The Henschel Hs 129 Book Review

By David L. Veres

Review

Richard Franks deftly dissects Henschel’s singular Hs 129 in the 17th entry of Valiant Wings’ acclaimed “Airframe Album” range.

Subtitled “A Detailed Guide to the Luftwaffe’s Panzerjäger”, the eponymous coverage commences with a helpful glossary and introductory notes on design, development, armament, and users – both Axis and captured.

The picture-packed text next turns to aircraft details – nose-to-tail, top-to-bottom, tip-to-tip.

AMS sufferers! Seeking to fact-check your kit’s interior details? Look here. Weaponry? Engines? Landing gear? Even access panels? Those, too.

Photos and archival images effectively illumine all the Hs 129 minutiae most modelers will ever need.

Too lazy to read? Sixteen pages of Juraj Jankovic’s handy isometrics graphically distill Franks’ commentary on Hs 129 evolution: prototype, production, and projected variants.

Things turn meaty for camouflage & markings mavens in the subsequent section. Franks recaps Hs 129 warpaint – the standard scheme and modifications on both Eastern and African fronts.

Richard J. Caruana’s inspirational art visually translates Franks’ informative commentary: profiles, plan views, scrap views, and unit badges. Coverage also features a complete stencil suite with dimensions and locations on a full-page, 1:48-scale Hs 129 multi-view.

A further section shares Steve A. Evans’ stunning, step-by-step builds of Hasegawa’s 1:48 and Zoukei-Mura’s 1:32 kits. A half-century summary scale Hs 129 models follows. And three appendices – kits, accessories, and references – and five pages of 1:72-scale drawings neatly complete contents.

“Many”, Franks avers, judge the Hs 129 a “failure”. This superb little study certainly isn’t.

Robustly recommended!

With thanks to Valiant Wings Publishing for this review copy.