Osprey's books on modelling AFV's

Hi Larry. Yes, I have the Panther, Kingtiger, SDKFZ 251, IS 2, and Confederate Ironclad. For the most part hit and miss. The Kingtiger was a disappointment. The Panther and Confederate Ironclad books were very informative. Initially, I bought the armor books for the line drawings. Some of the Squadron books are better. Still, it doesn't hurt to have too many references.

They're OK, but I can certainly see why you might be disappointed with them. Instead of detailed descriptions on how to build or modify a particular vehicle, they just "Cliff Note" the whole thing and expect you to fill in the gaps. Kind of a general overview instead of an actual "How to" modeling guide as they claim on the cover.

QUOTE: Originally posted by leopold They're OK, but I can certainly see why you might be disappointed with them. Instead of detailed descriptions on how to build or modify a particular vehicle, they just "Cliff Note" the whole thing and expect you to fill in the gaps. Kind of a general overview instead of an actual "How to" modeling guide as they claim on the cover.

mark956

I have the M3 Stuart one. It's OK, haven't read it all the way through yet. At a glance and from spot reading, it seems to show models built with kits that might be hard to find (and it's a pretty new book) which was kind of weird. Though you can find anything if you look hard enough I suppose.

I have the tiger 1, the T-34, the Pz III and the Pz IV books. Definitely give the Pz IV book a miss. There is only one Pz IV built in the book. Of the 4 books, the T-34 book was the only one that I gained much from. I would say the books are good for beginning modelers to get ideas and there are some good pics of nicely finished models. Other than that, don’t expect much from them.

Picked up the Pz III. Was so let down I didn't get any others.

I bought most of them when I was a member of the Military Book Club. The Basic, Intermediate and Advanced modeling compendums were part of the initial club purchase so I got them dirt cheap. They carry some of the vehicle ones in hardbound double issues called Scale Armor and Scale Armor II. The Sherman one is OK, but the MMiR/Ampersand Sherman book is better.