Military Model Scene

Title: Gepard

Author: Carl Schulze

Publisher: Tankograd

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A new Militarfahrzeug Special from Tankograd covering one of the most instantly recognisable vehicles operated by the Bundeswehr during the period of the Cold War and beyond.  A self-contained weapons system with twin 35mm automatic cannons coupled to both a search and a tracking radar.  Capable of tackling both fixed and rotary wing aircraft at short and very short ranges it remained in service with the German army through to 2010.

The opening 9 pages are text in both English and German (as are the photo captions throughout the book) and this provides the development history, details of each element of the vehicle along with the service history and organisation of the Gepard units.  Thus is followed by a couple of pages of photos showing the prototypes.  This leads into the rest of the 64 page book being divided into 3 main sets of photos, of the original Gepard 1 (B2), then the 1 A1 and the 1 A2.  These include some fine sets of 1/35 scale drawings for them as well.  The bulk of the book though holds the collection of super quality photos from Carl Schultze which illustrate the service life of the Gepard over the years.  With a variety of colour schemes, markings and some fine detail, this is very much a modellers delight.  The final pages show the international use of the Gepard, as the Dutch army retired theirs and sold them to Jordan, while the Bundeswehr sold some of theirs to Brazil and others to Romania.

 

The photos are a mix of colour (136) and black and white (10) images, graphics and 2 sets of 1/35 scale drawings.  An ideal modeller's reference.

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Thanks to UK stockists Bookworld for my example.

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Robin