Stop Press

Readers may remember me mentioning the book 'Legion Condor' in an early issue, the classic study on the unit by R. Bender many would have been put off by the price £ 29.95. It is now on Autumn offer from the Naval and Military press at £ 14.95!! The book is a hardback with 328 pp and 566 photos/maps etc.

I guess the book is actually being remaindered and the price suggests this and thus is soon to be out of print. The naval and military press have a mail order credit card hot line 01435 830111 post and packing is £ 2.95.

Scale Aviation Modeller

August 1997 Issue

Yet another SCW plane is covered in detail by this well produced and colourful magazine. This time it is the Hawker fury, and although only 3 were used in Spain and the only model available (by Matchbox) has been deleted, but according to Hawker Sales records, only 2 were sent to Spain - the confusion being the repaired aircraft which utilised parts from 2 damaged planes). SCA are to publish a correction in the next issue the correction was made by an Abanderado reader.)

The article is still worth adding to the collection. It features 3 colour schemes from early to late war.

The good news is that you can purchase back issues direct from the magazine. the telephone number is 01234 216016.

Battlefields Magazine

Volume 1, issue 6

The latest issue of Battlefields is at last available. The issue features the second part of the 'Battle of Madrid. However, those waiting in anticipation for something interesting - hold your breath. Again , other articles in the same magazine are excellent, this second part is 4 pages of poor narrative on the authors visit to Madrid - looking for bullet holes in buildings, remaining trenches , bunkers etc. The article rambles on with little direction, and unless you have been to Madrid or indeed live there, you cannot follow his article, especially since there is no map or illustrations to back up what he is telling us.

Hopefully, we can expect a third part on this series filling in the gaps. Or indeed telling us about wargaming the 'battle' as all the battles featured in this magazine do.

Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade

I feel it is worth mentioning this organisation once more. Their name tells you their role and purpose. In this they publish a very informative newsletter called 'The Volunteer'.

They cover all issues relating to themselves, such as memorial tributes to ex members, charity events, links with many different other International Brigade units including Russian ones, book reviews, letters from members, veterans reminiscing, etc ,etc.

There are no subscriptions as such, just send a reasonable donation, e.g $10, which should secure you issues of the volunteer.

One web site worth visiting: http://www.library.brandeis.edu/spcoll/spcvwr/posters.html

This one concerns the SCW poster collection which are there in full colour. Obviously there is more out there because the same article says that Brandeis university are preparing an index of all the archival material on the net.

The VALB also run a bookshop which lists 12 books and 2 videos some are available in the UK. Others include :

'Another Hill' by Milton Wolff
'African Americans in the SCW' by R D Kelley
'From Mississippi to Madrid' by J Yates
'The Lincoln Brigade - A Pictorial History' by W Katz & M Crawford.

Videos include 'The Good Fight' and 'Forever Activists'

The service only offers a USA p & p rate. I have written to them to see if UK/ Europeans can buy their books and the details involved - watch this space !

15 mm Model News

Skytrex have announced their launch of a large range of Italian figures and vehicles. Initially this includes the L3/35 (CV33), but they will have some way to go to beat the quality of the Peter Pig model.

They say they have artillery and softskins to follow in October/November. This will also be accompanied by a Panzer I.