Most serious modelers of First World War aircraft are by now familiar with the work of Bob Pearson, an aviation artist from Prince Rupert, British Columbia. Either from having visited his personal website, or having seen his profiles published in issues of "Over The Front," "Cross and Cockade International" or several books from Flying Machines Press, the quality of the research and the art of the reproductions speak for themselves.

Bob has just published "Colours and Markings of the World's Air Forces: 1912-1920," as a CD-ROM. The volume covers the air forces of Austria-Hungary, Belgium, the British Commonwealth, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia and the United States. Any modeler looking for a plethora of markings possibilities for just about any airplane used by any air can do no better than to obtain this. Bob has also promised updates as he completes further profiles for all buyers of the CD; that's something you cannot get from a book publisher!

I have used Bob's work for the past few years to create many of the World War I models in my collection. A glance at the profiles from the CD included in this review, and the photos of the models created from them, clearly demonstrates the usefulness of this publication. (See below for examples) There are at least several hundred more profiles on the CD.

To "read" the book, use your browser (the CD is optimized for Internet Explorer), and click the index. After that it's like a visit to Bob's site. I have had this volume now for a month, and have yet to have made my way through it completely, and I already have several ideas for further additions to my collection as a result of what I have seen so far. This cannot be recommended highly enough for the serious World War One modeler.

Review copy courtesy of Bob Pearson, 1332 Summit Ave, Prince Rupert BC, V8J 3W7 Canada

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly by a site that has over 1700 visits a day, please contact me or see other details in the Note to Contributors.