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• Modelbouwmagazine NR.56 • 2015-05-20
• IPMS USA website • 2015-02-26
• SAMI 03/2014 • 2015-02-26
• InsternetModeler.com • 2015-02-26
• Air Modeller No. 53 • 2015-02-26
• Modelingmadness.com • 2015-02-26
• Cybermodeler.com • 2015-02-26
• Model Aircraft 05/14 • 2015-02-26
• AiM 01/2014 • 2015-02-26
• Amazon.co.uk customer review • 2015-02-26
• MAI 04/2014 • 2015-02-26
• Revi - Czech Magazine 96/2014 • 2015-02-26
• Scale Aircraft Modelling 2015-03 • 2015-02-26
• http://speedreaders.info • 2015-02-26

• Modelbouwmagazine NR.56 • 2015-05-20
  
• IPMS USA website • 2015-02-26

  Reviewed by: Pablo Bauleo, IPMS# 46363

  The second volume continues the saga of authors Denes Bernad and Gyorgy Punka for what might become the definite reference books on the Hungarian Fighter Force during World War II.

  This volume covers the Re.2000, Bf-109G, Fw-190F in extensive detail (each one of their chapters is over 40 pages long). Plus it has other shorter, but still well detailed chapters on the Me-110, Me-210, He-112, captured examples of PZL.11c, Avia B.534 IV and an indigenous design, the WM-23, which did not see combat but had exceptional performance for their time.

  Most of the pictures (over 200 of them) are in Black and White and there are handfuls of color ones. There are over two dozens of full color profiles and for each one of them there is an accompanying picture showing the actual aircraft that the profiles is based upon.

  This book is more than just a research on colors and markings. There is plenty of historical research on the operations of each type within the Hungarian Air Force. Reading this book will teach you more than just camouflage patterns, be sure of that!

  The last section of this book contains tables that describe the Hungarian Air Force structure and all the victories and claims by Hungarian pilots during WWII.

  Be aware that the book is not “self-contained”. There are several references to chapters in Volume 1 along the way. But the cross references does not detriment the value of the overall Volume 2 on its own.

  Full book trailer available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbzAS5-mZpM

  This book is simply excellent. Highly recommended to modelers for both the reference book value (color profiles and pictures) as well for the historical research value of it.

  I would like to thank Mushroom Model Publications and IPMS/USA for the review sample.

• SAMI 03/2014 • 2015-02-26
  
• InsternetModeler.com • 2015-02-26

  By Chris Banyai-Riepl

  I have always been a big fan of small air forces, and one of the nations that percolates to the top for me is Hungary. Following the First World War and the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian empire, Hungary turned towards other nations to provide aircraft for their new air force. As such, their air force was filled with aircraft that was common, but featured unique and colorful markings that helped set them apart. Because of that, Hungarian aircraft were generally relegated to the books on those German or Italian subjects, and rarely received more than a passing glance from aviation authors and publishers. This has changed, and in a comprehensive way, with this newest two-volume set from Mushroom Model Publications covering Hungarian fighter colors of the inter-war and Second World War years.

  The authors start out the first volume with a short overview entitled "Why This Book Needed To Be Written," and this is a poignant study that sums up color research in just about any non-Western air force. With so much misinformation and difficult research, it really requires a dedicated individual to prepare a definitive reference. With this series, we have not one but two such dedicated individuals, and through their efforts we now have what is easily the pinnacle of color research on Hungarian fighter aircraft during those tumultuous years.

  The set begins with the immediate post-WWI years, with the Armistice and Treaty of Versailles creating a rather negative environment for aviation in Hungary. The Allied forces required the destruction of all aircraft and aircraft engines, and eliminated any military aircraft from operating in the country. Thus aviation in Hungary became solely the domain of civil aviation, and the former wartime aircraft that were either purchased afterwards or hidden away received civilian registration codes. While registered as civil aircraft, many did in fact train and operated for the military, and through that the Hungarian military was able to maintain at least some semblance of aerial operation.

