M26 Dragon Wagon Walk Around Book Review

By Michael Benolkin

Review

As you might expect with many of the support vehicles used during these wars, there are few references available for the modeler to use. Of course most armor modelers are aware of the super-detailed M26 Dragon Wagon kit produced by Tamiya in 1/35 scale (if they don't have one or two in their kit stashes) and more recently Academy's release of this subject in 1/72 scale. While both kits offer some nice detail, the AMS modeler wants to get further into the details but the lack of good resources made this very difficult. Enter this new title from Squadron/Signal Publications.

If you haven't looked at the Walk Around series from Squadron/Signal lately, they've definitely made some serious improvements. This title covers the M26 Dragon Wagon, a heavy tank transporter used in World War II as well as Korea not only for its ability to haul the heaviest tanks employed by US forces, but also to capture even heavier tanks abandoned by the enemy. The vehicle featured an armored cab which protected its crew from any small arms fire it might encounter to/from its recovery mission and can be armed with a .50 caliber machine gun mounted on a gun ring atop the armored cab for self defense.

The title provides a brief summary of the Dragon Wagon's development and operations, then coverage dives into very impressive full-color walk arounds of the prime mover and its trailer. The examples used in this title are from fully operational restorations of the vehicle with a number of period black & white photos intermixed to show how closely these restorations are to the examples that were in service decades ago.

The print and binding quality is excellent and as the publisher's block indicates, this title was printed in the USA rather than overseas.

If you're looking for the ideal photo reference for your M26 Dragon Wagon project, your wait is over.

This title is definitely recommended!

My sincere thanks to Squadron/Signal Publications for this review sample!