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Painting the Fleet – Rivet Counter Guide #2 ISBN: 9798218121570 Dana Bell Dana Bell is a well-known researcher and author in aviation history, and this is the second of his eclectic series entitled ‘Rivet Counter Guide’, which is of course a reference to those modellers that insist on building and painting their models as accurately as possible, enjoying the research as much, if not more than the actual modelling. Some of their number have a bad reputation due to their unpleasant personalities, but the majority of rivet counters are well-balanced modellers that are easy to get on with and are more than happy to share their wealth of knowledge with the rest of their fellow hobbyists. Dana is one of the latter, and is now sharing his work by way of this ongoing series of books. The subject for the first offering was the cockpit of the F4U-1 Corsair, which should give you an idea of the depth of research that Dana is able to reach. We reviewed that book here, and it’s well worth looking into if you’re planning on building one or more of this WWII US fighter. This book follows the same format, arriving bound in a stapled card cover, with seventy-two genuine pages, plus a page of patches on the rear inside cover. The front inside cover has a brief description of what a rivet-counter is about, which is pretty similar to my own description above, but more erudite. The subject covered is much broader than #1, and covers the painting and markings of the US Naval fleet’s embarked aircraft during the early years post WWI, the text starting in 1925, ending with the short period of the 40s before America was drawn into WWII and camouflage became necessary, ending the yellow-wing period, and putting years of training to the test. Dana’s work has spanned a dozen years and many research archives, which he acknowledges at the beginning of the book under the brief introduction before the real chapters begin in earnest. Introduction Organisation & Experiments Launch and Recover Basic Colours Exterior Finishes Pontoons Yellow Wings Basic Markings National Insignia US Navy Markings Serials & Unit Markings BuAer Serials (NuNos) Flagplanes US Naval Forces Europe Special Service Squadron Squadron 40-T Asiatic Fleet Battleship Unit Colours Battlefleet Aircraft Colours 1925 Illustrations Battlefleet Aircraft Assignments Chart Tail Colours Fuselage Bands Chevrons Cowl Colours Colours Battle Force Colour Card 2nd June 1931 Reproduction Battleship Classes and Commissioning Dates Chart with Illustrations Battleship Division One Observation Squadron One-B (One) Battleship Division Two Observation Squadron Six Observation Squadron Five-S Observation Squadron Two-S Observation Squadron Two-B (Two) Battleship Division Three Observation Squadrons One (One-B) and Two Observation Squadron Three (Three-B) Battleship Division Four Observation Squadron One (One-B) Observation Squadron Four (Four-B) Battleship Division Five Observation Squadron One (One-B) Observation Squadron Five (Five-B) Cruiser Divisions and Aircraft Light Cruiser Division Two, Cruiser Division Two Observation Squadron Three (Three-S) Scouting Squadron Five-S (Five-B) Cruiser Scouting Squadron Two Light Cruiser Division Three, Cruiser Division Three Observation Squadron Three Observation Squadron Three-S Observation Squadron Eleven-A Scouting Squadron Five-S Scouting Squadron Six-S Scouting Squadron Six-B Cruiser Scouting Squadron Three Light Cruiser Division Five, Cruiser Division Four Scouting Squadron Nine-S Cruiser Scouting Squadron Four Cruiser Division Five Scouting Squadron Ten-S Cruiser Scouting Squadron Five Cruiser Division Six Scouting Squadron Eleven-S Cruiser Scouting Squadron Six Cruiser Division Seven Scouting Squadron Twelve-S Cruiser Scouting Squadron Seven Cruiser Division Eight Scouting Squadron Fourteen-S Cruiser Division Eight Cruiser Scouting Squadron Eight Cruiser Division Nine Cruiser Scouting Squadron Nine Tail Colours 1930-40 Illustration Clearly this book is incredibly information dense, and breaking it down into manageable chunks by Division is the only sensible way to do it, with each Cruiser and Battleship section containing assignment charts, photos of some of the aircraft, insignia and pennants as well as profiles, with the larger sections having the most of content and photos that have their own informative captions nearby. The photos are mostly black and white, which is to be expected, but the drawings by Tom Tullis, diagrams, pennants etc. all have relevant colours that should be a great help to the interwar US Naval modeller, and anyone interested in the theme or era. Note the separate card insert containing a glossary of terms to enable the reader to look up and acronyms they may not be familiar with. Conclusion Dana’s books are definitely a niche product, of which he’s doubtless aware, but he enjoys research so much and wants to share it with us, which is great news both for us modellers and aviation historians everywhere. It’s crammed with information, much of which was previously unavailable the last time this kind of research was undertaken, in earnest, and he admits in the introduction that there are still some areas where more information is needed, but as of now you’re unlikely to find anything like it on the market. Very highly recommended. It’s available via Amazon US here for our American members. From other countries you can buy it via eBay using their International Shipping service. The link below will take you there: Review sample courtesy of Dana Bell, who is also a member of our forum.

