Ampersand's latest book continues to expand on their Visual History format, as this edition follows up with David Doyle's "251 Half-Track: A Visual History of the German Army's Sd.Kfz 251 Armored Half-Tracks". Ampersand got their start in 1993 when Pat Stansell distributed a free issue of Military Miniatures in Review at the IPMS Nationals in Atlanta. Ampersand joined forces with HobbyLink Japan in 2008 and have continued to expand their military AFV publications ever since.

True to the Visual History Series name, the focus of this book is on the visual, detailing the development and service history of the German Army's Kübelwagen and Schwimmwagen. This is slightly expanded from Ampersand's standard 120 page version of their Visual History format, and it runs 136 pages packed with large, clear photographs.

David Doyle starts with a one page introduction and then launches into the photographs, allowing the pictures (along with excellent captions) to tell the story. The "In Service" chapters are largely period photographs in black and white, followed by color photographs of restored vehicles.

The cover photo is a color nice shot of a Type 82 Kübelwagen and a Type 166 Schwimmvagen at a 2015 Kübel Korps reunion. I counted 290 well-captioned photographs, 245 in color.

The Table of Contents includes the following:

• Introduction
• Type 82 Kübelwagen in Service [Page 6]
• 1940 Type 82 Kübelwagen [Page 33]
• 1941 Type 82 Kübelwagen [Page 43]
• 1942 Type 82 Kübelwagen [Page 48]
• 1943 Type 82 Kübelwagen [Page 53]
• Kübelwagen Ambulance [Page 69]
• 1944 Type 82 Kübelwagen [Page 79]
• Kübelwagen MG Mounts
• 1945 Type 82 Kübelwagen [Page 89]
• Schwimmwagen in Service [Page 96]
• 1943 Type 166 Schwimmwagen
• 1944 Type 166 Schwimmwagen [Page 134]

This is a gorgeous soft-bound book and is well worth the money. David Doyle provides lots of detailed photographs with the majority in color. Luckily, there are several 1/35 kits of the Type 82 Kübelwagen on the market: the old Tamiya, the new Tamiya, the Bego /Hasegawa/ DML/ Tasca/ CyberHobby, and the Tomy/Peerless/Italeri/Bilek/Zvezda/Revell-Germany kit. You will also find Type 82 Kübelwagens in 1/72, 1/48, 1/24, and 1/16. The kit situation for the Schwimmvagen is similar with kits available in the same scales as the Kübelwagen. Highly recommended!

My thanks to The Ampersand Group, Inc. and IPMS/USA for the chance to review this great book.