Next in their 'Modeling the' series is this book on the SdKfz 251 Halftrack. Probably one of the more common German military vehicles of WWII, there have not really been that many kits produced. Built in four variants, the current (2004) kit market shows that there are but five available kit; one in 1/72 by Hasegawa, three in 1/35 by Tamiya and one in 1/35 by dragon. All appear to be the later Ausf C and Ausf D versions.

The author starts the book with a short history of the type and covers the salient features of the different variants. He then gives his philosophy of modeling and states that he is not perfectionist. Well, by the time you finish this book, you'll be wondering about the truth of that last statement!

There is a section on tools and materials that includes a bit on the use of 'scale color' when it comes to model.

Then there is the meat of the book with four build reviews. It starts with an out of the box build of the Hasegawa 1/72 kit and follows with more and more complex builds. The first uses the Dragon kit while the other two use Tamiya kits. A plethora of aftermarket bits are used in these builds as is quite a bit of scratchbuilding and kit-bashing. It is quite obvious that the author has a liking for Tamiya materials as he seems to use nothing else when it comes to fillers, paints and so on. The last section is on a diorama that is shown on the book's cover. There are the usual appendices on books, museums, paint colors, kits and aftermarket. Unlike some of the previous books in the series, the author lists all known kits, not just those currently available. I like this as often one finds something interesting in the sales tables and at swap meets.

As with all the books in this series, one comes away learning new techniques and about materials that are worth a try. Well written with a style that keeps your interest, Modeling the SdKfz 251 is highly recommended along with all the books in this series.

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