Overview from the Author and Publisher

Print

127 pages, 330 color photos, 9 color profiles, with the digital versions: 211 pages (2021 Digital Edition) and 442 pages (in the Digital Vol 3 2018 Edition)

As with most fighter aircraft, they tend to get heavier as the user needs more capability than the original design can deliver. In this case, the light weight G.91 needed more range, loiter time and weapons. Enter the G.91Y. Going from a single engine to two engines, the G.91Y nearly doubled its empty and max take off weights while increasing range and navigational capabilities. External ordinance capacity increased from 1000lbs to 4000lbs. Like its predecessor, the G.91Y also competed against some of what the world had to offer in 1965 but in the end only the Italian Air Force used this aircraft. The “Yankee” version of the G.91 would serve from 1966 to 1995.

Richard Marmo’s latest installment in his “The Marmo Method Model Building Guide” series is booklet # 14, Building The 1/96 Scale Atlantis Moon Ship.   These booklets are a great reference for scale modelers of any experience level.  I would like to thank Mr. Marmo and Scale Publications for providing a copy for this review.

Revell released the XSL-01, 3-stage rocket kit in 1957 and later in the same year, released just the 3^rd stage, the Moon Ship as a stand-alone kit.  Both were highly successful kits of the day.  In 2021, Atlantis re-released the Moon Ship under their brand but it’s the same tooling and kit as the 1957 version.

In October of 2021, Mr. Marmo published this booklet to describe the materials, tools and techniques he used as he went through the processes of building, finishing and displaying the Atlantis kit.

On May 1, 1960, an ex-USAF turned CIA pilot named Francis Gary Powers flying a Lockheed U-2 at 70,000 feet 800 miles east of Moscow felt and saw the results of a Soviet SA-2 missile removing the tail of his aircraft. Thus ended the first round of U-2 overflights over the Soviet Union and the time frame covered in this volume. Despite the international incident that resulted, the information gained about the state of Soviet bomber and nuclear weapon capabilities more than justified the risks taken. The author, Kevin Wright is a university professor specializing in the Cold War. This book outlines the first phase of U-2 operations from 1956 to 1960. The book opens with a brief history of how the U-2 came to be and examines the various equipment packages that the aircraft could carry. Contrary to the public perception of the U-2 only being a camera platform, it carried nuclear fallout sampling equipment as well as receivers for the collecting electronic intelligence.

Value Gear has produced a complete line of stowage items that are useful for adding those finishing touches to armor projects or dioramas of all types. This set contains 25 cast resin stowage items for armored vehicles, although some of these items could also be useful in aircraft, sci-fi, or automotive dioramas.

There is a lot of variety here. This assortment includes backpacks, bedrolls, duffle bags, toolboxes, cardboard boxes, equipment bags, and sleeping cots. The vendor’s website claims that all 25 items are unique. That may indeed be true, but the six backpacks supplied seem to be of two types, with only subtle differences among them. The resin is a neutral, medium-dark gray color. The surfaces are slightly textured, again with variability. The sculpting of these parts is excellent, with the appropriate creases, straps, buckles, and in some cases, a little wear and tear.