The book presents Operation Zitadelle-Operation Citadel- from the German side. This was the German offensive operation in July 1943 against the Soviet forces in the Kursk salient during World War II in the Eastern Front. This operation basically started the Battle of Kursk. It is considered as the biggest tank battle that has ever taken place.

Thank you Bill & Phil for all you do for the Reviewers!

The set is part of a new line of 3D printed 1/35 scale accessories. The Luftschutz helmet set contains two 3D printed helmets, one decal sheet and photo etch straps.

The helmets are exceedingly well detailed and show no evidence of being 3D printed, i.e., print lines, support fingers, etc. The helmet surface is smooth as glass and requires no sanding.

The decal sheet provides markings for four variations: German Luftschutz, Prague Uprising 1945—two versions, and the Warsaw Uprising 1944.

Assembly was very easy. To begin, I primed the surface with Tamiya Fine Surface Primer. Next, I painted a base coat of Mission Models anthracite paint. When dry, I clear coated the helmets. I painted the interior webbing using light brown/leather paint.

Danger Forward is the title, but you will read how the book could have been titled Danger 360. The stuff of which good movies should be made. This hard-to-put-down book reads fast and easy with a you-were-there feel that covers key US military efforts from WW2 to the mid 1980s, when General Gorman retired. He is still alive at 94 years in Virginia. The author, Mike Guardia, came out with the first book on Hal Moore, and the resulting movie with Mel Gibson, which catapulted him to the Top 100 authors in the US, and he continues his excellence and making history palpable and more exciting then when the reader lived through it and remembers with the adventures of Paul Gorman.

Bottom Line Up Front

Let’s face it, interior kits with their massive part-count aren’t everyone’s thing. A model retailer once told me that armor kits without an interior outsell those with one by almost 10 to 1. Cue Das Werk to the rescue with reboxing of Takom’s Panther kits with no interior sprues, a reasonably sized box, manageable part count, and correspondingly manageable price tag. This kit builds into a sharp model of a Panther Ausf A with no issues and engineering that is a joy to behold.

History

The Panther tank, officially Panzerkampfwagen V Panther was born out of a project started in 1938 to replace the Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks. It was used on both eastern and western fronts from mid-1943 to the end of the war in May 1945.

Vital Statistics and Scores

Detail: 4 out of 5

During the IPMS USA Nationals this year, John Vojtech was kind enough to provide several of his tools from Unique Master Models (UMM) to the IPMS Review Corps, and this was the item I was fortunate enough to receive. Consisting of an ergonomic plastic handle with pyramid-shaped reamer tip, with a built-in label identifying the reamer size for quick recognition.

Measuring five inches in length, the reamer is quite comfortable to hold, and the pyramid-shaped tip is made of hardened tool steel. Useful for opening holes in kits used for attaching parts, opening existing holes, or cleaning the ends of tubing, there are many possibilities for using this reamer. The diminutive size will also allow for better control on smaller items.