  In the late 1930s, though, with the threat of war looming, the Hungarian Air Force came out in the open as a full-fledged military force. Equipped with Italian and German aircraft, the Hungarian Air Force quickly established national markings to differentiate their aircraft in the skies over Europe. This initially featured a red, white, and green chevron but changed to tricolor stripes on the tail and a white cross in a black square on the wings and fuselage. By the end of the war, these bright colors had been toned down, but the basic cross/square concept remained consistent.

  With the basic overview of colors and markings complete, the authors dive into the real challenge of identifying exactly what colors were used on Hungarian fighters during this time period. This involves examining period paint manufacturers and paint types, both indigenous and foreign. This section is quite comprehensive and does a very good job of describing the aircraft painting process of the 1930s and the many complex factors that were involved. Reaching a detailed understanding of the paint types helps a great deal in trying to decipher period photos of aircraft, as different paints react differently to varying conditions.

  The remainder of the first volume and all of the second volume examine the individual fighter aircraft in detail. The first volume covers the Fokker D.XVI, AVIS, Fiat CR.20, CR.30, CR.32, & CR.42, and the Messerschmitt Bf 109D, E, and F. The second volume picks up where the first leaves off, covering the Heinkel He 112, Avia B-534, PZL. P.11a, WM-23, Reggiane Re.2000, Messerschmitt Bf 109G, Bf 110, Me 210Ca-1, and Focke Wulf Fw 190. Each aircraft receives a short historical overview of the aircraft in service with the Hungarian Air Force, followed by a detailed description of the colors and markings of the type.

  For some, the colors are consistent across the aircraft's life in the Hungarian Air Force, for others the type went through many color changes. The text covers each scenario thoroughly, providing an outstanding reference on Hungarian colors.

  The written word is great, but no Mushroom Model Publication book would be complete without photos and illustrations, and this two volume set has you covered here as well. The photo documentation in these two books is simply stunning, and is easily the most comprehensive collection of Hungarian Air Force photographs in print today. Even more impressive is the fact that there are quite a few period color photos of aircraft, a definite rarity for World War Two subjects. Further adding to the great visual coverage are the profile illustrations, of which there are over 100 side and top views spread between the two volumes. These do an outstanding job of showing the evolution of camouflage and markings in the Hungarian Air Force throughout this era.

  For anyone interested in Hungarian aviation, these two volumes are essential reading for understanding the colors and markings of Hungarian fighters. The authors have clearly poured a great deal of effort into understanding the process of aircraft finishing from beginning to end, and the result is a huge boon to aviation historians and modelers alike. My sincere thanks to Mushroom Model Publications for the review copies, and to the authors for undertaking this daunting effort and accomplishing the task with such outstanding results.

• Air Modeller No. 53 • 2015-02-26
  
• Modelingmadness.com • 2015-02-26

  Reviewer: Scott Van Aken

  What with all the concentration on camouflage and colors for the major powers, it is often that some of the other participants in WWII get overlooked. Such is the case for the Hungarian air force. Like Germany, Hungary was severely limited in what they could put in the air and a national air force was strictly forbidden. Unlike Germany, it took the nation quite a while to finally declare a national air arm and that was in 1938.

  From there the air arm grew, both as a result of purchasing aircraft from overseas and by building up an indigenous aircraft industry. As is frequently the case, those airplanes bought from overseas sellers were not the top of the line for the most part. The seller nations had their own requirements to meet before being able to provide to others. Even when newer equipment entered service, it was not infrequent that the airframes would have some miles on them and would need some refurbishment prior to use.

  This volume continues from the excellent first one and covers the following types: He-112, Avia B.534, PZL P.11a, Re-2000, Weiss-Manfred WM-23, a variety of Bf-109G versions, the locally built Me-210Ca, the Bf-110F/G and the FW-190A/F/G.

  Some of the aircraft were available in very small numbers, sometime as few as a single example. The Hungarians built their own version of the Re.2000, some with Italian engines and some with locally built WM-14, 14 cylinder engines, giving the aircraft a rather interesting look. The Me-210 was also built locally, incorporating many Me-410 features, such as the lengthened fuselage. These aircraft performed as poorly as fighters as did their German counterparts. The 109G was also built locally with a portion of the production going to the Luftwaffe. These were primarily G-4, G-6 and G-14 variants. Those FW-190s used by the Hungarian Air Force were mostly late war fighter bomber version. In this case, the 190 units did not see all that much combat as they were only operational in the last months of the war. By that time, the Soviet Army was moving so quickly that bases were quickly over-run and the lack of fuel pretty much brought things to a slow crawl at best.

