Pen and Sword continues to expand its TankCraft series, this time with an installment of the Tiger I and II in the last battles in the East.

The book is divided in the following sections

• Introduction
• The Eastern Front 1945
• Tiger Units of the Heer
• Camouflage and Markings
• Model Showcase
• Modelling Products
• Panzerkorps (neuer art)
• Formations raised in 1945
• Tiger Units of the Waffen-SS
• Technical Details and Modifications
• Product Contact Details

Each section is well written, and the historical information is well researched and easy to understand. The historical information is mainly focused around unit locations. Also, there are a few sections of the book where the unit composition strength (order of battle) are described. The number of period (B&W) pictures is impressive and serve not just as a historical research but as a modelling reference.

I found this interesting and decided to share...

From Wikipedia: “The Katyusha multiple rocket launcher is a type of rocket artillery first built and fielded by the Soviet Union in WWII. Multiple rocket launchers such as these deliver explosives to a target area more intensively than conventional artillery, but with lower accuracy and requiring a longer time to reload.

They are fragile compared to artillery guns, but are cheap, easy to produce, and usable on any chassis[ A Chevrolet 7107 truck, for instance]. The Katyushas of World War II, the first self-propelled artillery mass-produced by the Soviet Union,were usually mounted on ordinary trucks. This mobility gave the Katyusha, and other self-propelled artillery, another advantage: being able to deliver a large blow all at once, and then move before being located and attacked with counter-battery fire. Katyusha weapons of World War II included the BM-13 launcher, light BM-8, and heavy BM-31.

The Topdrawings series specializes in line-drawings of a given subject in each booklet. The 120th installment in this series is devoted to the always popular Armored Personnel Carrier Half-Track. This booklet covers the M3/M5/M9 versions of the half-track which were manufactured by International Harvester Company.

This booklet has 5-View line drawings for the M3A1, M3A2, M5, M5A1, M5A2, M9A1 in 1/35, 1/48 and 1/72 scale plus color profiles of M5, M9, M9A1 in French, Polish and American Service during World War II.

The booklet also includes a brief description on the overall history of the AFV. Sadly, not all line drawings have an explanation as to what was modified from the previous block series. By my personal inspection of the drawings the main differences are around the fenders and the back of the crew compartment (rounded edges instead of square ones). There might be other differences I have not noticed.

The latest title in Casemate’s Illustrated Special series is U.S. Army Signal Corps Vehicles 1941-45 by Didier Andres.

Chapters

1. Introduction
2. Evolution of the Model K
3. Radar Trucks
4. Radio Trucks
5. Multi-Purpose Vehicles
6. Specialized Vehicles
7. Specialized Trailers
8. Telephony
9. Special Cases
10. Sources

This hardbound book was of great interest to me, as my Great Uncle was with Co C, 4th Signal BN in WWII. This book follows a few others by this author on similar subjects which are also of interest to the modeler.

Value Gear is known as a supplier of high-quality detail parts for armor kits as well as other subjects. Their accessories add to the detailed interest of any armor kit.

All the parts in this kit are resin and have an amazing amount of detail in them.

These accessory items are directed to the M-4 Sherman Easy 8 tank. I say items “directed to” because there are several armor kits that these items could be used on.

Package contents

The package contains 2 bundles of logs, 2helmet ruck sack combinations, bundle of tarps and storage boxes, a large tarp and 5 bundles of blankets.

Painting Materials

The first thing I did was to wash the resin barrels in soapy water to remove any residue that may be on the pieces.

I decided for ease of handling that I would attach the items to a small piece of wood with sticky tape ready for painting.

The following are paints that I used