David Grummitt is an accomplished historian, author, and scale model builder. With his 2020 work, Stryker Interim Combat Vehicle: The Stryker and LAV III in US and Canadian Service, 1999-2020, he has given the modeling community a comprehensive reference for this vehicle. More than a simple photographic history, this book is tailored to the needs of an armor modeler as it provides many photographs, drawings, kit reviews, and variant details.

History

This new ICM offering represents an unusual mark in a family of Sonderkraftfahrzeug (Sd.kfz.) ‘special purpose vehicles’ fielded by the German Wehrmacht in World War II. The diminutive Sd.Kfz. 247 was an armored staff car outfitted with radio gear, intended for use by the commanders of motorcycle and motorized reconnaissance battalions. The Ausf B version represented in this kit, was one of 58 built by Daimler-Benz between 1941—1942 on afour-wheel driveheavy car chassis (s.Pkw. Type 1c). The front-mounted engine was an 8-cylinder, 3.823-litre (233.3cuin)Horch3.5petrolengine, giving it a road speed of 80km/h (50mph). It had a maximum range of 400km (250mi).

Although unarmed, its armor was intended to stop7.92-millimetre (0.312in)armor-piercingbullets at ranges over 30 meters.

This product is replacement resin tracks for any 1/72 Churchill Tank kit that you want to use the Heavy Cast tracks on.

The set includes 6 light grey resin strips of track more than enough for a single tank.

The detail is excellent and vey little flash and a breeze to cut of the runners.

The tracks are easily formed using a hair dryer to apply heat then form the track on the track rollers, wheels and Sprockets.

They are a great replacement for the rubber tracks supplied with the majority of the 1/72 scale kits on the market.

I recommend these parts are a great addition to any 1/72 Churchill tank model kit.

Thanks go to OKB Grigorov for providing this set to review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it for them.

I built a lot of Airfix armor in my youth but never had this one before. Airfix has rereleased this kit as part of their Vintage Classics series and the kit is unchanged from the original 1963 molds except for newer decals.

There are 71 parts molded in a dark green plastic but there are no clear parts. There is very little flash which is nice but there are some seam lines that will need to be cleaned up, especially if you decide to use the crew. More about them later. The color scheme is shown on the back of the box and represents a vehicle of the 6^th Armoured Division probably in Italy though it is not spelled out.

The interior is pretty basic but does include seats for 6, steering wheel and a driver. The body goes together quickly, and the fit isn’t too bad with just some minor putty needed on some seams. The wheels can be built to roll if you are very careful, but I glued them for strength.

The origin of Pen and Sword Books is closely linked with its sister company, the Barnsley Chronicle; one of the UK's oldest provincial newspapers – established in 1858 – and one of the few weeklies still in private ownership. The first books published by the company were in response to public demand following a series of articles published in the newspaper. Dark Peak Aircraft Wrecks told the story of crash sites in the Dark Peak area of the Peak District National Park, and a further weekly feature on the history of two Kitchener battalions, known as the Barnsley Pals, aroused a thirst for more information. Following on from the success of Dark Peak Wrecks and Barnsley Pals books, a number of local history paperbacks were produced along with a series of battlefield guide books. Battleground Europe proved immediately successful and as more and more titles were produced the company made the decision to launch a book publishing arm of the group.