Introduction

Tankograd Publishing has released the second title in their ‘In Detail Fast Track’ series of books, and Tankograd Publishing has kindly sent review samples to Armorama. This series of books from Tankograd Publishing is aimed specifically at the modeller, and serves as pictorial reference for building better models in terms of accuracy, and supplying a quick background on the subject matter for the modeller.

Contents

This latest book in the ‘In Detail Fast Track’ series from Tankograd Publishing is a duel language book, German on the left and English on the right. The book contains 80 colour photographs of the SLT 2 Mammut.

Review

The book begins with a short written section of 4 pages. The written section provides a bare bones account of how and why the SLT 2 Mammut came about. The text is an enjoyable read that is long enough to cover the essentials, but also short enough to keep it interesting; this approach also means that those with a limited attention span will not feel the need to go for a bimble.

The book is presented in a ‘landscape format’ which is ideal for displaying images of this huge vehicle. The pictorial section begins with a series of pictures showing the SLT 2 Mammut at home in both the rough stuff in the field and on the nice flat concrete on the base while carrying the heavy metal of a modern army. As you would expect from Tankograd Publishing the images have great clarity and provide a very thorough walk around of this vehicle. The book then concentrates on the truck portion of the vehicle and adds some very nice detail shots into the mix. You get the pictorial tour of the cab around, inside, and on top. Each of the images is accompanied by text which clearly explains what you are looking at.

The images then continue with a tour of the winch bridge, air con system, fuel tanks and even the spare tyre gets a look in. Both winch systems are covered in the book and even provides details of the electronic hand control device. The greasy end then gets a look over next with three angles of the fifth wheels or fish plate depending on what you know it as. This section finishes with some very nice detail shots, which should please the most pedantic modeller ; the section comes to a close with a look at the underside of the truck.

The book then moves onto the trailer with a good mix of wide angle and in close detail images. The images provided give a good look around the wheels and suspension, the trailer bed, the ramps and their adjustability. You also get a look a the spare wheels for the trailer and the diesel engine used to allow operation of the trailers hydraulics, even when not connected to the cab section. The book closes with a guide to securing your load accurately, which I am sure will be a great help to many of you.

Conclusion

I believe this book will answer most of the questions a modeller may have regarding a model of this vehicle; I do accept that it can never hope to answer every question the modeller has but most will be happy. The purpose of these books is to provide a quick and easy reference for a specific vehicle type and I feel that Tankograd Publishing has managed that, and at an affordable price.

Don't miss out, remember the print run is only 999 copies.