Grumman F9F Cougar - Detail and Scale Digital Publications

[Julien]

Grumman F9F Cougar

Detail and Scale Digital Publications

I very much doubt that there is a modeller on here that does not own at least one Detail and Scale book. They have been providing us modellers with 114 different books between 1978 & 2004. Although they have stopped with traditional print books it seems they have fully embraced the digital era. This is now Detail and Scale's second book in their new digital range (The first was the F3H Demon). Despite some views on the web, the sky has not fallen in; neither has the the traditional print publication industry been pronounced dead!

The new book is packed full of the usual facts and figures, with a good narrative we all expect from D&S. There is the addition of a lot more photographs, including colour ones which were to expensive to include in the traditional paper copy. One good feature is that you are able to enlarge the photographs on the page to show as much detail as they will allow. Another new addition is new artwork created by Rock Roszak.

Features of Detail & Scales second digital publication, F9F Cougar in Detail & Scale include:

• A complete developmental history of the Cougar, including how it grew out of the Grumman F9F Panther straight-wing fighter when the United States was confronted with the swept-wing MiG-15 in the skies over Korea.
• A chapter on Cougar variants that covers the XF9F-6 prototypes and every production version of the Cougar that followed, explaining the differences in configuration for each, including two photo-recon versions and the two-seat F9F-8T.
• A chapter called Flying the Cougar that features pilot reports from five Cougar pilots who flew every variant of the aircraft, including the drone configuration.
• A Cougar Details chapter with over 190 detail photographs of every aspect of the Cougar, including the cockpit, windscreen and canopy, internal armament, fuselage, wings, pylons & external armament, landing gear, tail, and engine.
• An entire chapter dedicated to documenting the various paint schemes seen on the Cougar, including the Gloss Sea Blue, Non-Specular Light Gull Gray over Gloss Insignia White, various training paint schemes, and the colors featured on F9F drone and drone controller aircraft.
• A chapter on Cougar Squadrons, featuring over 175 photographs and pieces of artwork showcasing which units flew the Cougar and how the aircraft were coded and marked. Units covered include Navy fighter, attack, photo-recon, training and fleet air service squadrons, plus Marine, Reserve, miscellaneous, test and evaluation squadrons, and the Blue Angels.
• Detail & Scales usual Modelers Section that discusses, reviews, and illustrates the scale models of the Cougar, ranging from those over 30 years old to those being released today.
• Other features of the book include line drawings of every Cougar variant, two dozen illustrations of ejection seats, internal gun configurations, photo nose cutaways and more, and 34 full color aircraft profiles plus unit logos which adorned various F9F aircraftall created as original art and specifically for this publication.

The following are some views from the new book (they have been cropped);



The new digital publications do offer a lot of improvements over the print publications.

The books are available from the iStore and through Amazon. You do not need a tablet/digital book reader to view them, the Amazon kindle app is available for computers to use, although I have found this does not have as much functionality as my iPad (other tablets are available!) when viewing the book. The books are $9.99 from the US Kindle store, and £5.99 from the UK one.

Conclusion
Detail and Scale seem to have taken up all the new age of digital publications have to offer, and seem to have actually improved what they can offer to the modeller via this new medium. My only worry is that of my wallet if they continue in this vein! Highly recommended.

Information and screen shots thanks to Detail and Scale, though my wallet is responsible for my copy of the book.

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