  Each section not only gives a rundown on the types service but also we are treated to a great selection of period photos, a few of them in color. This is further enhanced by a large number of full color profiles based on some of the photos that are in each section.

  This is all followed up with several appendices that include a fascinating look at how the artist is able to provide an accurate color profile of various types, a procedure that is a lot more involved than I would have thought. This is then followed by a listing of aces. In actuality, this lists pretty much every Hungarian pilot that had a confirmed or even a claimed victory for which no additional eye witness was available. In this section are a number of photos of the planes that were shot down. It is superbly researched, just like the rest of the book. Like the initial volume, it is an outstanding book that is well researched, provides us with a bevy of interesting photos and is just the perfect book for the modeler and enthusiast alike. These two volumes are sure to be the standard on the subject for quite some time to come. Highly recommended.

  April 2014

• Cybermodeler.com • 2015-02-26

  By David L. Veres

  Review

  The inimitable Dénes Bernád and György Punka return with the second and final part of their superb study, Hungarian Fighter Colours 1939-1945.

  And MMP's terrific tome completes their roster of wartime Hungarian subjects:

  Heinkel He 112B-1/U2 (E)

  Avia B.534-IV

  P.Z.L. P.11a

  Re.2000 Héjja/Héjja-O

  Weiss-Manfréd WM-23

  Messerschmitt Bf 109Gs

  Messerschmitt Bf 110

  Messerschmitt Me 210Ca-1

  Focke-Wulf Fw 190

  Like Vol. 1, chapters comprise two parts: operational service and camouflage & markings. Appendices summarize Hungarian fighter unit structure, air aces & victories, enemy aircraft losses and combat sorties.

  I suspect that, with the Bf 109's enormous popularity, many readers will focus there. Not me. Sections on the Avia B.534, Reggiane Re.2000, indigenous Weiss-Manfréd WM-23 and Focke-Wulf Fw 190 "Seal" proved more appealing. Still, approximately 100 Bf 109Gs vastly improved Hungarian combat capabilities. And MMP's expert authors capably chronicle their use.

  Camouflage & markings notes, like those from Volume 1, proved intensely illuminating. Now I know how Hungarian maintenance men applied the legendary "Puma" badge – and the marking's exact size! The superb color profiles also roused my modeling muse. And dozens of hitherto unpublished photos – ideal for project reference – augment MMP's authoritative account.

  This spectacular study – both volumes – deserve pride of place in every East-Front enthusiast's library. I absolutely loved Bernád and Punka's brilliant book. Now perhaps MMP will consider companion titles on World War II "Axis Allies" bombers!

  Robustly recommended!

  With thanks to MMP for the review copy.

• Model Aircraft 05/14 • 2015-02-26
  
• AiM 01/2014 • 2015-02-26
  
• Amazon.co.uk customer review • 2015-02-26
  
• MAI 04/2014 • 2015-02-26
  
• Revi - Czech Magazine 96/2014 • 2015-02-26
  
• Scale Aircraft Modelling 2015-03 • 2015-02-26
  
• http://speedreaders.info • 2015-02-26

  Written specifically with the modeler in mind as sort of an authenticity guide in regards to paint and markings, these excellent books actually do quite a bit more by fleshing out one of the lesser-known chapters of WWII military aviation with extensively researched micro detail.

  Not having much of an indigenous aircraft industry in the early days of aviation, Hungary out of necessity operated mostly foreign equipment. You will therefore find aircraft in these books whose names you may well recognize but whose modifications and operational details had not heretofore been uniformly well or reliably recorded. The authors too suffered through this information void themselves, which, in fact, is the reason this book was written at all.

