Interactive Mitsubishi A6M Zero eBook Review

By Michael Benolkin

Review

MMP Books has released another title in iBook (iPad) format. We examined their first release which was a digitized copy of the Gloster Gladiator book using some of the advantages of ebook technology. This time we have a digital version of their A6M Zero title (we didn't see the hardcopy version so we can't compare) but they are using more of the ebook features.

This electronic version is fully interactive using the touch screen interface of the iPad quite effectively. Not only can you flip between pages, and some pages have multiple images that you can view together or individually. Simply tap a thumbnail and the full image or color profile comes into view with its associated caption.

Coverage of this title includes:

• Versions
• Technical Description
• Detail Photos

There is much good information here in with the four-view diagrams illustrating each version, color profiles, technical data tables, and more. There is very little coverage of the operational history or combat experiences with the aircraft and its pilots. This title does have good color photo details like the cockpit image below.

If you're building the Tamiya 1/32 Zero (or one of the other kits available), there is good photo references to detail the aircraft. With the number of color profiles shown, there is no good correlation of Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) colors to these profiles so unless you already know which paints to use, you're needing yet another reference.

One of the advantages of digital publications like this one is that you can interact (pan and zoom) on high resolution images to get a closer look at details, something you can't do with a hardcopy book. One of the other advantages NOT being used by MMP Books is the opportunity to include materials that were edited out of the 96 page hardcopy book. If they are wanting people to buy the electronic versions, get rid of the page limits used in the hardcopy titles. A good example is Detail and Scale Publications' recent F-14 Colors and Markings title which was 64 pages in the hardcopy format and over 500 pages in the electronic format - 726 photos in the new versus 213 photos in the original hardcopy. That is reason to grab an electronic title.

Those issues aside, this is a nice reference from MMP Books with lots of good images and data on the aircraft.

This title can be purchased on the Apple iTunes online store. Full details of all MMP Books' publications can be found on their web site at: www.mmpbooks.biz

My sincere thanks to MMP Books for this review sample!