PZL P.24A-G, by Andrzej Glass & Tassos Katsikas, 3D Monograph No.66 (Κagero)
Kagero has just released a new book on the PZL P.24A-G, put together by Andrzej Glass and Tassos Katsikas, very timely, as May 2019 is the 86th anniversary of the type’s first flight in Poland (May 1933).
The polish publisher had published -since 2004- another same titled very good book (Monograph no. 7 – with a free decal sheet) and 88 pages. This time there is no decal sheet included, but the book has almost doubled in pages and contents: Totally 172 pages in the well-known A4 format (29,5 X 21cm) plus some excellent new color graphic art/technical 3D illustrations by the Greek author and 3D artist Tassos Katsikas.
The first 80 pages are the same as in the previous Monograph. They cover the history of the PZL fighter, from its early inception & design development of the PZL P.1/P.11 to the final P.24.
The text is both in Polish and English, running as usual in parallel, side by side in each page, accompanied by many good quality action black and white photographs. Turkish, Bulgarian, Romanian and Greek variants are fully covered. Next is the production and technical description of the aircraft, covered in brief text sections, including an interesting area on the armament. After that we get 18 pages with 1/48 scale line drawings of all the main variants, multi-views (side, top, bottom, sections, etc), engine details, cockpit, instrument panel, propeller types, canopies used, and all external modifications across production versions, highlighted in grey and black/white tones. These drawings are very informative and absolutely useful to the modeler who plans to add realistic details to his model.
Next we get 8 pages with beautiful, large b/w and color photos of the real aircraft, both action and museum pieces. Many of them, as well as the back cover profiles, are of the Turkish Air Force examples preserved in aviation museums in Turkey (Constantinople and Ankara). After having seen these, with mixed thoughts, we feel that the Hellenic Air Force Museum in Dekeleia should try to buy/exchange a real one - or build a P.24F/G full scale replica for permanent exhibition, with so much glorious history of the type in the Greek skies during WW2.
Nevertheless, Tassos Katsikas shows us his superb talent, in the following 77 pages, full of 3D color illustrations, revealing the aircraft in various poses, exterior and interior details, fuselage framing, engine views, armament and, for the first time, an almost A4 size instrument panel color illustration!
The last 7 pages of the book include 25 side and 3-view color profiles of the PZL P.24, including many Greek variants. As a bonus there is an A3 sheet with 1/32nd scale drawings of the Greek P.24F, showing side, top, bottom, front and rear views, with all the rivets and smallest external details.
All in all, an excellent reference of the polish fighter, highly recommended to both the modeler and the aviation enthusiast.
You can order it by visiting the Kagero website here.
(Review uploaded 19/5/2019)
