Andrew Birkbeck
Reviews By Author
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Panzerkampfwagen II Ausf. A/B/C (Sd.Kfz.121) "French Campaign"Published: July 22, 2011 The Panzerkampfwagen II, or Pzkfw. II for short, was a light tank produced as a stop gap measure by the German armaments industry for the German Armed Forces prior to and during the early stages of WW2. What the German High Command really wanted was the more powerfully armed Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks, but German industry found producing the more complex heavier tanks in any meaningful… more |
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LVT-(A) 1Published: July 20, 2011 The LVT-(A) 1 was part of a series of US Marine Corps. and Navy amphibious assault vehicles developed during WW2. The idea for the military vehicles came from an original, civilian design by Donald Roebling, who designed his Alligator as a rescue vehicle for use in areas inaccessible to standard cars or trucks, such as swampland. LVT stood for Landing Vehicle, Tracked, and the… more |
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M4 (105mm) Sherman Howitzer Tank and Workable Track SetPublished: April 13, 2011 Editor's note: This review contains an embedded review of: Bronco Models 1/35th scale Sherman T51 Workable Track Set Kit: AB3542 MSRP: $19.95. Dragon Models Ltd. has blessed the Allied WW2 armor modeler with yet another version of the Sherman tank. This time around the modeler is presented with the 105mm howitzer version of the M4. This vehicle consisted of… more |
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Panzer IV vs. Char B1 Bis France 1940Published: April 7, 2011 Despite the use of “tanks” in the First World War, and their use in the opening stages of the Second World War in Poland, September 1939, it was in the Battle of France in May 1940 that these weapons were used for the first time on any large scale. The battles around the French towns of Stonne, Hannant, and Gembloux for the first time in history saw massive clashes, involving hundreds of tanks… more |
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JagdtigerPublished: December 5, 2010 Back in the mid 1970’s, the 1/48th armor scene was dominated by Bandai Corp., who released a series of WW2 Allied and German military vehicle kits, together with a number of figure and accessory sets. Included among these kits was a late war German Jagdtiger, a true monster of a “tank”. Despite their “state of the art” nature at the time of release, the Bandai range is now showing… more |
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AFV Modeller, #54 September/October 2010Published: November 3, 2010 To me, AFV Modeller is one of THE finest armor model magazines on the planet. Issue 54 continues their great tradition of providing the reader with well written articles of superbly built models and dioramas, beautifully photographed and printed on high quality paper, along with a nice sprinkling of informative reviews covering the latest books, kits and model accessories. This month’s… more |
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Sturmgeschutz III: Variants, Modifications, Technical Drawings, Volume 2Published: October 11, 2010 As the title states, this is Volume 2 of History Facts’ two part history of the Sturmgestchutz III. Volume One, according to the publisher’s web site, covers the history of the vehicle in both written text and photographs/drawings, the bulk of the pages devoted though to written text. This volume has already been reviewed here on the IPMS/USA web site. Volume Two, the subject of this review, “… more |