Thursday 7 March 2019

Book Review: Tank Craft 13, Tiger I & Tiger II Tanks, 1945



This is my first Tank Craft series experience. I was fortunate to be sent a review copy by Pen & Sword, as the £14.99 price is quite dear. First impressions are great: plenty of contemporary photographs, several pages of very good colour plates, showing markings and camouflage, and loads of info on various brands of available kits, including several detailed and very impressive build examples.

One of the photos used in the book. [1]

The degree of detail such specialist publications go into is extraordinary. It's amazing how much interest in WWII there is, and how almost every nut and bolt of every individual Panzer can be traced and accounted for. Truly astonishing! The amount of resources available to us enthusiasts is terrific. And if this example is typical of Dennis Oliver's contributions to the field, he's a top drawer contributor to this embarrassment of riches.

Steve Shrimpton's Dragon-based 1/72 model particularly appeals to me. [2]

In addition to what I've already mentioned, there are all sorts of other aspects covered here: maps, timelines, individual unit organisations and histories, and so on. For a publication the size of a typical A4 glossy magazine, there's a massive amount of extremely interesting and useful info here. Very impressive! Oh dear... now I want more!

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I do happen to have a recently acquired Zvezda snap-fit Tiger II. I'm planning to build it as this:


... the King Tiger from the Bovington Tiger Collection. I'm sure having this book will help me when I get around to making it.

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NOTES:

[1] Interestingly almost all the photographs are of knocked out or abandoned Tigers, mostly taken by Allied photographers. This superb picture is quite heavily cropped in the book, to focus on the tank, rather than the rather picturesque setting.

[2] Most the models appear to be 1/35. The info on models, accessories and so on is superb, and very useful.

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