Gloster Gladiator Interactive iBook

Author: Alex Crawford
Drawings by: Marek Ryś, Artur Juszczak, Chris Sandham-Bailey
MMP (Mushroom Model Publications)
Price: £24.99
Reviewer’s Name: Dave Coward

Initial assessment

This was passed to me by the Editor (Geoff) as he really needs to get with the `Cool Kids` and get an iPad as this is a downloadable electronic book. MMP announcement for the release of this is as follows:

“MMP would like to announce that our first interactive book for iPad is available at Apple iBooks Store. Interactive book for aviation fans and modellers with moveable content. Book includes 3D interactive drawings, video, 3D animations, interactive drawings, scale plans, colour photos of the aircraft and B&W historical photos.”
This first book covers the famous British biplane – Gloster Gladiator.

So what actually is this? Well to be honest, it’s the future!! As SMN is proving you can present so much more information in a far more inactive manner if you provide it in an electronic way, additionally it is far easier to store and transport and you have can have it easily to hand when you need it. The `book` comes as a downloadable file that you purchase through iTunes but the only real down side comes with the fact that it is only useable on Apple products (it’s primarily designed for the iPad) so you need to have the initial outlay for one of these devices.
If you do have one though and want to know what it’s all about then keep on reading.

As MMP state in the preceding announcement it’s the first in a new series of fully interactive electronic books. What this means is you download it and you store it on an electronic device (Once you have bought it you can re-download it if you `lose` it or replace your iPad so no worries about it going missing).

Once you open the book up on the iPad it initially looks like a normal book, its full colour and has a traditional layout but that’s where the similarities end. You need to experiment with it as a lot of the features aren`t that obvious at first as this is a new concept. The book is split into 7 Chapters covering the following subjects:

1. Development
2. In RAF Service
3. Sea Gladiator
4. Foreign Service
5. Gladiator Survivors
6. Construction
7. Something for your Kids!!

The first chapter gently introduces you to how the book works. The layout initially looks like a conventional book but if you tap on a picture it will `zoom` out to fill the screen and you can further zoom it out by using your fingers to `expand` the image. There are some great line drawings and underneath the main drawing you will see `thumbnails` of other views which you can touch and these will expand to fill the screen. Again each of these can be further expanded – all very clever.

When you get to the sections covering the service life of the aircraft there are some really nice 2D colour images and underneath each image is a list of Squadrons, if you touch each Sqn number the image morphs into that Squadron’s aircraft. There are also numerous period pictures and underneath each main picture are several thumb nails each of which can again be expanded to fill the screen by touching them along with a narrative under each. There is even video embedded in the book of the aircraft taxing and flying.

Don`t be misled that this `book` is all about the interactive features, the words that go with each page are comprehensive and well researched, the technology just adds another dimension to the book.

When you get to the construction section things really start to get clever. There are rotational 3D CAD drawings of the airframe that can be moved and zoomed in at will. This is where the book really comes into its own. The interactive cockpit is truly stunning. You not only get colour photographs but you also get a CAD drawing of each side and you can `touch` each instrument dial and the book will tell you what it is!!! This doesn’t just stop here as the whole airframe is covered in as much detail – just amazing. The final section is a bit `gimmicky` and as it says is for the kids as it is and electronic picture game, personally I think the book doesn’t need it and it almost takes away the seriousness of what it really is – the first of a new generation of interactive reference books.

This link shows in video things that a thousand words cannot convey!!

In Summary

I`m seriously impressed with this and hope it’s the start of a series of these publications. I know we all like the feel of a real book in our hands but let’s be honest about this, how much room do all those books take up in your house and how much grief do you get when you buy another one – well here`s the answer, these books provide more information, are cheaper and don`t take up any physical space –it`s a win win scenario!!! What’s more if you really need a hard copy you can just print it off by screen saving off the iPad. It’s the future modellers !!!

Dave C.

A note from Geoff…
Thanks for this review Dave, everyone reading this will appreciate your objective insight. I have to say that when we all looked at this download recently I was seriously impressed – the range of interactive features really does reinforce what you have said – I would add my endorsement to Dave’s review. Geoff C.

SMN Quick summary Star rating out of 5