 PZL.23 Karas
Orange Series No. 6101
By Tomasz J. Kopanski
Mushroom Publications, ©2004
ISBN 83-89450-03-8
Softbound, 144 Pages
The newest series from Mushroom is the Orange Series, which combines
their Yellow Series (aircraft monographs) and their Red Series (history).
The result is a comprehensive coverage of the aircraft in question, and
for their rollout of this new series the people at Mushroom have chosen
the PZL.23 Karas. This is an interesting choice, as there are no surviving
examples of this plane. This means that all the detail photos are period
photos, which can sometimes result in meager coverage. This book does
not seem to suffer from that, though, and this is easily the most thorough
coverage out there on this interesting Polish aircraft.
The history is well written and an interesting read. The story is punctuated
by many clear photos of the PZL.23 in service, and combined they do a
great job of outlining the life of this aircraft. In addition to the
background of this plane in Polish service, the text also covers foreign
operators of the PZL.23, which opens up some very interesting options
for the modeler. The Bulgarian examples, in particular, are quite interesting.
Following the history comes a section that covers the details and drawings
of the aircraft. This section draws upon original manual photos and drawings,
as well as a set of nicely drawn scale drawings. This section will be
of invaluable service to the modeler, as it shows many of the important
areas, such as the cockpit, in great detail. Variant differences are
also included in this section, so if you are curious as to the difference
between the variants, this section will take care of that.
The color profile section is quite large, taking up the last several
pages of the book. Here you will find plenty of inspiration for that
PZL.23 model you have lying around. Understandably, there are lots of
Polish examples, but Romanian and Bulgarian aircraft are also depicted.
This is an outstanding book to start off a new series with, and it bodes
well for future titles in the Orange Series. The exhaustive coverage of
the PZL.23, both in text and in photos, expose a history that has not been
told and is long past due. My thanks to Mushroom
Publications for the review
sample.
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