Italeri’s 1/35 scale version of the Vosper MTB 74 which was used on the 28 March 1942 Operation Chariot Saint Nazaire raid comes in a big box. It was a specially configured boat having most of its offensive armament removed and having two torpedo tubes added to the foredeck. It also had special muffler silencers added. It successfully hit the nets which protected the docks, torpedoed the lock gates and achieved its mission, but was sunk on its way back home. Chariot achieved its goal of disabling the only dry dock in German-occupied France which could handle the Tirpitz so that forced her to return to Germany for any repairs.

The kit is molded in gray plastic and includes a fret of photoetched details, a decal sheet, a clear sheet, screw, ropes, and seven crew figures. The hull is in two pieces with just the aft transom area being separate.

Mission Models Paints has released several new colors recently for modern AFVs. This example is for modern Israeli armor, specifically the Merkava line of vehicles. This paint color is meant to cover most Israeli AFVs from the late 1970s to the present.

Like all other Mission Models water-based acrylics MMP-128 is odorless, fast drying, designed not to clog airbrush tips, and to produce a smooth, durable finish. Mission Models helpfully includes a guide on how to work with their paint on their website under the Tech Support Section. The paint is thicker than many acrylics I have worked with and it is not pre-thinned for air brushing. It does appear though that the paint particles are very fine and they have helpfully included a stainless-steel ball in every bottle to enhance mixing, which is a very nice touch.

Dunkirk Evacuation Operation Dynamo is an excellent book that paints a vivid picture of the chaos and monumental evacuation efforts to save the British Army early in WWII. The book describes one of the most inspiring stories of World War II, the evacuation from Dunkirk, on a daily basis from Sunday, May 26, 1940 through Monday, June 3, 1940. Evacuation of Britain’s only army, the British Expeditionary Force, from Dunkirk was chaotic and rushed but miraculously saved the BEF.

Part of Pen & Swords Illustrated Series, the book is a compilation of fascinating photos. The book is organized in chapters for each of the nine days of the evacuation. Each chapter provides some text describing the major operations of the day and includes many black-and-white photographs of the rescue operations. The photographs are high-quality, quite clear, and helpful descriptions are provided in the photo captions.

Stemming from Academy’s excellent 2013 F/A-18 Super Hornet kit releases, they have yet again pleased Naval Aviation fans with the colorful VFA-2 Bounty Hunters Super Hornet CAG!

The kit offers two marking options, both from Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 2, Bounty Hunters, out of Lemoore, California. The scheme shown on the box is the colorful CAG 100 bird BuNo 165916. The second option is line number 104, BuNo 165920. The decals are by Cartograph and are of extremely high quality.

The Royal Navy’s HMS Nelson and HMS Rodney came about in an unusual way, and that helps to explain their unusual silhouette: all three of both ships’ triple barrel main gun turrets were mounted on the foredeck, and their massive bridge superstructures and secondary armament suites were sited aft. Nothing else afloat looked quite like them. These ships were named after two famous British admirals: George Rodney, victor of the Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1780) and the Battle of the Saintes (1782), and Horatio Nelson, who won the Battle of the Nile (1798) and the Battle of Trafalgar (1805).