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Book Author(s)
Marsden Samuel & Gary Staff
Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Kagero Publishing
MSRP
$37.00

The book provides great 3D style detail drawings of the German Battle Cruiser SMS Derfflinger. The Derfflinger was built in early 1910 and was considered to be the best of the Battle Cruisers up until the end of World War One.

The book is pack full of amazing pictures of the ship from all angles and showing all the finer details of the ship’s make up. The details are fantastic and provide much for any modeler who wishes to super detail a model of the ship.

There is also a pull out outline drawing of the ship in 1/350 scale including a hull “cut-through “for the length pf the ship.

I recommend this book to everyone with an interest in the SMS Derfflinger or any war ship for that matter, and this is a must for anyone going to build a model of this ship. In fact, I am now off to build my Flyhawk 1/700 Model of this ship with the book as all the reference material I will need.

Book Author(s)
Adrian Wolnicki, Sebastian Piechowiak
Review Author
Phil Pignataro
Published on
Company
Kagero Publishing
MSRP
$24.95

The F/A-18E Super Hornet is the US Navy’s truly ubiquitous aircraft. It’s their main fighter and attack platform as well as its electronic warfare aircraft, the E/A-18G Growler. Model manufactures followed the Navy’s lead and have produced numerous kits of this aircraft in all the popular scales. Consequently, Kagero recently released a publication in their “Kit Build” series about this fighter. The paperback chronicles model builds of two Super Hornet kits: Academy’s 1/72 scale and Eduard’s 1/48 scale F/A-18E’s. Color photos document progress of the build while short paragraphs of text offer further explanations. The last four pages of the book contain eight color profiles of “E” and “F” versions - four apiece. As a bonus, a small masking sheet for the canopies of 1/72 and 1/48 models is included in the book.

Book Author(s)
Dennis R. Jenkins
Review Author
Phil Peterson
Published on
Company
Specialty Press
MSRP
$60.00

The Republic F-105 Thunderchief was designed to deliver a tactical nuclear weapon against the Soviet Union during the Cold War. However, it gained it’s fame over the jungles of Vietnam where they flew 159,795 combat missions from which 334 failed to return home.

This hard cover book contains 300 pages and 575 pictures in black and white and color. It covers the full history of the plane from preliminary designs and competitors through the Vietnam War, and ending with the Thud Out which was flown at Hill AFB, Utah, about 45 minutes north of me.

Book Author(s)
Adrien Fontanellaz
Review Author
Paul R. Brown
Published on
Company
Helion & Company
MSRP
$29.95

The book is volume 17 of Helion & Company’s Asia@War series and, as noted in the title, is the third volume of its coverage of the civil war in Sri Lanka. The book includes over 50 black and white photographs, both of government and LTTE forces, 7 pages of color profiles depicting the aircraft, ships and vehicles of the security forces as well as the uniforms of both military and LTTE participants. There are also several maps of some of the more significant operations and a color map of Sri Lanka.

Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
OKB Grigorov
MSRP
$14.50

This product is replacement resin tracks for any 1/72 Churchill Tank kit that you want to use the Light Cast tracks on.

The set includes 6 light grey resin strips of track more than enough for a single tank.

The detail is excellent and vey little flash and a breeze to cut of the runners.

The tracks are easily formed using a hair dryer to apply heat then form the track on the track rollers, wheels and Sprockets.

They are a great replacement for the rubber tracks supplied with the majority of the 1/72 scale kits on the market.

I recommend these parts are a great addition to any 1/72 Churchill tank model kit.

Thanks go to OKB Grigorov for providing this set to review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it for them.

Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
OKB Grigorov
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$14.50

This product is replacement resin tracks for any 1/72 Churchill Tank kit that you want to use the Heavy Cast tracks on.

The set includes 6 light grey resin strips of track more than enough for a single tank.

The detail is excellent and vey little flash and a breeze to cut of the runners.

The tracks are easily formed using a hair dryer to apply heat then form the track on the track rollers, wheels and Sprockets.

They are a great replacement for the rubber tracks supplied with the majority of the 1/72 scale kits on the market.

I recommend these parts are a great addition to any 1/72 Churchill tank model kit.

Thanks go to OKB Grigorov for providing this set to review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it for them.

Book Author(s)
Dan Sharp
Review Author
Chris Smith
Published on
Company
Tempest Books
MSRP
$19.99

This book takes an in-depth look at the development, selection, and early flight tests of the Volksjager (people's fighter) concept or what became known as the He 162. In the waning years of WWII, the Luftwaffe was desperate for a point defense fighter that could be produced in great numbers with a minimum of strategic materials. Although Germany had a jet fighter in the form of the Me 262, it required a lot of materials to build the airframe and two engines. The philosophy of a small single engine fighter was to build enough to station them close to all the potential Allied targets. This requirement meant the Volksjager could be a small aircraft with limited range. With a minimum of training, it was hoped that He 162 would provide the defense Germany so desperately needed.

Book Author(s)
Marek Rys
Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Kagero Publishing
MSRP
$22.95

The book provides great detail drawings of the German WWII night fighter Heinkel He 219 Uhu, which was introduced in November 1942 to the Luftwaffe. The first interesting fact I found was that the He 219 was never officially ordered due to dislike of Heinkel by the Luftwaffe officials. So the 274 that saw service were all officially trail aircraft.

I found the drawings in this book to be fascinating and show many of the variants of this very interesting aircraft. Along with the many outline drawings in 1/72 scale. there are also some very nice profile drawings. There is also a pull out outline drawings in both 1/48 and 1/32 scale.

I recommend this book to everyone with an interest in the He 219 Uhu and consider it a “must” for modellers. I am now off to the work bench to start on my 1/32 kit using this book!

Thanks go to Casemate Publishing for providing this book to review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it.

Book Author(s)
Lance Cole
Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
Company
Pen & Sword
MSRP
$28.95

The VC-10 has always been one of my favorite civil aircraft since I was a kid and watching them take off from Heathrow Airport. So, I could not miss the chance to review this book.

Chapters

  • Introduction
  • Design and Development
  • Engineering Excellence
  • Into the Air
  • RAF Service
  • Other Operators
  • VC10 Variants
  • VC10 & Super VC10 in colour
  • Modelling the VC10

The book goes into great detail on the full history of the aircraft and its use and variants over its operational service life. I found this book fascinating and made me aware of a lot of facts I have never heard before. The writing style is clear and concise. The images are awesome and give a lot of useful views for modelers and anyone interested in this aircraft.

Review Author
Will Kuhrt
Published on
Company
Mission Models
MSRP
$5.75

This review looks at four new releases from the Mission Models product line. They are:

  • MMP-139 RAL 7017 Dunkelbraun
  • MMP-140 RAL 7016 Anthrazitgrau
  • MMP-132 US Navy Flight Deck Blue 21
  • MMP-169 Transparent Green

Mission Models paints are a non-solvent acrylic-based paint, which are ‘airbrush ready’ and produce a flat finish. The product line consists of a wide array of colors, thinners, finishing coats & supplies. Since prior reviews have covered how to use Mission Models paints, I will forego repeating that.

Some features I have come to really like about Mission Models paints are: bottle contains a “rattle ball” which ensures good paint mixture; some of the bottles have a flip cap which is great for counting/measuring drops of paint you add to your pan; the website contains a very good FAQ, which offers plenty of tips for using their products.