Scale aviation modeller international

USAF Collection No. 11

SERIES: Military Series

C AT. NO.1074

PUBLISHER: Aero Research Co.

WEB: http://www.AeroResearchCDs.com

T

here are 152 images on this

disc and they cover quite a wide

range

of the aircraft

operated by

t h e US A F,

from the

Second World

War to the

present day.

The photos

of the older types are in black and

white and include some rarities such

as a P-51A and the XP-42. Other types

include A-10s, B-52s, KC-135s, F-16s,

and B-1bs amongst many others.

As ever, if you have in interest in

the USAF, there is a lot of reference

material and inspiration for builds

included on this disc. My thanks to

the Aero Research Co for supplying

this fascinating disc for review.

TMU-S

Republic F-105 Thunderchief

AUTHOR: Jaroslaw Dobrzynski

COLOUR PROFILES: Marcelo Ribeiro

YEAR: 2018

PUBLISHER: MMP Books

ISBN: 978-83-65281-79-1

FOR M AT: 184 pp Softback

T

he F-105 Thunderchief, or

less formally “Thud”, is

perhaps most remembered

for carrying out the majority of the

bombing missions during the early

part of the Vietnam War, and also

for its “Wild Weasel” Suppression

of Enemy Air Defences (SEAD) role

in the same conlict. The latest

addition to the literature on the

type is this book, from the proliic

MMP stable, which is billed as a

technical history and thus issued

in the Yellow series as No. 6138.

However, what is inside is

not just a technical history. The

irst chapters certainly cover that

very comprehensively; the next

two chapters, which between

them are roughly twice the page

count of the irst four, cover the

operational history, and the largest

of these covers the type’s service

in Vietnam. The inal two chapters

consist of a very comprehensive

technical description, and a

short one describing colour

schemes and markings worn by

the type during its service.

Four appendices give vital

statistics; a unit listing; a table of

tail codes; and a production table

giving block numbers, serial ranges,

and production numbers. Finally,

there is a short bibliography.

The book is illustrated with a

good selection of photographs,

line drawings and colour proiles,

and as an added bonus a set of

1/72 scale plans covering major

variants is included as a separate

sheet. The photographs include

both full-aircraft shots and

more detailed close ups.

Anyone modelling the “Thud” in

any of the major scales will ind this

volume particularly valuable. Thanks

to MMP Books for the review copy.

MJC

Short Stirling Units of World War 2

AUTHOR: Jonathan Falconer
ILLUSTRATED BY: Chris Davey
YEAR: 2018
PUBLISHER: Osprey Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 978-1-4728-2042-6
FOR M AT: 96 pp Paperback; also available
as e-Book

T

his book, Number 124
in the Combat Aircraft
series, tells the story of
the Short Stirling in Osprey’s
customary style and format.
The Stirling is often seen as
a relative failure: in fact, it was
anything but. It entered service in
1940 as the RAF’s irst four-engined
monoplane heavy bomber, and served
on front-line main force operations
for a total of 33 months before being
retired from Bomber Command in
favour of the Lancaster and Halifax.
Its service life was not inished,
however, and it became a very useful
transport aircraft, a role that was
just as “front-line”. It served with
the Special Operations squadrons
at RAF Tempsford, dropping agents
and supplies to occupied Europe,
and was an essential glider tug
for the airborne elements of such
operations as Overlord and Market
Garden. Its inal role, as the Mk V,
was as a long-range transport.
The text lows well and is
illustrated with a good selection of
photographs and colour proiles.

The various developments of the

aircraft are related, as are the

operations the type was involved in.

Two appendices list the frontline

Stirling Squadrons and give further

details of the colour proile subjects.

This volume will be a particularly

useful reference for anyone building

either the Airix kit or one of the two

Italeri kits, and may even inspire

a small collection illustrating the

diferent colour schemes applied.

It should also appeal to fans of

Bomber Command, Airborne, and

Special Forces, and in fact all aircraft

enthusiasts. Recommended.

Thanks to Osprey Publishing

Ltd for the review copy.

MJC

MDF 8 Scaled Down

The Dassault Mirage 2000B/C/D/N and International Versions

AUTHOR: Andy Evans

YEAR: 2018

PUBLISHER: SAM Publications

ISBN: 978-1-9996616-2-5

FOR M AT: 100pp Softback

T

his latest title in the popular

Modellers Dataile Scaled

Down series was launched

at this year’s E-day model show

and all the stock taken to show

sold out pretty quickly! The new

title follows the classic Dataile

format, opening with a look at the

development of the Mirage 2000.

The next two chapters look at the

Mirage in French service, before

moving on to cover the export

versions of the type. These chapters

are followed by four pages of colour

proiles, with ive proiles to a page.

The book features six model

builds, ive of which are the Kinetic

1/48 scale kit, in either single- or

two-seat versions. The sixth build

is the Tamiya (re-boxed Italeri)

1/72 scale kit. I must admit I found

the concluding remark of this

build refreshing – “the kit lacks

some details and may not be 100%

accurate for the most demanding

modeller, but it nicely captures the

aircraft’s graceful lines.“ It’s nice to

see the kit not being utterly slated,

as how many of us looking at it could

actually point out the inaccuracies?

Not many I would think.

There are 15 pages of colour walk-

around images of various Mirage

2000s in service with the French

and Brazilian Air Forces. Appendix

Two deals with the Mirage 2000

variants, with several of them being

illustrated with colour photographs.

The next appendix illustrates

some of the really colourful schemes

worn by the Mirage 2000; these are

mostly Tiger meet schemes, with a

few special anniversary schemes.

The last appendix is the Kitography,

which lists the available accessories,

kits, and decal sets available.

So if you have any of the available

kits of this attractive French ighter,

this book will be a very useful

reference for your workbench. My

thanks to SAM Publications for

supplying this book for review.

TMU-S

BOOKS & MEDIA

WWW.SAMPUBLICATIONS.COM • DECEMBER 2018 • 79