"The book is in the mail..."

Well folks, 2020 has been full of surprises - and continues to reveal even more surprises. Denise and I shipped dozens of packages on 7 December - that apparently made it to the Memphis Postal Distribution Facility, where they were scanned on 11 December. From there, they seemingly went into another dimension, a dimension where time and distance has no meaning - “The DeJoy Zone” (insert haunting music here).

Other packages - including those shipped on 8 December have been delivered. Many of the 7 December packages still list only “In Transit, Arriving Late” on the USPS tracking website.

I understand the crush of the season, and thankfully, so do most of our customers. I also understand that as I write this missive, Tennessee is the WORLDWIDE Covid-19 hotspot, and absenteeism is heavy.

What I don’t understand (other than the attempted dismantling of the postal system infrastructure earlier this year by Postmaster Louis DeJoy), is that the postal service is not working on a first in, first out order processing system that is used by most private industry. Rather, apparently they are using a last in, first out method - a method popular with accountants for bookkeeping - but hardly the norm for production or order fulfillment. Notably, DeJoy was a CPA.

All this being said, we appreciate everyone’s patience, and wish everyone a safe and Merry Christmas!

A few of you have approached us asking if we would publish a book. I want to make it clear - we are not publishers, we write and sell books, which are published by Schiffer, Ampersand, Squadron and a number of other fine companies - but we don’t publish any of these ourselves.

Sincerely,

David and Denise

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Denise and I hope all of you have a safe and joyful day of Thanksgiving.

For those of you anxiously awaiting my new M4A2 and DUKW books, FedEx did not drop these off today, so we will await our Friday delivery. As soon as they arrive, we will start shipping the orders on a first placed, first shipped basis. I expect that this process will take more than one day, unless the books are delivered unusually early in the day.

I am still seeking photos of military vehicles inside the AM General or Kaiser-Jeep factories. If you can supply such images, please contact us.

Trying our hand at blogging

Two and a half years ago, Denise and I acquired the inventory, website and certain other assets of the Ampersand Group. During the intervening months we integrated the inventory from our former DavidDoyleBooks.com website into this platform, and devoted considerable energy expanding our inventory and developing efficient ways to get books into the hands of our customers. All while I devoted the bulk of my time to my “day” (and much of the night) job of writing books. Denise has worked side by side with me on most of these things, as well as maintaining our household.

All of this left little time for posting to a blog. As Covid wears on, we are unable to travel and do research for new titles, and having worked my way through much of the material we had salted away - while this has slowed my productivity, it has also allowed a smidgen of free time to try my hand at blogging.

To those of you have been supporting our writing efforts, I thank you very much!

Sincerely,

David Doyle

Goodbye.

It is with profound sadness that I inform our customers that The Ampersand Group, Inc. will cease operations in its current form as of the posting of this message.

My considerable personal problems have left me without the ability to fully service the needs of this company and its loyal patrons. I have struggled with this decision and it is not one I have taken lightly—my heart is broken from it.

I am working to close the office that we have maintained here in Delray Beach, Florida for the last 20 years and that process will be completed soon.

The remaining inventory and website are being turned over to Mr. David Doyle, my long-time collaborator and friend. He seemed the proper choice, having contributed so much to the creation of our publications. Mr. Doyle is not taking over the company, only the administration of its inventory. This transition is ongoing and will take some time to complete and perfect.

I know that many of you remain concerned about the disposition of your subscriptions. All customer records are being maintained. I will be working on a solution for this problem in the coming weeks and months and will be in touch through social media and email. Many exciting projects are still in development and there is a good chance that one or more will come to fruition in the near future. Regretfully, neither Mr. Doyle nor I can enter into correspondence on this matter for now.

Once the dust settles from our closure, I will have more focus and can concentrate on this dilemma with greater effort. I also have to focus on my new livelihood. Having a roof over my head must be a priority for now.

I created this company and all of its products out of nothing. None of it existed before I conceived it. I made it all happen—both the good and the bad. I am and will remain responsible for everything that happened as a result of this venture. The buck well and truly stops at my feet.

I was thrilled to have made a living in an industry that I loved. I was also fortunate to meet and associate with a widely diverse group of human beings. I traveled the world and got to know many unique and terrific people, some of whom became life-long friends. Fate smiled on me in this regard.

On rare occasions, greed and ambition soured what I thought were sound relationships—a surprising thing in so small a community. I value those interactions nonetheless and wish those individuals no ill will.

With warmest and most sincere regards,

Patrick A. Stansell

AC Models Figureganza Part 2!

Andy Cairns of AC Models recently sent us a package with a liberal sampling of his latest releases.

AC Models Figures can be found in the U.S.A. at The Red Lancers and Military Miniatures Warehouse.

Click here for all dealers.

ACM35023, 1/35 Mercenaries in Africa, Set #3

-Combination of ACM35021 and ACM35022

-Eight Figures plus Stowage

ACM35026, 1/35 Chadian Pickup Crew

-Seven figures plus Stowage

ACM35027, 1/35 Mid East Technical Crew

-Five Figures plus Stowage

Resin Figureganza from AC Models Part 1!

