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.

Forward

There is a trend developing with me relevant to Osprey Books. As with the last Osprey book, once I started reading it I could not put it down. The book arrived on a Friday and I started it Saturday afternoon. On Sunday afternoon I was finished.

Description

This is a 7 3/4 by 10 inch hard-cover book with 384 pages. Befitting the number of pages, the paper quality is good. This book contains many illustrations, diagrams and the photos come from public, private, commercial and museum sources. The font is not large but is very readable. Each weapon described is accompanied by several illustrations, photos and in some cases personal anecdotes about the weapon. Information “boxes” further describe the weapon’s characteristics and specifications. With all the photos, illustrations and drawings the book was a faster read than anticipated.

The British developed and employed the first full-tracked armored fighting vehicle and continued to improve the design throughout the First World War. The result was the Mark V tank in 1918.

This book, number 178 in the New Vanguard series published by Osprey Publishing, describes the development of the Mark V and Mark V* tanks from the earlier Mark IV, crew duties, combat deployment, and further improvements at the Christchurch development center. The text provides a pretty inclusive discussion of the development of the Mark V and its larger siblings the Mark V* and V**. The discussion of combat operations is basic but does give an idea of the improvement of the faster Mark V over earlier models.

Possibly one of the world’s most recognizable flying machines, the NASA Space Shuttle was the first reusable piloted spacecraft, and to this day remains unrivaled in versatility and success in that role. Having its genesis in waning years of the Apollo Program, the Shuttle evolved throughout the early 70’s, dodging the lethal pens of budget-cutters, and matured into what now is the icon of American manned spaceflight. Now, 30 years after the maiden flight, the program draws to a close in 2011.

Dr. Baker skillfully and intimately captures the history and underlying technology of the Shuttle program and its family of 6 craft in this beautiful 196-page hard-backed edition. The volume is well-written by a man with first-hand experience in the program, and packed with over 250 photos and technical illustrations – a modeler’s dream!

I would like to thank Osprey Publishing for submitting this book for review and thank IPMS/USA for allowing me to do the review.

In the latter half of 1916 the French SPAD VII and the German Albatros D III were introduced into the Great War. At the time, each represented major improvements in aircraft design and would change aerial warfare. Soon these two machines met in the skies over France and Germany. The SPAD VII was smaller, lighter and a little more maneuverable but the Albatros D III was equipped with two machine guns. In the hands of legendary pilots such as Manfred von Richthofen, Heinrich Kroll, Georges Guynemer, Rene Fonck, Raoul Lufbery each aircraft proved to be very successful.