Military Model Scene
Robin Buckland's
Foden, - British Cold War Military Trucks...
...a new British Special No9026 from Tankograd
Title: Foden
Author: Carl Schulz
Publisher: Tankograd
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The latest in Tankograd's series of British Specials tackles the Foden truck used by the British Army, entering service in the late 1970s and many soldiering on until around 2007 when the ones is Afghanistan were replaced by new MAN trucks. The Foden was acquired to replace many aging trucks from the 1950s which were simply getting worn out. One of the prime advantages of it was that the truck was essentially a civilian truck which was 'militarised', but where parts were interchangeable which also helped keep costs down. The Low Mobility 16ton load carriers were used to carry supplies, especially ammunition, along conventional road networks in the UK and in Europe. These used an 8x4 arrangement and this chassis was also used with the DROPS system, for tippers and a 22,500 litre fuel tanker. These are covered in the early sections and are accompanied by a good selection of good clear photos to illustrate the variants. Next a slightly smaller version, a 6x4 chassis with a 12,00 litre tanker
That brings us to the Medium Mobility 6x6 variant, used for both Gun Tractors and Limbers used with the towed 155mm FH70 howitzer. Again, a useful selection of photos will assist modellers if you are building the small scale models from Kingfisher Miniatures. These are followed by the Recovery variant, on the same 6x6 chassis. The final sections in this 64 page softcover book deal with the Improved Medium Mobility 8x8, very recognisable due to the large 20.5 R25 Michelin XL tyres. This version is used with the DROPS system flat racks and, in a closing section of the book, the COBRA (COunter Battery RAdar) system.
Each section of the book begins with 2 or 3 pages of well detailed text on the design and use of the type, and is provided in both English and German languages, as are all the photo captions. If you have an interest on British Military trucks of the Cold War era, and particularly handy for modellers, this one is packed with helpful detail and nice clear photos, which are a mixture of black and white and colour images.
My thanks to Justin at Bookworld for this copy, the main stockist for the Tankograd series here in the UK
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Robin