Introduction

Top Drawings is a really nice series of books from Kagero Publishing that are aimed specifically at the modeller who loves and needs to get the detail on their models just right. The latest one I have obtained a copy of looks at the Soviet Light Bomber Petlyakov Pe-2.

Review

This offering from Kagero is a soft back book written by Oleg Pomoshnikov. This is a duel language offering with English on the right of the page and Polish on the left of each page. The cover is made from a light card with a gloss finish; inside there are 24 pages of high quality matt paper. The text in the book is presented in a portrait style with any content that is not text presented in landscape style.

The book begins with a short written introduction and that is the only pure text in this title as its purpose is to provide accurate visual reference material. The material is presented in the form of scale drawings and colour profiles. Included with this release is a set of masks in 1/48th scale for the Zvezda model and 1/72nd scale for the Hobby Boss offering. In addition to this we are offered two fold out sheets covering two versions of the Petlyakov Pe-2 all in 1/48th scale.

The title offers 19 pages of scale drawings in the two main scales of 1/72nd and 1/48th scale and these cover the aircraft in up to six plains. The aircraft is covered from the sides, front, back, top and bottom, in addition to this some aspects of the aircraft are presented in their own right in order to cover very specific areas and these areas are covered in a mix of scale. I was particularly impressed to see some very specific areas of the aircraft covered in the title that will enable the modeller to replicate the detail on a model if so desired.

Conclusion

This offering from Kagero as part of their Top Drawings line of books looking at the Soviet Light Bomber Petlyakov Pe-2 is not a title for the person interested in reading about the aircraft; it is a title aimed very specifically at the modeller looking to build an accurate representation of the Petlyakov Pe-2 improving on the details provided with the model. The scale drawings also enable the modeller to check the accuracy of the main parts of the aircraft. I was pleased to see the free masks and was also pleased that the two main scales were also represented. The fold out separate sheets are a very good inclusion due to the fact that two versions of the aircraft are covered.