Barrovian Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 MDF2 - Hurricane MDF4 - Lancaster MDF5 - Spitfire Pt2 MDF6 - Beaufighter MDF7 - Lightning MDF8 - Meteor MDF12 - F-4 Phantom II Pt1 MDF13 - F-4 Phantom II Pt2 MDF14 - F-4 Phantom II Pt3 Would like to see the Hawk, Mirage and Sea Kingcovered Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 I've got the first seven. (Number One, Mosquito, is signed!)Had the Meteor one but traded it for repair done to my compressor. Not yet replaced the book though. A Mustang one was listed a couple of years ago and still not seen it yet but if its due may well get one or both volumes if it goes that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hepster Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 I've got just three, on the Me 109 (parts 1 and 2) and the EE Lightning. I agree with the point about them being a frustrating resource; for example the book on the Lightning needs to be longer (you can never have too much EE Lightning stuff) yet it manages to waste 5 pages on a full colour walkaround of the preserved Short SB5 IMHO. New titles on the Fw 190 or Me 262 would be welcome hint hint. Interesting walkaround possibilities... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 I have the ones on the Meteor, the Hunter, and the Lancaster and frankly I find them useful and informative. What I would love to see is one on the IL-2 Shturmovik, which I've offered to write for them (a bit of shameless self-promotion here, I'm afraid, or is it called "marketing"?). Regards, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlet Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 Just two for me, Lightning and USAF Phantoms. The Lightning one is not a patch on the Phantom one, with the walkround photos a let down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 F-111 is finally here!! http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/SAMPUB19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tempestfan Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 (edited) I have Nos 1 through 7. I stopped buying them after receiving the Lightning volume and being quite disappointed in general, though I don't recall with which aspects exactly. As Mark (StephenMG) pointed out he had done the drawings both for the Hunter book and the small Mosquito one, I looked around a bit on ebay and in various other online stores with the idea of some day picking up my 32nd Hunter build stalled 16 years ago, and I found the Hunter book offered at a very attractive price via ebay by SAM Publ. themselves (GBP 9 +1). They also offered said Mossie book (6+3) and International Phantoms (9+3). Log-in, three clicks, off to the payment area and PayPal'ed. After payment, I noted the shipping details said "every additional book ordered sent post-free", which, alas, was not reflected in the invoice. Seems I'll have to mail them. Yesterday, a card envelope arrived. Surprise, surprise - Vol 2 USN versions delivered... not a big deal, basically, as I like the F-4B in particular. But as I wil be writing an e-mail anyway... After quickly going through it, I'm rather disappointed. While the text probably is sound (not read much yet), the pics are all thumbnails (OK, this is customary with MDs), and the captions leave a lot to be desired IMHO. "A Phantom in the air", "a Phantom over the sea", "a Phantom on a carrier deck" - identity, place, date and unit are not so essential, apparently (though of course the BuAer-# is visible in many cases). The caption to a belied Angels J in particular illustrates my point - instead of e.g. "Like all top tier aerobatic teams, the Angels pride themselves of an impeccable safety record. However, mishaps occur, as in the case of 157xxx who crash landed on xx XX 1972 at ZZ NAS after suffering a birdstrike" there is something like "Life isn't always plain sailing even for the Angels." A pair of RF-4Bs are captioned being in Gull Grey over White when I'm quite convinced they are grey overall, as no demarcation line is visible. While I appreciate that the overwing bulges are tricky to portrait in elevation, the drawings of the RF late show no difference to the drawing of the thin wing in this respect (I do not see any difference on the J and S drawings, either). And I also seem to recall the overall length of the -17 (or whatever) exhausts is greater than on the -8, not just the petal length. The drawings have them the same length. The modelling section is a joke - the builds look great, but is there a Hasegawa 1/32 J ? I think not... The 48th builds are all Hasegawa, despite the Monogram and Italeri/ex Esci Js being around at least on the 2nd hand market in good numbers and usually obtainable cheaply. 72nd kits hardly get a mention at all. I hope the Hunter book is better. Edited July 24, 2014 by tempestfan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 If you've no great library, then these books are a very useful introduction to their subjects. The more information you have on a subject, then generally the poorer they appear. The tiny photographs have been mentioned, and the poor quality of the drawings and unreliability of the profiles. Of the ones I've bought, the Spitfires were a particular disappointment and the Hurricane not much better, but the Bf109 and Mosquito books I found worth having, the last because of the quality of the plans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tempestfan Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 As there was some kind of break when Richard Franks left, I thought they may have continued with different draughtsmen as well - which they did. Seems one has to know who drew what before buying if one is keen (primarily) on the drawings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 When was it ever different? It has always been necessary to be wary of draughtsmen/artists who appear everywhere and to achieve this level of output have to rely upon uncritical acceptance of previously-published work. As opposed to those only produce rarely but are particularly interested in the type and even indulge in original research. The former are often technically excellent and superb eye-candy, but.... Plus of course those who fall in between, or are just new to you. Much the same applies to authors, of course. The joy of the internet is that you can become aware much more quickly of the good stuff, if you can sieve out the ill-informed gush. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tempestfan Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 When was it ever different? Touché Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avro683 Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 I have volumes 2 to 8 and keep meaning to get the reissued Mosquito one as I have so many in the stash. Hope it's still available! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panoz Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 Yesterday, a card envelope arrived. Surprise, surprise - Vol 2 USN versions delivered... not a big deal, basically, as I like the F-4B in particular. But as I wil be writing an e-mail anyway... After quickly going through it, I'm rather disappointed. I hope the Hunter book is better. Someone emailed me scans of the HAF section of the International Phantoms datafile. Can't say I was impressed. The Hunter book is not bad but honestly I thought that the earlier Meteor title was better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tempestfan Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 The Hunter book is not bad but honestly I thought that the earlier Meteor title was better. Ah well... I'll wait & see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tempestfan Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 Received the Hunter book on Saturday, and I like the modelling section much better. Have to do a close look at all the other stuff in the book. Maybe this gives me impetus to pick up my various stalled Hunter builds. And lest I forget, SAM Publ. formally excused for their errors (which would have been good enough for me) - and very kindly included F-4 Pt. 3 free of charge. That's very excellent service !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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