Military Model Scene

A 70-page soft-cover landscape format book from Ammo of Mig Jiminez which provides a very good collection of reference photos that will go perfectly with their 1/72 kit of the T-54B. A Visual Modellers Guide authored by Peter Robinson, a veteran tank commander of the Kings Royal Hussars who has had personal experience with the T-55.
The opening 7 pages are text, which provides the background to both the Russian built T-54 and the Chinese licence built version, the Type 59. Pages 10 - 55 are then filled with a super collection of colour images which illustrate every external detail of the vehicles, the bulk of which focus on two museum examples, one a Polish built version and the other is one on display in Vietnam, and in Vietnamese markings. There are all sorts of little details that modellers can pick up on in these pictures, such as the single marker lights on the one in Vietnam, compared to double fittings on the Polish example: or perhaps the fuel lines on the tanks along the mudguards, which use yellow coloured pipes. Pages 56-64 have a series of internal pictures of the fighting compartment. Plenty of detail and heavily weathered as these are not in 'active' tanks. Everything is rounded off in pages 65-69 with a useful series of colour profile artwork showing a good variety of camouflage and marking schemes used on the T-54 in service with a number of operators.
This book is a natural reference to have beside you if you are building the equally excellent 1/72 kit of the T-54B which Ammo have also got in their range, a model which builds very nicely indeed. The T-54 and Type 59 tanks were built in large numbers and have been in service with a lot of countries around the world. Many are still in use. It is a popular subject among modellers so I am sure this will prove to be a popular book.

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My thanks to Ammo of Mig Jiminez for our review copy.

 

Robin