ARMY INTELLIGENCE: Armor Modeler's Subject Reference
Guide 1997
by Michael Benolkin
| Catalogue No.: |
TacAir Publications 1997, ISBN 1-891344-04-8 |
| Review Type: |
Book Review |
| Rating: |
Highly Recommended |
Reviewed by Cookie
Sewell
Contents:
|
62 pages |
| Price: |
US$14.95 |
| Advantages: |
First book of its type to see the light of day; well
organized, straight and to the point |
| Disadvantages: |
Straight listing may not appeal to some modelers |
| Recommendation: |
A standby on the shelves of ALL armor modelers! |
One of the favorite
buzzword phrases in the Army today is "getting one's arms around the problem".
This usually entails very thorny situations or new projects, but it also applies to the
situation most armor modelers have. Is there a kit of an XYZ? In what scale? Are there
accessories or after-market parts for it? Are there good decals for SGT Schmidlap's tank?
This slim but highly effective little volume answers many of those questions. Written (or
collated) by Mike Benolkin, a armor fan who I have known since we were both staff
sergeants in Berlin (he an SSgt, me an SSG) it is a very trim and succinct list of all the
kits and items available at one time on a specific subject vehicle.
Items are correlated by type of item (i.e. kit, resin conversion, decal, detail parts,
etc), manufacturer, manufacturer's reference number, scale (from 1/76 to 1/9; no HO or
smaller items are listed) , and manufacturer's name for
the item. The listing is quite thorough and combines many different items under one
heading, which makes it easier to see if the parts you want or decals you need for a
specific model are available.
One thing which would help is the year that the item came out or was initially available,
as many of the detail sets are from cottage industries and short runs. Likewise, some
resin or mixed media kits are not separated out from styrene plastic ones.
Overall, it is a good effort and one which is being updated on at least a yearly basis.
Those of you with AMPS website visits know that we have posted a number of kit listings
with reviews attached, but there are none of the overall items listed as they are here.
Thanks to Mike for the review sample of the Guide. For those of you interested in
obtaining a copy, Mike's website is at http://tacair-press.com/tacair.html
or "Snail Mail" address is TacAir Publications, PO Box 90933, Albuquerque, NM
87199-0933.
Review by Cookie Sewell, April
1998.
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Page Created 05 April, 1998.
Last updated 22 July, 2003.
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