The “Camera On” series focuses on ‘lived in’ images of a specific subject. The subject in this case is 3.7 cm Flak 18/36/37, but the real value of this book is the images of its crew, their uniforms -sometimes even in civilian clothes-, the locations where the pictures were taken, the equipment -and litter!- around the gun emplacement.

The book is divided in the following sections

• Foreword, with high level description of the weapon and its history
• 3.7 cm Flak 18
• 3.7 cm Flak 36
• Tun antiaerean Rheinmetall calibru 37 mm model 1939
• 3.7 cm Flak 37

Each section has dozens of pictures, some of them show a close up of the weapon (with very good detail for your model), most of them show the crew around the weapon (with very high value for a vignette as it show all the ‘stuff’ around a gun emplacement).

The Topdrawings series specializes in line-drawings of a given subject in each booklet. The 92^nd installment in this series is devoted to the Medium Tank M3 Lee/M3 Grant as known in UK service.

This booklet has 4-View for the M3A1 early, mid and late production, M3A2 with welded hull, M3A2 with GM 6046 engine (modified rear part), M3A3 with welded hull, M3A3 late production series, M3A4 with Chrysler engine, M3A4 final production series, M3A5 with GM engine, and the M3 Grant (UK) modifications.

In addition to the B&W line drawings, you also get 11 color profiles, in some cases with multiple views (left side, right side, etc) of the same vehicle.

The booklet also includes a brief description on the overall history of the AFV and each line drawing has an explanation as to what was modified from the previous block series.

If you are looking for detailed drawings of the M3 Lee or M3 Grant, this book has it all.

OKB Grigorov has provided a very unusual kit in the form of a British post war Paper Tank. The Nuffield Assault Tank A.T.1. Which was one of 9 various of a design proposed by Nuffield. As a Paper tank it was only a design and never left the drawing board.

Included is:

• 128 resin parts
• one photoetch sheet
• one instruction sheet

The detail quality is great; The parts are very delicate that need careful removal from the resin bases. The instructions need a lot of experience to work with to get a great model.

Some of the parts were a little twisted but can be corrected if you’re careful.

The assembly is good but needs a little patience and time to get the running gear built correctly. Also, the resin tracks are very fragile so this needs a lot of accuracy to get them fitting and looking right. There were a few gaps that needed filling.

I would like to have seen some small decals.

This is a book that provides you details of how to finish and weather military ground vehicle models. It has detailed chapters on 10 different and varied model kits.

The detailed chapters are very well illustrated with very well-presented photographs. The methods and materials used are very well shown and will help move your knowledge and work to a new level.

I found this book very helpful and used some of the ideas already on my latest build of an early Tiger 1. The methods depicted and described are great and will lead to better finishes. The only criticism I have is that it could have been improved with more written descriptions with each photo shown.

I recommend this book to everyone whatever level of modeling you are at.

Thanks go to MMP Books for providing this book to review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it for them.

Bottom Line Up Front

Tamiya breaks new ground with the first large production injection T-55 in 1/48 scale. Tamiya already has an impressive line of excellent 1/48 scale armor kits and this will likely prove to be one of their most popular offerings. This kit delivers everything we have come to expect from Tamiya; excellent detail, brilliant engineering and interesting subjects.

History

From the mid-1950s, the T-55 was the main tank of the Soviet Army, armies of the Warsaw Pact countries, and many others. T-55s have been involved in many of the world's armed conflicts since the later part of the 20th century. The T-55's first appearance in the West around the period of the 1950s (then the beginning of the Cold War) spurred the United Kingdom to develop a new tank gun, the Royal Ordnance L7, and the United States to develop the M60 Patton. The T-55 series remain in use by up to 50 other armies worldwide, some having received sophisticated retrofitting.