First off, I’d like to apologize to Dragon USA and IPMS for the extended delay in getting this kit review completed. My sincerest apologies go out to both.

The Sexton II was a British SPG, based on the Grizzly tank hull and carrying the 25 pounder artillery gun. It was produced in Canada by Montreal Locomotive Works from 1943-1945.

The Kit and Construction

The Dragon kit is a very nicely detailed replica of this SPG, with many small extras that lend greatly to the end product. One very nice features of this kit is that there are many, many extra parts leftover once the Sexton II itself is completed. These would be great for the diorama builder or to throw on this and other vehicles.

Early in the 1960s West Germany and the US agreed to bolster the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tank forces by beginning the process of replacing their aging fleet of tanks with more modern M48A1/A2s. In all around 150 M48A1s and 100 M48A2s seem to have been sold to Israel during this time. It is a little unclear from the resources that I have when the upgrades exactly started to these M48A1/2s but the intent was to upgrade them to the M48A3 specs by replacing the gasoline engine with a more reliable diesel power plant, improved communications equipment, and the lowering of the command turret’s profile. They also began swapping out the original 90mm main cannon with the British 105mm L7 from the Centurion. Some of these upgrades seem to have started before the outbreak of hostilities leading up to the 6 Day War in 1967 but it is unclear from my references to what extent they were completed and how many fully upgraded Magach 3s served during the 6 Day War.

Nicholas Straussler, a Hungarian designer living in Britain between the world wars, designed several armoured cars for Britain. He was eventually able to come to an agreement with the Weiss Manfred factory of Csepel, Budapest to produce armored vehicles for use in his home country. The most popular design, the Csaba, named for Attila the Hun’s son, was based on the Alvis AC2 armored car.

After successful trials, the Hungarian Army ordered approximately 100 vehicles in 1940. About 20 of these were used in combat, with the remaining vehicles seeing service as command or reconnaissance vehicles.

The Csaba had a 20 mm cannon and an 8 mm machine gun fixed on a centrally mounted turret, a crew of three, and was powered by a 90hp 8 cylinder Ford engine.

Background

During World War Two, the Allies encountered German tanks with heavier armor and more powerful guns than those the Allies possessed. The US initiated development and testing of heavy tanks in 1943 as the armor on the M26 was not thick enough to stand against the latest German guns. The war ended before the US Army could deploy a heavy tank in Europe, but a need was recognized for a heavy tank to counter the deployment of the IS-3 by the USSR. The T43, mounting a 120mm main gun and a new V-12 engine was selected as the new heavy tank. The T43 became the basis for the M103, America's only operational heavy tank.

The book explores the history of both the Kubelwagen and the Schwimmwagen in photos.

The visual history series of book mixes rare and visual stunning archival imagery with pictures of restored vehicles.

The book has some extremely interesting and diverse photos of both vehicles. A number of photos that I had never seen before made this a very fascinating book. I could spend hours looking at the pictures that are worth a million words! There are some wonderful pictures showing captured versions – idea for model inspiration.

The pictures depict many versions of the vehicles and there is some very detailed walk around photos included. The close up pictures are great at showing the details of the vehicles.

I whole heartily recommend this book to everyone with an interest in these vehicles; it has great reference photos. It is a great book for modelers.

I look forward greatly to others in the series, especially if they are by David Doyle.