Blindo Armata Centauro Late Version
Photo File No 2
By Daniele Guglielmi
Published by Auriga Publishing International SRL, Genova, Italy
ISBN 88-88711-15-5
A5 landscape approx 80 pages
Review by Peter Brown
If any armoured car has "atty-tood", then the Italian Centauro has "atty-tood". Mounting a 105mm gun which gives it the firepower of a 1960s main battle tanks, this eight-wheeler was introduced into Italian service in the early 1990s. Three slightly different batches have been built, the final series is longer and capable of carrying four infantrymen.
This book as the title suggests is mainly photos. There is a brief introduction and history in dual Italian and English. Photo coverage is in two sections, captions again are in both languages.
First section is 107 photos of Italian late-production vehicles fitted with stand-off armour. Coverage is comprehensive, with general views as well as many closeups. Most show the outside of the vehicle with only a few inside and some of the engine out of the vehicle.
Second part has its own brief intro then 50 photos of a Spanish VRC-105. Text and photos show the differences between Spanish and Italian vehicles with detail views as well as general shots.
Two pages list technical matters such as size and weight, there are 1:48 scale side views of each types, and a section of colour side views with a few scrap front views covering five Italian vehicles in SFOR, KFOR and "Antica Babilonia" in Iraq and three different Spanish ones.
Great coverage of the vehicle, so far only available in model form in resin from Model Victoria but the book is worth having in its own right.
Thanks to Justin at Bookworld Wholesale info@bookworldws.co.uk for sending
me a review copy.
These Photo File books are available from Blast Models