If you have the Roden or Eduard 1/48 Gloster Gladiator, Aires has come through with this very nice item to add a little crisper detail to it. The wheels are nicely molded and, with the masks that are provided, easy to paint. I highly recommend these to anyone with this kit.

I would like to thank Aires for providing this fine detail set and to the IPMS for allowing me to review them.

Dr. Nigel Thomas graduated from Tiffin Boy’s School, Kingston-Upon-Thames in 1964 and proceeded to attend Manchester University, earning a BA in Modern Languages. He attended Durham University and Newcastle University where he obtained his MA in German History and Literature. He was awarded a PhD on the Eastern enlargement of NATO. Nigel is an accomplished linguist and military historian and formerly a Principal Lecturer in French and German Languages and Politics at Northumbria University, He is now a freelance military author, translator and military uniform consultant. His interests are 20th century military and civil uniformed organizations, with a special interest in Germany, Central, and Eastern Europe. He has written more than 20 books on military history and uniforms, many of them with Osprey. He lives in Tyne and Wear, UK.

Tony Buttler was born in 1956 and joined High Duty Alloys in Redditch in 1974 as a metallurgist. For nearly 20 years he was closely involved in the testing of aluminum and titanium airframe and engine components for many of the world's most important airplanes. It was during this timeframe that his interest in military aircraft grew into a passion. Since 1995, Tony has been a freelance aviation historian, and is well known for his Secret Projects series of hardbound books with Crecy Publishing. He has also written many titles for the Warpaint series of monographs as well as many articles for most of the popular historical aviation magazines.

History

In the Summer of 1944, things were not going well for the Japanese. The Americans were approaching Japan, and from the Japanese viewpoint, an invasion of the homeland was not too far away. Conventional weaponry seemed to be ineffective. Due to the fact that Japan was far behind the U.S. in industrial development, existing air and naval forces were being used up far beyond Japan’s ability to replace equipment and personnel. The leaders still thought they could win, but it was obvious to many military and naval people that something radical was needed.

Thank you Osprey Publishing for providing a review copy of their new ship’s annual! I first thought that Osprey was publishing a new series, but in fact, Osprey is continuing the Conway imprint of naval and military books, which is excellent news. As always, I truly appreciate all those in the IPMS Reviewer Corps, whose work is critical to sharing new and exciting modeling and historical products with the world.

Overview

Warship 2018 is part of an annual series and follows historical event anniversaries, new analysis of naval engagements, intriguing operations, and more general ship topics. Each of the 11 chapters is a stand-alone study, accompanied by abundant images, drawings and data. All writing styles are slightly different, but each is appropriate and engaging for the chapter topic.

Content Coverage

Brief highlights of each chapter are included here. Short engaging descriptions of chapter content following chapter titles.