Warpaint series

[T-21]

James I too kept all my old SAMs and agree the side profiles are still excellent references.

[Mike N]

I love this series most for the inspiration given by the profiles, and occasionally the plans have been useful - and sometimes frustratingly not! I used to get each as they came out but stopped around #80 and then only got the ones of particular interest.

 

There has been a general increase in content as the series has gone on, with the early ones now looking a bit anorexic next to the latest, but their subjects were often much bigger. It would be really nice if they revised these to bring them up to the same level!

 

I have found the written content to be quite variable though, which I guess is the same with any series that uses multiple authors. I highly rate the ones by Charles Stafrace as they go into more depth while remaining readable and I feel no need to go elsewhere for the history side of his subjects. However, I find the ones by Kev Darling to be very poor, with shallow detail and entirely overlooked aspects. His one on the F9F Panther is definitely the worst, with missed details and the so-called operational use in Korea section being instead a repetitive summary of the carriers' activities. Similarly his B-45 title is lacking in the operational history side, which is a shame as there are few other sources on that aircraft. I always sigh when I see a new title on a subject of interest has his name against it...

 

Mike

Edited July 14, 2021 by Mike N

[tempestfan]

Re the B-45, there is (Edit: or apparently will be soon) a Ginter AFL title (#224), which by the description should be pretty exhaustive. Not a cheapo, though...

Edited July 14, 2021 by tempestfan

[John B (Sc)]

In general I have found these interesting and useful. Of course it depends what you want them for. Personally I find the many colour side views fun when debating possible kit colours schemes. I am not too bothered about drawing accuracy - always a problem for aeroplanes represented on a flat plane anyway.  Certabily frequemtly propgated mistakes are annoying, though very hard to eliminate - as John Aero has commented and explained many times,  Errors creep back in despite best intentions - and return! .

 

The Hunter dogtooth mentioned earlier amused me; it led me to examine very carefully both kits and drawings as well as photographs of the real thing to establish the correct position of the dogtooth and of the outer stores, often mis-represented. That taught me more about the Hunter, so I view it as a positive.  Admittedly my background means I try not to accept written documentation or drawings without checking against reality. Engineering a change using the wrong start information does make life difficult, and you might be surprised how often the da\wings and information held on really large, major equipment is wrong!  (Either because the wrong, usually conceptual detail drawings were kept or because the as-built drawings were not updated as changes were made.)

 

For detail information on an aircraft I'd go to a specialist book, not the light summary of a Warpaint. Like another poster here, I still have all my SAM magazines from the start till around 1993. I also still have, and use the old red cover Profile pamphlets, any bought for two shillings each. Now that dates me !

[FalkeEins]

2 hours ago, John B (Sc) said:

I also still have, and use the old red cover Profile pamphlets, any bought for two shillings each. Now that dates me !

 

..there's a tendency to view these elderly sources as not worth bothering with. How wrong can you be - who, today, for example, has the expertise of a J.M. Bruce or even a Richard Bateson

[Ptmvarsityfan]

As with the posters above I also use the old SAMs and Profiles as a valuable information resource, am currently building the Kora Fairey IIIF and making much use of the 1960's Profile. I enjoy the Warpaints though, have many of the earlier ones although few of the recent ones have been of aircraft that interest me.

Cheers, Paul

 

 

[tempestfan]

On 7/30/2021 at 4:02 PM, John B (Sc) said:

 Like another poster here, I still have all my SAM magazines from the start till around 1993. I also still have, and use the old red cover Profile pamphlets, any bought for two shillings each. Now that dates me !

I can assure you I also still have the full set of SAM until the time Alan Hall Publications went offline, though I had to piece most of them together from their back issue department (gosh, that was before I had a credit card, so I had to get a cheque in sterling -awfully expensive!) and later eBay. Only last year I bought the full set of red Profiles at 1€ each - you can’t go wrong there!

[John B (Sc)]

7 hours ago, tempestfan said:

. Only last year I bought the full set of red Profiles at 1€ each - you can’t go wrong there!

Way to go - that's what I'd call a bargain !

[Eric Mc]

I'm old enough to remember when "Warpaint" was the title of the 1/72 scale plans in the centre of the original newspaper version of Aviation News. In fact, the font and style used for the covers of the current Warpaint books is still reminiscent of the old Aviation News - and that still draws my eye to them. It's hard for me to ignore my inner 14 year old.

 

I don't buy all Warpaint books, but I have a sizeable collection of them and will buy new ones if the subject interests me. I agree they can be variable.