Every once in a while, you come across a book, a picture or some other reference, and you are impressed durably. Many of us fondly remember the sense of wonder we felt, as kids, when we first laid eyes on Sheperd Paine’s books, for instance. More recently, I was literally floored when I acquired Michael Rinaldi’s Tank Art series of books. As it turned out, these books had an immense impact on me as a modeler – and still very much do. Not only did they significantly contributed to the array of techniques I now use, but there was a sense of sharing at its core on what the hobby means, I dare say, in a more spiritual sense.
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The Leopard 1 in Danish Service
For some reasons, I’ve been acquiring a massive quantity of new reference books during the pandemic. Among those, I was fortunate enough to secure a copy of the rather sizable new study on Danish Leopard 1s, The Leopard 1 in Danish Service, from Kim Hartvig Sørensen and published by, you guessed it, Trackpad Publishing. That book sold out surprisingly fast, but I am told it has now been reprinted.
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Danish Leopard 1A5DK1
This review was originally published on Track-Link in 2016.
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Trackpad Publishing recently released a book by author Kenneth Ostergaard about the Danish Leopard 1A5DK1 as part of their Model Foto Focus series. The Leo 1A5DK1 is the last version of Denmark’s Leopard 1 program and was deployed within IFOR.
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The Sherman Design and Development
This review was originally published on Track-Link in 2013.
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For many modelers, building solid references is often the most engaging part of a project. Learning about a particular vehicle or line of vehicles’ technical and operational history is for some a hobby in itself. While a frequent issue with this is not finding much on a given subject, in some cases the problem is that there is more out there than we can possibly hope to acquire, often leaving us wondering what to get.
In 2013, Ampersand Publishing released Son of Sherman vol 1, The Sherman Design and Development, A complete and illustrated description of the U.S. M4 Sherman tank series in the Second World War, which will be the subject of this review. There were rumors back them about a possible vol 2, The Sherman Modeler’s Guide, A complete and illustrated description of modeling the Second World War U.S. M4 Sherman tank.
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Biber Leopard 1 Bridgelayer
This review was originally published on Track-Link in 2016.
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Trackpad publishing recently released a book on the Leopard 1-based Biber bridgelayer vehicle, by author Kenneth Ostergaard, which will be the subject of the present review. I believe this is the third book (ISBN 978-0-9928425-7-4) of the Model Foto Focus series from Trackpad. (I reviewed the first book of the series on Canadian Leopard 2s in Afghanistan here). Both books left me largely impressed for the quality of their pictures and the coverage of their subjects, and this new book is no different.
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Canadian Leopard 2A6M CAN in Afghanistan
This review was originally published on Track-Link in 2015
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Trackpad publishing has recently release a new reference book on the Leopard 2A6M by authors Anthony Sewards and Rick Saucier in a new series of book called Model Foto Focus. The book exact title is “Canadian Leopard 2A6M CAN in Afghanistan”.
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Leopard AS1 Leopard in Australian Service
This review was originally published on Track-Link in 2015.
Trackpad Publishing recently released “Leopard AS1 – Leopard in Australian Service” (ISBN 978-0-9928425-3-6) by Australian military historian and author Michael K. Cecil, who already visited the AS1 subject in the past in Battlegroup Leopard, among other publications. He also previously collaborated with Trackpad Publishing’s Michael Shackleton, for he wrote the better part of the chapter dealing with the Australian Leopard 1 in the later’s excellent third volume of the Leopard 1 Trilogy.
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Vlieland Leopards – End of the Line
This review was originally published on Track-Link in 2014. Note that the book is now unfortunately out of print.
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An Art Book about Armor.
The subject of the present review is not your usual modelling book. It’s not about modelling techniques, nor about AFV technologies. Vlieland Leopards, from Dutch professional photographer Dirk Bruin, is a small picture book dealing with a pretty eerie subject: Leopard 1s used as hard targets for ground and air-to-ground practice shooting on Vlieland, an island from the Wadden island archipelago. The book is the second title to be published by Trackpad Publishing, the same guys who published Dutch Leopard 1, of which I did a review.
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Dutch Leopard – Armoured Fist of the Royal Dutch Army
This review was originally published on Track-Link in 2014.
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Trackpad Publishing is a new publishing house and an associate of The Leopard Club, an online magazine devoted to modelling the Leopard 1 and 2. Dutch Leopard – Armoured Fist of the Royal Dutch Army, by author Willem Smit in collaboration with the Netherlands Institute of Military History (NIMH), is the first book to be published by Trackpad Publishing and will be the subject of the present review. It was originally published in Dutch language in 2008.
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Tank Art Volume 4
The present review was initially published on modeling website Track-Link in 2015 and deals with the fourth volume of Rinaldi Studio Press Tank Art series, by author Michael Rinaldi. The first three volumes dealt with Axis, Allies, then Modern subject, in that order, and the fourth volume marks the return of the series to axis subjects.
(Note: all four Tank Art books have now been re-edited, but I haven’t seen them, so the reviews you see here are all based on 1st editions).
The Other Means 