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Wings and Wheels Publications, of the Czech Republic, have made a name for themselves by offering high quality photo walk around books of various subjects. They also have a few modeling books in their line up. Their product range is divided into colored series and this one falls under the 'red' Special Museum Line.
For their fortieth title, they have chosen to look at the M-24 Chaffee Light Tank. Armed with a light weight 75mm gun designed for the B-25 Mitchell Medium Bomber (models G & H), the vehicle had torsion bar suspension and sloped armor. It is an attractive vehicle and I immediately bought the Italeri release when it came out in the US under the Testors label.
The book measures 9 by 9.5 inches in a landscape format with heavy card stock covers. The 72 heavy pages have a semi matte finish which reproduces details well.
This book goes a long way to helping the modeler detail the kit and make sure the aftermarket items bought are based on reality. There are 262 full color photos with several, mainly of the open engine compartment, occupying a full page to appreciate the detail. These are not counting the cover photos which are repeated within the book. Supplementing this are eight detail sketches which appear to me to be the work of Jan Martinec.
Every aspect of the tank is covered with at least one photo and the text is informative. In several cases, mention is made of items that appear to be post war modifications. The vehicles covered are the M24s at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, USA, and the Belgian Royal Army Museum. A note is made that the APG example has M41 type road wheels but sadly, a close up photo of the T72 all steel track is not included. Both vehicles also have the mounts on the transmission humps.
This is an excellent photo book on the details of these particular vehicles but I wish other survivors would have been included as well as modernized variants.
More images can be found on Wings & Wheels web site.
http://www.wwpbooks.com/index.php?lang=en&page=showbook&book=61
I received my copy from Wings & Wheels Publications. The price listed is the delivered price (shipping included in the USA) from their North American exclusive distributor: 4+ Publications North America.
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