Corsair Cockpits F4U-1 Family (ISBN: 978-0-578-37642-4) Rivet Counter Guide #1 by Dana Bell Most of you will have heard of the F4U-1 Corsair and its variants, and a great many of you will also have heard of Dana Bell - a well-known name in our hobby. Vought developed the Corsair as a powerful single-engined fighter during WWII, with a distinctive gull-wing to accommodate its gigantic propeller, which itself was needed to harness the power from the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 radial engine strapped into the cowling. Dana is a self-confessed rivet-counter, but of the kind that is sharing, rather than point-scoring. In fact, there’s a few paragraphs on the subject of rivets and their counting within the inside front cover, my favourite sentence being “The best of Rivet Counters are quick to offer support when asked, and slow to share unwelcome criticism”. Sounds good to me! Why are we talking about Rivet-Counters? Because this is the first in a hopefully long line of Rivet Counter Guides, and is clearly #1. It deals solely with the cockpit of this fabulous and powerful aircraft, discussing the minutiae, and the variations that occurred within production blocks as improvements were made due to experience in the battle space, on deck and in the hangars where the type was used to great effect. The book arrives in a softback card cover, with 72 glossy pages predominantly in black and white due to the period that the Corsair flew, but with spot colour here and there in drawings and to highlight certain sections of both the text and the photos. The photos are also amongst some of the best lit and detailed of usually shadowy areas like cockpits that I have seen, with little left to the imagination by darkness or low resolution. Every complex mechanism goes through changes as it develops due to issues that only show themselves with use, and this book documents these changes relating to the cockpit only, which includes the canopy and the equipment that is within the area of the cockpit, such as items like the CO2 cylinder in the bowels of the cockpit floor that is used to deploy the landing gear in the event of a hydraulic failure, ensuring that the pilot has a second option to avoid a belly landing if he has suffered damage during the mission. There was also an issue of pilots losing radio contact during landing, which was due to the canopy frame shorting out the system when pulled back during landing. The simplest of fixes were used, cutting a semi-circular notch out of the trialling edge of the frame. Many of the photos are annotated and drawn on with text and lines, indicating that they were used by the manufacturers to assist in the design of the alterations that they were working on, and giving insight into the process. Alongside these fantastic detail photographs are other candid photos of aircraft on the apron, in the field, after belly landings and even upside down on the deck of the USS Bunker Hill, which clearly shows the bombing window that allowed the pilot a view of his target, a feature that would otherwise be invisible in the shadows beneath the aircraft on the ground, or distant when photographed in-flight in most photos. Conclusion The detail laid out in this book is incredible, and includes plenty to read alongside the useful photos, so if you are interested in the minutiae of the Corsair cockpit, this book is for you. If you want to build accurate models of the gull-winged beast, this is also a great one-stop source for the aircraft’s cockpit, written for you by a renowned modeller, so you know that modellers were on the author’s mind during its writing. What’s #2 going to be about? pre-war Curtis SOC Seagull colours and markings according to the author. Very highly recommended. Dana has the book available in the US via Amazon US, and for international orders, you can use eBay’s International Shipping from the link below Review sample courtesy of Dana Bell, who is also a member of our forum.