Introduction

Militärfahrzeug is Tankograd’s regular magazine series, taken from the German for “military vehicle”. While it has an obvious bias towards post-war German subjects there can be some really odd gems. The subject here is Issue 2/2012, fresh on the news-stands.

Contents

As with most Tankograd books, this is a soft-cover A4 format (210mmx297mm) book totalling 56 pages. There are countless colour and monochrome photos scattered mainly two or three to a page, but some smaller ones are laid out half-dozen to a page. We also get 1:35 scale four-view drawn plans of the Stalinetz S-65 tractor and an unscaled (possibly 1:72?) side-view drawing of the M48 AVLB.

Text is entirely in German, with English summaries of the main articles at the back. The photo captions are in both German and English.

This issue covers the M1 Abrams in REFORGER 82, the Stalinetz S-65 artillery tractor, the unique Austrian “Leopardine” Leopard 2A4 in jazzy leopard-skin paint, the Bundeswehr’s new ENOK II light armoured patrol vehicle, the Robel track-motor-car railway inspection vehicle of WWII, the M48A2 AVLB bridge-layer in Bundeswehr service, Britain’s JCB 4CXM wheeled excavator, former East Germany’s FAP500U driver-training tank, and a well-photographed T-26 tank used as a signpost in Smolensk. Each subject gets a bunch of images, with some getting loads. Even short one-page subjects still get a few good ones.

My favourite is the Leopardine – there are enough big pictures from all sides to inspire me to a 1:35 painting project!

Conclusion

Magazines are by definition a mixed bag, so there’s something for everybody here. The photos are well worth it if any of the subjects grab you!