Magazines

SCALE AVIATION MODELLER

This magazine is easily the best on the market, its coverage on new releases and on modelling aircraft is excellent. The recent November issue ( vol. 3 issue 11) has yet more coverage on the SCW, this time the Heinkel 112 fighter: 3 A4 colour plates detail various colour schemes, 4 of the plates featuring Spanish aircraft. With the informed narrative giving the reader a history of the aircraft - including its SCW service. Also tells the story of a Spanish He 112 shooting down an American P38 in 1943. Any difficulties obtaining the magazine call their order line 01234 216016.

MILITARY ILLUSTRATED

NOVEMBER 1997, NUMBER 114. £ 2.95

Features a 5 page article by C Hall on Fascist warriors - Right wing militias in the SCW which mainly covers the Falange and Carlist involvement. The article has a colour plate depicting 2 figures. Well worth getting hold of - you should be able to get hold of it in WH Smith.

Plastic Aircraft Kits

TOKO

A new company from the former USSR has been launched here called Toko, their range includes the Heinkel 111 a,b,e & f, these are injection moulded kits, but as yet there is no price. The other releases are in the reasonable price bracket.

A-MODEL

Another Russian firm producing injection moulded aircraft, have listed a I-16 type 5/6 in Republican SCW markings - but no price as yet.

AZUR

Has released the Heinkel 60, again an injection moulded kit. UK price is £ 12.00. The Breda Ba 65 attack bomber is readily available @ £ 8.00.

Hannants stocks the above - Tel 01502 517444. They also have an end of year sale in which they advertise Gorbachov models R 5 at £ 3.99 and Revell I-16 at £ 1.99 . Hannants is also on the Internet: WWW.HANNANTS.CO.UK

BILEK

A Czech firm have re released the old Airfix Dornier D0 17 at £ 10.00.

Aircraft Books

Ali D'Italia

The above are a company producing books on Italian aircraft, similar in style to the Squadron books .The latest release covers the Breda Ba 65. It is A4 in size and contains 48 pages - UK price is £ 11.95 but no details of stockists I'm afraid.

Military Models

1/300th Models

Navwar: 11 ELECTRICAL PARADE, SEVEN KINGS ROAD, ILFORD IG3 8BY, FULL CATALOGUE SAE + £ 1.

Navwar have released some new WW1 models which will be suitable for the SCW gamer. Their recent list shows 4.5 inch gun, Vauxhall staff car,15 cwt Crossley, FT 17 tank - 2 versions, and of course alot of the infantry especially French and Russian will be of use to the SCW gamer as well. Having seen some samples the quality and detail is far superior to that of Irregular Miniatures (the only other SCW figures I have seen).

1/200th Models

Pendraken has some WW1 figures and vehicles, some usable for SCW, of which include the Schneider Brille featured in the last issue. I also believe that there SCW range may be remodelled in the new year.

1 EASBY GROVE,ESTON,MIDDLESBOROUGH.TS6 9DL.

Figures, Armour, Artillery (20mm specialists)

Internet/E-mail Sites

Our Spanish friends at 'Cuartel General' have invested in technology and are available at cuartelgeneral@hotmail.com. One of their recent newsletters gave Griff Henderson a full colour front cover portrait, all those readers that have been helped by Griffs excellent book finding/providing service can also find him on e- mail at GHender803@aol.com

There is a new web site with SCW links containing an article on naval battles and ships, including photos of all the ships involved ( down to destroyer level). It also has scale plans of the Canarias and Espana class. There are also links to the modern Spanish army and Guardia Civil.

The site is at http://pro-int.com/militar.htm.

Television

Those with satellite may be interested in looking out for the 'Travel Channel' which is showing a programme called 'Flights over Spain.' a 51-part series shown every Tuesday at 11.30 PM.

Books

There are a lot of new books out or coming out.

Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion - Canadian Contingent in the SCW, 282 pages, illustrated £ 13.99.

I do not have any other details on this, but it looks very interesting indeed. I have only just seen it advertised in the new Caliver* books catalogue.

THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR, ABEL PAZ, POCKET ARCHIVES, ISBN 2850255327, 197 PAGES, 120 PAGES ARE B/W PHOTOS OF VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE WAR, of which most notably are truck mounted AA weapons, 15 photos of armoured vehicles, and on page 103 a Negro anarchist. The majority of the photos are previously unseen, coming from personal and trade union archives. The price however seems to vary, WH Smiths have it at £ 7.95 and Caliver* have the price at £ 8.50.

*Caliver have an excellent range of SCW books - almost anything in print. Their order service is excellent, order by credit/debit card the books arrive the next day. Call on 01702 73986.

EJERCITO POPULAR REPUBLICANO 1936-1939, ALMENA EDICIONES, BY CARLOS FLORES & RICARDO REGIO. 300 colour PHOTOS, 144 PAGES. PTAS 3,950

This book is due for release any day now. It will cover uniforms,medals, and insignia of Government units. Looks likely to be a classic, Caliver have promised me they will be stocking it upon release.

Promised by Osprey at Euro-Militaire for next year in there campaigns series is 'The Battle of the Ebro'. Any news on a release date we'll let you know. Osprey also said there Aircam/ Airwar book on SCW airforces may be re released.

Also due imminently is 'VIVA LA MUERTE,NATIONALIST FORCES OF THE SCW 1936 -1939 .' by C. Hall. Gosling Press. I don't have a price or release date yet, but if anyone knows can they please let me know.

Second Hand Books

A specialist supplier of second hand books covering Spanish themes is :

P. ORSSICH, 2 ST STEPHENS TERRACE, SOUTH LAMBETH, LONDON. SW8 1DH.

Historical Notes

On p109 of Soviet tanks and vehicles of WW2 by Zaloga and Grandsen. says that Soviet aid to the Spain totalled 362 tanks, 120 armoured cars and 351 tank crews. Of the tanks 50 were BT 5, 311 T26 M1933 and one T 28.

The first major tank battle in Spain was on October 29 1936 when 50 T 26b tanks led a government attack at Esquivas. They engaged Nationalist cavalry head on - easily defeating them, but the tanks surged forward leaving their infantry some way behind. The tanks could not hold the captured ground and ran out of fuel ensuring their retreat.

The main complaint from Russian tankers in Spain was that the T26 petrol engine was too capricious, it would burst into flames at the slightest provocation. This led to the Soviets development in diesel engines in the 1940's. This should be reflected in any set of wargame rules.