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In his continuing series of walkarounds, Chris “Toadman” Hughes has concentrated this volume on the Sd.Kfz. 222 armored car. The Tamiya kit needs help and the turret is the same used on the Sd.Kfz. 250/9 Alte, so this is an extra reason to get this CD.
If you are using a Windows platform, the CD should start by itself to take you on a journey of the German armored car. I prefer to look at the images in a graphics program so as to be able to manipulate them. For this, I right click on the CD drive and click on Explore. This opens a folder where I can then right click on a file, ‘open with’, and choose the graphics program. Using a graphics program will let me zoom in, change the gamma or increase the brightness of an image.
Now, let’s get back to this CD. Inside there are 331 photos with one GIF file used as a background.
The photo quality is excellent with a good resolution at 300dpi and a nice size of 1504 by 1000 pixels. This translates into clear images when printed. The pictures on this CD were taken at the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation (MVTF) also known as Jacques Littlefield’s collection.
The Autoplay feature has the user come to a table of contents which allows one to view the acknowledgement page. Here, one can find a bibliography, reference sources, and mission statement. This CD was created with the modeler in mind…and it shows.
Upon clicking on the Main Table of Contents, a new table of contents appears for different sections of the Sd.Kfz. 222, such as the turret exterior, superstructure exterior, engine compartment, suspension, gunmount and turret interior, superstructure interior, 10 round magazine, and turret measurements. Each HTML page has simple but interesting captions which point out details as well as a navigation which allows one to go to the next page, the previous page, the sections table of contents, or the main table of contents. Certainly a well thought out plan.
Not having the Tamiya Sd.Kfz. 222 kit, I do not know how much work awaits me to correct details which can be clearly seen on this CD. I do have Tamiya’s ancient Sd.Kfz. 250/9 Alte and a desire to make my own using Dragon’s Sd.Kfz. 250 Alte kit.
That last bit of information is the reason I hounded Chris into taking measurements of the turret and including them in the CD. Low and behold, he listened! Regardless of what my wife says, I am NOT invisible!
All exterior details and most interior details are covered. One should never forget that these are restorations and, as accurate as MVTF usually is, compare the photos to period photos to ensure authenticity.
Due to the possibility of degenerating CD-Rs, I would recommend to the modeler to copy the CD into a folder on their PC’s hard drive and be careful to label it clearly to avoid inadvertently sharing the images. These Photo CDs are very affordable and those wishing the images should buy their own to encourage Chris Hughes to continue.
This CD-Rom is one of many references which I am really happy to have acquired. At the asking price, it is certainly a bargain when one considers that the average ten dollar book only gives about a 125 photos at most. I highly recommend the Toadman Walkarounds for any modeler whether on a budget or not! Get your copy by visiting: http://www.toadmanstankpictures.com/
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