Introduction

This How To Paint Bare Metal is a magazine from the AMMO company in the solution book series that details the products and techniques using the AMMO products to produce a jet model with a metal finish.

Contents

The first section of the magazine talks about all the Mig products and their applications to finish the model highlighted. Then the magazine is divided into steps all covering specific phases of applying a metal finish to your models. Emphasis is placed on model prep from craftmanship of the model to cleaning with alcohol and applying primer. Once the model is painted, then the discussion turns to decaling and weathering the metal finish.

There are 59 glossy pages adorned with high definition pictures of the steps to complete the model highlighted in the magazine. In this case it is finishing the Academy 1/48 scale Mig 21.

Wow. Just when you’ve given up on seeing something, it suddenly becomes a big hit in the modeling industry. Long, long ago, Dragon released a set of Union Civil War figures in 1/32^nd scale, which I was totally thrilled to see. I bought an entire case of them, and then waited for baited breath for the follow-up Confederate Infantry to come out. And waited . . . and waited . . .

Obviously, it was never released. However, recently two Ukrainian companies have suddenly released figures from that era – Masterbox and now ICM. I couldn’t be happier.

History

In 1939, after the defeat of the Polish Air force by the Germans and the Russians, a substantial number of trained and experienced Polish pilots and ground crews managed to escape to France and England. Eventually, they were formed into fighter squadrons attached to, but not specifically a part of, the British Royal Air Force. Most of the pilots were originally assigned to units flying the Hawker Hurricane, but in 1941, these units were re-equipped with Spitfire Mk. V fighters, the current version of this famous fighter. From 1942 until early 1945, these units used Mk. V Spitfires against the Luftwaffe, until they were eventually replaced by the Spitfire Mk. IX and American Mustangs. In total, about 800 Spitfire Mk. V’s were used by various Polish units, and they inflicted considerable losses against the Luftwaffe.

History: The TU-2 Bomber

This book gives a very detailed history of three Russian designed aircraft that were used in quantity by the Polish Air Force, mostly after the end of World War II. The first aircraft, the Tupolev TU-2, was used in quantity by Poland, mainly for medium bombing, and later as a reconnaissance type, trainer, and target tug. The author goes into considerable detail giving an account of the design origins of the type and its service with the Russians before the Polish Air Force acquired them after the war. An interesting fact is that Tupolev began the design of the TU-2 before the outbreak of the war, and apparently he had run afoul of the Communist Party ideology. His design team was forced to work in a Soviet prison camp from 1939 until 1941, when they were finally rewarded for their success by early release from prison.

This is another of the fantastic new books published in the Duke Hawkins Books series. This volume is number 11 of the series and focuses on the Harrier II/AV-8B as operated by the RAF, the United States Marine Corps, the Spanish Navy, and the Italian Navy. The volume includes at least one photograph of a jet from each country. Apparently, the authors considered just doing a book on the RAF versions, but in the end decided to do an expanded book covering all versions of the Harrier II.

The AV-8B/Harrier II has its origins in a USMC requirement for a replacement for the AV-8A Harrier. McDonnell Douglas designed and proposed a much upgraded and improved Harrier, resulting in the AV-8B Harrier II. Different variants were developed to meet the requirements of the RAF and the USMC resulting in the Harrier GR.7, GR.7A, GR.9 (and associated trainers T.10 and the T.12), AV-8B, AV-8B Night Attack, and the Harrier II Plus (and the TAV-8B) for the USMC.