What's New

Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
ICM
Scale
1/16
MSRP
$25.00

ICM has released kit based on a character from the TV series the Squid Games – this is one of guards from the show.

In the box is:

  • 4 x light grey sprues
  • 1 stand base
  • 1 black sprue for stand
  • 1 small black sprue with the mask
  • 1 small decal sheet
  • 1 instruction sheets
  • 1 box art print

Construction

The construction of the figure is very easy, and they assemble very well. You do need to do a little filling here and there during the assembly. The body halves did not fill well and needed a lot of work

The base is a nice touch and has optional ground finishes to choose from. I added sand to the base top to match the box picture.

Painting was easy, although I did not use all the reference colors as shown on in the instructions. I did use all Tamiya paints on the figure. There was just one decal for the mask.

Book Author(s)
Michael Green
Review Author
Andy Taylor
Published on
Company
Pen & Sword
MSRP
$34.95

Red Army Weapons of the Second World War is a very well researched and written book that does a deep dive into the history of the Russian military’s ground forces weapons. This book is a departure from the usual Images of War format. Rather than a brief summary of the chapter to come with a dizzying number of great photographs, each of this book’s chapters opens with history, weapon type, development, etc, then follows with black and white photographs that are worth the price of the book alone.

In the forward, US Army Tank-Automotive Command Historian (Retired) Randy Talbot writes,

“During the First World War in an oft-told story, Russian infantrymen were on the line when an aeroplane flew overhead. They quickly fired upon the plane, shooting it down. There was no way it could be a Russian plane because the Russians were not smart enough to build something so complicated.”

He continues with the essence of this book,

Book Author(s)
Michał A. Piegzik
Review Author
Andy Taylor
Published on
Company
Helion & Company
MSRP
$29.95

This is the second of a two-series amazingly detailed books authored by a Polish Ph.D. in Law, living in Japan, writing about Japanese advances in the eastern Indian Ocean. As if that isn’t intriguing enough, author Michał A. Piegzik covers a little known (at least to most Americans) subject in a much larger backdrop of Allied defeats in the early Pacific War, focusing on ABDA (American, British, Dutch, Australian) forces as they reeled from Japanese attacks in Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dutch East Indies, the Philippines, Java, and Burma. For more background information on Michał A. Piegzik, please refer to my earlier review on The Darkest Hour, Volume 1.

If you read my book review on Volume 1, then I apologize for repeating myself here; however, as a standalone review, some background is necessary to put the book in context.

Review Author
Brian R. Baker
Published on
Company
VFR Models
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$28.20

History

The Rockwell Commander was developed during the late sixties, its first flight being in 1970. It was intended to compete with the Beech Bonanza, Mooney M20, Piper Low Wings and high-performance Cessna products that were so common during that era.

However, after production started problems occurred that resulted in modifications that made the airframe heavier and more complex. As these problems were solved, more powerful engines were installed, but production ended in 1980 with a total of 1306 being produced. The Models 112TC, 114 A, and 114B are the subject of this kit. As popular as the airplane was, I saw very few of them at local airports, and only photographed a couple of them over the past fifty years. Actually, I was surprised that anyone would produce a 1/72 scale kit of this aircraft.

Book Author(s)
Mariano Sciaroni, Alejandro Amendolara
Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Helion & Company
MSRP
$29.95

Casemate Publishers is distributing the latest installment of the Helion & Company’s Latin America @ War series, which focuses on the combat actions of the Super Etendard during the Falkland War in 1982. “Handbrake!” was the code word used by the British Task Force when an Exocet attack was identified on their radars.

The book is organized in a chronological order, with the first chapters devoted to the acquisition and limited training of the Argentinean pilots in France (in late 1980 and through 1981). At the outbreak of the conflict, France halted the delivery of aircrafts, pilot training and Exocet missiles - only 5 were delivered. Although some limited technical support was still provided in the early phases of the war by French technicians in Argentina, before they left to go back to France.

Book Author(s)
Peter Baxter
Review Author
Marc K. Blackburn
Published on
Company
Helion & Company
MSRP
$29.95

Casemate Publishing continues to release and distribute Helion’s ongoing series on wars in the twentieth century. This particular volume is part of their collection dealing with conflicts in the continent of Africa and covers the United Nation and United States intervention in Somalia from 1992 to 1994. As with other works in this series, they provide text, contemporary photographs that are mostly black and white with a smattering of color photographs. The center of the book has some color profiles of ground equipment and aircraft. Apparently the difference between the first edition and second edition of the book is not the content, but a new cover and color profiles.

Review Author
Gino Dykstra
Published on
Company
ICM
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$25.99

During the bloodbath that was World War 1, several nations took a shot at providing additional armor protection to at least some of their troops, with quite a range of results. Often the armor was simply too awkward and bulky (think America’s Brewster armor) or too thin to afford any real protection or simply too expensive. Perhaps the Italians were most interested in such protection, as their battles in the Alps against the Austro-Hungarian army had rapidly devolved into hand-to-hand trench warfare of the nastiest sort. In consequence, Italy equipped several special units (often referred to as “suicide squads”) with various types of additional armor for just that kind of close-in combat.

Book Author(s)
Matthew Willis
Review Author
Paul Bradley
Published on
Company
Mortons Books
MSRP
$24.50

The Fairey Swordfish needs no introduction, it being one of those classics of aviation that find themselves famous for being available in the right place at the right time. This new book from Morton Books is the second in their Fleet Air Arm Legends series and is written by noted aviation historian Matthew Willis.

Author Willis weaves a tight story of the need and development of the Swordfish in the early 1930’s, the entry into service and the emergency measures taken to ensure that this obsolescent aircraft was made available in the numbers needed by the FAA when it’s replacement – the Albacore – hit development issues.

Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
VFR Models
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$25.25

VFR Models is a UK producer of 3D Printed 1/72 General Aviation Aircraft Kits. This kit is baby brother to the Cessna 172 the Cessna 152 which is a two-seater.

The parts are very nicely 3D printed using DLP (Digital Light Processing) Resin Printing.

The parts need to be removed from the print support mounts and this is easily done with Spue cutter or sharp blade.

The construction starts with the cockpit and is very easy. There is no real guide to painting the interior, so you need to look up for references. Painting the interior should be completed before installation of the cockpit. The Cockpit is then installed into the fuselage, this was not very easy, and the cockpit base needed a lot of cleaning up and material removed to sit correctly. I also added some simple seat belts at this stage as not were molded in to supplied.

Review Author
Rod Lees
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$19.95

SAC is an interesting company; started around the year 2010 or so, they continue to provide model landing gear and other stress-handling parts in a world that some would say at the time “has no place for them here”. I differ in this view, one of their first sets was for the Italieri S-3 Viking, and I learned they had released a 1/32 set to replace the Revell JU-88 plastic set that was notorious for breaking off the wheel axle just in moving the model around; I was sold. SAC proves itself resilient where the naysayers are proven wrong (continually, I add) in the value of these vital bits. Others make stronger brass versions, but you will pay dearly for them in my experience, and they are more difficult to install due to being too stiff. I like SAC’s choice of metals.