Warpaint Books

Warpaint #60: Canberra

by  Charles Stafrace

Reviewed By  Paul Bradley, IPMS# 35554

MSRP: $36.95, GBP 15.50 Classic Airframes' recent releases in 1/48, and the news that Airfix will go ahead with their kits to the same scale, has revived interest in this quintessential British bomber, making this new Warpaint volume very welcome and timely. This is number 60 in this series and follows the familiar format of previous volumes. A history of the type is supplemented by pages of side view color drawings, four pages of 1/72 scale plans and many tables of data. The drawings and plans are by noted artist Richard Caruana. This book is somewhat larger that the average Warpaint, given the extensive service and multitude of variants of the Canberra - even then, the text skims the surface in areas. The B-57 is not covered in this book; should you so desire, Warpaint has a separate booklet devoted to that machine. The historical text is divided into a number of parts covering the numerous variants of the Canberra; Export Canberras; Experimental aircraft; and the Canberra at war. While informative and comprehensive, I found the author's style to be a little irritating; a personal thing yes, but distracting. Warpaint - Canberra is heavily illustrated with both color and black and white photos. Most are very useful to the modeler and enthusiast; unfortunately, the reproduction of some leaves a lot to be desired, being too dark, and I found some other photos to be of little value, especially to the modeler. However, the color profiles are well-chosen and appear to be accurate, judging from the ones that I have photos in other sources to match with. These alone are worth getting the book for. I am particularly taken with a profile of a Swifter Flight B.2 - black and grey with a white forward fuselage, it would make a very different looking model! All in all, an attractive package that could easily serve as a sole reference on the type, but is also a worthy companion to other Canberra books on the market. For either purpose, I can recommend it. This book is available from Warpaint Books; please visit their website (www.warpaint-books.com) for pricing details. Warpaint books are also available through retailers and distributors around the world. Our sincere thanks to Alan Hall of Warpaint Books for the review sample.

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