This book tells the story of the events leading up to, during, and after the battle of El Alamein from June to November 1942. Prior to this victory, the British had not been able to defeat the German army anywhere. The author uses a huge number of first-hand accounts to illustrate the viewpoints on both sides of the hardship faced by the common soldier, the decisions that had to be made by the commanders in the face of political pressure, the actions and the consequences of the battles leading up to the stand at El Alamein, and the abilities of some of the (for lack of a better term) ‘superstar’ generals in charge on both sides.

The Krankenschlittens was one type of a variety of German Ambulance used during WWII. In this example, Hauler has given us a horse drawn sled type. The ambulance consisted of a shed constructed on a wooden frame with sled runners underneath drawn by a two-horse team.

Hauler has replicated this rare piece with 32 excellent resin parts and a photoetch frame of 40 pieces in 1/35th scale. The resin is perfectly cast with no issues. There are significant casting blocks that need to be removed. To start, I removed all the of the resin pieces from the casting blocks. The smaller pieces were easy. Take your time with the pieces for the shed- it needs to be square and I slightly over sanded which caused a lot of work. The most difficult part to remove is the poles that go out in front. They are remarkably cast but have lots of pour around them. Take your time and they will come out. All the parts were sanded and then washed and we could begin construction.

Background

Developed from the British Carden Loyd Mark VI tankette in 1933, the Italian government commissioned Fiat and the Ansaldo Company to develop and produce a series of vehicles classified as Carro Veloce (CV), or "fast tank." After a brief run of 21 initial CV-29’s the design was recast in what became known as the CV-33, of which roughly 300 were produced. Seeing action in numerous smaller conflicts prior to World War II, the CV’s posed limited tactical value and were regularly outclassed by larger and more advanced fighting vehicles and anti-armor small arms.

Although it has been a few years since Eduard released their newly tooled P-39, this latest issue of the L and N versions holds up to the standards of any current aircraft molding. Markings are included for three planes flown by Americans as well as for two Russian-flown aircraft. In addition to markings for multiple aircraft, the ProfiPACK includes masks for all of the clear parts as well as color photoetched parts. The kit builds up well, with minimal filling being required on the fuselage seam, and nowhere else, and can be built by any modeler with limited experience in order to create a reasonable looking Airacobra. Parts are included for the L and N variants specifically for the markings included, but other variants could be built if desired.

I intend to use this Quickboost seat to replace the kit part in an Airfix A-4B.

The seat is molded in super nice bubble-free resin, with sharp, molded detail of the lap belts, shoulder harness, and oxygen hose. The primary and secondary ejection handles are molded separately and are located on the pour stub beneath the seat pan.

The stiffening corrugations on the sides of the seat are correctly portrayed as standing proud of the metal surface, whereas the kit part has them indented. This is a moot point, since when the seat’s installed they won’t be visible anyway.

When I placed the Quickboost seat into the Airfix cockpit tub, it was apparent that it was too tall---the canopy would never close. Compare the photo of the Airfix seat in the fuselage half on the left, with the Quickboost seat in the fuselage half on the right.