Profile Publications, any good?

[Romani]

I've seen some of these on sale online, how many pages long are they? How do they rate compared with Squadron Signal publications?

Any background story or stuff to read about in them, or they are mostly picture books?

Thanks for your input

[MikeW]

Romani,

they are getting a little dated by now having been published in the 60's, at least, that's when I think they were published!

the one I've picked up is 12 pages of A5 including the covers. theres a grey scale side view on the front, 2 colour profiles on the inside cover, eight pages of text, six large and 2 small colour profiles on the inside of the back cover, and a detailed specification on the very back.

I think they are a bit like the Ken Munson query, good basic references that have occasionally been overtaken by further research.

The one I picked up to answer this is by the late Jack Bruce and there isn't much wrong with his work.

How do they rate compared with Squadron Signal publications?

Different league IMO.


Mike

[Romani]

Thank you very much for your help,

I think it's nice to get them if they are cheap enough, but I will look forward to Squadron Signal, or Windsock datafiles.

[Yeoman]

I have a Quite a few profile publications , and I agree with Mike that they are a little dated compared to the Windsock and Osprey offerings. Still, they are quite good for the money they fetch. The Sopwith 1 1/2 strutter for example has 16 colour profiles ,16 pages plus a colour 5 view center profile and all this for about £1.50 !

All in all quaint, but still sound and interesting! Worth getting if you see them for a reasonable price.

I still like my Aero Published books....And they are from the late 50.s early 60's. They had very accurate 1/72 drawings.

[Colin A Owers]

Profile Publications were great when appeared and are still well worth searching out. Some may suffer from modern research but the authors all knew their subjects. The subject of colours is still as controversial as when they were published, especially for the period when no colour photography was available, but they still stand the test of time.

They started ship profiles, cars, armoured vehicles and weapons - then hard cover books. Instead of sticking to what they did best they went belly up!

I think Squadron Signal are cheap and the content reflects it, in the WW1 field. If you want quality in research and production you have to pay for it.

Colin A Owers