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Book Author(s)
Mike Davis-Managing Editor
Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
Company
Cross & Cockade International
MSRP
$38.00

Cross & Cockade International is a non-profit UK based group known as the First World War Aviation Historical Society that publishes their journal four times a year. They also provide a free newsletter (sign up on their website) and occasionally publish WWI themed books like the Sopwith Dolphin monograph I reviewed earlier for IPMS USA. This Journal is the sister of the US Journal, Over The Front.

Review Author
Ben Morton
Published on
Company
Kitty Hawk
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$75.00

From Military-Today: “The Ural-4320 military truck is a further development of the previous Ural-375D. Its development started in 1972. Changes from the previous model include new engine, enlarged bonnet plus revised fuel, cooling, and electrical systems were introduced at the same time along with many other detail modifications. Its production commenced in 1976. The Ural-4320 took many of the roles previously carried by the Ural-375D. Production of the Ural-4320 still continues. This truck is in service with the Russian military as well as many other countries.

Review Author
Michael Novosad
Published on
Company
Kitty Hawk
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$78.90

Refer to Part One for the assembly review.

Review Note and Comments

I decided to make this a two-part due to the number of images and extensive text required to document the basic assembly phase. Although the assembly was a bit of a challenge for this model, the semi-finished model revealed a lot of nice surface detail that was appealing to me. This detail had some merit for an effort on my part to achieve a proper paint job and weathering application. If those efforts resulted in a nice-looking model the challenges faced during the assembly would make the effort worth-while.

Let's see what happens.

Book Author(s)
Ognjan Petrovic, Djordje Nikolic
Review Author
Brian R. Baker
Published on
Company
Mushroom Model Publications - MMP Books
MSRP
$29.95

History

After World War I, the map of Eastern Europe was radically changed, with a number of ethnic groups becoming independent for the first time. One country, Serbia, eventually became part of the Republic of Yugoslavia, which joined the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes into one country. This, of course, forced considerable reorganization of their armed forces. Of course, Serbia has virtually no aircraft manufacturing industry, so the Yugoslavs were compelled to acquire airplanes of foreign manufacture, mainly those built in Germany, Austria-Hungary, France, Italy, and England. German and Austrian aircraft were usually acquired as reparations due to the Treaty of Versailles, while the British, French, and Italian types were purchased directly. World War I vintage types were used throughout the twenties, but newer types were acquired in the thirties.

Book Author(s)
Dariusz Karnas & Karolina Holda
Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Mushroom Model Publications - MMP Books
MSRP
$11.50

These little single books by MMP Books are quite interesting. They focus on a single subject that is covered very well. The only text is the captions which are written in English. They do an adequate job.

These books are designed with the modeler in mind. As such they have scale drawings in 1/72nd and 1/48th scale. I couldn’t find fault with these. They look very accurate to me. After the drawings there are some historical photos and pictures from the parts manual of the aircraft. Intertwined with those photos are plenty of detail photos that should satisfy most modelers. The detail photos are of the F-4 in the Canadian Museum. There are four color pages and one aircraft of Hermann Graf is presented in a three view profile.

Overall these books are very concise and to the point. They are perfect for a modeler who is on a budget but needs the information. At a little over $11.00 they are a bargain.

Review Author
Will Kuhrt
Published on
Company
ICM
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$79.78

Thank you to Phil and to Bill for all the work that you do!

First Impression

This ICM offering is a bundle of two of previous releases: the T-34-85 Soviet Medium Tank kit No. 35367 issued March, 2018 and the Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.B. King Tiger with Henschel Turret kit No. 35363 released July, 2016. The kits are separately packaged. The King Tiger has eight light-gray crisply molded sprues and a set of vinyl tracks. The T-34-85 consists of five dark-green sprues, one clear sprue, a set of vinyl tracks and individually packaged body halves. Two decal sheets are provided. The King Tiger versions are: PzKpfw.IV Ausf.B s.Pz.Abt. Feldhernhalle, Hungary, March 1945; PzKpfw.IV Ausf.B s.Pz.Abt.

Book Author(s)
David Doyle
Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
Company
David Doyle Books
MSRP
$19.99

David Doyle's book on the B-29/B-50 Superfortress is one of the latest entries in the 'Legends of Warfare' series with entries in Ground, Naval, and Aviation. The is Volume 2 that follows David Doyle’s earlier work, B-29 Superfortress, Vol. 1: Boeing XB-29 through B-29B in World War II, that was released on April 20, 2020. The Legends of Warfare series has expanded rapidly since its 2017 debut in the market with now over 50 titles released. This hard cover series covers a wide variety of monographs at a good price point.

Review Author
Dick Montgomery
Published on
Company
AMMO by Mig Jimenez
MSRP
$11.00

The AMMO website listing for this set of AMMO paints includes this description; “The AMMO range of acrylic paints for figures has been designed to make your painting sessions a more enjoyable experience thanks to the speed and simplicity of use. This set includes 4 colours for painting the infantry uniforms widely used by British troops during WWII. The colours have been selected through rigorous research of period uniforms, allowing you to accurately paint the base tones of uniforms, add highlights, and enhance details.

The four colors included in this set are AMMO F-504 Yellow Green, F-545 British Brown, F-546 Ochre Brown, and F-547 Pale Earth.

Scroll down until you see the Quick Tips Logo and click on it. An image of that logo accompanies this review. A pdf will open and can be downloaded. This pdf provides detailed “Tips”, in English and Spanish, to employ a combination of airbrushing and hand-painting to achieve the desired result.

Review Author
David Horn
Published on
Company
ICM
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$54.00

Aircraft and History

The O-2A Skymaster, known as “Oscar Deuce” is a small twin engine aircraft used primarily as a Forward air controller (FAC) and psychological operations (PSYOPS). The USAF starting using the O-2 in 1967 in the Vietnam War as a replacement for the O-1 Bird Dog. With just a few years service, the O-2 was intended to be replaced by the OV-10 Bronco but the O-2 remained in service, primarily for night operations.

The USAF requested Cessna to make a military version of its 337 Super Skymaster with “hardpoints” under the wings, additional windows for observers and new cabin arrangement. A unique feature of the Skymaster is the engine arrangement. Unlike traditional twin-engine aircraft with engines on each wing, the Skymaster has one in the nose and another on the rear fuselage. This arrangement allows centerline thrust so if one engine loses power, aircraft control (in yaw) is minimal if any at all which is a significant safety advantage.

Review Author
David Horn
Published on
Company
Scale Aircraft Conversions
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$12.95

Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) manufactures white metal landing gear that is a direct replacement for a kit’s plastic landing gear. The metal landing gear offer greater strength over the kit parts as well as having most of the mold lines removed. At times the metal will be bent out of shape but that is easily corrected by bending it back to the correct shape.

This set includes four parts; main gear, nose gear, oleo strut for nose gear, and nose gear bay. SAC gear does require some clean-up for the rare cases there are still seam lines. You many also sand and prime the struts to remove some of the rough texture that appears in some areas. Installing the new gear requires CA glue or non-traditional modeling adhesives. SAC recommends that the gear is for experienced modelers that are used to working with metal gear.