IPMS Number
27087
Andrew Birkbeck
Reviews By Author
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Jagdpanther vs SU-100 Eastern FrontPublished: August 21, 2014 Both German and Soviet military theorists in the years leading up to WW2 incorporated tanks into their battle plans to exploit breakthroughs in the enemy’s lines. These tanks incorporated turrets capable of rotating 360 degrees, thus making them expensive and time consuming to produce and maintain. Little thought on either side was put into providing the slower moving foot soldiers with self… more |
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Allied-Axis: The Photo Journal of the Second World WarPublished: August 20, 2014 For those readers not familiar with this series of publications, they are published by Ampersand Publishing, the firm responsible for the excellent Military Models in Review (MMiR) armor modeling magazine edited by Pat Stansell, one of my favorite magazines. As the title suggests, each issue of Allied-Axis contains a number of photo journal articles covering… more |
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Nashorn 8.8cm Pak43/1 auf Geshtzwagen III/IV (Sd.Kfz.164)Published: August 3, 2014 With the invasion of Russia in 1941 by German forces, and their encounter with hitherto unknown powerful tanks such as the T-34/76 and KV-1, the German forces clearly required a mobile anti tank weapon to help counter these Soviet tanks. In February 1942 the arms firm of Alkett came up with a tank destroyer design (Panzerjager) that utilized components of the Panzer III and Panzer IV tank, and… more |
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BAC/English Electric Lightning Pitot TubePublished: June 19, 2014 The firm Master Model, from Poland, produces a very wide range of exquisite turned-brass accessories for the aircraft, ship, and armor modeler. Their products include Pitot tubes, machine gun and cannon barrels, shells, and spent shell casings in almost every scale you can think of from 1/700 scale for ship models to 1/24 scale for aircraft models. The pitot tube under review today… more |
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M103A1 Heavy TankPublished: June 6, 2014 The USA managed to muddle through World War 2 utilizing the M4 Sherman Medium Tank as the mainstay of its armored forces. However, as the Germans introduced better armored tanks with ever more lethal main guns, the M4 Sherman became increasingly vulnerable. It wasn’t until 1945 that the US finally introduced into front line service its first Heavy Tank, the M26 Pershing with its more potent… more |
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Universal/Generic Stowage SetsPublished: May 27, 2014 This review covers the following Value Gear Universal/Generic Stowage Sets:
Judging by the blurb on their web site, Value Gear is run by an American expat who moved to… more |
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German Infantryman vs Russian InfantrymanPublished: May 16, 2014 August 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the start of mankind’s first cataclysmic world war, the disaster that shaped the world as we know it today. According to a recent article I read, there have been over 25,000 books and scholarly articles written on the “war to end all wars.” Here we have a review of one more. A number of my relatives fought in this monumental… more |
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Original Mini Cooper (California Wheels series)Published: May 11, 2014 The “original” Mini was produced from 1959 to 2000 by the British Motor Corporation and its successors, British Leyland and the Rover Group, designed by Alec Issigonis and marketed under the Austin and Morris badges. The Mini Cooper was the “Sports” option that was developed by legendary race car maker John Cooper. The key here is that not all Minis are Coopers although most Americans know the… more |
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The Men Inside The Metal: The British AFV Crewman in WW2, Vol. 1Published: May 7, 2014 Thousands of books have been published over the years covering the various armored fighting vehicles utilized by British and Commonwealth forces in the Second World War, and many of them are sitting on my bookshelves, and I am sure yours. There are also numerous books on the various battles that took place involving these vehicles and the generals, officers, and enlisted men who took part. But… more |
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Soviet T-26 Light Infantry Tank Mod. 1935Published: March 13, 2014 When I first saw this model kit as being available to review for IPMS/USA, I must admit I was ignorant of its importance in the history of tank development and warfare. Developed from the British Vickers 6 Ton tank of the late 1920s, the T-26 series of tanks was one of the most important of the 1930s, and together with the Soviet BT series, provided the backbone of Soviet tank forces in the… more |