Read n' reviewed: V-22 Osprey by Mason Doupnik from CAVU Publications

CAVU Publications newest title comprehensively covers the V-22 Osprey family in detail inside and out. This series is finding plenty of fans, & rightly so. We have read the book, see what we though in our review...

Read n' reviewed: V-22 Osprey
By Mason Doupnik
Published by CAVU Publications
Soft cover
128 pages
550+ colour images
RRP: $50 USD
Product Link on the CAVU Publications Website

For those new to CAVU Publications: 

A fairly new publishing house, CAVU Publications has made a great name for themselves with modellers and aviation fans already with a slew of publications and decal sheets. These all use the latest images and sources for creating these sheets and books which show the subjects in comprehensive detail, both inside and out.

 

The CAVU Publications range so far, in book & decal releases...

With books on some of the coolest of US Choppers, now they turn to a larger-winged tiltrotor bird, in the form of the V-22 Osprey family. All three versions of the Osprey are covered, the MV-22B, CV-22B and CMV-22B. For some early explanation, the MV-22 being the basic model, used by the US Marine Corps for transport & rescue missions. The CV-22 is used by the US Air Force for special operations with additional capabilities for reconnaissance & combat control. The CMV-22 "Codsprey" is the US Navy's new replenishment aircraft. 

Each of the small sections are named to find easily from the contents page...

The book in it's physical form:

The book has a softcover, with dimensions of 215mm x 285mm, with 128 pages inside filled with over 550 (I'm not counting them all) colour photos. These pages are of a medium grade stock, with  slightly shiny feel to them. These pages are filled with detailed close-up pictures of the aircraft's details, features and machinery inside and out, as well as the colour schemes, markings and the wear and tear that these machines accumulate over time.  The English language captions explain a lot of what you are looking at with upgrades and modifications to the aircraft.

Now we know what the book looks and feels like, we can go from page to page, section to section and show you what's inside.

Page-by-page:

The nature of the text in this book is mostly in captions, with some block text, as there is at the start of the book. The author, Mason Doupnik, gives us a short break-down of the history and Block numbers of the family for you to better understand what you are looking at. This turns into a series of photos with captions after that.

The short captions identify the photos by their numbers, and the particulars types of what you are looking at in that number. These captions explain just a little of what you are looing at, rather than commenting too much on each photo. I suppose it IS the photos that most people are here to see after all. We have already seen in the first thirty pages the nose,  refuelling probe (extended & retracted, the CV-22B's radar & FLIR, windshield wipers & canopy, CV-22B nose & nose gear & under the nose, the forward fuselage & tiltwings. Again, the text explains what is happening and shown in the photos, but doesn't get in the way of the images, which focus sharply on the subjects of each page.

As we go deeper into the aircraft, we start to see the internal plumbing and wiring - a detail that is impossible to see unless you have either access to the real thing, or failing that, in-detail photos like this collection. You see the rotors fully retracted (if that is the term) with FOD covers over the engine intakes as well as the engine nacelles and intakes on the Rolls Royce AE-1107C engines. Those who pay attention are noticing the difference in wear and staining from the gloss-painted & flat grey birds in these photos.

Stripped down and opened up, we see these engines in detail next. I would struggle to model these with all of the plumbing on show. We see the 38 foot propellers in a varied array of positions, extended and folded, with close detail paid to the surfaces on them. The mechanisms for the folds are shown, with internal details of the pop hub also shown in detail. We look at the fuselage, with the bonus of having photos of the CMV-22B's large bulge sponsons, filled with fuel. The flare & electronic countermeasures on the rear of the fuselage, connectors, various AN/APR/AAQ and the main landing gear (MLG) are also shown in the finest detail here.

Good luck with modelling those wires! At least you have a place to start with this reference.

A really hard place to source reference are the undersides of these machines, but we have that and the upper surfaces in close-up (& that's what matters) detail. The long, bendy HF aerial and some interesting wear/oil/streak marks are shown on the rear of the fuselage, along with a great series of photos of the rear ramp, the rear horizontal and vertical tails. I like the variety of colourful (& grey) airframes documented here, with some from Shayne "Flygirlpainter" Meder. Photos of the tail antennae & flying surfaces with their exposed rivets will help many a modeller's build.

We see more of the inside of the aircraft next, with the cargo/cabin. An Aladdin's cave of space in the corridor, and about the most internal wiring, cables and pipes that I have seen in a cargo aircraft. I am actually a bit shocked as I had not seen inside one of these for over a decade& and I forgot how much material is in there. One could spend a year modelling just the insides and not finish. Again, this book would give them a great place to start. The seat, raft water and remove before flight bags are also something most model companies would not think of including, but are shown here.

The author makes his way through the rear of the cabin to the cockpit, showing us the floor (& the wear it takes) with the side doors before we enter the cockpit. Always a place that needs a lot of scrutiny, but is often highly guarded to the public, the cockpit is often not seen in models, especially a closed cockpit like this, but the detail is there - from the main IP to the side consoles and controls - for modellers that will insist on making it, seen or not...

The last section of the book shows the Osprey's user components, from underneath hooking up a load and a few variations of what is slung underneath, to mock ups showing the casualty evacuation beds, the cargo hold loaded for bear with regular cargo (& an F-35 engine). We see the AWG-35V self defence weapon system (DWS) with the GAU-17 gun, screen for the operator, and side-mounted .50 calibre guns & their mounts.

For a kind of salute, we now have several pages of the variations of the Osprey. From prototype, to the early test models, current day schemes, the Japanese & even Air Force one variants that are now in service. A great wrap up of most of the schemes that one might want to cover or to want to see in the Osprey family.

And that is all they wrote! What do I think?

This book is a absolute boon for modellers. Covering exclusive photos of all three versions MV-22B, CV-22B and CMV-22B in such detail is ambitious, but it is carried off very well in this book. There are enough pages to capture all of the areas a modeller might want to replicate, or an enthusiast might want to understand. Seeing them grouped together and with the short, but simple captions by the author gives me a greater understanding (and new knowledge) of the Osprey's systems, & a better understanding of just how much of an achievement that something like this is.

A great book, I am looking forward to reading the others in this series.

Adam Norenberg

Thanks to CAVU Publications or sending me this book to review. This book, along with other new titles from Cavu Publications, are now available from their website...