Reviews of products for scale military vehicle models.

Book Author(s)
Charles C. Roberts Jr.
Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
November 5, 2023
Company
Casemate Publishers
MSRP
$45.00

Founded in 2001, Casemate is a major specialist publisher and book distributor in the North American market. Casemate offers print and digital books to the public and to libraries through a variety of channels, platforms, and vendors, as well as traditional and online retailers. Casemate has grown to become the leading publisher in the fields of military history, defense studies, and military science in the USA. Casemate has a burgeoning publishing list covering subjects as diverse as Roman History and today's current conflicts. This series, Casemate Illustrated Specials is focused on offering focused text and detailed photographs and illustrations into the weapons, equipment, and machinery of war.

Review Author
Andy Taylor
Published on
November 4, 2023
Company
AFV Club
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$60.00

According to Tank Encylopedia’s ‘The Online Tank Museum’ -

In the late 1940s, the British War Office (WO) was concerned that – after the debut of the IS-3 in 1945 – the Soviet Union would continue to develop heavily armored tanks. As such, the War Office filed a requirement for the development of a gun capable of defeating a 60-degree sloped plate, 6 inches (152 mm) thick, at up to 2,000 yards (1,830 meters), and a suitable vehicle to carry it.

This requirement led to the development of the ‘Ordnance, Quick-Firing, 183 mm, Tank, L4 Gun’, the largest purpose-built anti-tank gun to have ever been created. It was intended that this gun would be mounted on a new ‘Heavy Gun Tank’ based on the FV200 series chassis. This was designated the ‘Tank, Heavy No. 2, 183 mm Gun, FV215’.

Review Author
Andy Taylor
Published on
November 4, 2023
Company
Brengun
Scale
1/144
MSRP
$9.90

Manufactured by Jan Sobotka, this 2022 new tool package comes with one PE fret (measuring 1 ¼” x 1 1/16 ”) containing two pry bars, three wire cutters, four wrenches, eight axes (four with closed tool clamps), eight hammers (four with closed tool clamps), two each of two sets of German towing hooks, seven shovels (two with closed tool clamps), two (what I believe to be) track tensioners, and four MG 34/42 MGs). This outstanding set is incredibly detailed for its miniscule size. This PE set will bring your German vehicle to the next level.

Tools are ubiquitous on military vehicles in the field. To say these are tiny is an understatement, but they are very well detailed and will make micro panzers pop (if you can see them).

Book Author(s)
Ian Baxter
Review Author
Orlando Reyes
Published on
November 4, 2023
Company
Pen & Sword
MSRP
$26.95

The book is part of The Images of War series published by Pen & Sword in Great Britain. The book contains a total of 138 photos with 127 taken from wartime archives and the last 11 taken by the author's nice during her visit to Auschwitz in February, 2022. All photos are in black and white. The book is divided into an Introduction, 6 chapters, and an Aftermath. The chapters are as follow: Plans for the Genocide, Special Trains, Destination: The Reinhard Camps, Transport Across Europe, Western Deportations and Hungarian Transports. The book contains more than enough photos showing the deportation of the Jews across Europe with many photos showing them waiting for transport to the trains, walking to the stations, their belongings waiting to be sorted out, as well as several pictures of the individuals that have been killed. These last pictures are not for the faint at heart as they are very graphic.

Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
November 4, 2023
Company
AFV Club
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$65.00

AFV Club has put two kits in one packaging for the IDF Jeep Siyur (Reconnaissance) and Tolar (Fire Support) versions that were in service with the IDF from around early 1965 to the end of the Yom Kippur war in 1973. They were used in large numbers and for many functions during this period.

  • Eleven x Light brown Sprues
  • Two x Clear Sprues
  • Two x Photo Etch sheets.
  • Two x decal sheets
  • 2x Instructions

The detail quality is excellent with only a few pin marks to remove.

Review Author
Eric Christianson
Published on
November 3, 2023
Company
Vargas Scale Models
Scale
1:35
MSRP
$44.50

Vargas Scale Models has historically occupied a niche specializing in unusual, 3-D printed, limited-run armor models, mostly pre- and between World Wars. So far this has been a winning strategy for this prolific company, fleshing out all those subjects ignored by others. Lately, however, Vargas has been entering more well-trodden areas, as well as experimenting in other scales. such as 1/72nd, and even the odd 1/16th aftermarket item. One such release (in 1/35th) is a late-WWII-era German Nebelwerfer 41 towed rocket launcher; the subject of this review.

The Nebelwerfer (roughly translated as ‘smoke thrower’) was a German multiple rocket launcher that served with German Chemical Corps units, which had the responsibility for poison gas and smoke weapons that were also used to deliver high-explosives during the war.

Review Author
Mr. Paul Dunham
Published on
November 3, 2023
Company
Academy Models
Scale
1:35
MSRP
$49.00

This new kit from Academy depicts the K311A1 1¼ -ton truck currently in service with the Armed forces of South Korea (R.O.K.) and exported to many other countries around the world. A detailed history of the vehicle is available on Wikipedia, so I won’t repeat it here. The kit provides marking options for two R.O.K. army trucks, one R.O.K. Marines, one R.O.K. Air Force, one Philippines, and two Chilean Marines trucks. The last Chilean option is a single color, providing an option for modelers who aren’t in the mood to paint complex camouflage.

The kit comes in a sturdy and surprisingly large box with the entire top covered by artwork of the vehicle. The kit includes separately molded cargo bed, bed canopy, and cab floor, four trees of tan parts, one tree of clear parts, a tree of poly-caps, five tires in soft black plastic, a fret of photo-etch, a sheet of masks, decals, and instructions. Everything is well packaged to prevent damage or loss of parts.

Review Author
Andy Taylor
Published on
October 31, 2023
Company
ICM
Scale
1:35
MSRP
$49.00

This is the third of four of ICM’s Unimog 404, Kit No, 35137 Military Radio Truck. Other variants in the series include the German Military Truck (Kit No. 35135 is the standard cargo version), the “Koffer” (Kit No. 35136) and Military Ambulance “Krankenwagen” (Kit No.35138). As I previously reviewed the standard, first kit, I was eager to review this third kit as a later version of this ubiquitous Unimog 404.

Review Author
Andy Taylor
Published on
October 31, 2023
Company
Academy Models
Scale
1:35
MSRP
$49.00

The South Korean K2 Black Panther MBT (Main Battle Tank), produced by Hyundai Rotem, was designed to meet the Republic of Korea’s Army requirement for a three-dimensional, high speed maneuver, based on network-centric warfare. The first tanks were available in 2014. While this at first looks like a shrunken down M1 Abrams, it is a new tank design unto itself. This state-of-the-art tank features an autoloader with a sophisticated 120mm main gun system (to include smart top-attack munitions), Automatic Target Detection and Tracking System (ATDTS), network-centric warfare capabilities and operability, and both active and passive protection systems.