German armor of WWII has had, to say the least, a lot written about with many, many models coming out to support the literature. Tamiya continues to release wonderful 1/48th scale kits of German armor and the latest is a Tiger I from Early Production for the Eastern front. Inside the box, you will find a new bottom hull from another kit and decals for 2 Eastern front Tiger’s:

• No. 233, 2nd Company, 503rd Heavy Panzer Battalion
• No. 213, 2nd Company, 502nd Heavy Panzer Battalion

Looking into the box, the majority of parts are either road wheels or tracks. Tracks are straight runs with separate individual tracks to go round the front and back wheels. There are ~ 26 pieces per side for the tracks. I will say this up front, fit is super all the way around.

Villers-Bocage in Normandy has, for years, been the battle that made the reputation of Nazi Germany’s tank ace, the SS hero, Michael Wittmann. In this book the battle is analyzed in depth for the first time through detailed examination of the images taken by war photographers after the town was captured by German forces.

For the visually inspired, this is the perfect format. This volume is 40 pages of color renderings of six different Mig fighter versions, 15,17,19,21,23 and 29. Each type has one four-view layout to assist with camo patterns where applicable. The renderings are very well done with a slightly worn appearance to them. As the series title indicates, a small decal sheet is included with national markings for Polish, East German or Czechoslovakian Mig 15 or 17s in 1/72 or 1/48 scales. These have a very glossy appearance I’ve encountered with decals from Eastern European manufacturers before, so I tested them on a scrap part. You'll have to be very careful where you use these. Even with aggressive decal solvents, they didn’t want to settle into panel lines. They worked on a smooth surface and the film did not silver. For the money, I would have rather a decal sheet with a couple complete aircraft insignias including bort numbers.

This profile book starts with a short history of the Ferdinand from its inception through the general configuration of the vehicle. In addition, the book gives you the armament, thickness of the armor and the division of the interior of the vehicle, as well as when the vehicle entered service with the German Army. The last paragraph of the short intro talks about the operation of the vehicle during the Battle of Kurz. This is considered the biggest battle ever fought between AFV's. The story ends with the reasons why the vehicle was a failure. As an aside, I would not like to have been one of the crew members of this "baby" as the noise inside of the vehicle most have been quite high. I understand that the noise level inside was measure at 185 dB and that is enough to cause permanent damage to your ears.

The British, and for that matter the Allied, in general try to keep abreast of the changes on the German AFV throughout the war. The changes came from field observations and reports. The books were updated as information became available through as field observations, as well as captured machines. This was never-ending reporting as changes were continuous and the Germans improved their equipment. The book contains 39 examples of German equipment used during World War II. Although the book claims to have 39 chapters, in reality we have reports on 39 different machines.