Background

Lightweight, compact, agile, versatile, and reliable, the ¼-ton truck, or Jeep as it is commonly known, was a natural vehicle of choice for British and American airborne forces dropping behind enemy lines in small assault gliders. Often towing small trailers, Jeeps were ideal for transporting squads of airborne troops and their gear quickly and quietly in challenging operational scenarios.

The Kit

Crisply molded in light grey and light olive styrene, this Bronco kit promises to provide many hours of high-quality modeling. A signature of Bronco’s commitment to recreating the finest of details, the kit is packed with 12 sprues of Jeep and personal gear parts, ranging in size from tiny to medium, 10 sprues of figure parts and personal gear, two frets of excellent photoetched brass, and two sheets of decals (one for the Jeep, and one for uniform rank insignia).

Fall Gelb 1940 was a detailed German deployment order designed to launch the initial phase of Hitler's military campaign to eliminate the Western democracies from the European conflict. Osprey Publishing covers this deployment order in the new book Fall Gelb 1940 (1): Panzer Breakthrough in the West.

The objective of the Fall Gelb was to defeat the largest possible forces of the Anglo-French army by an attack through Belgium and Luxembourg territory, thereby paving the way for the destruction of the military strength of the enemy.

Chief architect of the Fall Gelb plan was OKH Chief of Staff, General Franz Halder. Halder’s plan included four parallel branches:

The continuing line of people who would say “thanks!” goes around the building, down the street, and across town to Quickboost for providing yet one more of their fast-assembly improvements for AMS modeling… also, thanks go to our tireless IPMS reviewer corps leaders for sending this item my way!

This is a simple, four-barrel set. You may well ask, “So, they have hollow ends… and the Zoukei-Mura (ZM) kit has slide molded barrels that are already hollow”. Or you could say “spend 20 minutes with a #11 knife and thin the walls yourself”. (It’s also a great way to do a blood glucose test on your fingertips…)

Well, that’s what I was thinking until I held these up to the kit items. The kit barrels ARE hollow, but the flash supressors are a bit thicker than the Quickboost items… and the QB flash suppressors are larger and much more refined with VERY thin walls… which is what Quickboost is about; finesse!

About This Book

Noted author and historian Barrett Tillman has complied yet again another literary masterpiece. This time devoted exclusively to US Marine fighting squadrons in World War II. The US Marine Corps aviation recently celebrated its centennial in 2012. During the last 100 years ‘the flying leathernecks’ have enjoyed a rich heritage of bravery and excellence. Exploring this, Barrett Tillman steps up and delivers factual accounts from the best known Marine aviators such as Greg ‘Pappy’ Boyington, Joe Foss and many more. Tillman also included a wartime interview of Boyington. Through these recollections you’ll learn about the caliber of the men that defended our freedom in clear and honest recollections. These guys were as tough as nails. Their presence in the Pacific helped lead the US to victory against the mighty Japanese Empire by cutting off their aggressive stranglehold.

Upon opening the kit I found the plastic to be delicately molded in an easy to paint light grey styrene with fair detail for a model its scale and size. The parts count is rather high because many of the details are molded as fine separate niceties. Very small (less than an 1/8th inch) parts such as the masks, life rafts, antenna, and supports are molded in this fine plastic and make use of magnifying devices necessary.

Parts count: