Military Model Scene

Title: ShipCraft 32 British Aircraft Carriers
Author: Robert Brown
Publisher: Seaforth Publications
ISBN: 978-1-3990-3626-9

Covering Hermes, Ark Royal and the Illustrious Class carriers of WW2, number 32 in the ShipCraft series from Seaforth Publishing, part of Pen & Sword. A 64-page soft-cover book in the usual layout and style for this series.
The book begins with 16 pages on the Design and build stories of each carrier, with Hermes being the first one designed from the outset to be an aircraft carrier, followed by Ark Royal. It moves on to the others, including the post war modernisation of Victorious when she was given an angled flight deck and other improvements for operating the heavier jets. Pages 17 to 25 assesses the wide variety of models available for these ships, and in a mix of scales and materials. Pages 26 to 31 does the same thing for the many detailing products you can get for them as well. This is all followed by a Model Showcase, featuring 7 marvellous builds, with models in 1/700, 1/600, 1/1200 along with a 1/192 scratchbuilt Illustrious. The next section has 5 pages of colour profile artworks, showing the various camouflage schemes worn by these vessels over their careers. That leaves the final two sections to list the chronology of the alterations carried out to the ships over time, and the book is closed with 6 pages of fine line drawings.
As we expect from the ShipCraft series, this is a good mix of material aimed primarily at the ship modeller, with interesting background and archive images of the real thing, along with a comprehensive survey of the kits and accessories you can find on the market, along with the Model Showcase which provides some great inspiration thanks to some beautifully made models, from kits by Flyhawk, Orange Hobby and others. Ideal for the carrier fans among us.
Thanks to Pen & Sword for the review copy.

Robin