This is a brief overview of this rather expansive operation offered in their Battle Craft series of books. It is in paperback format with heavy stock glossy pages with many illustrations inserted among the text. It starts with brief biographies of the primary commanders on both sides and then has a basic order of battle of the units involved down to the divisional level. Next is a section on some of the vehicles present during the campaign. The choices are a bit odd, however. For the Allies, the Cromwell tank is chosen. This vehicle, while present, could hardly be said to have played a major role in the campaign, that distinction for the Allies going to the ubiquitous Sherman. For the Germans, the Panther tank is the subject and while a genuine threat to all Allied armor, it was in the minority on this battlefield being outnumbered by various types of self-propelled assault guns.
Bottom Line Up Front: This reboot of the well-received Panda Hobby Pz38(t) kit in 1/16 scale provides what many large-scale armor modelers have been hankering for: a an tank kit with a full interior. This in-box initial look shows promise for a fitting upgrade of an already solid kit.
The Company
AOA is a relatively new decal manufacturer that has become known for their aircraft decal sets (several popular scales). Their product offering has placed special emphasis on Vietnam-era US naval aircraft. AOA’s products are available from the larger distributors such as Sprue Brothers, Hannants, BNB, etc. This product is their first offering for an armor model subject.
The Subject
This decal set’s subject is rather unique: 1/35 M1A2 SEP V2 Abrams in a 2018 NATO training competition configuration. The Strong Europe Tank Challenge (SETC) was an annual, multinational tank platoon competition held from 2016 to 2018 at the Grafenwöhr Training Area, Germany, and hosted by the U.S. Army Europe and the German Army. At the SETC, crews from NATO and non-NATO partners competed in defensive and offensive operations (see Wikipedia).
This book is another offering of the Casemate illustrated Series and in this case deals with the destruction of the German Army Group South by the Soviet forces. The book offers five color maps, one for each section/area where the two armies fought. In addition, you will find 20 commanders’ profiles. Both sides are given 10 commanders each involved in the conflict. The book describes 5 main battles and each has the order of battle for both the Soviets and the Germans. Finally, there are 13 profiles for equipment used during the battle by both the Germans and Soviets.
As in every book of this particular series you will find a timeline of events at the beginning of the book, starting with the retreat of the Army Group South to the Dnieper River during August, 1943, and ending with the participation of the Soviet Army in the Silesian and Prague
The Boss 351 was a perfect blend of the previous “Boss” 302 & 429 Mustangs, and nearly as rare with only 1,806 of the 351’s produced. But the golden age of muscle cars was quickly dying out, and the Boss 351 was only built for one year.
With twin Ram Air hood scoops feeding a specially modified 330-horsepower 351-cubic-inch “Cleveland” V-8, the Boss 351 had plenty of power.
This newly tooled Revell kit has 120 parts molded in white, clear, and chrome pieces with soft vinyl tires and waterslide decals. It’s rated a skill level 4 due to a high parts count and a comprehensive decal sheet.
Construction
The engine is a beauty and a model in its own right, weighing in at 26 parts. It’s highly detailed and includes all the decals to make it standout. The parts are mostly separate making for easy finishing. It’s the best representation of this engine that I’ve seen!
The book covers the history of the unit from its creation through the end of the war, and is divided into an Introduction and six sections, as well as a glossary of terms on page 2. The book refers to the unit designed first as StuGA.Abt.203 and later named StuGBrig.203. Book information was gathered from Russian archives as well as those located in Freiburg, Alexandria and Podolsk. The first chapter deals with the establishment of the unit and how they were trained. The second chapter deals with their transfer to the east. Many of the pictures in this chapter deal with the type of equipment used by the unit. These included both AFV's as well as soft skinned vehicles.
As the book title states this book is directed to the collector of U.S. Army Service Forces gear, focusing on the European Theater of Operations (ETO). The book is volume #2 of the series.
You will find everything that was used by the Gi's while in Europe! The book is divided into 24 sections with an Abbreviations section, as well as an Index.
This is #131 of the Top Drawings series describing the G.55. The book consists of a total of 16 plan views and 5 profiles of the aircraft. The book is written in English and Polish. The first page of the book has a small history of the aircraft in both languages. You will find a single page drawing for a 1/32 scale aircraft, 3 for 1/72 scale, and 11 for 1/48 scale. There are two drawings in which 1/48 and 1/24 are combined and one in which 1/72 and 1/48 are combined as well. The large 1/32 scale drawing is a single sheet added to the book. This drawing is provided in a two-sided single page. The backside of the drawing has profiles of the aircraft for the single seat fighter as well as the trainer version.
THANKS to Brengun for providing more of their expansive line for us IPMS reviewers to address. For the Detail hounds, AMS, whatever among us, Brengun continues to provide really cool items for us to use. And this set holds great promise to upgrade the venerable 1/72 Italeri kit.
Notice I said 1/72. When I was digging through the “Review stash” to see where I could help, I saw this and thought “great, I can finally build the small version (Having the 1/48 model sitting in the box, I made a big assumption.
1/48 and 1/72 do not mathematically convert into equals. “why is this set of screens for the transmission and engine cooling intake too small when held up to the 1/48 model?”
Stupid reviewer. Brengun, I sincerely apologize, you don’t get one of my fantastic, non-sniper reviews with a kit involved, because I don’t have a 1/72 kit. I thought for some reason this was for the 1/48 kit when I agreed to do it.
ICM has produced some stellar helicopter kits, but the thing for me is finally we have good Vietnam era figures for helicopters. This is their first set of 1/35th scale, having made the change from 1/32nd to a more common 1/35th scale helicopters.
Packaged in a sturdy cardboard side opening box with a card stock covering, this set includes two sprues of light grey plastic that show no signs of flash or mis-molding. There are 41 parts molded with good detail. Four figures are included, along with four flight helmets. The instruction sheet is full color and shows you what the figure should look like when finished. It also has references to ICM paints. I did paint the figures mostly with the ICM paints which performed well, but I didn’t have all the colors needed in the set.