Duke Hawkins’ 45th book

It has taken us more than 4 years to finish our newest book and it is one of the biggest in the series; the 45th book in the Duke Hawkins series is a complete portrait on the Dassault Rafale fighter jet. This 196 page book has over 400 high-quality photographs, showing the jet in spectacular action and never before seen detail. No part of the Rafale is overlooked, from the fuselage, wings, landing gear, vertical tail and air intakes. An extensive chapter on the cockpit of the Rafale is included, as well as on maintaining the jet, showing a lot of internal details.

In this book, we show you the differences between the different standards of the Rafale, from the F1 and F2 to the F3, F3R and F4. Every version of the jet is included: the single-seat Rafale C, two-seat Rafale B and the naval version, Rafale M. While most of the Rafales shown in this book are of the Armée de l’Air & de l’Espace and the Marine National, aircraft of other countries are also included: Croatia, Greece, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

The next book in our series is about to be released and will bring an extensive portrait of the Sukhoi Su-24 Fencer. This supersonic bomber was developped to enter enemy airspace at low-level, carrying an external load of some 3,000 kg. In 140 pages, we show you the Fencer in close detail and in action. The different versions of the Su-24 will be shown, including the initial version, modernised variant, Elint variant and reconnaissance model.

This book counts over 300 high quality photographs and will be available soon from us or your favourite book- or scale model shop.

With the 44th book in our Duke Hawkins series, we return to one of the legends of the US Navy: we bring you a 148-page portrait of the Lockheed S-3 Viking. This book includes a lot of action photography, as well as images of every possible detail of the aircraft, including the cockpit, fuselage, wing fold, landing gear, avionics bay, vertical tail fold and more. The aircraft, nicknamed Hoover, had a crew of 4 and was specifically designed as an anti-submarine hunter.

This new book will be available in April from us or your favorite book- or modelshop.

Our Classics series is getting bigger and bigger! Soon, we will release the 7th book in the series and for this one we needed 140 pages ! The new books brings a very close look at the legendary North American B-25 Mitchell. Quite a few of them are still in airworthy condition, even though they need a lot of work to keep them that way. 80 years on, there are several restoration projects going on and we were lucky to photograph one of these in detail. This book is filled with incredible action and detail. So, if you’re building a model of the B-25, this will surely help you along! And to prove it, we also produced a limited edition gift set, which includes the 1/48 scale HK Models kit.

While the use of the NH90 helicopter started with some controversy and some operators even withdrew it more quickly than expected, at the time of writing, the medium-sized helicopter was ordered by 14 countries and more than 600 have been built. At the basis of this book are the NH90s that were bought by the Belgian Air Force, which bought two versions: the TTH – Tactical Transport Helicopter – and the NFH – NATO Frigate Helicopter – but photos of all operators of the helicopter are featured in this book!

This new book in the Duke Hawkins series – the 43rd – is filled with both action and detail. Included in this book are the different versions of the cargo bay, cockpit and one of the most extensive maintenance chapters that’s what we’ve done so far! Close to 400 photos are packed in this 148 page book! It is available now from us or from you favourite book or modelshop!

Good news for anyone in the United States that wants to buy one of our books; all books are now available from renowned reseller Sprue Brothers in Missouri. So, with over 50 books now released since we started this adventure and many more to come, we’re back in the USA!

Our book on the Eurofighter Typhoon has been out of stock for some time, but I’m happy to say: it’s been reprinted. This book has 116 pages and shows the Typhoon is never before seen close detail, including the air intakes, engines, cockpit and wheel bays, as well as in action. Today, the jet is in service with 9 different countries, while a tenth, Turkey, has 20 Tranche 5 Typhoons on order. You can order your copy now from us or your favorite book- or modelling shop.

With the release of our new new book in the Classic series on the North American B-25 Mitchell, we present a limited edition gift set, which includes lots of goodies. The basis of this new gift set is the 1/48 scale HK Models B-25, which features a lot of details, finely engraved panel lines and rivetsand a an impressive fit of the wings to the fuselage.

Also included in this set are decals for 6 aircraft; 4 that were flown out of Corsica during the Second World War and two by the Netherlands Air Force in Indonesia. Also included are 3D printed parts, such as the engine cowlings and the upper turret.

To finish this gift set, a set of masks and of course our book are included. The price of this set is 125 euro. You can order it from us or from your preferred model shop. Have a look at the finished model on our Modelling Blog.

Did you know that when you put all our books in the right order, that they create a design that really looks good on your book shelf? While in the beginning we were optimistic that we would be able to create about 25 books, enough to form our logo, after a couple of years, we noticed that we needed to modify the design as the number of books grew. I asked a fiend of mine, who flies the F-16 to pose with his helmet on and that became the second part of the visual. Now, with our 46th book about to be released, we’ve started a third design. So, the more you collect oiur books, the cooler your book shelf becomes. Best to make sure it is sturdy though; all of them will be close to 45 kg!

Hardcover book project with Philip Stevens

For many years, aviation photographer Philip Stevens has been visiting preserved aircraft around the world. He visited aviation museums, air bases, gate guards, restoration projects, private collections and even aircraft that are all but forgotten. Upon talking to Philip, I immediately felt his passion for aviation history and plans were made to present his high quality photographs in a book.

While there is still a lot of work to be done on this book and the release date is still unkown, I wanted to share with you that we are working on this special project. This hardcover book will focus on aircraft survivors, some of them the only ones left in the world, in collections in Europe. With this book, we hope to motivate you to visit some of these aircraft yourself and learn about their place in aviation history. This book will also give a technical insight in how to photograph vintage or veteran aircraft in sometimes difficult areas.