One thing I respect about Nuts & Bolts is that they are ready to revisit earlier books on vehicles they find new information on and don’t seem concerned if other publishers have touched the subject. I had bought the original many years ago when it first came out. It is still a very good volume so I was interested to see what new information has turned up. Other great reference works have come about such as the Wings & Wheels publication for photos and Panzer Tracts for scale plans and production information.
Since I never reviewed the previous release, this will serve both releases.
As originally printed, the book had 34 pages not including the heavier covers which also are used. Ninety seven photos are found of which none are of the vehicle in service. Completely printed in black and white with gray tone images and a yellow cover, it is still on my ready reference shelf although I didn’t refer to John L. Rue’s plans. This book was published in 1996.
The new edition, number 33, expands the amount of information onto 184 pages and is bound in a glossy heavier paper than the original. A great addition is the section on the gun itself and explanation on the modifications made to mount onto the vehicle. There is now a team of authors; J. Baschin, Martin Block, and H. Tippmann but the editor is still Heiner F. Duske and the plans by John L. Rue.
The images are a mix of color and gray tones. A total of 353 are provided of which 198 are of the subjects in service, 115 of museum items, and the last 40 of models superbly done by Tony Greenland.
Text is included which provide a bibliography, some background in the form of chapters. The covers the deployment, Camouflage and markings, Judgment, a short anecdote, surviving vehicles, and models.
Last is a large table of data.
It is worth mentioning that the captions are most informative and all text is in dual English/German languages.
The scale plans were expanded considerably as now the howitzer is included along with limbers and variations of wheels.
The bottom line is simple; if you missed out on the first release, pick up this one as it will be invaluable when tackling either the many 1/35th scale mutations of the Alan or Tamiya Wespes, Dragon’s Hummel-Wespe, or the CMK Dragon, and AFV Club howitzers with the multiple detail sets available for each. Of course, many of these subjects have been released in other scales.
