The Dornier Do 335 Pfeil: A Complete Guide to The Luftwaffe's Fastest Piston-engine Fighter, by Richard Franks (Valiant Wings)

The Dornier Do 335 Pfeil: A Complete Guide to The Luftwaffe's Fastest Piston-engine Fighter, by Richard Franks (Valiant Wings)

Valiant Wings Publishing has released Number 9 in its Airframe & Miniature series, entitled The Dornier Do 335 Pfeil: A Complete Guide to The Luftwaffe's Fastest Piston-engine Fighter. The author is Richard Franks, and the illustrations are shared between Richard Caruana and Wojciech Sankowski.

This ninth book in the much-acclaimed “Airframe & Miniature” series contains 144 pages packed with vital information that no active modeller and late WW2 Luftwaffe enthusiast should be without.



The Dornier Do 335 book contains:

40+ pages of technical information

20+ pages of walk-around images and technical diagrams

5+ pages of camouflage and markings

25+ pages of model builds and modelling information

200+ photographs including wartime images

Colour side views and four-views by Richard J. Caruana

3D isometric views of all prototype and pre-production variants by Wojciech Sankowski.

Specially commissioned extensive full kit builds by Libor Jekl, Steve Evans and Dani Zamarbide of the 1/72nd scale Revell (ex-Dragon) Do 335A-1, 1/48th scale Tamiya Do 335A-12 and 1/32nd scale HK Models Do 335B-2 kits.

A set of 1/48 scale fold out scale plans.

The book is very heavy at 144 pages plus a gatefold section of scale drawings. It's extremely well printed on quality glossy paper, and the reproduction of all drawings and photographs is first-class.

Perfect bound in a glossy card cover this volume includes a set of 1/48 scale plans on the inside back cover that cover a number of variants, and show the size of this aircraft quite well.

The contents are broken up into nine separate chapters, grouped into two distinct sections (Airframe & Miniature):

Airframe Chapters:

Evolution - Do 335 Prototypes

Evolution - The A-series

Evolution - The B-series

Projects and Drawing-Board Designs

Camouflage and Markings

Miniature Chapters:

Do 335 Kits

Building a Selection

Building a Collection

In Detail: The Do 335

Appendices:

Do 335 Kit List

Do 335 Accessory List

Do 335 Decal & Mask List

Bibliography

The Preface gives us a concise history of the type (15 pages), its development, and information about the projected variants that never left the drawing board. 

In the airframe section the whole evolution of the Do335 is covered, prototypes, A-Series, B-Series, projects, drawing board designs, with an extensive section on camouflage and markings. Here you'll find several pages of very well drawn profiles by Richard Caruana. This section also contains information on the various RLM colors used. Here we are also provided with many drawings of these interesting aircraft. Of course many interesting period & action b/w photographs provide a lot of detailed information.

The Miniature section is very interesting to all modellers, as it details almost all the available kits, and goes on to build a selection from different manufacturers and in different scales with the models built by quite well-known names.

Almost every Do335 in kit form is covered and reviewed very well. Zoukei-Mura’s 1/32 scale kit is mentioned but not reviewed, as the publisher could not held of an example to be included in time. However this does not decrease the overall quality and value of the book.   

This is followed by a section that has 42 isometric 3D drawings of all the prototypes and the differences between the different batches. Each drawing is accompanied by extensive caption/text. Something a dedicated modeler will find to be of considerable value.

The very last section is an 'In detail' section. This is a combination of both period images and those of the extant aircraft in the Smithsonian collection. Many of these photos are in full colour (cockpit interior, engine, bomb bay, etc). This is followed by appendices listing and showing photos of many of the various modelling accessories dedicated to the Do-335. A kit listing with all variations is next followed by a list of books associated to the aircraft. This is followed by a huge fold out that offers detailed 3-view plans of the aircraft in 1/48 scale.

All in all, it is an excellent addition to anyone's library and makes for a superb book that should appeal to both the enthusiast as well as the modeller - and quite a good read. It is a great effort and well worth the cover price.

A really useful book of an impressive aircraft of the Luftwaffe. There is a lot of detail within the pages that will be a perfect one-stop reference guide to the modeller, as well as the more general aviation enthusiast. 

RRP is 18.95 GBP, which is indeed great value. If you need to buy just one book for modelling reference on the Do335, then this is it!

Highly recommended.

You can order it on-line using this link:

http://www.valiant-wings.co.uk/airframe--miniature-no9-1863-p.asp

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