Local PBS affiliate filming at the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation

Last week, the local PBS affiliate, KTEH, visited the MVTF to film a special show for Veteran's Day.  For this show, the Panther and the M551 Sheridan were brought outside.  The Sheridan was driven around with the show's host riding in it.  While not driven, the Panther was displayed in the museum courtyard.  Besides the Panther and Sheridan, the M4A1 Sherman and Kettenkrad were also featured in the filming.  The episode is due to air in the San Francisco Bay Area on Wed, 10NOV10 @ 7pm.  Here's a link to the show's blog:  "This is US" MVTF episode

Below are some pics of the Panther and M551.

New additions to the library

During the past 6-8 weeks, I've managed to obtain some new additions for my reference library, including 3 books from Osprey, a new Squadron Walk Around, the latest Allied-Axis and a large hard cover.

First up is Spanish Civil War Tanks is the latest New Vanguard title from Steven Zaloga.  It provides a good background on armored vehicles and their operations during the Spanish Civil War. I think it's a good place to start for anyone interested in this conflict.  I purchased this book at Amazon.



Maginot Line 1940 by Marc Romanych and Martin Rupp is #218 in the Osprey Campaign series.  I found the book to be very interesting as it explained many details about the Maginot Line that I was unaware of including the types of armament used by the fortifications and the battles that took place around them.  As a result of reading this book, I'm going to be looking for more English language publications about the Maginot Line.  This book was purchased at my local hobby shop.

Although I am primarily an armor modeller with some aircraft work, I do have an interest in naval warfare.  I bought Osprey's New Vanguard 145, British Submarines of World War I by Innes McCartney on a complete whim about 5 weeks ago.  This book is my first experience reading anything about British submarine warfare, WW I or otherwise.  I quite enjoyed the book and was completely amazed by how primative these boats were.  I'm used to reading about WW II sub warfare and compared to the WW I boats, the later pig-boats were luxury liners!  This is an enjoyable book so now I'll have to pick up more of the WW I stuff from Osprey.



Allied-Axis 25 is a quarterly photo journal published by Ampersand Publishing.  The usual format features several photo essays on various pieces of World War II equipment.  The photo essays consist of wartime and if available, preserved examples of the subject vehicle/equipment.  Issue 25 is no different.  Included are articles on the M19 40mm GMC, Panther Ausf. A, Ford Bomb Truck, GE 60" searchlight, SdKfz 222 armored car, and Ford Fordor Staff Car.  David Doyle is the primary editor and writer of the articles in this issue.  And just to keep things open here, I do have a personal stake in this one as I wrote the article on the Panther Ausf. A.  My thanks to David for my sample of this issue.

The latest Walk Around from Squadron is Valentine Tank Walk Around by David Doyle.  This 88 page book follows the latest Squadron Walk Around format.  With the exception of half a dozen b&w wartime photos, all pictures are in color.  Several line drawings and color plates are also included.  About half of the photos are of a Mk III preserved in Virginia.  The rest of the coverage includes a Mk VI in Canada and a Mk IX in the U.K.  Also included are 5 photos of a DD tank preserved in the U.K.  The timing of this book is perfect in light of the new Valentine kits that have just been released.  Thanks again to David for my sample copy.

 Last but not least, Patton's Third Army in World War II by Michael Green & James D. Brown is a real nice book for those interested in the 3rd Army and General Patton.  This is a large, coffee table type book.  It's 280+ pages are loaded with photos and maps, some commonly seen, some not.  Scattered throughout the book are short bios on commanders who served under Patton and excerpts from some of Patton's writings.  I've read through the first 50 pages or so and have not been disappointed.  Thanks to Michael Green for providing me with my sample copy.  Mike has been a friend of mine for several years so keep that in mind if you read anything I write about his books.

Getting caught up on things.

Better late than never, here's the rest of my preview of the new Tasca M4A3E8.

The kit shares several sprues with the earlier M4A3(76).  These can be seen in my preview of that kit.   However, Tasca made some subtle changes to the upper hull as seen in the photos below:

Tasca gives you a real nice looking late model upper hull in their new E8.  Along with the changes noted in the photos, the weld beads are of slightly different pattern compared to those in their earlier kit. 

The turret is the later T23 type with the oval loader's hatch.  A foundry logo is cast above the pistol port.  The logo is not present on the earlier kit.



Other changes when compared to the earlier kit are shown in the photo below:

The suspension parts are shown below.  I haven't done any test fitting yet so I won't make any comments about that.



Another new set of sprues include the fenders while the sprue with the lower hull includes the muzzle brake.

Based on the sprues alone, the kit looks like another winner from Tasca!  I haven't started either kit yet as I need to practice a bit first.  Time to pull an old Tamiya M3 Lee out for some painting practice.



Another Sherman from Tasca!

Back in June, I received the then new 1/35 Tasca M4A3(76).  Quite a very nice kit!  Well, this past Friday, what was waiting for me when I got home from work?  Well, it was this:

The newest Tasca Sherman, the M4A3E8 w/T66 tracks!  Quite a pleasant surprise.  Anyways, it was a very busy weekend so I didn't have much time to go over the kit.  I'll have a preview of it posted here in the next day or so along with comparison photos of it and Tasca's earlier M4A3(76).  Stay tuned....

New 1/48 Comet kit and 1/48 M12 155mm GMC kit

1/48 armor modellers have a couple of new kits to look forward to.  Tim Perry, who runs Fighting 48th has been showing off some of the masters for his new resin 1/48 A34 Comet.  It looks pretty damn nice so far:

No price has been announced for it yet, but based on Tim's previous releases, it'll be well worth whatever he charges for it.

Another new kit, actually a conversion for the Tamiya M4 Shermans comes from Olivier Saint-lot who runs the Gaso.Line webstore.  Olivier has been making 1/48 resin kits and conversions for a long time and his latest is a M12 155mm GMC conversion. 

It too looks real nice.  For those outside of Europe, the price is around 27euros plus shipping.  Both of these kits are going on my Christmas and birthday lists.

Some things just don't work out as planned!

Well, here it is Thursday, 12AUG10.  This Saturday, I was planning on heading down to So.Cal to visit TankLand, which is a pretty cool military vehicle museum in South El Monte.  I was planning on spending the day down there, taking pictures and just plain goofing off.  Then, on Sunday, I was going to head to the General George S. Patton Museum in Chiriaco Springs, CA to do the same thing.  Of course, things just aren't going to turn out that way.

Yesterday, my wife had to take her car into the shop.  $850.00 later, it was set free.  Needless to say, that took care of the Toadman's weekend.  Luckily, I hadn't paid for anything in advance.  Combined with work on my car in June and my cat getting hit by my daughter's car, it's been a rather expensive summer for me.

So, instead of going to So. Cal, I'll be back at the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation this weekend giving tours.  Along with that, I'll finally be getting some more model work done along with a website update.  I guess things will work out eventually.  So.Cal can wait until October, unless of course something else goes wrong....

SabIngaMartin Publications strikes again!

Well, it looks like Dr. Robert Manasherob is on a roll!  Announced last week is his latest in the Lion and Lioness of the Line series on Israeli Shermans.  His newest one is Vol. 6, Early IDF Shermans

I think this makes 3 or 4 new titles for him this year!  Like the rest, it should be a winner!  I hope to have my copy in the next 10-14 days.  Time to get out all of those Sherman kits that have been stashed away.

This title along with the rest of Dr. Manasherob's book are available through his website:  SabIngaMartin Publications.  When you order, tell him the "Toadman" sent you!