The famous jest fighter Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-15 and its variants in the Polish Air Force are described in unparalleled detail. Includes many unpublished photos from the private collections. The color schemes and markings are described and illustrated in a series of specially commissioned color profiles.

This book compiles the 4-view color profiles, scale plans, and photo details of the single variant of the NAA P-51B-10-NA. Scale plans are in 1/72 scale, plus drawings from wartime technical manuals. It also includes photos of the details in B&W and color.

This book compiles the color profiles, scale plans, and photo details of the single variant of the T-72M Soviet main battle tank. Scale plans are in 1/35 scale, plus drawings from wartime technical manuals. It also contains photos of the details in B&W.

The 39.M Csaba - the Hungarian armoured reconnaissance vehicle of WWII - was a modern car for its time. The armament was mounted in a fully armoured turret, and the armour was riveted from 9 mm plates. The car was powered by a Ford engine manufactured in Cologne, Germany, which provided good speed. The vehicle had two steering positions, front and rear. Published by Kagero, this book includes 8 colour profiles, 8 A4 drawing sheets and over 100 archival photos.

Douglas DB-7 is a family of American bomber and night fighter aircraft manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company, used during World War II. This book presents a description of working on a model Douglas A-20G Havoc (DB-7). Complete with 80 colour photographs, 35 archival images, 24 renders, and free decals, this is the ideal guide for model-makers and enthusiasts. The author shows, step-by-step, each element of the modeling workshop.

La-5 - Soviet single-engine single-seat fighter from World War II. The plane was developed in the S.A. design office. Lavochkin as a development version and successor of the LaGG-3, a wooden low wing with an in-line engine. It was one of the best fighter planes of the Soviet aviation and the first to compete on an equal footing with the German Messerschmitt Bf 109.

The book presents color profiles of selected tanks fighting on the Eastern Front, both on the Soviet and German sides. The book with a decal sheet. Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a single-seat fighter and fighter-jet aircraft. Produced in 15,683 units, it was the most numerous of the US fighter aircraft.

Compared to the fighting in Northwest Europe or the epic battles in the Soviet Union, the battles for the possession of the Italian peninsula seem to seem to pale in insignificance. The Allies regarded it as a side-show and the men that fought there were often referred to as the ‘D-Day Dodgers’. The Germans must have regarded it similarly judging by what forces they sent to Italy. Nevertheless, while the terrain in the Italian peninsula was often unsuitable for the offensive use of armour, it was entirely suitable for armour in a defensive role. As the Allied troops were soon to learn, often a lone tank (quite often a Tiger) or assault gun, strategically placed, could hold up an entire advance for hours, if not days in some cases. Moreover by the time the Allies had reached the Gustav Line around Cassino, German resistance had hardened. From here, the Liri valley offering what appeared to be an easy route northwards to Rome, was in fact the opposite and the strong defense put up by the German troops there proved a major stumbling block to Allied plans. This prompted the Allies to seek a way around this, one that involved landing troops at Anzio-Nettuno in January 1944. Here the Germans were quick to respond and soon contained the Allies to a narrow beachhead and one that they were unable to break out of until June that year. This deployment involved a wider range of armour than the Allies previously had to deal with. Not only was this it first time that Tigers had been employed on mainland Italy, but it was the first time the Elefant heavy tank destroyer went into action against the Allies. The Sturmpanzer 43 or Brummbär, an infantry support self-propelled gun, also made its appearance on this occasion. As the Germans continued their retreat up the Italian peninsula, vehicles such as Sturmgeschütz IVs, Jagdpanzer IVs and Hetzers were added to their inventory. The Germans became more dependent on Italian armor, bringing into service some of the higher performance Semovente assault guns. Concurrent with this was the deployment some of their obsolete types with police units in the rear areas, often in anti-partisan operations. These included the PzKpfw III Ausf. N with its 75 mm L/24 gun, the Italian AB41 armored car and P 26/40 tank, along with some Russian T-34/76 tanks. This proliferation of vehicle typesalso saw a move away from the overall Dunkelgelb finish that seemed to be predominant in the earlier engagements in Italy. This saw the use of Olivgrün, Rotbrun or both in a variety of patterns, something that had started to happen at Cassino. Italian armor taken into service usually retained its factory scheme of Dunkelgelb, Olivgrün and Rotbrun, but some units repainted them with a scheme of their own.

Nakajima K-43 Hayabusa, code-named Oscar by the Allies, was the Imperial Japanese Army’s equivalent of the Zero fighter in service with the Imperial Navy. In combat units the machine replaced the aging Ki-27. Manufactured in large numbers, the fighter remained in frontline service until the end of the war. By the time its final version entered production, the development of its successor – the Ki-84 – had already started. The Ki-43 was a very maneuverable machine, but in many areas it was inferior to its adversaries. Despite its fragile design, poor armament and almost no armored protection, the Ki-43 was well-liked by the Japanese pilots and it became a symbol of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service. Hayabusa was the pinnacle of the Japanese fighter design development until the lessons learned in the Pacific laid the ground for new approaches to the construction of tactical aircraft.

