Thanks to Jake of Reid Air Publications and to IPMS USA for giving me the opportunity to review this astonishing book.

I do not use the term astonishing lightly. I have quite a few built-up F-18A and later models in my collection, dating back to a highly modified and corrected Testors F-18 in 72-scale, ca. 1982. I swore at the Italeri kit, released and built about 9 or so years ago in 48-scale. I started research on an EA-18G recently. Every single question, concern, and nagging detail consideration on any Super Hornet kit I’ve wrestled with is answered by this book. A modeler in research mode will find answers less in the chapter text, but more in a very thoroughly documented or captioned series of photographs, often referencing back to page numbers in the text. Reproductions of some tech data are included, for example, weapons and stores loadout charts.

Short History:

When WWII broke out in 1939, Germany relied heavily on the 3.7cm PaK 36 antitank gun. However, this puny weapon was no match for armored vehicles like the French Char B1 or British Matilda II. One solution was to mount the more powerful Skoda 4.7cm PaK(t) gun on the chassis of the Panzer I Ausf. B. This had a double advantage – a more capable antitank weapon was created, and it permitted an extended use of obsolete Panzer I tank chassis. Called the Panzerjäger I, this new vehicle was Germany’s first of many tank destroyer designs. Between March 1940 and February 1941, 202 such Panzerjäger I vehicles were converted in time for service in the Battle of France, in North Africa, and in the invasion of Russia. By the end of 1943, the Panzerjäger I had been phased out. The Skoda 4.7cm PaK(t) gun was mounted in an open-topped Panzer I fighting compartment with its original gun shield still affixed.

This book is the second of a series on German armor in World War II. These are written specifically for the AFV modeler. The subject of the book is the Tiger I. It is written entirely in Japanese with English subtitles on some of the pictures and illustrations.

The book begins with an illustration of the driving mechanism and part of the transmission. It is taken from the German manual on the Tiger I. These pictures are without English subtitles. Next the book shows us 18 color plates of the Tiger I from the early version to the late version. These illustrate camouflage patterns and markings. These are very good color renderings in fact. The title of each drawing is in English.

After the color plates, there is a short section, once again entirely in Japanese, which appears to discuss the formation of Tiger units. After the Tiger unit part is a small comic book like section covering some of the great Tiger commanders.