Scale Plastic & Rail

AIR POWER MODELLING - BOOK 1 AND BOOK 2

AIR POWER MODELLING - BOOK 1 AND BOOK 2

Periscopio Publications

Illustrated by R.J. Caruana, M. Solanakis and V. Auletta

BOOK 1 ISBN 978-960-8345-81-2

"The Greeks have a word for it" as the old saying goes, and that word must be 'Modelling' and aircraft modelling in particular - once you have seen these excellent books. For anyone brand new to plastic kits, these books will be an invaluable source of information because they concentrate on the build, and various individual techniques used, to produce a specific model. OK, so you can get that sort of information by purchasing some of the many specialist modelling magazines that appear every month, but these books differ because it is just that...... a book. The contributors have much more space to play around with as far as presentation is concerned which must be a constant source of envy in the offices of the monthly magazine editors.

The contributors can therefore go into far more detail in the text which, by the way, is accompanied by numerous studio quality photographs. For example, in Book 1, the article on the 1/48 Tamiya Swordfish built by Megas Tsonas (a gold medal winner at the Telford IPMS Modelworld Show with this very model), covers a total of 17 pages which include interior décor illustrations, 8 camouflage profiles by Richard Caruana and 29 photographs. Not bad, eh! And that is just for starters.

Book 1 covers the 1/48 scale builds of:

• Tamiya Fairey Swordfish

• Fujimi Messerschmitt Bf 110E

• Hasegawa Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero

• Hasegawa Hawker Hurricane Mk.IIb

66 full colour pages

170 colour photographs

21 colour profiles and 9 scale plans by Richard Caruana

6 colour profiles by Michalis Solanakis

Cockpit colour plates by Vincenzo Auletta

Interestingly, the last section of Book 1 covers the fabrication of new canopies. All in all a very absorbing and instructional book which should make you want to purchase it's sister at the same time, Book 2.

BOOK 2 ISBN 978-960-6740-28-2

This is in exactly the same format as Book I and, continuing in 1/48 scale, this covers the following subjects:

• Lobnitz 1944 - a 'hangar' diorama using the Tamiya Focke Wulf 190A-3 as the base model.

• Czech Model Curtiss SO3C Seamew

• Tamiya He 219 'Owl'

• Monogram Aircobra P-400

• Eduard Aircobra P-39Q

• Tamiya F4F-4 Wildcat

Also included is a very interesting chapter on The Swedish Air Force 1939-1945 which covers all painting schedules for camouflage with corresponding colour references to FS, Humbrol, Revell and Tamiya numbers. In addition, this tutorial describes the differences between the insignia and the font styles of lettering and numbers. It was an eye opener for me to see the variety and different nationalities of the aircraft they had at their disposal! Richard Caruana has again come up 'trumps' with some superb profiles of the aircraft used.

For those interested in diorama techniques, this book is a must especially if your interest is World War II. The author of this section is John Lekkas and he has gone into great detail on how he constructed his magnificent diorama including working drawings of the 'hangar' with dimensions! What more do you want to get started on your next project.

74 full colour pages

140 colour photographs

32 colour profiles by Richard Caruana

4 colour profiles and 14 detailed colur plates by Vincenzo Auletta

A perfect match for Book I.

So what do we think?

Both books are excellent. The superb quality of the artwork, the articles and the photographs far outweigh the rare occasions when the translation from Greek to English did lead to some wry smiles! These books may be purchased through Casemate UK www.casematepublishing.co.uk and at UK£8.99 for Book I and UK£10.99 for Book II this represents very good value for money indeed. £20 for the pair - sold to that very intelligent looking modeller over there!

Overall: 8/10

Our thanks to those very nice people at Casemate UK for the samples

Peter Buckingham