CD ROM 'books' are becoming more and more prominent as the computer has become a staple in the homes of millions of people. Though it has taken a bit longer for modelers to get used to the idea of not having a paper reference. However, the format is perfect for this type of a presentation.

FlightLine's CD is basically a walk-around so there are a ton of images in place. More than 250 and all in color. They are also high resolution shots so there is no worries over tiny or poorly done images. The CD is made just for the modeler. This means minimal historical background, a brief section on specs and a page with very well done three views.

However the meat of the CD are the photographs and they are divided into several sections: cockpit, fuselage, main gear, nose gear, nose, stores, tail, wing, overview, and 'in use'. The overview section is really just some nice pictures from the front of the plane. The 'In Use' part are various images of the A-10 'in action' including some shots from Iraqi Freedom.

The overall impression is of a very slick CD, which is equipped with autostart features so no need to hunt up the main page with the 'Run' option on your computer. It starts out with thumping rock and a snazzy intro using some flash graphics. The presentation of the material is very well thought out with an excellent menu system to gain access to the images. Each section that has more than a page of material has a submenu that is quite easy to follow. Selecting or 'mousing over' each of the options produces a sound that really gets to be a bit much after a while, but it does let you know that you are in a 'hot' area and can click away. A screen capture of the menu area is shown below.

When an image is selected, it opens up your browser and presents the photo. Additional image selections will open up additional browsers so it is best to close each browser after viewing the image in question. The images themselves are very nicely done and appear to be around 800x600 pixels in my browser, which is fine for most computers. When I copied and pasted one of the images into my imaging programs, it turned out to be 1600 x 1200  pixels so the images are of a very high resolution. Sufficient for any modeler and that, after all, is what the CD is all about.

There is some redundancy in the images, but that is pretty well to be expected. There are few shots of any of the interior bits of the aircraft outside of the cockpit. No bare engines, no peeking into the avionics bays or gun bay, so those wishing these kinds of details will have to search elsewhere for them. Basically, you get what you'd see at an airshow. I'd also like to have some sort of color information provided. Since the CD is aimed at modelers, I would think that this sort of thing would be part of the package.

The CD also provides a link to FlightLine Media's home page where there is more information and links to A-10 websites and some kit builds. Sadly, none of the fine A-10 reviews in Modeling Madness are included in their links so I can only assume that it is some sort of oversight!

Overall, it is a superb CD that  provides just what it claims; a walk-around reference that provides high resolution photos (which can be printed out) and used by modelers.

This CD can only be purchased direct from FlightLine Media. Thanks for your support.

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