Introduction

Trackpad Publishing will need no introduction for some modellers they are known for publishing high quality photographic reference titles. This title is no different this release covers the Leopard 2A4M Can. Canada deployed a number of Leopard 2A4M Can to Afghanistan in December 2010, these vehicles were all upgraded from former Netherland Army vehicles.

Background

The Canadian Army is no stranger to using the Leopard, having originally used the Leopard 1 to moving forward to the Leopard 2. The Canadian Army commissioned KMW to upgrade 20 second hand Leopard2’s for deployment to Afghanistan. The work was carried out quickly and the vehicles deployed December 2010 with the vehicles returning July 2011 following a cessation of Canadian combat operations.

The vehicles had applique armour added and small areas of slat armour. The vehicles retained their shorter L44 barrelled main gun as these were better suited to Afghanistan, the other major feature was the addition of the Saab Barracuda Heat Reduction Kit (HTR). The Barracuda system comprises of a custom panels that are designed for each vehicle. These panels are fitted to each vehicle using large Velcro patches, they are only used when the vehicle is deployed on combat operations, they are not fitted during training exercises. The Leopard 2A4M has become The Main Battle Tank for the Canadian Army.

Review

Presented in a softcover A4 landscape format this is a book seriously aimed at the modellers and those with an interest in modern armour. Comprising of 80 pages this book certainly delivers value for money the maximum number of photographs on any one page is four and all of them in colour. The book is broken down into 8 chapters each with a distinct focus.
Chapters

• Leopard 2A4M Can Introduced
• Baseline 2A4
• Deployment in Afghanistan
• In the Field
• Maintenance
• On the Range
• Turret Focus
• Hull Focus

Each of the chapters is well focused on its respective title with the shortest chapter being On the Range. All of the chapters contain clear photographs of particular aspects of each vehicle. For the modeller these images will provide to be very useful as they show all the areas that are often missed by the kit manufacturers. On reviewing this book I feel that we must thank; Dan Hay, Peter van Iren, Anthony Sewards and Matthew Worth for photographing these vehicles and for capturing certain aspects of these vehicles. A clear example is the view inside the boxes designed for the crew’s C7 carbines and that these contain other items when the vehicle is on show to the public.

Conclusion

This really is a first class book on the subject, the photographs are first class and from reading through this book the captions are accurate. The photographs show the these vehicles on exercise and show that the tanks move through the landscape rather than over it. If the modeller is building the recent release from Hobby Boss will find this title indispensable for adding the Velcro decals. The kit is not without its faults and this book will aid the modeller adding details to the kit. It will prove very useful if the modeller attempts to replicate the Barracuda HTR.

Thank you to Michael Shackleton of Track Pad Publishing for supplying this review copy.