Introduction

As most of you will know I am a big fan of the ‘in detail fast track’ series of books from Tankograd Publishing. These titles are aimed at the modeller who wants to get the details on their models just so, but does not need to know all of the ins and outs of the vehicle beyond the detail. Another big plus is the affordability aspect with each title coming in at €11.95 and so cheap enough for most to afford. This time around Tankograd Publishing has released five new titles in the ‘in detail fast track’ series, these cover the Warrior FV510 TES (H), Dingo 2 GE A3.3 PatSi, Camouflage – Markings – Soldiers Grantiger Lowe, Panzerhaubitze 2000 A1/A2 and Keiler.

Review

This title from Tankograd Publishing covering the Warrior FV510 TES (H) is printed entirely in English as has been true for all previous titles in the ‘in detail fast track’ series. The title has 40 pages in title with the first couple of pages consisting of text. The text provides a brief history of the Warrior, this is followed up with the various versions of the Warrior that have gone into service and where they have seen active duty in combat zones. The text finishes by covering the various upgrades that have been utilised and added to the Warrior along with a timeline of improvements. Due to the Warrior being in current service there are certain aspects that have not been covered in order to prevent putting anyone at risk, Tankograd Publishing is very open about this and I am sure everyone of you understands.

Moving onto the photographs in the title; the book begins with a series of full page photographs showing the warrior as a whole from various angles, the vehicles chosen are photographed in Afghanistan I believe and also shows vehicles that have been damaged. I particularly like that the images here show vehicles in the field and so covered in dust and dirt, this will help modellers when it comes to painting and weathering a model of the Warrior. I should point out that while the text proper finishes with the first two pages, each of the images or in some cases series of images have very good captions explaining what is being shown and pointing out specifics. After this series of images the book moves onto covering specific areas of the Warrior, beginning with the hull front and drivers hatch, there are not a huge number of images covering these aspects but there are enough I feel.

The bar armour and its mounting system that is looked at next followed by the running gear, surprisingly none of the running gear tyres have been damaged in these images, I have seen for myself that this is rarely the case at least where vehicles in the UK are concerned. The rear of the hull gets a generous number of images next, showing items such as the ECM mounts, lighting points and even exterior door controls. The next area covered is the hull top and a great detail to note here is the desert paint scheme has not so much been damaged by erosion and weathering, but looks to have actually peeled off of some areas of the vehicle.

The last two areas covered look at the turret and the interior of the Warrior. Excluding the bar armour it is perhaps the turret that has received the most obvious number of alterations to its look. There are a good number of images covering the turret and the images show clearly what I referred to earlier about paint peeling from the base colour. The interior images should prove useful when it comes to interior painting and shows off details such as the hydraulic ram that operates the rear door.

Conclusion

While there has not been a Warrior model released in quite some time, we must be getting close to a new offering hitting the market soon from one of the companies now spoiling us rotten with choices. With that in mind this title is definitely worth getting and having to hand, as with these titles having a limited print run they will likely prove hard to obtain quite quickly.