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North Africa Campaign

Valiant Wings Publishing
Airframe Extra No.9

S u m m a r y
Publisher and Title:

Valiant Wings Publishing
North Africa Campaign
Airframe and Miniature No.9
ISBN: 978-0-9957773-2-3
Media: Soft cover; 82 pages in A4 Portrait mode, many photographs, colour profiles and model details.
Price:


GBP£9.95 plus shipping available online from Valiant Wings

and stockists worldwide.
Review Type: First Read
Advantages: Detailed and comprehensive look at the North Africa Campaign from 1940 to 1943. Great colour and B&W photos, excellent profiles and historical timeline. Dedicated modellers section.
Disadvantages: None noted.
Conclusion:

A great, should have, reference for modellers of all scales interested in the  WWII desert campaigns in North Africa.


Reviewed by David Couche



HyperScale is proudly supported by Squadron.com
 

FirstRead

 

This is 9th in the Airframe Extra series produced by Valiant Wings Publishing which covers the Campaigns from all combatants in North Africa with the historical aspects of the battles on the ground and in the air in North Africa from Italy’s declaration of war on France and the United Kingdom on the 10th June 1940 through to the surrender of all Axis forces in Tunisia on the 13th May 1943.

 

 

The book opens with an 18 page historical narrative by Patrick Branly on the various battles and campaigns staged by the Italians, Germans and Allied forces over this period of time. What is an interesting feature is the manner of presenting this, which is in the form of a timeline. As this timeline weaves it course through the many battles in North Africa, it is supported by clear maps as well as many great historical photographs including a number of coloured ones. Many of the photographs would supply great inspiration to diorama builders due to the clear and varied subjects.

 

 

Following this is a most important and informative page for the scale modeller. This is a full page color cross-reference chart, with major shades relating to the air war: RAF, USAAF, Luftwaffe (9 RLM Shades) & Regia Aeronautica, in both Acrylics & Enamels by AKAN, Gunze, Humbrol, Lifecolor, Modelmaster, Tamiya, Revell, White Ensign & Xtracrylics/Xtracolors brands. A great reference to have in your hand when going to build any desert theatre aircraft.

 

  • Valiant Wings Publishing – North Africa Campaign: Image
  • Valiant Wings Publishing – North Africa Campaign: Image
  • Valiant Wings Publishing – North Africa Campaign: Image
  • Valiant Wings Publishing – North Africa Campaign: Image
  • Valiant Wings Publishing – North Africa Campaign: Image
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The rest of the book is then interspersed with specially commissioned kit builds by Steve Evans and Libor Jekl covering;

  • 1:72nd Heinkel He 111 (Hasegawa)

  • 1:72nd Curtiss Kittyhawk Mk Ia (Special Hobby)

  • 1:72nd Dewoitine D.520 (RS Models)

  • 1:144th Junkers Ju 52/3m (Eduard)

  • 1:48th Bf 110C-2/Trop (Eduard)

  • 1:32nd Hawker Hurricane Mk IId (Fly)

These build are well explained with excellent photographs of the builds in progress and with a number of helpful tips.

Through these builds, there are a number of pages of beautiful coloured profiles of many different aircraft in a multitude of schemes. Created by Richard J Caruana and numbering about 90 in all, they cover aircraft of all combatant countries that took part on the North African Campaigns over those 3 years.

 

 

Conclusion

 

This book has been deliberately produced for the modeller, providing an absolute wealth of reference photographs and detail, profiles and anything else one could wish for to covering North Africa. As a keen desert North Africa/MTO modeller I found this book to be an excellent companion.

This book is highly recommended.

Thanks to Valiant Wings Publishing for the sample.

Review Copyright © 2019 by David Couche
This Page Created on 28 June, 2019
Last updated 28 June, 2019

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