AIRFRAME DETAIL No. 2-The Dornier Do17Z, A Technical Guide by Richard A. Franks

The second subject in their new series of 'Airframe Detail' titles from Valiant Wings is now available from all specialist book stores, hobby outlets and directly from the publishers.  Well timed to be an ideal reference for anyone building, or planning to build, the recently released all new tooling Do17Z 1/72 scale kit from Airfix.

There are 82 pages (under soft covers) filled with excellent detailed information on the aircraft itself, plus additional information useful for modellers. 

The contents are divided into four sections: Introduction (14 pages) gives the development story of the aircraft, including some interesting archive photos, pictures of the mock-ups of the prototype and some very interesting heavily weathered 'Flying Pencils' with winter camouflage. Enough information is given on the different variants (E, F, M, P, Z - the title’s variant with enlarged nose featuring the characteristic glazed front canopy -, Export) and how it got on in combat, and where, along with use by other air arms, such as with Finland. 

Technical Description - Section 1- (37 pages) examines the individual elements of the aircraft: Fuselage, Undercarriage, Tail, Controls /Control Surfaces, Wings, Engine, Exhausts and Cowlings, Fuel, Oil, Hydraulic and Oxygen System, Weapons and Electrical Equipment. These are then sub-divided. Coverage of the Fuselage is split into Cockpit Interior, Nose and Canopy and then Mid and Rear Fuselage. Weapons topic is split into Armament (Guns), Sighting, Bombs & Racks. These sections are highly illustrated throughout, using detailed, good quality archive photos, along with illustrations taken from original aircraft documentation, where diagrams give a lot of the detailed information, both internal & external.

Section 2 deals with Camouflage and Markings (18 pages). The informative and analytical text is accompanied by 60 archive photos to illustrate all points of interest, including nose art badges, diagrams plus 6 pages of 22 high quality colour profiles by Richard Caruana. 

Section 3 (Building the Do17Z – 11 pages), is taken up with a detailed build of the excellent and well detailed new Airfix 1/72 scale kit (by Libor Jekl), along with a listing of all the various scale model kits there have been of the type over the years, along with all detailing sets and decal sheets that have been on the market. The last page features a comprehensive and extensive bibliography of publications, official documents and periodicals dealing with the Do17 aircraft.

All in all we have an excellent reference for the aircraft enthusiast, historian and modeller, as it is well timed to go with the new Airfix kit. And at a good value price as well:  RRP is £12.95. Highly recommended!

Orders can be placed via Valiant Wings website http://www.valiant-wings.co.uk or by calling +44 (0) 1234 273434 or by writing to: Valiant Wings Publishing, 8 West Grove, Bedford,  MK40 4BT, UK.

http://www.valiant-wings.co.uk/airframe-detail-no2-544-p.asp