Introduction

In this review I will be looking at the 3rd and 4th books from Tankograd Publishing covering the Transportpanzer 1 Wheeled Armoured Personnel Carrier in German Army Service (Fuchs). These two titles from Tankograd Publishing I believe bring to an end the current run of titles covering the Fuchs. The two books cover:

• Part 3 – Ambulance / Electronic Warfare / NBC
• Part 4 – Battlefield Surveillance Radar / Radio Communications / International

The following portion of the introduction as provided by Tankograd Publishing:
The Transportpanzer 1 Fuchs (‘Fuchs' being German for ‘fox') wheeled armoured personnel carriers are, aside from the Leopard main battle tanks, the most iconic and most prominent assets of the modern German Army. The Fuchs is a highly mobile, armour-protected and amphibious vehicle that offers extreme cross-country mobility. Since 1979 the vehicle has been in service with the German Bundeswehr. Fitted with a wide range of mounting kits, mission kits and equipment sets, the vehicles saw and still see service with combat forces, combat support forces and command assets in Germany and on various missions abroad.
This work in four parts covers the development, prototypes, technology, the different mounting kits, mission kits, equipment sets and combat capability improvements of the Fuchs in unprecedented detail.

Review

I will start by looking at the common factors in these two books. These titles are paper backed using a good quality glossy card, the images printed on these covers provide a good idea of the quality you will find within. The text in the books is dual language with German text on the left hand side and English on the right, it should also be pointed out that the captions that accompany each photograph in the book are also supplied in both languages. I also feel that the titles released in the format of these books are aimed at modellers who want reference images, but also want to know about the vehicle and these titles do supply a fair mix on that score as a rule.

Part 3 – Ambulance / Electronic Warfare / NBC
This title has 64 pages and they are jam packed with 132 colour photographs looking at the Fuchs laid out and performing the role of an Ambulance / Electronic Warfare / NBC vehicle. Just under a quarter of this title is taken up with text, and that text provides a reasonable background on the Fuchs and its various types covered within. The images in the title have a good balance of subjects and purpose and provide the modeller with the all important reference of not just the details on the vehicle, but also the weathering patterns that occur on the Fuchs in various regions of use from sun and sand to wind and rain.

Perhaps the biggest plus in this title for the modeller are the 1/35th scale schematics of the Fuchs as this is an aspect that has great appeal to the modeller. The book also supplied a walk around of a Transportpanzer 1 A8A2 Fuchs Standard that is being used as a Mobile Medical Team vehicle. The quality of these photographs is very high as is usual from Tankograd Publishing and I like the fact that wherever possible the various vehicles covered are photographed from more than one side.

Part 4 – Battlefield Surveillance Radar / Radio Communications / International
This title also has 64 pages and on this occasion 112 colour photographs and 2 black & white covering the Fuchs use for Battlefield Surveillance Radar / Radio Communications / International. The text again also takes up just under a quarter of the available pages which provides grounding on the vehicle and its various types, also covered is the Fuchs use by the USA and the UK in Iraq, something that I was not aware of. The text is well written and easy to follow if a little dry, by this I mean that it is restricted by space resulting in dry presentation in order to get as much information over as possible.

The photographs as you would expect of Tankograd Publishing are of a good quality, this quality means that the images offer not just accurate detail information, but perhaps most importantly to modellers painting and weathering information. This title will also allow the modeller to present a Fuchs in use with the British or Americans and this will potentially add an interesting mix when represented with other armour of these countries and others besides. Offered in this title again is another 1/35th scale drawing of the Ground Surveillance Radar version, these drawings don’t just allow you to check scale accuracy, but also placement of structures.

Conclusion

These books finish the current outing of the Fuchs from Tankograd Publishing I believe. The four books in the series as a whole offer a fantastic visual reference for any Fuchs in which you have as a modeller. The inclusion of the scale drawings are perhaps the biggest asset for modellers interested in scale accuracy and one that I like, but I also like the fact that a large number of the vehicles in these books are shown with wear and tear not to mention dirty and these allow the modeller to accurately paint and weather their builds.

Links

The below link to the other two books in this series.
The Fuchs Wheeled APC