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Early in August I finished reading "The Cold War" by Odd Arne Westad, which I highly recommend. I've been reading, since then, the Portuguese translation of Emmanuel Todd's "Ou en sommes-nous ? Une esquisse de l'histoire humaine" (sorry, couldn't find an English version). It's an interesting essay on the influence of family structures, religion and education on the historical evolution of humankind and present-day behaviour of nations. It's written in an academic style and the first few chapter, where the author establishes the different types of family structures and their evolution, can be a bit dry. However, the following discussion of the historical evolution of nations like Germany, France, the UK and the US, taking family structures, religion and literacy into account, is very interesting and illuminating. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in a novel approach to historical development and present day politics. Cheers Jaime

A few more Valiant Wings books: Airframe Detail Nº 5 - The Boulton Paul Defiant (now that I've already finished my Defiant, they published the book... ) Airframe Extra Nº6 - Continuation War Airframe Extra Nº 7 - The Suez Crisis Airframe Extra Nº 8 - Air War over Italy Airframe Extra Nº 9 - North Africa Campaign After reading an interview with the Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari, which I found very interesting, I decided to order his three books: Sapiens : A Brief History of Humankind Homo Deus : A Brief History of Tomorrow 21 Lessons for the 21st Century Cheers Jaime

A few new kits, arrived yesterday: Airfix 1/72 Wellington Mk IA/C Airfix 1/72 Armstrong Whitworth Whitley GR.Mk.VII Revell 1/72 Handley Page Halifax Mk III I must say I'm very impressed by the improvement in quality of Airfix's tooling as shown by these two Airfix kits. The Revell is also impressive. Cheers Jaime

I'm still interested. Keep me in the list I already have the kit I promised Tony I would build Special Hobby Vickers/CASA type 245 - Spanish Vildebeest with Float Cheers Jaime

Just before my holidays, received this from Eduard (all in 1/72): MiG-21MF fighter-bomber OVERTREES Mask set CX512 (double face) for Eduard's MiG-21MF Mask set CX055 for Academy's Tempest Mk V Mask set CX061 for Academy's Typhoon Mk Ib PE set SS156 for Academy's AH-64 Apache PE set 72270 for Revell's Me 262B-1a/U-1 PE set 73218 for Revell's Hurricane Mk IIc PE set 73606 for AMK's Kfir C2 Resin wheel set 672098 for Revell's Shackleton AEW.2 Mask set CX050 and PE set 73395 for Academy's T-6G Texan Mask set CX112 and PE set SS256 for Academy's Me 163 Komet Mask set CX093 and PE set SS139 for Fujimi's F-86 Mask set CX179 and PE set 72186 for Revell's Horten Go 229 Mask set CX034 and PE set 73260 for Revell's MiG-21F-13 Fishbed C Cheers Jaime

Thanks Ced! I've had the Osprey in my wishlist for a longtime and now I found it for a good price at Plastmodel.pl. I recall our conversation on 'Childhood's End' when we met here in Lisbon. I read it in my youth but I'm not sure I finished it, as I was reading it in a public library. I should read it properly now! Cheers Jaime

Also bought a few books while on holidays: Joseph Anton, by Salman Rushdie The Illustrated Brief History Of Time, by Stephen Hawking (read it in a Portuguese translation, borrowed from my brother, while I was still in the University. Sadly, long out of print in Portugal, so I bought the original ) The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs, by Steve Brusatte (Dinosaurs are a passion since my childhood and I need to get updated in the latest science on these magnificent animals) Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke The City and the Stars, by Arthur C. Clarke (I was a avid reader of Sci-Fi in my youth and Clarke was my favourite author) Cheers Jaime

Some more recent acquisitions, all in 1/72. Hasegawa F-16D Hasegawa F/A-18D Hasegawa F-117A Hasegawa MV-22B Osprey Hasegawa F-35A Hasegawa F-35B Tamiya Bf 109 E-3 Special Hobby Vickers/CASA type 245 - Spanish Vildebeest with Float Academy PBY-5 Black Cat Cheers Jaime

Count me in for this GB! I have several D-Day striped aircraft in the stash to choose from Cheers Jaime

Count me in! I've tried to participate in editions I and II but time constraints have prevented me doing so... I have several options in the stash: This Fly box comes with a Sardinia-based colour scheme: Cheers Jaime

Hi Steve, The original wasn't that bad, though the colours were a bit off. The restored version is a big improvement and makes it a beautiful build! Cheers Jaime

Recent acquisitions: Valiant Wings Airframe Extra nº 5 - The Spanish Civil War Valiant Wings Airframe Album nº 7 - The Arado Ar 196 Valiant Wings Airframe Album nº 9 - The Arado Ar 234 The books are out of print or low stock in the editor but I found a few remaining ones in the big H. To round up the order, I also added this kit, which had a promotion at the time: Arado Ar 96C Night Attacker The kit looks good in the sprues and the I like the box art colour scheme. Cheers Jaime

I'm already on the list but thought that a GB on such an awesome aircraft deserved a bump I'll have to choose between these two: I've already bought Eduard's BIG PE and mask set for the P-2. I still need to buy the equivalent set for the H-6. Cheers Jaime

Again, thank you all very much for your interest and the very kind comments! Cheers Jaime

You can but I doubt I'll be able to finish my only entry... My track record in GBs is awful... Jaime