhaust section of the engine aft of the rear compressor blades. Cast in a light grey resin, the parts exhibit exquisite detail, however, other than the flame-holder for the afterburner and the actual nozzle part, all the details are on the inside of the exhaust tube and are finely rendered.

The resin used by Amigo Models is of a medium hardness that is comparable to the injected plastic used in Airfix’s new kits which makes it easy to cut, but not so fragile as to collapse or shatter when cut. I use fine razor saw to separate the parts from the pour stubs and a medium grit (400) sanding stick to clean up the cut edges. I then soaked the parts in Simple Green to remove any mold release agent.

Author Dave Hooper is the founder of the IPMS Great War Special Interest Group and a long-standing contributor to aviation modelling journals. His comprehensive knowledge and attention to detail is well known.

Rivets on models have been limited to just two choices, “positive” (raised) and “negative” (embossed) styles, that is if they are represented at all. They both have their advantages and disadvantages but nearly all builds you will need to add rivet detail. In nearly all cases, the method to add rivet detail is to emboss or dimple the surface which is complete opposite of what the rivet looks like in real life. If your approach is to represent a raised rivet, adding raised features can be a challenge. HGW Models now offers an ingenious method to add reality to rivets but note that is will take a little practice to get the right effect.

This is another great book in the Osprey Combat Aircraft Series. It covers the development of the 210 and the later 410 aircraft. These were designed to replace the classic Me 110 aircraft.

It was in 1937 that the idea and development started on a replacement for the Me 110 Zerstorer (Destroyer) which itself was just entering service. The new design would have to full fill the role of Destroyer and dive bomber.

The development stages and aircraft variations are very well done including all issues with the Me 210 which was not the success Messerschmitt was hoping for. This was due to a lack of sufficient flight-testing, the Me 210 suffered from bad reputation in respect to its flight characteristics and weak undercarriage. Every detail and stages are covered in great depth. What I found very interesting is the amount of information from the different issues and production locations etc.