If you are a student of WW2 German armored vehicles, or enjoy modeling subjects such as the German Panzer III and Panzer IV, then the name Tom Cockle should be very familiar to you. Mr. Cockle is a prolific author on such subjects, and has written or co-written books for Osprey Publishing, Concord Publications, Squadron Signal Publications as well as European publisher Peko Publishing. Mr. Cockle is also a frequent commentator on such matters on military vehicle model websites such as Missing-lynx.com. The book under discussion today is the 18thvolume in this wonderful series by Peko Publishing. I have 8 of the titles in the series so far, and plan on picking up others as my reference budget allows.

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. Those interested in the newsletter can subscribe by visiting the C&CI website.

The "lead" article, "Miles Jeffrey Game Day 1896-1918?" by Ian Burns, traces the too-short life of Jeffrey Day. Day was a pilot known for his ability to handle aircraft which had rather skittish flight characteristics. Day was also a talented poet, and this article features some text penned by Day. Day was involved in a rather risky project involving a seaplane and a Bristol Scout, the Scout piggybacking on the upper wing of the Porte Baby. The article is supported with some stunning photographs of the aircraft, ships, and other personnel that played a part in Day’s experiences.

Lechoslaw Musialkowski author the latest in Mushroom Model Publications' series of aircraft used in the Polish Air Force. This volume's focus is on the Petlyakov Pe-2 / Upe-2 and the Tupolev USB. This volume represents Lechoslaw Musialkowski’s fourth book for MMPBooks. MMP was founded in 1996 by Roger Wallsgrove, to publish "Mushroom Model Magazine". This quarterly modeling magazine was developed from "Mushroom Monthly”, a club newsletter which ran from 1985 to 1995, achieving a worldwide reputation for quality articles, fearless and honest reviews, and a great sense of humor. From 1997 the magazine was produced in collaboration with Robert Peczkowski and Artur Juszczak (Stratus), which meant a big leap in print quality and design. MMP expanded into book publication in 1999, and since then we have built up a list of books on aircraft and aviation, naval, military vehicles, and military history.

Eduard has released a photoetch upgrade set for its new tooled Tempest Mk.V which in its self is a great kit. This upgrade set is a single large Photo etch sheet.

In the box is:

• 1 photoetch detail set
• 1 instruction sheet

Construction

The first area of the upgrade is for is the engine intake, the set provides the mesh for all four surfaces of the Intake and make a big difference with the look once complete.

Next are parts for the two main landing gear bays, in four stages. The first stage is simple. On stage to you have to remove the location pins of part E68 and E69 from the original kit to allow then to fit. Also at stage two it refers to part E39 which should actually be part E32. I would also suggest that the parts 19, 20, 21 and 22 are installed before the kit parts E71 and E73. This will make it a lot easier to install them.

Given the massive interest surrounding the Nazi armed forces during World War 2, it isn’t surprising that publishers want to produce books that cover the entirety of the military vehicles used by the Germans, in one volume, at an affordable price. And for a reader interested in this topic, it might be very useful to have a handy guide to said vehicles all in one volume. Over the years, there have been a number of such tomes published. I myself have one from 1969 titled “German Tanks of World War II: The Complete Illustrated History of German Armored Fighting Vehicles 1926-1945” edited by Peter Chamberlain and Chris Ellis. However, to do it right, is surely a daunting challenge to any author? And what, exactly, is “doing it right”?