Valiant Wings Publishing | Airframe & Miniature No. 2: The Hawker Typhoon (Third Edition)

Reviewed by Kevin Futter

UK publisher Valiant Wings Publishing has released a third edition of Airframe & Miniature No. 2, The Hawker Typhoon Including the Hawker Tornado: A Complete Guide to the RAF's Classic Ground-Attack Fighter. Written as usual by Richard Franks, with illustrations provided by Richard Caruana and Jacek Jackiewicz. The cover sports the same gorgeous Jerry Boucher artwork as the second edition, and the page count remains the same at 176.

The book is divided into two main sections, Airframe Chapters and Miniature Chapters, each of which has a number of sub-sections.

Airframe Chapters

Miniature Chapters

There is also a list of Appendices:

The last part of the book features an insert of a set of fold-out plans in 1/48 scale.

The Airframe Section

The Airframe section starts off with a four-chapter summary of each variant produced, from the initial Tornado prototypes through the to final production Typhoons, and the initial Tempest prototypes. This is a very handy primer on not only the sequence in which the variants were produced, but the defining differences between them. Each variant is illustrated with a port-side profile, neatly rendered in black, white, and grey.

Chapter 5 kicks off a discussion of Typhoon camouflage and markings, including breakdowns of the different styles of national insignia and squadron codes used.

Chapter 6 details the interesting history of the last complete surviving Typhoon, built during 1944 and currently on display at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa. A brief list of other Typhoon sections and replicas is also included.

Page 44 kicks off a eight-page section of colour profiles. These are by Richard Caruana, and are gorgeous, taking full advantage of the quality glossy paper used throughout.

The Miniature Section

This section is introduced with chapter 7, a detailed look at applicable Typhoon kits. In order to accommodate the extra kit build included in chapter 8, this section has been revised considerably compared to the previous edition, with both photos and text reduced in size, and the layout adjusted accordingly. This reduces the page count in this section from 18 to just 10, without any loss of content.

All the major scales are covered, from 1/72 to 1/24, though the Crown (now Revell) 1/144 kit is not mentioned (though it, along with other oddities, is mentioned in Appendix I). The Airfix 1/24 Typhoon kit has been included as part of the second edition update. In 1/32 scale, the MDC and Revell kits are looked at in some detail.

Chapter 8, "Building a Selection", features a number of kit builds in 1/72, 1/48, 1/32 and 1/24:

Each build article varies in the amount of detail it provides about the build itself, but the resultant models are uniformly excellent. As noted above, a new build of the Airfix 1/24 Typhoon Mk Ib 'Car Door' kit by John Wilkes has been introduced for this third edition.

If I had to quibble, I feel the Dark Green used on the Airfix 1/72 build by Steve Evans is too bright, and some of the weathering effects employed by Dani Zamarbide on the same company's 1/24 scale kit are a bit overdone for my tastes. These assessments are of course both subjective and personal, and in no way detract from either the build articles concerned or the models they depict.

One of the most interesting sections to me is chapter 9, "Building a Collection". Through a series of isometric 3-D drawings by Jacek Jackiewicz, this section illustrates the pertinent features of each revision of the airframe as it progressed through its development. When combined with the information presented in the first part of the Airframe section, it becomes a simple matter to understand the features present on any particular variant or sub-variant. In fact, this section could easily have been included in the Airframe portion of the book, rather than the Miniature section.

Chapter 10, "In Detail", features a series of close-up photographs and technical drawings to reveal those airframe details so often sought after by modellers. Many of the photographs are of restored airframes, so the usual caveats regarding those apply here, but they're useful nonetheless. Note that, in order to add additional engine photos to this edition, many of the existing photos in the Engine section have been reduced in size compared with the previous edition.

Included in this chapter is an interesting section about the debate surrounding the shape of the cowling on late-model Typhoons. There has been some conjecture that this shape was revised to resemble that seen on the Tempest V. I won't give away the author's conclusions, but it makes for an interesting read.

Scale Plans

The final component of the book is a set of fold-out scale plans in 1/48 scale. These are printed on a heavy plain stock, and have been drawn by Jacek Jackiewicz. The airframes featured are, predictably enough:

Both sets of plans include fuselage cross-sections. The plans themselves are very nicely drawn, with complete panel line and rivetting detail. My only complaint is that their fold-out nature makes them awkward to work with, and there's no convenient way of removing them from the book for separate study. Perhaps making them either easily detachable (perforated attachments?) or a separate insert might solve this problem, but it might also drive up costs and complicate production. In any case, they're still a most welcome and worthwhile inclusion.

Conclusion

While I can't vouch for the accuracy of any of the included content in this title, it does at first glance appear to be exhaustively researched. The production values are first class, and the contents explore the book's stated remit—airframe and miniature—in extensive detail. It's a shame that the opportunity wasn't taken to correct the many typos throughout the text, however.

Minor editing niggles aside, this volume is packed with a wealth of information and detail about the Hawker Typhoon, is lavishly produced, and should serve as a handy one-stop reference for the type. Here's hoping that a new-tool 1/32 scale Hawker Typhoon triggers the need for a 4th edition!

Kevin Williams has written a review of the first edition, while I reviewed the second edition back in 2015, and this review is based on that one.

Thanks to Valiant Wings Publishing for the review sample.

© Kevin Futter 2022

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This review was published on Friday, April 29 2022; Last modified on Friday, April 29 2022