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J.Jackiewicz & R.Bock
Tekst w języku angielskim, miękka okładka, 120 stron, 194 zdjęcia, 29 kompletnych, wieloplikowych schematów malowania i 25 pojedynczych sylwetek bocznych. Cała publikacja w kolorze.
Cena zawiera koszt przesyłki jako listu zwykłego.
         
Floyd S. Werner, Jr, IPMS# 26266 - Recenzja dla IMPS-USA
How many of you remember the Monogram B-24 kit with the diorama sheet by Shep Paine? I certainly do. Until then I did not even know there were assembly ships. I would have never guessed that there were so many until now. This new soft bound book by Kecay Publishers is full color on 120 pages of high quality paper with close to 200 photos, 29 multi-view and 25 side profiles.
Written in English this book is more about the pictures and drawings than the text. Does that mean the text doesn't have something interesting to say? Not at all. The text follows the aircraft and tells a brief history of each particular aircraft. You are treated to the development of the camouflage and an explanation of the use of assembly ships. The color photos are exceptional and support the drawings very nicely.
Who knew there was so much information on these colorful aircraft, B-17s, B-24s, P-47s and other aircraft? Colorful doesn't even begin to touch on some of these bizarre aircraft. Red, Green, Yellow, Red and White are just some of the colors employed. Patterns include stripes, spots, zigzag, checkers and other patterns that defy identification are just some of the unique spin on these stalwarts.
Just like Shep Paine's diorama, this book is chock full of plenty of aircraft that will tantalize your paint pallet. My personal favorite is a spotted B-17F. Some of these aircraft were famous before they were colorful such as Wabash Cannonball. You like shark mouthed aircraft? Well there are plenty of them here. Colorful paint schemes, bright colors and a shark mouth, what more could you ask for?
The B-24 has the most colorful ships of the book. One of neatest formation ships is the one that has many B-24s of various sizes on the side. I'd love to build this one in 1/48th scale. Purple pink polka dots are included in the book as well. I mean there is something for everyone. Of course, the Shep Paine B-24 is included with photos and a four view color profile.
This book contains everything a modeler could possibly want in a reference book. Every aircraft is covered with good clear photos of the ships and then the color profiles for each one, most are four sided views. P-47s seem to be the fighter formation monitor of choice for the 8th Bomber Command.
If you are looking for something totally different to add to your library this is the book. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire book. There is nothing about this book that I didn't like. The photos are exceptional with many unpublished until now. The color profiles are beautiful renditions of the real thing and extremely helpful to the model builder. The text will add a lot to the knowledge of these unique aircraft.
Some will question the cost of the book. I thought it was worth every penny. Also the cost already includes the shipping and handling so $49.90 is all that you pay. You can obtain yours directly from Kecay at their web site.
Highly recommended.
http://www.ipmsusa2.org/Reviews/Books/Aircraft/Books_Aircraft.htm
Barry Brine - Recenzja dla Scale Aviation Modeller International 7/2008
(...) Now over my years of attending model shows I have seen a few examples of assembly ships reproduced on the tables, normally Tubarao with its shark mouth and yellow and green stripe fuselage that featured on an old Microscale sheet, but when I opened this book I was amazed by the number of aircraft that had been used in this role and that the aircraft that I had seen were just the tip of the Iceberg. Stripes, squares, polka dots and other decorations normally combined with attractive nose art, shark mouths and mission markings all featured prominently on these aircraft.
The text in this book is very informative and describes the history of bomber operations over Europe, but as its title suggests its main content concentrates on the role of the assembly ships of the Eighth Air Force. Most assembly ships were used by the groups operating the B-24 Liberator though there were a few B-17s used as well. These schemes and many more are illustrated by an amazing selection of 160 photographs, complemented by 40 colour profiles; some of these profiles chart the development of a colour scheme on a specific aircraft as it was modified during the course of the war.
I had heard of Assembly ships but I was completely unaware of the existence of Dogs or Cops until I read this book! These aircraft were war-weary P-47 Thunderbolts that had been stripped of their weapons and were used to shepherd the squadrons and bomb groups into their correct formation and round up any strays and return them to the flock. Just like the bombers many of these aircraft were attractively marked with their parent air group colours and again these are covered by photographs and colour profiles.
By covering a little known subject this book should assure itself a ready market with anyone interested in daylight bomber operations of the Eighth Air Force over Europe, but its sheer quality and colourful subject matter will make it of interest to a much wider audience.
Highly recommended.
Chris Banyai-Riepl - Recenzja dla Internet Modeler - sierpień 2008
When I first saw Atelier Kecay’s book on Captured Bf 109s (reviewed last month), I wondered just what their next subject could be. Well, they chose a subject that sorely needed to be done, and they have done it with style. Assembly Ships of the Mighty Eighth is an outstanding book from beginning to end, whether one is looking for written history, photographic records, or illustrations. The story of assembly ships is a fascinating one, and the authors have done an incredible amount of research to separate out these unique aircraft from the copious records of the Eighth Air Force. Often relegated to a footnote or a photo in amongst other bombers, these colorful aircraft served an important job, and it is exciting to see their story told.
To understand the need for assembly ships, one just needs to look at the numbers involved. We have all heard about the impressive ‘1000 bomber raids’ done by the 8th AF during World War Two. But how did those aircraft get to their target? With a plane taking off every thirty seconds, it would still take half an hour for an entire Bomb Wing’s 108 aircraft to get off the ground. That’s thirty minutes for the lead aircraft to fly around waiting for the rest of his Wing to form up. Now multiply that by the number of Wings needed for that thousand-plane raid, toss in the fact that these air bases were often quite close together, and you have a recipe for confusion. Enter the assembly ships, gaudily painted aircraft that were easy to see. These planes had specific orders to connect with the various squadrons, groups, and wings to get everyone formed up in their proper defensive formations. Once everyone was in place, they would break off and the bomber stream would head to Germany.
