British Armored Fighting Vehicles (World War II AFV Plans)

I have all the books in this particular series. I enjoy WWII history in general and have a keen interest in the weapons of war purely as part of my love for all things mechanical. Ultimately, I build 1/35th scale WWII military models, especially armored vehicles, full tracked, half tracks, wheeled, towed, and various soft skins as well. This book, and all in the same series are very useful for helping clarify the sometimes unclear, poorly illustrated, and/or incorrect instructions that come with some models. It's just helpful to see where things go and their orientation. Because many of the drawings are in 1/35th and some in 1/48th scale the illustrations are also useful for taking measurements. These scale drawings can aid in verifying dimensional accuracy of models, aid in locating items esactly, and in scratchbuilding pieces. There are a few pictures throughout the volumes, but not of every vehicle and not always the best picture available. There is no historical information or technical data, no part labeling, but that's not the purpose of these books.NITPICKS: The way the drawings are outlines showing the main views are very clear and uncluttered. The one drawback is that often only one side view is shown while front, rear, and top views are always given. Anyone familiar with military vehicles will know there are sometimes substantial differences between the two sides. Another shortcoming is that only one representative vehicle of a particular vehicle model is shown. Many vehicles went through multiple revisions, some subtle and some dramatic as well as coming in distinctly different versions. Again, this series is incomplete in that regard.By far, my favorite use of these books is to copy the images on my scanner or my copier and using the copies, draw out the camouflage paint scheme I will use. I'll also plot damage, where I will locate add ons, and/or do modifications. For that, the missing models or revisions in the drawings don't matter that much.WISHFUL THINKING: In the realm of wishful thinking, I would love to see these books done in this exact format, each being dedicated to a particular vehicle. To have an individual book showing all 5 views of every Churchill, of every Sherman, of every Tiger or Panzer IV would be an indispensable aid to me and every other military modeler. Much of that information is available, but it's spread over so many books. Most of those are a pricey because they are also full of historical data, photographs, maps, text, etc. which, while useful, doesn't always cut to the chase in the way we modelers need. And yes, I am aware of Panzer Tracts but they are expensive, often go out of print quickly or become hard to find and become even more costly. The Panzer Tracts SERIES have details historical and technical, but don't get directly to the meat and potatoes of the issue which is clear, concise, accurate line drawings made to scale aimed exclusively at the model builder without all the other fluff.To summarise, I think this book and all its companion volumes make a nice, worthy, and useful ADDITION to the military model builder's reference library. Within a few limitations, they are very handy especially when trying to decipher the less than stellar building instructions that accompany many models, especially from eastern Asia and some European countries. Uses as I described above are just not available with anything else. Price is not too bad for what you get. I have all of these that are available as of this date and will continue to buy them as they are released. I still hope some day that either this publisher and/or author(s) have the inspiration to release a set of these in vehicle specific format as I described under Wishful Thinking. Still, despite the few flaws I recommend these highly!

I have followed George Bradford’s work since 1964 and he has always come up with an excellent product. These plans originated in a series, by country in 1/35 and 1/48 scale, of popular armored fighting vehicles (AFVs) that he sold on his web site. They complement the standard reference texts in the field that provide the technical and operational details of AFVs. Since the Bellona series stopped production years ago these are the best available resource for military modelers other than articles specifically written on a particular vehicle. What I found particularly useful is that he covers subjects that are obscure or have been overlooked in the normal study of AFVs. This opinion applies to the entire series that has been published.

I compared the data in this book to other books' materials, and found the data to match but I still enjoyed it-- I recommend it highly.

not as detailed as I expected

Great book for any serious modeler. If you are trying to scale up or down, scratch building vehicles etc, these are the books for you!

This is an excellent series of books. Georges work is well known in the plastic modeling industry, and he should have published these years ago. Thanks George.

This book if filled with good useful scale line drawings of various armored vehicles... Just the thing for a "scratch-builder" looking for new interesting projects... A MUST have for the scale armor modeler...

Uncle Harry's birthday present - loved it! Arrived new and clean.

An excellent, interesting and informative book. A must have for any WWII wargamer. Sold st a good price and delivered as scheduled.

Perfect for my son's modelling.

good

Good book for modelling and excellent service from the seller

Another in the excellant series of scale 3 View Plans of Armoured Fighting Vehicles. Specifically the 2WW British - from two man Carden-loyd carriers to the heavyweight Black Prince Infantry Tank and Tortoise Assault Gun Prototypes. Even the truly awful Covenantor is rendered in pristine line drawings.

Die vorliegende "geballte" Zusammenstellung ist für alle an technischen Skizzen Interessierten - besonders aber für Modellbauer - eine wertvolle Ergänzung zur umfangreichen Literatur über britische gepanzerte Fahrzeuge des 2. Weltkrieges; leider ist die Darstellung aus meiner Sicht einerseits nicht vollständig, andererseits ist die "Gewichtung" der Darstellung der einzelnen Fahrzeugtypen nicht ganz nachvollziehbar. Trotzdem - ein brauchbares Nachschlagewerk!

Ok

Toujours de la très belle ouvrage avec cette production George R. Bradford où les plans trois vues à l'échelle raviront les maquettistes comme les spécialistes des engins blindés.

Good book for the model maker like the rest of the series. I like the table at the front that advises you on what settings you need to rescale the drawings.Keep up the good work George & when are you going to do some softskins & arty.