Publications

The Tank Destroyers were a short-lived branch of the U.S. Army in World War II, based around a theory that tank destroyers would be dedicated to fighting enemy tanks, freeing our tanks for infantry support. Furthermore, half the Tank Destroyer force would consist of towed anti tank guns. Gradually, the towed guns were replaced by self propelled vehicles, such as the M10, M36, and finally, the M18. All of these vehicles handled themselves quite well against German armor, as well as serving as support vehicles for infantry, but their weak link was the open turret which exposed the crew to small arms fire, shell bursts, and grenades. In the end, the tank destroyer program was cancelled, with standard U.S. tanks assuming the tank vs. tank role. M18s soldiered on in other armies, some seeing action as late as the 1990’s in Serbia.

Most books covering the P-51 Mustang begin with the design and development phase.  It’s not uncommon for the books to mention briefly that Mustangs were sent to England early in the war and the deficiencies they had.  The authors explain that soon after, the Rolls Royce Merlin replaced the original Allison engine. Generally, from this point forward, the authors describe what a great fighter the P-51 was – and rightfully so, but the original Allison-powered aircraft is all but ignored.

Author Martyn Chorlton doesn’t take that path in his new book, Allison-Engined P-51 Mustang.  He describes what a great airplane this was in operations other than those of the high-altitude fighter – e.g., dive-bombing, low-level reconnaissance, and ground-attack.

Nothing makes for a great day than to get a fantastic magazine in the mail and no big plans for the evening! Issue number 27 of Sci-fi and Fantasy Modeller, which is published by Happy Medium Press in the United Kingdom, covers in-depth builds and reviews of Sci-fi subjects from vehicles to figures and back again.

In Volume 27, there are 13 distinct articles covering this area of modeling and they are:

Most modelers prefer that the camouflage and markings on their models be historically accurate, but we rely on someone else to do the grunt research work.  Before I went to Vietnam, I was already a modeler and IPMS member.  I had a WWII modeler friend and mentor, Joe Lynch, who advised me to take lots of photos of anything I might want to build a model of when I came home.  He said there was no way I’d remember serial numbers and exact colors and so on, and he was right.  Luckily, just before coming home, I remembered, bought a camera, and took photos from every angle of the helicopter I flew in the most.  I didn’t get to take many other photos, as I got the camera too late into my tour.  I don’t think it mattered as I didn’t really have many photo ops since my eye was supposed to be looking thru a gunsight, not a camera lens.  At this point, I was “getting short” – I only had a couple months left to my tour.

The most visited site in Washington DC continues to be the Vietnam Wall, listing the almost 59,000 young American men and women who died as a result of serving there.  The interest in that War continues unabated for many reasons.  For modelers, the many aircraft, military vehicles and ships that served offer many interesting subjects to model.  The abundance of excellent 35mm cameras and color film made that war’s camouflage and markings the best documented to that time.  The predominance of helicopters earned it the moniker “The Helicopter War,” and indeed, it revolutionized warfare.

The July/August 2012 issue of WINDSOCK Worldwide continues to demonstrate why the periodical can be relied upon to deliver accurate reference material for model builders interested in World War I aviation.  The cover features a Ronny Barr profile of SE5a F8983 of No. 85 Squadron, RAF in 1918 and a photo of Lance Krieg's 1/48 Roden RAF SE5a to hint at what’s inside. Before getting to the main articles, the issue kicks off with an extended Reader’s Gallery that features three outstanding models: a 1:4 scale AMC DH1, a 1:5 scale Bristol Boxkite and a 1/32 scale Fokker F.I.  Next up is the FRONTLINE NEWS column, followed by LOGBOOK ENTRIES that presents reviews of five new WWI books/journals. Following that, Lance Krieg continues his ‘Modelling Master Class’ with Chapter Seven: Armament, Pt. 2 – a six-page feature that describes the Schwarzlose, Parabellum, and Lewis guns, ways to improve various kit-supplied and aftermarket miniature aircraft armament, and how to cast additional parts when necessary.  He also covers modeling bombs, drum holders, ammunition belts, torpedoes, and rockets.

Model Art Profile is published in Japan and is printed in Japanese. Some of the image captions and text have been translated into English, and while the translation is well done, the amount of text in English is minimal.

But as the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, and the hundreds of images contained in this publication will serve as a excellent and comprehensive reference guide for the modeler.

Profile 13 is the most recent installment in a series of Profiles, and the good news is that most of these publications are still available. To view a list of these publications and to see the aircraft that are covered by these Profiles, follow this link: http://www.modelart.jp/english.special.mp.list.001.html

Number 13 provides very thorough coverage of the A6M3, A6M5, A6M7, and A6M8. Earlier variants of the Zero were covered in Profile Number 12. The publication is consistent with the previous Model Art Profiles. It is softbound, 160 pages in length, and is 7 inches by 10 inches.

For those unfamiliar with Model Art Modeling Magazine, it is a Japanese-produced modeling magazine that is released monthly. Along with the monthly releases, the company also releases several special issues. These special issues cover a multitude of subjects from IJN submarine depot ships to F1 race cars to airbrushing, as a few examples. The text is primarily in Japanese with some English subtitles but the photography is phenomenal.

The main article in the November issue is a continuation of articles from the September issue on heavy and medium IJN aircraft carriers, www.modelart.jp/ma.ma.852.html. In the current issue, they cover IJN light carriers. Each of the carriers is represented by a 1/700th scale model kit. The carriers are the Hosho, Ryujo, Shoho, Zuiho, Ryuho, Chitose, Chiyoda, Taiyo, Unyo, Chuyo, Shinyo and the Kaiyo.

Scale Aircraft Modelling is an excellent monthly publication focusing on modeling scale aircraft. The name of the publication gives that bit of information away rather easily.

Averaging just under 100 pages, SAM is filled with “build” articles featuring some of the newer kits on the market as well as projects based on old favorites. In this issue (Vol 34, Issue 09) a number of featured articles cover a range of subjects, both jet and prop.

Neil Pinchbeck, also featured in the last issue, provides an excellent article presenting the Valom Scale Aircraft Saunders Roe A.29 Cloud. The Cloud is a seaplane used by some British airlines in the early ‘30s. Neil’s article provides an excellent guide for those who wish to construct this kit of a rather nostalgic aircraft.

Staying with twin-engine prop subjects, Jay Laverty describes his work on the HK B-25. Jay pulls no punches in his description of this kit’s “rough” parts, and also praises when appropriate.

Let me start by saying that this review really took me out of my comfort zone. I am not a car modeler by any scope, but I feel that with reviewing this magazine it gave me a better appreciation for car models.

In this special of Model Art, the focus is primarily on the F1 series race car. Now, all of the F1 fans please be gentle with me as I give my review, as I am doing my best to interpret Japanese on a subject I know little about.

The issue starts off with coverage of Champion machines from 2006 - 2011. They use three different model manufacturers (Studio 27, Fujimi, and Minichamps diecast) to represent the winners. All the models are in 1/20th scale except for the Minichamps in 1/18th scale.

The next section has cars that participated in individual races such as the USA GP, Malaysian GP, and the Japan GP. The models reviewed in this section come from Silver Line (1/43rd), Studio27 (1/20th), FS-Model (1/20th), Fujimi (1/20th), Monopost (1/20th), and model Factory HIRO (1/20th).