BOOK
/PERIODICAL:

Luftwaffe Project Aircraft
# 1 Junkers EF 128

BY:

Dan Johnson & Daniele Sabatini

PUBLISHER
/PRICE:

Luft '46 Publications
$15.95 plus shipping

REVIEW BY:

Scott Van Aken

NOTES:

Available from http://www.luft46.com

I have recently fallen victim to the affliction known to some Luftwaffe modelers as 'Luft'46'. It starts out benignly enough with a desire to built late war Luftwaffe aircraft, then leads on to doing some prototypes like the Me-263 or Ba-349, and then finally turns full blown by doing kits like the Revell E.555 or even Planet Model resin kits!!

Long a pusher of this affliction, Dan Johnson and Daniele Sabatini have combined to start printing booklets of various 'paper projects'. Using Dan's historical expertise and Daniele's computer wizardry, their first effort on the Junkers EF.128 is really very good.

The booklet comes very well packaged and is printed on thick stock, glossy paper. Included with it are a questionnaire and a paper cutout model of the EF.128. The 13 of the 28 pages have Daniele's computer artwork in it and these are truly superb, as you can see by the example below. There are two pages of profiles depicting 10 very imaginative camouflage schemes and a page of three views depicting one other camouflage scheme; an 'India' scheme from Southern Asia circa 1946!

Included is also a very nicely done 4-page story of the first use of the EF.128. There are images to go along with the story, and even though they are around the story, it seems to me that these images would be much more effective if they were interwoven with the write-up instead of being on separate pages of their own.

All is not totally fictitious, as there are 7 pages of cut-aways, three views, and aircraft specifications. The only real criticism I have of the effort, other than mentioned above, is that I would like to see more of the actual historical background of the project itself. For instance, when it was designed, by whom, why it wasn't put into service, or what other designs may have superceded it.

Overall, this initial offering is quite impressive. If you have the slightest interest in the subject, contact the writers at the link given in the table, and order yourself a copy. You won't be disappointed!