Rob's post on a reference book made me think of my own library. I was wondering what is a good general setup of reference books for armor??

I'm sure I could get one each of the subjects I am doing for Osprey or the like, but I want "more bang for the buck", cause anything I get really interested in I'll most likely get books about that specific subject anyway.

I picked up just about every Squadron Signal armor in action book during the last 15 years (my first ones are marked $3.95, they now retail for $9.95). I think of these as a good "snap shot" of the armor vehicle I want to do. Good color pictures (illustrations) of vehicles, but you can't trust color drawings.

The Squadron Walk Around for the M4 and StuG III are additionally very good references, the best for close up shots, color pictures and vehicles in restoration process. I like the Osprey series too. Good history of the vehicle and usually has a cutaway of one version. Too bad there aren't more walk arounds

The Hunnicutt's are excellent, but too pricey unless you get it of a vehicle that you build a lot of. George Forty also has several M4 books out that are great. Concord is the books I go to if I want Soviet armor references.

Just soooo many!

Brian,
Since I build mostly German stuff, the most succinct set of references are the "Panzer Colors" series of 3 books. Put out by Squadron/Signal, I do believe they are still in print. Other than that, I have to agree with Sabot and get every copy of the "IN Action" series you can find.

Wow...yesterday I received from the Military Book Club the title, The Panzers and the Battle of Normandy. I spent all night reading this hardcover book and staring in awe at the photos. It is jammed packed with b&w photos of all sorts of armor, mostly German.

Great photos of crews laying out branches and pine boughs for camo. Has crew photos and gives a lot depth and backgound to these people. Damage photos show what enemy fire did to the German tanks. Photos also include destroyed Panzers and Tigers.

Stories include gruesome details as this: One crew's commander was looking out the cupola during combat spotting for targets, when a shell literally cut him in two. The crew spents days cleaning the inside of the tank.

Find this book, it is well worth the hours I put into it last night reading by the fire ... ah! how cozy!

Brian,
Though I like books a lot (I LOVE them !), I think reference books become a thing of the past. More and more pics are out here on the internet, there's plenty of "how to" articles, too.
And the web has another thing no books can offer : it allows two-ways communication, you can ask questions, you can discuss topics with strange people that happen to have the same interests... and make friends ?
Jan

Dito Jan;
I was looking for guntrucks references, I got the squadron book, but the most interestings tips and photos I got were on the www, besides that I make some friends and found peolple like Gunnie, that shares the same interests like me!
But I think the books are usefull and availables....
HTH

Can't get "quality reading time" in the rest room with online articles though

Think i'll go with Rob on this one and agree that Squadron Signal are the most used papaerbacks to use for reference. The others i use are Schiffer military vehicles but seem to specialise in German wwII predominately!

hey hunter, in my not so humble opinion, the osprey series of books are the best. full of facts, photos, and drawings.

Squadron has a very good book section.just browse through till you find something that interest you

I agree about the Squadron and Concord books being a great value -- they're inexpensive, available and have tons of good photos. Schiffer Military has books similar to the Squadron books, but are a bit more difficult to find. Osprey books are good uniform references, but I find their vehicle books a little wanting. The photos are often small, or are the same ones you find in other references.

Let me also suggest the Allied-Axis books from Ampersand Publishing, the same folks who do MMiR. These are also relatively inexpensive (about $15, IIRC), loaded with detail and action photos, and each one covers a variety of vehicles.

I have a wide range of both Squadron and Osprey publications. But the one reference book I could not live without is the "Encyclopedia of German Vehicles of World War II". It is an amazing reference and has every AFV, Halftrack, etc. that was used during WWII. :-)