  Hungarian vol1 For all practical purposes, these two individual volumes really are, and were obviously conceived, as one book. For instance, the pages are consecutively numbered and each volume has its own apparatus, i.e. there is only one Introduction, Bibliography etc. As a courtesy to the reader who is not Hungarian or already an expert in the Hungarian Air Force, each volume contains a Glossary so as to decipher otherwise unintelligible nomenclature.

  Although released more than six months apart, the contents of vol. 2 must have already been locked in at the time vol. 1 was published because each book contains the tables of contents for both. This is unusual but certainly useful, and the only discrepancy is one item in the Vol. 2 appendix that Vol. 1 forecast to be on a different page.

  For readers with a large historic frame of reference, reading the authors’ explanation as to “why this book needed to be written” must be poignant: the very events they describe here ended up putting them on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain, a handicap that manifests itself in matters large (no free flow of information) and small (inferior paints that won’t stick to aircraft model kits). Punka, an aviation engineer from Hungary, and Bernád, a mechanical engineer from Rumania struggled through different versions of this, and a decade apart, but Western modelers from the 1950s and ‘60s should realize, and appreciate, how good they had it!

  To the modeler, authenticity is a virtue. Accurate dimensions, theater-specific paint, period-correct markings and a hundred other details spell the difference between mediocrity and excellence. Over the many years this book was in the making, wartime personnel has been interviewed, original aircraft parts have been examined (sometimes exhumed first!), period documentation analyzed, and the existing secondary literature evaluated so as to reconcile discrepancies and put the puzzle together in a better way.

  After some preliminary remarks about air arm activities in Hungary, volume 1 presents in-depth looks at nine aircraft and vol. 2 another nine (see list below). How they were divided across the two books is not really clear; vol. 2 for instance covers one variant of the Bf 109 of which vol. 1 had already introduced three others. In each case, operational details are discussed first (minimal reference to technical aspects) and then camouflage and markings. Illustrations abound and there is a lot of unusual material here, such as pages from Hungarian manuals and photos of actual stencils! The captions are splendidly thorough but predominantly focused on paints and markings.

  If you are into books like this, you know that it is the color profiles that are their real raison d’être. Several dozen side and top/bottom views by five illustrators are showcased here. All the profile views (often accompanied by a photo of the exact same aircraft) are printed sideways so as avoid loosing detail in the gutter when printing across a spread. This is also one of the very few books of this type to include an actual chapter on how photographs are turned into dimensioned drawings and how overlays are derived at and corrected for perspective.

  Because it is to be expected that a reader will study the drawings with rapt attention, one snafu ought to be pointed out. A side view of a Fiat CR.32 on p. 98 is accompanied on the next page by a top view. At first glance it looks like the identical aircraft—except that only the top view shows yellow banding behind the cockpit. That aircraft is actually shown a few pages later (102) and the top view from p. 99 is used here again, at a smaller size—but now the trailing edge of the right wing doesn’t match the left! Always somethin’ . . . but what a minor glitch this is.

  It is worth noting that the English translation was done by author Bernád and, for once, reads uncommonly well. (Those 15 years in Canada must have helped!) Appended are details about the structure of the Hungarian Air Force and its squadrons, approximate rank equivalents, and types flown.

  Pick a superlative and apply it to this book, it’ll stick. Also superlative are the production values found in most of the titles in this publisher’s “White Series”: heavy paper, hardcover binding, good photo reproduction. Substantial in every way (including . . . price, at least in USD).

  Vol. I:

  Fokker D.XVI

  FIAT CR.20 and 20B, CR.30 and 30B, CR.32 and 32bis, CR.42 and 42CN

  AVIS I-IV

  Messerschmitt Bf 109D-1, E-3, E-4, E-7, F-2, F-4

  Vol. II:

  Heinkel He 112B-1/U2 (E)

  Avia B.534-IV

  PZL P.11a

  Reggiane Re.2000 Héja/Héjja-O

  Weiss-Manfréd WM-23 “Ezüst nyíl”

  Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2, Ga-4, G-6, Ga-6, G-10, G-14, Ga-14

  Messerschmitt Me 210Ca-1 (night fighter and heavy fighter)

  Messerschmitt Bf 110F-4, G-4

  Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-4, F-3, F-8, G-8

  Copyright 2014, Sabu Advani (speedreaders.info).