Military Model Scene

Title: M915 (Early Variants)

Author: Carl Schulze

Publisher: Tankograd

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A new American Special from Tankograd covering another of my favourite Cold War trucks, the US M915.  If you have an interest in military trucks, this is a good one, especially so for the modeller.  The M915 was largely a series of articulated tractor units, but there were also some specialised truck versions as well.  They first entered service with the US Army as far back as 1979 and had a planned life of 20 years.  The fact that many remain in service long past that date is a testament to their success.

This 64-page softcover book gives us the development and service story of the M915 and this text is provided in both English and German, as are all the captions for the multitude of photos.  The sections then give us the details of the Line Haul, Light and Medium tractors, along with the Dump truck (M917), Bitumen Tanker/Distributor (M918) and Concrete Mobile-Mixer (M919).  The tractor units are also shown with an interesting variety of trailers, including flatbeds, containers and low-loaders.  There is also a section showing the tractor unit fitted with Crew Protection Kits (CPK) and a couple converted to Gun Trucks.

With a 108 colour photos plus another 15 B&W and some drawings it is an ideal reference for modellers in particular.  With colours from plain Olive Drab, to MERDC schemes, NATO schemes and Desert Sand there is plenty of variety.  As there are some very nice models of the M915 available, in 1/87 from Trident Models and in 1/35 from Trumpeter, this helps provide some great references whatever scale you prefer.

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Thanks to UK stockists Bookworld for my example.

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Robin