Book Review

Modeling WWII Light Tanks and Armored Vehicles

Published by AK Publications

Reviewed by Glen Broman

Those of you that share my love of John Wayne movies will remember the classic line from the movie “The Green Berets”, when SGT Provo walks into John Wayne’s office trying to get a slot on the unit’s deployment to Vietnam.  John Wayne says “I understand you’re a heavy weapons specialist”. SGT Provo responds with “not if I can find a light one sir”.  I can relate to this as a tanker.  I spent most of my time on tanks that weighed in the vicinity of 50 tons or more, but I did two tours on the Sheridan, a 17 ton Sports Tank.  Light is good, the parts weigh less, you can go places normal tanks fear to tread (see what I did there?), and you can get out of trouble as fast as you got into it.   Light is good.  When I saw this book on the Last Cavalry stand at the IPMS Roscoe Turner show I picked it up.

There are builds on eleven tanks by ten authors.  There is some serious firepower in the authors list, with names such as Wilder, Gazquez, Kim, Paojinda, Orczyc-Misialek, Lawler, Pulinckx, Lam and Young.  The subjects are equally impressive, The Hetzer, M3 Stuart, Vickers Mark VIIB, Panzer IIF, BT-7, Semovente, Panzerbefehlswagen I, Stridsvagen M/38, Type 95 Ha Go, M22 Locust with the T-40 bringing up the rear.  Yummy. 

This is a softcover book with 123 pages and full color.  The quality of the photos, text and captions are excellent.  Each article starts with a short vehicle history and a short description of the kit and a few build notes.  There are only a few photos dedicated to the builds themselves, the meat and potatoes is the description of the painting and weathering.  The contents of each build are the standard step by step format.  I find this an excellent way to learn new techniques, or generate some ideas to develop your own style.  Having a highly retentive and unoriginal mind, the way these projects flow really helps get me into something new.  I’m working on a Semovente, and I’m just at the point of starting the exterior paint and I’ll be consulting this book as I work through the painting and weathering process.    

One of the more frightening things I noticed is that I have well over half of these kits in my stash, and several in more than one scale.  Hopefully this book also motivates me to get a few more built and painted.   As one would expect from AK Publishing, the paint and weathering products are AK, but the techniques are all adaptable to other paints and products, as well as tanks that are heavy, if that’s what trips your trigger.  This is a handy book to have on your shelf to refer back to, or guide you on a project that you want to try something new on.  I would say that this book is likely more beneficial to the average to experienced modeler looking to expand his or her skills. 

If light tanks of World War II are your thing, I highly recommend this book.  I purchased my sample from Last Cavalry.  They are available at www.lastcavalry.com along with a great selection of paints and weathering products.