Reviews

Book Author(s)
David Doyle
Review Author
Michael Reeves
Published on
Company
David Doyle Books
MSRP
$19.99

Whether I am reviewing his armor books as now, or his aircraft books, like my previous review on the SBD, I am always finding David Doyle’s books to be tremendous additions to the reference bookshelf. I find myself referring to them numerous times, whether for my own projects or to check on something for friends asking advice. The best advice, of course, is to buy themselves their own copy of the book…and this Legends of Warfare volume on the Tigers is no exception.

The book is not the end all or be all purchase that you’ll never need anything else to buy for the library. It is, however, a good place to start for someone transitioning to armor modeling for the first time, or just looking to build one of the various offerings of Tiger kits available. WWII buffs in general will thoroughly enjoy looking through the texts and various photos. Enough babbling…what’s inside Mike?

Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Hauler
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$6.50

Hauler has provided another addition to the great diorama releases. This is a 1/48 scale U.S. Army field safe from WWII.

Included is:

  • three resin parts
  • photoetch sheet
  • instruction sheet

The detail quality is great; The parts are very delicate parts that need careful removal from the resign bases.

The assembly is quick and easy. Please be careful with the photoetch interior parts as they need to be assembled as tightly as possible to slide into the safe opening.

The final part is painting.

Thanks go to Hualer for providing this kit to review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it for them

Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Hauler
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$10.50

Hauler has provided another addition to the great Diorama releases. This is a 1/48 Scale U.S. Safe from Pre - WWII period.

Included is:

  • 13 resin parts
  • photoetch sheet
  • small decal sheet
  • instruction sheet

The detail quality is great; The parts are very delicate parts that need careful removal from the resign bases. I did manage to lose the small resin safe handle. So I had to make one myself

The Assembly is quick and easy.

Please be careful with the Photo etch interior parts as they need to be assembled as tightly as possible to slide into the safe opening.

Next is the painting then adding the decals. The Decals did tend to roll up and were hard to place due to this. The addition of the gold bars were a nice touch.

Thanks go to Hauler for providing this kit to review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it for them

Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Caracal Models
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$13.99

Caracal Models provided these great decals for the Valom 1/48 Kit release of the Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander aircraft.

Included is

  • One sheet of decals
  • One Instruction sheet

The decals are of the best quality and printed by Microscale for Caracal Models.

The decal sheet provide decals for four different Markings options.

  • The British Parachute Regiments Freefall team Red Devils aircraft
  • The Heridean Air services aircraft
  • Aurigny Air Services aircraft
  • Armed Forces of Malta Aircraft

The instruction sheet is well detailed and includes color details.

The decals are awesome and will add a lot to the Valom Kit which I have now ordered to allow me to use these in the future. I will do the Red Devils aircraft as I have seen this one in action a few times in the past.

Review Author
Mike Lamm
Published on
Company
Brengun
Hauler
Scale
1/144
MSRP
$19.00

Brengun, based in the Czech Republic, is known for producing a range of photo-etched and resin accessories for airplane models. They also produce a small number of 1/72nd and 1/144th model sets in both plastic and resin. One of their resin kits is the T-62 Main Battle Tank in 1/144 scale.

The T-62 entered service with Soviet Union in 1961, and remained in service with the former Soviet Union until the early 2000s. Originally, designed as an upgrade to the T-55 series of tanks, the T-62 was the first tank armed with a smoothbore gun and replaced the T-55 as the standard tank of the Soviet army. While the T-62 is no longer in service with the Russian army, it is still commonly seen on today’s modern battlefields in Syria and Yemen.

Book Author(s)
David Grummitt Illustrator: Claudio Fernandez, Mark Rolfe, Slawomir Zajaczkowski
Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
Company
Guideline Publications
MSRP
$24.99

Guideline License Publications has unveiled a new series, Warpaint Armour. Instead of a monograph on a single aircraft, this series will contain a series of articles that focus on tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles that shaped pivotal moments in the history of modern warfare. Warpaint Armour will showcase articles by a team of experts utilizing the latest research. Each article features historical photographs along with color pics of museum displays or renovated AFVs from World War I to the current day. Each volume will feature eight focused articles and a modelling gallery, showcasing some of the finest models that have been seen in Miltary Modelcraft International over the last decade. Each article will also include specially commissioned color profiles in conjunction with Acrylicos Vallejo model paints.

Book Author(s)
Marek Dubiński, Tomasz Basarabowicz
Review Author
Bill O'Malley
Published on
Company
Mushroom Model Publications - MMP Books
MSRP
$25.00

This illustrated photo album includes over 120 B&W pictures of the Kaiserliche und Königliche Eisenbahn-Bau Kompanie unit (German Imperial Railway Construction Company) which operated during early stages of WW1 in the Western Galicia, now southern Poland. The railways are mostly narrow gauge.

The book uses black & white photographs to illustrate various construction or repair projects by the K.U.K in Western Galicia during the early WWI years between 1914-15. Captions are provided with each of the photos to describe the location and content of the photo. The photos are clear, and many show damaged bridges being built or repaired with descriptions of various construction methods and materials. A brief, but detailed outline of military operations provides context for the projects.

The railway projects are organized in these towns or areas:

General Outline of Military Operations in Western Galicia between August 1914 and mid-September 1915

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$16.95

Eduard Models has released a PE set to spruce up your Revell Fw-190A-8.

Typical of the Zoom line, this set consists of one fret, focused on the instrument panel and a few other cockpit details.

The instrument panel fret is pre-painted and would look very good with an open canopy. It will certainly enhance the looks of your Fw-190. The fret also includes all kind of switches, levers, oxygen regulator and rudder pedals.

Please note that this set does not include seatbelts. You can get them on the sets 33227 and 33179 (steel version, which are very nice to work with).

Given the small size of some of the parts, I will recommend this kit to modelers of all levels except the most novice. Highly recommended.

I would like to thank Eduard Models and IPMS/USA for the review sample.

Book Author(s)
SMMI
Review Author
Michael Reeves
Published on
Company
SAM Publications
MSRP
$3.32

One of my favorite start of the new month activities is to head to Barnes and Noble on a Friday afternoon and peruse the new model magazines. I usually only buy one or two each month, but it is part of my routine. Apparently though, my solitary habits aren’t enough to sustain the space on the shelves as my local shop isn’t stocking much as of late. So I was happy to see this sample of SMMI show up with another review. Here’s the breakdown of what’s inside:

T-34 Captured - looks at Robin Gilby’s 1/35 ICM Pz.Kpfw T-34-747(r) - more so an overview of the painting process with no real in-build photos...describes paint and weathering stages.

The Desert General - Modelers Masterclass article on Robin Gilby’s 1/35 Tamiya Leclerc Series II build- this one describes the actual build, but again- photos only represent the tank during the painting and weathering stages.

Review Author
David Wrinkle
Published on
Company
Special Hobby
Scale
1/32
MSRP
$51.00

Based off of the 2018 tooling of the Fi-103, Special Hobby has recently released another kit with some welcome extras to allow the builder to display the V-1 on its handling dolly. This configuration would make for a really cool little vignette or diorama if the builder so desired. Rest assured, the kit can also be built in the flight configuration as well. J

Special Hobby has added 12 additional resin parts along with a few photoetch details. The resin parts are used to build the exposed Argus Pulsejet engine as well as one of three options for the nose of the airframe. The three nose options include a ground cover that was used to protect the nose of the aircraft, the normal nose, or what I believe to be some sort of guidance or detonation control or possibly other instrumentation mounted in the nose. As I planned to have the Fi-103 on the ground dolly I thought the cover made the most sense.