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Book Author(s)
Ian Baxter
Review Author
Orlando Reyes
Published on
Company
Casemate Publishers
MSRP
$28.95

This book is another offering of the Casemate illustrated Series and in this case deals with the destruction of the German Army Group South by the Soviet forces. The book offers five color maps, one for each section/area where the two armies fought. In addition, you will find 20 commanders’ profiles. Both sides are given 10 commanders each involved in the conflict. The book describes 5 main battles and each has the order of battle for both the Soviets and the Germans. Finally, there are 13 profiles for equipment used during the battle by both the Germans and Soviets.

As in every book of this particular series you will find a timeline of events at the beginning of the book, starting with the retreat of the Army Group South to the Dnieper River during August, 1943, and ending with the participation of the Soviet Army in the Silesian and Prague

Review Author
Doug Cole
Published on
Company
Revell
Scale
1:25
MSRP
$29.99

The Boss 351 was a perfect blend of the previous “Boss” 302 & 429 Mustangs, and nearly as rare with only 1,806 of the 351’s produced. But the golden age of muscle cars was quickly dying out, and the Boss 351 was only built for one year.

With twin Ram Air hood scoops feeding a specially modified 330-horsepower 351-cubic-inch “Cleveland” V-8, the Boss 351 had plenty of power.

This newly tooled Revell kit has 120 parts molded in white, clear, and chrome pieces with soft vinyl tires and waterslide decals. It’s rated a skill level 4 due to a high parts count and a comprehensive decal sheet.

Construction

The engine is a beauty and a model in its own right, weighing in at 26 parts. It’s highly detailed and includes all the decals to make it standout. The parts are mostly separate making for easy finishing. It’s the best representation of this engine that I’ve seen!

Book Author(s)
Thomas Anderson
Review Author
Orlando Reyes
Published on
Company
Peko Publishing
MSRP
$54.95

The book covers the history of the unit from its creation through the end of the war, and is divided into an Introduction and six sections, as well as a glossary of terms on page 2. The book refers to the unit designed first as StuGA.Abt.203 and later named StuGBrig.203. Book information was gathered from Russian archives as well as those located in Freiburg, Alexandria and Podolsk. The first chapter deals with the establishment of the unit and how they were trained. The second chapter deals with their transfer to the east. Many of the pictures in this chapter deal with the type of equipment used by the unit. These included both AFV's as well as soft skinned vehicles.

Book Author(s)
Henri-Paul Enjames
Review Author
Orlando Reyes
Published on
Company
Casemate Publishers
MSRP
$69.95

As the book title states this book is directed to the collector of U.S. Army Service Forces gear, focusing on the European Theater of Operations (ETO). The book is volume #2 of the series.

You will find everything that was used by the Gi's while in Europe! The book is divided into 24 sections with an Abbreviations section, as well as an Index.

Book Author(s)
Aniruth Rao
Review Author
Orlando Reyes
Published on
Company
Kagero Publishing
MSRP
$21.95

This is #131 of the Top Drawings series describing the G.55. The book consists of a total of 16 plan views and 5 profiles of the aircraft. The book is written in English and Polish. The first page of the book has a small history of the aircraft in both languages. You will find a single page drawing for a 1/32 scale aircraft, 3 for 1/72 scale, and 11 for 1/48 scale. There are two drawings in which 1/48 and 1/24 are combined and one in which 1/72 and 1/48 are combined as well. The large 1/32 scale drawing is a single sheet added to the book. This drawing is provided in a two-sided single page. The backside of the drawing has profiles of the aircraft for the single seat fighter as well as the trainer version.

Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Brengun
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$12.99

THANKS to Brengun for providing more of their expansive line for us IPMS reviewers to address. For the Detail hounds, AMS, whatever among us, Brengun continues to provide really cool items for us to use. And this set holds great promise to upgrade the venerable 1/72 Italeri kit.

Notice I said 1/72. When I was digging through the “Review stash” to see where I could help, I saw this and thought “great, I can finally build the small version (Having the 1/48 model sitting in the box, I made a big assumption.

1/48 and 1/72 do not mathematically convert into equals. “why is this set of screens for the transmission and engine cooling intake too small when held up to the 1/48 model?”

Stupid reviewer. Brengun, I sincerely apologize, you don’t get one of my fantastic, non-sniper reviews with a kit involved, because I don’t have a 1/72 kit. I thought for some reason this was for the 1/48 kit when I agreed to do it.

Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
ICM
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$23.99

ICM has produced some stellar helicopter kits, but the thing for me is finally we have good Vietnam era figures for helicopters. This is their first set of 1/35th scale, having made the change from 1/32nd to a more common 1/35th scale helicopters.

Packaged in a sturdy cardboard side opening box with a card stock covering, this set includes two sprues of light grey plastic that show no signs of flash or mis-molding. There are 41 parts molded with good detail. Four figures are included, along with four flight helmets. The instruction sheet is full color and shows you what the figure should look like when finished. It also has references to ICM paints. I did paint the figures mostly with the ICM paints which performed well, but I didn’t have all the colors needed in the set.

Book Author(s)
Salvador Mafe Huertes
Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Kagero Publishing
MSRP
$37.00

This is the 87th book in the Kagero Monographs series covering aircraft in details photos and diagrams. This book covers the Eurofighter Typhoon. The book provides great detail drawings of the Typhoon, mainly from the Spanish Air Force with some coverage of the aircraft in sue with the Royal Air Force and the German Airforce.

I found the drawings in this book to be fascinating and very detailed, ideal for any modeler as reference materials. The photographs are extremely good and many I have never seen and provide great details for super detailing any scale model of the aircraft. The very details Spanish Air force chapter is extremely interesting. I would like to have seen more coverage of RAF use of the aircraft and squadron’s.

Along with the many photos there are outline drawings, schematics, and very nice profile drawings.

I recommend this book to everyone with an interest in the armor and a must for modelers.

Book Author(s)
Dennis Oliver
Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Casemate Publishers
MSRP
$29.95

This is no 38 in the Tank Craft series which details tanks and also covers model kits and accessories to build the tanks covered in the book. This book covers the Panther German Army Tank on the Italian Front 1944 to 1945. The Panzerkampfwagen V Panther was a great tank and was better that most allied. It was very successful on most fronts except Italy where the terrain was a hindrance to the performance of this tank.

I found this book contains so much detailed information and pictures of the Panther and its variants. The Profile pictures are a particular favorite and has given me a few great ideas of the color schemes for when I build my many Kits.

The chapter on the different model builds and kits are of great interest and will provide a good resource when modeling this tank.

Book Author(s)
Christopher Buckley
Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Casemate Publishers
MSRP
$24.95

This is the 1st volume of a new Key Book Historic Commercial Aircraft Series – Soviet-Era Airliners, The Final Three Decades. This book covers the history of the demise of the great soviet airliner fleet from 1991 to today. The Soviet designed and manufactured Airlines have always been fascinating with me as I watch the changes and downfall happen during this period while working in the airline industry. The chapters are fascination and give way more details that I expected in such an apparently small book.

The chapters most aspects of the decline and changes in the Soviet Airlines and its way through the historic changes happening in the Soviet world. This book does excellent work showing the main airlines world-wide using these aircraft. It goes on to explain the aircraft they used and what western aircraft were used to replace them in many cases.

All the photographs are some of the best I have seen and are great reference material.