The Squadron Detail In Action series was started in 1971. This series covers the development, testing, and production of aircraft, armored vehicles, and ships. The focus of this book is on the M3 Gun Motor Carriage.

At the beginning of World War Two, the United States realized the need for an effective antitank weapon. Through this need, the Military used the M3 halftrack as the base and married it to the M1897A4 75mm gun to create the M3 Gun Motor Carriage. In October, 1941, the first production contract began. By October, 1944, the Gun Motor Carriage was considered obsolete by the U.S. Army. During its career many of these units were used by Great Britain and U.S. Marines well into 1945.

Having just finished the Eduard Royal Class Spitfire Mk.IX kit, I can say that this kit is absolutely perfect; however, that is the Royal Class kit. The Weekend Edition of this kit will be lacking two essential items in plastic – the ballistic bulkheads. The Weekend Edition won’t have the PE parts that the Royal Class kit has. Quickboost calls them bulkheads, but they are actually the ballistic protection plates behind the cockpit.

Molded perfectly in thin light grey resin, these two pieces are easy enough to remove from the pour block, and just need paint to upgrade your cockpit. Your other option is to cut your own bulkheads. We all know what a pain it is to get them perfect. Quickboost does that for you.

This set is essential for the Weekend Edition of the Spitfire. If you have the Royal Class or the Profipack, you will not need it unless you don’t want to deal with the PE parts in the kit.

Highly recommended.

The Trumpeter MiG-23 is a nice kit, but the seat and the whole cockpit is simplified. It may be just the limitations of plastic molding technology, but now you don’t have to scratchbuild the cockpit. The Aires set comes in their normal packaging in a plastic container, with foam securing the parts in place. It is effective. I did have one piece fall off the sprue, but that is to be expected in shipping, sometimes.

There are nine exquisite resin parts perfectly molded in light grey resin. The amount of detail in this set has to be seen to be believed. The cockpit is perfection. The undercuts on the side walls are impressive. The same can be said for the instrument panel coaming. The pour blocks are small and will be easy to remove.

The Trumpeter F-100 series of models is nice. If you are like me, it is really tough to get rid of the mold line on the round parts such as the refueling probe. I can get rid of the mold line, but keeping it round is not my forte. Quickboost offers a quick and easy upgrade. This set provides three pieces of resin molded perfectly in light grey resin.

The probe comes in three pieces. One is the fuselage mounting point with a perfectly hollowed out tip. Then there is the long probe itself. I was amazed at how straight this part was and, best yet, no mold line. The part is removed from the base. Then the final part is the probe end. This is really a nice looking piece. It is an accurate representation. It will require a sliver of resin to be sanded off the end, but that is an easy operation.

While designed for the F-100, the probe tip can be used on any US aircraft that has an in-flight refueling probe.

The US M10 was originally developed as a tank destroyer while the StuG III was a turretless, low-profiled tracked vehicle developed for direct fire support for infantry formations. This book discusses how these two fighting vehicles went beyond their respective design missions when called upon. It also covers how they fought one another during the 11 month campaign on the battlefields of northwest Europe in 1944-45.

I found the book to be well thought out with a very coherent outline. It’s well written with easy to understand explanations. It has beautiful color maps, paintings, cutaway artwork, and a wide range of period b&w photographs.

The book itself is well printed with a gum binding. The print is easy to read and the photographs are very clear. The artwork and cutaway illustrations are colorful and honestly represented. The maps and charts are rendered so that any layperson can understand them.