The Henschel Hs 129
A Detailed Guide to
the Luftwaffe’s Panzerjager

by Richard A. Franks

Valiant Wings Publishing
Airframe Album 17

Reviewed by Graham Carter

130 pages of semi-gloss high quality paper are enclosed in a card case-bound cover with a nice rendition of Hs 129B-2 of 4.(Pz)/Sch.G.1 in Russia, summer 1943 specially commissioned from Arkadiusz Wróbel on the front. The paper enables excellent reproduction of images both in colour and B&W and drawings. It follows the familiar format for this series of books from Valiant Wings.

The volume is divided into five sections plus three Appendices. This begins with a sixteen page Preface/Introduction giving a history of the development and operational use of the Hs 129 and by the Luftwaffe, as well as other Axis nations.  A brief treatment is also given to the captured ones in Britain,USSR and the USA, all illustrated with a selection of useful photos. Apparently none have survived although there is a cockpit section came to Australia in 1986 and is being restored.

Section 1 covers a Technical Description in forty-four pages full of excellent, well-notated images from contemporary manuals and photos. These are all reproduced at  good size and are very useful for the modeller. The nine elements of the aircraft treated are the Fuselage ( including the cockpits), Tail, Wings and Controls, Engines, Cowlings and Exhausts, Undercarriage, Armament, Electrical Systems and Radio equipment.

Section 2 covers the evolution of the type from Prototype, Production and Projected Variants in seventeen pages. These are covered by the usual 3-D isometric renderings with annotations for specific features by Juraj Jankovic. There are essentially focussing on the assortment of cannon that were fitted in the ventral area, including the well-known 37 and 75mm anti-tank weapons so beloved of modellers and kit manufacturers.

Section 3 contains much information on Camouflage and Markings. The section covers all the schemes worn by Hs129 aircraft from the prototypes through to the captured ones at war’s end with both photos and nice side views in colour from Richard Caruana  with a top view of two typical upper surface schemes and an additional colour selection of unit insignia on the rear cover. A single page shows the location of stencils in 1/48th scale. There is also coverage of Rumanian users and a captured RAF example.

Section 4 is a couple of builds by Steve A. Evans, firstly of the 1/48 Hasegawa B-2 and the 1/32 Zoukei-Mura kit over fifteen detailed pages, plus a single page of Libor Jell’s 1/72 Revell Rumanian B-2 variant, with ample photo coverage to inspire the modeller in any scale.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Thumbnail panels:

The book, text is rounded off with three appendices :

• three pages of kits available in all the major scales from 1/144 to 1/32,

• two pages of accessories in resin, PE, masks, and decals, and

• a full page bibliography of official documents, publications, and periodicals.

The book is rounded out with six pages of very useful 1/72 scale plans covering all the main variants in four views.

Valiant Wings has again produced an excellent book for the Luftwaffe modeller and one that will appeal to those working on any of the scale kits that are available, and it comes highly recommended.

There is plenty of inspiration to super-detail one’s model and to answer questions about aircraft features and different variants.

Thanks to Valiant Wings Publishing for the sample.

Review Copyright © 2021 by Graham Carter
This Page Created on 26 October, 2021
Last updated 26 October, 2021

Back to HyperScale Main Page

Back to Reviews Page