Squadron Books

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Edie1971
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Squadron Books

Post by Edie1971 » Thu Jul 07, 2022 12:25 pm

What is the general consensus here about Squadron Books? My take is that they used to be real good for a while, from the late 70's to the mid 80's but seemed to taper off, in terms of topics and quality. I know all of us here are drooling waiting for a book about Italian aircraft, and Squadron does have a few. The earlier ones, like C.202, and Regia Aeronautica Vol.1 (an early book reprinted) & Vol. 2 are much better than the Reggiane series or the Fiat CR.32/42. They have come out with a few interesting titles here and there, that have been good, but as a whole, they don't appeal to me. Seems like they have 200 titles on P-51 Mustangs. Also the editing is not like the old ones, there are lots of typos and mistakes in some books, especially the ones that came out in the early 90's. What do you all think? :think:

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Re: Squadron Books

Post by Editor » Thu Jul 07, 2022 3:29 pm

MMD Squadron went quiet a little while ago and then recently resurfaced in GA under new management, they were previously located in TX. Personally, I've always liked their titles even the newer ones because the books have a good balance of detail, are succinct and generally have good drawings. I wouldn't blame Squadron for inaccuracies in their books aside from the inevitable editing issues, they do rely on the authors of the books who are generally considered experts in their respective fields, for example Gentilli did C.202, S.79 and Pignato did all their armor, Riccio did truck mounted artillery which is excellent, D'Amico did a few titles, Di Terlizzi did a very good job on C.205V walk around. Its when publishers rely on non-Italian sources that things go astray. From my personal experiences, I couldn't have done Stormo Decals without Stefano's help, there's a huge disparity in the amount of information that we have available here (in English) compared to what's available in Italy and in my opinion Italian researchers are generally better, they seem to have a knack for minute detail (quality) and are very accurate and reliable. I noticed on Squadron's site that their book list is very short, they maybe restocking their titles slowly as they get up to speed with new management. I sort of have a soft spot for MMD Squadron.

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MDriskill
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Re: Squadron Books

Post by MDriskill » Fri Jul 08, 2022 5:06 pm

I rather like all the "In Action" titles on WW2 Italian a/c. True, they probably aren't the last word in stand-alone references, but they manage to come up with some good color work, the photo section and printing is good, and they are good value.

I definitely agree that Di Terlizzi's "Walk Around" on the C.205 is really excellent, definitely the cream of Squadron's Italian crop. I refer to it very frequently.

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RetiredInKalifornia
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Before Squadron Books...

Post by RetiredInKalifornia » Sat Jan 20, 2024 8:25 pm

...All I & other ordinary young USA scale aircraft modelers had available in way of useful and affordable references during the 1960s were the Profile Publications sold mostly in hobby & book stores. Beers Books in downtown Sacramento (still in business since 1936 now south of downtown) carried them well as near every other kind of aviation book title few of which having useful information for model building. Mecca indeed it was for modelers though surpassed later that decade by Highlands Hobbies in North Highlands, CA it amongst the first Sacramento metropolitan area hobby stores selling European aviation publications containing useful information for model building. In 1980 I'd bought my first Squadron In Action "book" at Riverside Hobbies in the Sacramento Pocket Area (rode there by bus on weekends when lived in Midtown Sacramento & didn't own a motor vehicle 1979-2003) not long after that a first-issue Macchi C.202 one, flabbergasted seeing so much useful information for modeling, my main reference till getting grubby hands on Aero Detail 15 Macchi C.200, 202, 205 (1995) sometime after 2006.

I daydream on occastion teleporting myself back to the late 1960s remembering Regia Aeronautica Italiana camouflage patterns & colors from whence I was kit building after 2006 able to brew mix them with Testors & Pactra enamels (Floquil lacquers pains in ass brew mixing never mind inadequate color selection then for doing so, this when they'd focused on railroad modeling) for building the Aliplast, Artiplast, FROG & Revell kits but immediatly would hit brick wall not having aftermarket decals other than the HIS-AIR-DEC FIAT CR.42 & Macchi C.202 sheets the daydreaming abruptly evaporating at that point
:sad: :cry:

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MDriskill
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Re: Squadron Books

Post by MDriskill » Sat Feb 03, 2024 11:11 am

I loved "Aircraft in Profile!" The first REAL reference material I saw as a kid. My parents gave me some bound volumes as birthday and Christmas gifts, and I eventually rounded up the whole series.

Now for some good news - the ENTIRE series (and a lot of other interesting stuff) is available as scanned files on "The Boxart Den" web site. Here's a link to the Italian stuff:

https://boxartden.com/reference/gallery ... iles/Italy

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