Andy Cairns of AC Models recently sent us a package with a liberal sampling of his latest releases.

AC Models Figures can be found in the U.S.A. at The Red Lancers and Military Miniatures Warehouse.

Click here for all dealers.

ACM12B19, 1/12 Surrendering German “Der Kreig is Vorbei”

ACM35014, 1/35 SAS Pink Panther Crew

- Three figures

ACM35016, 1/35 French Foreign Legion Crew for M24 Chaffee Indochina

-Seven Figures

ACM35019, 1/35 Hitler Youth 88 Crew Berlin 1945

-Seven Figures

Academy M4A3 76MM Battle of the Bulge!

Thank you to the folks at Model Rectifier Corporation for the review sample!

www.modelrectifier.com

13500,  M4A3 (76)W "Battle of the Bulge"


Academy releases updated 1/35 M4A3 (76)W “Battle of the Bulge” U.S. Main Battle tank (13500). Newly tooled parts include engine deck, late version VVSS (Vertical Volute Spring Suspension) and accessories.
Produced with Academy’s typical attention to detail, the kit features accurately reproduced 76mm main gun and 12.7mm machine gun; T48 track with Duckbill extenders, photo etched parts and a choice of six markings.
Other features include 2 rotatable turrets and 1 fixed turret, adjustable main gun elevation, hatches can be assembled opened or closed. Among the accessories are jerry cans, ammo boxes and additional tracks.
 

A Mountain of Resin from Black Dog!

blackdog.cz

T48065, 1\48 British 7 ton armored car Mk. IV accessories set for Tamiya

T48066, 1\48 German panzer 38t ausf E\F accessories set for Tamiya

T72102, 1\72 Opel Blitz Omnibus accessories set for Roden

T72103, 1\72 FWD model B Lorry accessories set for Roden

T35176, 1\35 Sd.Kfz. 233 accessories set for AFV

T35177, 1\35 M 1117 Guardian interior accessories set for Trumpeter

T35178, 1\35 M 1117 Guardian interior plus wheels for Trumpeter

T35179, 1\35 M 1117 Guardian wheels

F35170, 1\35 Stalker n°1 Grinder

F35171, 1\35 Stalker N°2 Exterminator

F35172, 1\35 Stalkers set Grinder plus Exterminator

F35173, 1\35 French patrol Paris 2016 N°1

F35174, 1\35 French patrol Paris 2016 N°2

F35175, 1\35 French patrol Paris 2016 set

F35176, 1\35 French modern tank crew N°1

F35177, 1\35 French modern tank crew N°2

F35178, 1\35 French modern tank crew set

F35179, 1\35 Australian modern soldier N°1

F35180, 1\35 Australian modern soldier N°2

F35181, 1\35 Australian modern soldiers set

D35086, 1\35 Ruined entrance base

D72035, 1\72 Israeli street base

D72036, 1|72 Middle east street N°3 base

D72037, 1\72 Israeli walls

New from Tankograd!

Dragon USA Panzerganza!

www.dragonmodelsusa.com

It's all about the variants in this installment:

This is the prototype version of the Jagdpanzer IV. Combines Dragon's current Panzer IV series parts with new parts for the upper hull. Two different vehicle configurations can be modeled.

This kit creates an antiaircraft vehicle by combining a Hetzer recovery vehicle chassis and a 2cm Flak gun. New upper hull, engine deck and road wheels.

This kit is based on Dragon's previously released Panther and Panzer IV kits to create a Panther recovery vehicle converted into a command tank used with Heavy Tank Destroyer Battalion 653 (s.Pz.Abt. 653) on the Eastern Front in 1944.

This kit is similar to the previously released V2 Prototype Panther. Includes new muffler, rear stowage bins and intake covers.

Prototype design of Jagdtiger with longer (12.8cm PAK L/66) gun. Production version 12.8cm L/55 gun is also in the box.

Dragon USA Photo Megaganza!

We just received a huge box of fun from Dragon USA!

Yesterday, we took a look at Dragon's latest King Tigers.

Today, we'll zoom in on some figure sets, a new stubby-barreled StuG. III and the second Israeli M48 kit.

DRA6791, 1/35 "Battle Of Smolensk & Roslavl 1941"

This set gives you a mix of two Wehrmacht infantry types along with an SS guy toting an antitank rifle.

Four U.S. Army types in current uniforms along with a dog figure. Master Box really enjoys including a mutt in their sets.

It's great to see Dragon jumping in on the short-barreled StuG! The instructions show a little bit of trimming to do. The overall kit naturally looks a lot like the Ausf. F versions. We liked the inclusion of the interior detail parts the best.

Israel fielded a small number of M48A2C rearmed with the 105mm L7A1 during the 1967 Six Day War. This kit is very much like the Magach 1&2 kit that we looked at back in July, except it comes with a 105mm gun from Dragon's M60 kit. For the sake of completeness, we have re-posted the pics from the Magach 1&2 here as well.

Below are the pics from July of the Magach 1&2 kit.