The British Airship Carrier HMS Furious is one of the most unusual units of the Second World War. The ship was designed during the previous conflict as a „great light cruiser” with 457mm guns, but far-reaching changes were made during construction. Furious entered service in June 1917 as aircraft cruiser with a large aircraft deck in the bow and a single turret with a gun of the mentioned caliber in the stern. Thus, Furious made history as one of the precursors of British on-board aviation, becoming a floating platform for various types of trials and tests with airplanes. It quickly turned out that aircraft deck took up the entire bow part and is insufficient to meet the needs of the day-to-day expanding on-board aviation. Therefore, after carrying out only a few patrols on the waters of the North Sea, the ship was returned to the shipyard in the same year, where it underwent further reconstruction. This time, the aft tower and mast were removed and in their place was built another hangar with an aircraft deck, which was connected to the bow with special platforms running on the sides of the preserved superstructures. Since then, Furious was already a powerful aircraft, unfortunately not very successful considering the superstructure with a chimney that occupies the entire amidships, which apart from obviously taking up space, caused air turbulences induced by the huge dimensions and warm exhaust gases coming from the chimney. However, this did not prevent Furious from becoming the hero of the historical event, which was on-board aviation first strike on land targets, which took place on July 19, 1918. The target of the attack was the German Zeppelin base in Tondern, and it was carried out using Sopwith Camel planes taking off from the deck of Furious.

Yubari, the smallest of Japanese cruisers built after World War I, was in fact an experimental design. The ship was intended as a test bed for new technologies to be employed in the construction of the future Furutaka class heavy cruisers. The ship’s lead designer Fujimoto Kikuo, working under the supervision of the Imperial Navy’s chief naval architect Hiraga Yuzuru, set out to create a fast and heavily armed cruiser with the lightest displacement possible. What emerged was a vessel capable of the same speed, range and broadside weight as those of 5,500 ton ships, but with a significantly lower displacement. The construction of the cruiser was initially authorized under the 1917 8-4 Fleet Program, but funding wasn’t available until the launch of the 1921 8-6 Fleet Program, where the ship was listed under the name Ayase. The blueprints were formally approved in October 1921 and on December 23, 1921 the ship was renamed Yubari – a reference to the river Yubarigawa in Hokkaido. Sea trials of the cruiser confirmed her expected sea keeping characteristics, but also showed she was overweight – not an uncommon feature for Japanese designs. After she had been completed, Yubari’s normal displacement (with a 25 percent fuel reserve) was 419 tons (14 percent) above the design figures. This had a detrimental effect on the ship’s speed. During a one-mile run carried out on July 5, 1923 Yubari (displacing 3,463 tons) reached the top speed of 34.786 kt with the machinery producing 61,336 hp at 409.87 rpm. With 75 percent of fuel on board, the cruiser’s draft increased by 61 cm, which increased drag and resulted in the drop of speed below the expected 35.5 kt.

The I-200 fighter project was a compromise between design office’s capabilities, realities of the Soviet aviation industry, with its available technologies, and military requirements. According to the brief description of the MiG-3 from 1941, it was, in terms of its purpose, an interceptor, but, interestingly, it could also be used as… an attack aircraft, or a light, fast dive bomber. Both the I-200 prototypes and the later MiG-1 and MiG-3 were single-seat, single-engine, mixed-design low-wing aircraft. Front part of the fuselage, together with the centre wing, up to the rear wall of the pilot’s cockpit, was made of metal. Only the tail part of the fuselage and wing consoles were wooden. Vertical stabilizer, which was an integral part of the fuselage, was made of wood, too, but horizontal stabilizer was all-metal. Rudders and ailerons had a metal construction and canvas cover. Undercarriage was made of chromansil steel.In front part of the fuselage there was a pilot’s cabin with a seat, instrument panel and controls, front fuel tank, main offensive armament, water cooler and other componentry. Centre wing was attached to the front part of the fuselage at seven points, the rear part at four points, while the engine mount was supported by two.

The small number of Finnish fighter pilots who defended Finland in three separate wars between 1939 and 1945 amassed scores only bettered by the Luftwaffe's pilots. Initially equipped with a mixed collection of fighters acquired from sources across the world, the Finnish Air Force was thrust into combat in the defensive Winter War against an invasion by the Soviet Union in 1939, followed by the Continuation War, together with Germany and the other Axis powers against the Soviets, in 1941–1944. The third conflict, the Lapland War against Germany, occurred in 1944–1945. Aircraft of the famous Finnish aces are described in detail with many photos and color profiles. This book includes the aircraft of Ilmari Juutilainen, Hans Wind, and Eino Luukkanen, among others. It is an essential reading for aviation enthusiasts and scale aeromodelers.

The Dornier Do 335A did not meet all the Luftwaffe requirements. First, the cockpit armor was too weak, which excluded the machine from the role of a fighter intercepting heavily defended Allied bombers. Therefore, in the summer of 1944, a modified version of the Do 335 - marked with the letter “B”- was developed. The main difference was to be an armored pilot’s cockpit with a new, easier to manufacture windscreen. The front wheel had larger tire. To be able to retract it without any changes in the landing gear bay construction, it was rotated around the leg axis by 45° during the retraction. The rest of the equipment and weapons were to be the same as in the case of the Do 335A-1. The developed version was designated Do 335B-1, but it was quickly abandoned in favor of heavily armed versions B-2 and B-3, known as Zerstörer. The prototypes of the version B-2 were Do 335M-13 and M-14 powered, like the A-1, by the DB 603E (front) and DB-603QE (rear) engines, but with significantly reinforced armament. The 15 mm MG 151/15 cannons above the engine were replaced with a 20 mm MG 151/20, and the wings were fitted with two 30 mm MK 103 cannons with 70 rounds per barrel. The same cannon fired through the propeller axis.

In the early stages of combat, the air war went extremely well for the Japanese, but that would soon change. As the improved versions of aircraft entered service and as the air tactics evolved, the A6M began to lose its edge over Allied fighters. The only way to turn the tides was to modernize the Zeke and then introduce its successor, capable of holding its own against new U. S. designs, as quickly as possible.

This book compiles the 4-view color profiles, scale plans, and photo details of the single variant of the McDonnel F-4B Phantom II. Scale plans are in 1/72 scale, plus drawings from wartime technical manuals. It also includes photos of the details in B&W and color.