After producing two excellent books, we now have a larger third volume from Valiant Wings Publishing. This is a particular favorite of mine, covering the Focke-Wulf FW-190D and Ta-152 series of aircraft. As with the earlier editions, it contains not only information on the aircraft, but also on available kits, accessories, and books.

The book starts out by providing information on the history of the type, starting with the initial prototypes, of which there are a considerable number. What makes this book special is that there are drawings and photos of these planes, with each successive improvement noted in the drawings. Each plane in this early series has a bit of a history involved with it that gives some pertinent information on the aircraft in question, that includes the colors of the airframe. As the type gets more into production, this information isn't provided, of course. However, we are given information on all the known prototypes. This not only covers the variations on the FW-190D series, but an additional section on the Ta-152, a plane that also had a lot of prototypes.

In the airframe section, we are provided with a goodly section on camouflage and markings. Here you'll find several pages of very well drawn profiles by Richard Caruana. All the major production aircraft are covered in this section as well.

The book then goes into the miniatures section. This is the modeler's section with the author's choice for the best kits in each scale and a build-up of those kits, all of which are done by the same builder, so you get a similar perspective on the builds. Most are OOB, which is a good thing as I find that if one is reviewing a kit, it should be pretty close to stock.

The very last section is an 'in detail' section. Thankfully there are preserved examples of this plane extant, though not really all that many. For example there are only two FW-190Ds. One is a D-9 which is in the USAF museum. The other is a D-13 which was with the Champlain collection and now is at the Seattle Museum of flight. The only Ta-152 is an H model at the NASM and an aircraft that is not on the list of planes to be preserved, so it is as it was when it was disassembled for storage. There are many photos of these plus images from the period tech manuals and some period photos. These are used to cover all the different bits and systems of the Typhoon. 

This is followed by appendices listing and showing photos of many of the various modeling accessories dedicated to the Fw-190D/TA-152. A kit listing with all variations is next followed by a list of accessories, decals and books associated to the aircraft. This is followed by a huge fold out that offers plans of both the 190D-9 and 152H in 1/48 scale. I know that many are plans fans and you'll find these to be especially useful as it provides cross section data as well.

All in all, and like its predecessor,  it makes for a superb book that should appeal to both the enthusiast as well as the modeler. It is a book that I found quite a good read. It is a great effort and well worth the cover price. A book I can most highly recommend to you as a reference.

April 2012

For more on Valiant Wings, including getting this book, visit www.valiant-wings.co.uk. Thank you for the review copy.

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