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book Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf.J/L
AFV Super Detail Photo Book Vol.6
Published by Model Art Co.Ltd.
3-11,3Chome, Iidabashi Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo, 102-0072, Japan

96 pages colour, black & white, colour, soft cover

Review by Terry Ashley


This latest volume in the AFV Super Detail Photo book series from Model Art covers the Panzer III Ausf.J/L and just in time for those building the recent kit from Dragon (kit #6394).

The soft cover book has 96 pages with 50/50 Japanese and English text covering the history and development along with extreme close-up walkarounds of three preserved Panzer IIIs, the Kabinka Panzer III Ausf.J Early, the Tank Museum Ausf.L and Aberdeed Ausf.N. The Aberdeen vehicle is a bit of a mess with quite a lot of rust and the paint finish exposing mostly primer leaving the details shown in these photos quite hard to make out due to the lack of contrast in most cases but the other vehicles are in good condition to clearly show the details.

The first 13 pages is almost entirely text with a few wartime B&W photos and covers the development history along with 3 side view 1:35 plans of an Ausf.J Early, Ausf.L and Ausf.M and 7 colour profiles showing examples of the cam schemes carried.

The remainder of the book is devoted entirely to the close-up colour walkarounds of the 3 vehicles with each sub-section having a small text description plus the photo captions again in both Japanese and English.

Pages 22 to 28 deals with the hull front with each part having more than one photo taken from different angles for good perspective and while the photos are not big with up to 10 per page, each shows just a small detail part to good effect to give more than enough detail. Details shown include the front spare track rack, the brake cooling intakes and headlights and the brake access hatches.

Pages 18 to 24 have many detailed shots of the fighting compartment showing the front plate with and without spaced armour including overhead shots, the driver’s visor, hull machine gun mount and side vision ports plus the aerial mounting with man of the details shown from different angles for good overall coverage.

The engine deck and rear hull is covered in the next 11 pages with again shots from different angles to nicely show the details of the upper deck air outlet covers, intakes and covering grills as well as the rear smoke discharger mountings and many other excellent details. The lower exhaust outlets and idler mountings are also shown in detail as is the rear hull overhang mesh and the following 4 pages has a text description of the hull details to supplement the detailed photos.

Pages 38 to 53 are devoted entirely to the fenders showing every conceivable detail from the front to the back and in-between again with multiple shots of similar sections to fully show the details. There are also shots of the fenders taken from underneath as well as the many fender supports and associated equipment boxes, tool clips and spare wheel mountings. Included are some additional shots of the running gear and superstructure as sort of collateral detail while showing the fenders.

Pages 54 to 62 are of the Hull interior and again have superb shots of the driver’s and radio operator’s stations including the seats and driver’s controls and instrument panel to the inside visor detail and all around shots of the central fighting compartment to provide plenty of detail for anyone wanting the add an interior to their kit.

The turret exterior is next on pages 62 to 77 with more excellent shots of every detail on the turret including the mantlet with and without the spaced armour, the gun housing, front visors and side crew hatches. Five pages are devoted to the roof with many shots from different angles of the cupola with another two devoted to the rear turret bin as well as shots without the bin to show the rear wall details.

There are also 7 pages of turret interior shots again covering every detail possible from the gun mounting and gun breech to the gun controls and crew seats to the side wall and roof details as well as the lower turret basket. The is one page with 10 shots of the 50cm gun outside the vehicle to give some nice overall details of the barrel and breech as well as a further 3 pages of text to supplement the photos including info of the various different round carried.

Pages 88 to 94 cover the running gear with many superb shots of the drive sprockets, road wheels and idlers again taken from different angles to good perspective to the detail. There are also shots of the shock absorbers, hull side escape hatches as well as the tracks both in specific shots and as collateral to the running gear shots.

Finally there is a set of four view 1:35 plans of the Panzer III Ausf.J without the spaced armour on the hull and turret that should prove useful.

Conclusion:
This is another superb detail photo book again aimed directly at the modeller with the many excellent close-up detail shots with just enough text to give important and useful information. The small size of the photos doesn’t seem to matter as many have a shot of an individual detail part allowing many more photos to be included than if they were larger yet still showing all the details you would ever want.

As mentioned the shots of the Aberdeen Panzer III are a little disappointing due to the state of the vehicle not allowing the details to be easily seen but the shots of the other two vehicles more than make up for this. The only thing to watch is the different details specific to the Ausf.J, L and N models shown in the photos.

The inclusion of equal Japanese/English text adds greatly to the appeal and usefulness of the book which should be essential for anyone wanting to give their kit the full detail treatment

Highly recommended 8.5/10

Sample pages
bookbook
bookbook

See the Model Art Website for additional details
Thanks to Model Art for the review book.




Page created September 18, 2007