Scale Military Vehicle Conversions Book Review

By Michael Benolkin

Review

The Crowood Press from the UK turns out some very good reading in any subject I've seen them tackle and this one is no exception. You've probably picked up a modeling book or two in your travels between the hobbyshop and local bookstore, and many times you see some really impressive work, though the author seems more intent on showing off the work and less about showing you HOW to achieve the same results.

Well if you're an armor/AFV modeler, here is an interesting title. The author shows you how to create models of subjects that have never been produced in kit form (yet). The title starts off with a few simple projects that are relatively simple conversions to existing kits. As the title progresses, you are then challenged with making more significant alterations to existing kits as well as a much larger proportion of scratchbuilding from sheet styrene and styrene strips. By the end of the title, you're using very little existing materials and building the majority of your project from scratch. While this sounds intimidating, the author walks you through the process of 'rolling your own' subjects.

The subjects that are covered in this title include:

• Hetzer Flammpanzer 38(t)
• Ford F30s Ambulance
• Jeep T27 Rocket Launcher
• T19 105mm Howitzer
• Panther Raketenwerfer
• KV3 Obiekt 220
• M31 Lee ARVII
• Panzer II Schwimm
• Sherman Beach ARV
• BAD 2 Amphibious Armored Car
• Vomag w/88mm Flak

If you're an experienced model builder but haven't really considered modifying kits or building your own subjects, this is a good title to 'teach you the ropes' and what you'll need to get the job done. If you have some scratchbuilding experience under your belt, you might want to skip ahead to the BAD2 or Vomag projects, but that Sherman beach armored recovery vehicle looked very interesting as well.

This title is highly recommended!

My sincere thanks to Motorbooks International for this review sample!