Press Release

Military books

June, 2008

1213 P/F-80 Shooting Star in Action: In 1941, the Chief of the Army Air Forces, General Hap Arnold, saw a need for a US-designed jet aircraft. He instructed General Electric to begin developing a gas turbine engine and Bell Aircraft Company to build a plane around that engine. The result was the XP-59A Airacomet; but, it did not have the performance necessary to challenge Germany's jet fighters. Previously, Lockheed had pursued jet development on its own initiative and was now given the go ahead to build its own jet airplane around a British designed engine, 203 days later, the XP-80 took to the air. The result would meet the USAAF requirements and would eventually become the P-80 Shooting Star. This book traces the development of the Shooting Star with more than 100 photos, color profiles and detailed line drawings.

6097 Converting and Detailing Plastic Figures: Renowned miniaturist Bill Chilstrom shares his tips and techniques for bringing injection molded plastic figures to life. His award winning diorama "In the Footsteps of the Grand Armee" is the focus of this book. Bill detailed and converted 28 figures, three horses, two wagons, and a mule in the building of this diorama. Many ste-by-step and in-progress photos accompany the informative text clearly illustrating what to do to really enhance stock plastic figures