While the text does an excellent job of describing the background and operations of these assembly ships, what really sets this book apart is the photographic evidence. The authors have compiled an incredible amount of photographs of these aircraft, including some in color. These include the expected B-24s, which were the most common assembly ships, but also B-17s and a handful of P-47s. Complementing the photos are stunning color profile illustrations showing these aircraft, with the bombers generally receiving a four-view treatment.
This book is an essential title for anyone interested in the 8th Air Force, and indeed anyone looking for unusual paint schemes.
http://www.internetmodeler.com/2008/august/new-releases/book_assembly.php
Notatka w FlyPast - wrzesień 2008
Assembly ships were war-weary 'heavies' in bizarre colour schemes that helped to 'herd' the bomber streams into the right bit of airspace and get them on their way. Always regarded as the curios of the 'Mighty Eighth', these machines were predominantly B-24 Liberators and this book charts them in great detail with superb artwork. In similar manner from the same publisher comes Captured Me 109s.
Denis Calvert - Recenzja dla Aircraft Illustrated - grudzień 2008, Książka Miesiąca
The story starts in the middle of WW2 as the USAAF rapidly built up its heavy bomber force in East Anglia to conduct ever larger daytime raids over the German homeland. As the number of bombers grew, so did the complexity of the task of assembling the aircraft before a raid.The time required to get all the combat boxes into formation prior to crossing the North Sea was anything up to two hours. One answer was the introduction of the assembly ship, typically a war-weary B-24 Liberator. Each aircraft was adorned with the Group’s colours and many were painted in the most striking and distinctive paint schemes imaginable. The aim was to be ’different’, such that the unit’s bombers would easily be able to identify the assembly ship over the assigned rendezvous point and formate on it, thus speeding up the whole formation assembly process. Since the assembly ships were only intended to operate over Britain, there was no need for concealment and their paint schemes were probably the most outrageous ever seen on military aircraft. This was the complete antithesis of camouflage; Rackheath’s B-24D ‘The Little Gramper’ was finished in red polkadots over bright yellow, while Attlebridge’s B-24D assembly ship was covered overall in red/white zigzags.This is more — far more — than a picture book. It has good text on the development of the USAAF strategic bomber offensive from the UK, on bomber tactics and on the theory behind the adopted bomber formations. But its crowning glory is a truly excellent collection of photos, some even in colour of USAAF assembly ships accompanied by numerous colour profiles and four-views.This a great historical record of a subject which has never before been seriously covered in print. Most highly recommended.
Chris Aleong - Recenzja dla IPMS Edmonton Bulletin - październik 2008
It is always interesting what turns your crank in modeling with regards to aircraft. Is it night-fighters, aces, CAG aircraft, mono-tone schemes or brightly coloured aircraft? Such is the case of assembly ships. These were bombers, usually B-17s or B-24s, gaudily painted so that the aircraft in the squadron could position themselves before heading off to the target. As a modelling subject it is right up my alley of “must build it.”Those wonderful high visibility schemes sure do provide a change from the natural metal or camouflage coatings. Picking one seems to be as much of a challenge as building one in your favourite scale.
I have always wanted to do one particular B-24 assembly ship, a B-24D painted in a large black and yellow checkerboard. Many years ago I only had one colour port side view and nothing else so I had no idea what the rest of the pattern looked like. It was one of my Holy Grails of modelling.
A couple of months ago while perusing the various internet hobby sites I saw this book for sale, well really only the cover. I quickly ordered it and I have no regrets. At $49.95 it was money well spent I think.
This 120 page soft cover book is printed on high quality paper with many B&W and some colour wartime photos. Along with that there are very good views in colour of the various aircraft illustrating the scheme. All sides are shown giving you the complete picture. There are no wasted pages with the only page not used for assembly ship info being the title page. Info is even included on the inside covers.
As mentioned, for each assembly ship scheme, the artist has given you all the views even the inner tail views for twin tailed aircraft like the B-24. I had no idea that there were B-17s used as assembly ships but several schemes are there in this book. Many of them look like they would be a modeling challenge. Another nice bit of information is the inclusion of coloured drawings of formation monitors, usually P-47 Thunderbolts. Those schemes don’t seem to be a brightly painted as the bombers but do at least have some colour.
Buying the book sight unseen, I was hoping it had “my” B-24 and it did not disappoint. I now know what the complete scheme of my B-24 looks like. Along with that I also found out that the aircraft went through two assembly paint schemes. The first scheme simply had the black and yellow checkerboard covering the fuselage while the second scheme continued the pattern to the wings and tail covering all surfaces. Wonderful stuff.
If you have any interest in assembly ships I would think that this publication could provide you with your one stop reference. I see even one of the latest issues of the 1/72nd B-24 from Hasegawa has decals for an assembly ship.
http://www.ipmsedmonton.com/2008Bulletin10Oct4C.pdf
Recenzja w Model Airplane International - sierpień 2008
This is the second title from this publisher and follows on from the Bf 109 title we reviewed in Issue 29. This one is along similar lines, with a mass of period images of each assembly ship and then some colour profiles, but this time there is a little historical introduction and along with the four-views of the assembly ships there are also numerous side profiles of war-weary P-47s that were all used in the role of formation monitor.
Verdict: This is a superb new title from his publisher. They have improved the flow of the English text considerably and the wealth of information offered by the numerous images and the colour profiles for each of the featured aircraft make this a must for all USAAF fans.
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