Introduction

Trackpad Publishing will need no introduction for some modellers they are known for publishing high quality photographic reference titles. Once again this title is no different this release covers the Leopard 1A5DK.

Background

Denmark began to upgrade its ageing fleet of Centurions with an order to purchase 120 Leopard 1A3 from Germany in 1974. Over the following 30 years these vehicles were upgraded to the 1A5DK standard.

The vehicles saw operational deployment to the Balkans with UNPROFOR and on to IFOR and SFOR it was during this period that they received APU’s and a number of upgrades too aid their operational effectiveness.

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 100 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 11 chapters each with a distinct focus.
Chapters

• Introduction
• Hull Front
• Hull SIde
• Hull Rear
• Powerpack
• Running Gear
• Turret Generator
• Turret Danish Features
• Interior
• In the Field
• Attachments and Variations

This walk around is based upon Tank number: 62.446 this vehicle has been preserved by AKVPK – Aalborg Kaserners Veteran Panser- og Køretøjsforening (the Aalborg Barracks Veteran Armour and Vehicle Preservation Society), who have restored this vehicle to its present condition.

Each of the chapters is well focused on its respective title. 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 the author Kenneth Østergaard and all the other photographers for supplying all of these fascinating photographs of this long serving vehicle.

Conclusion

This really is a first class book on the subject, the photographs are first class and and it also provides a fascinating insight to this very Danish tank.. All of the photographs are truly breathtaking and this book has been clearly designed for the modeller but the modeller.

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