Introduction

This book covering the M7 Priest is part of a series of titles from Pen and Sword as part of their ‘Images at War’ series. These books cover the subject matter mostly in photographs and so offers a great visual reference for anyone interested in the subject matter regardless of the reason for that interest. For the modeller these books represent a horn of plenty when it comes to visual information.

Review

This offering from Pen and Sword is part of the ‘Images at War’ series. This series of books are soft backed offerings having a good card cover with a very good spine to the book that keeps the contents in good order. This book covering the M7 Priest has been authored by David Doyle. The contents of this title are provided over 146 pages of good quality semi gloss paper.

The contents are presented in the following sections:
Chapter 1 – Baldwin Locomotive Works T32
Chapter 2 – American Locomotive Works M7
Chapter 3 – Federal Locomotive Works M7
Chapter 4 – Pressed Steel Car Company M7B1
Chapter 5 – Howitzer Motor Carriage M7B2
Chapter 6 – Field Use

The dedicated text in this offering is minimal as that is not the purpose of these books as they are not designed to be read in the truest sense of the word. There are a few pages of text that are well written and provide brief sections of information that guide the viewer on the tour of the visual reference provided. The book itself titles the text proper as an introduction and while that is the case I do suggest it is read as there is an amount of very important information on the steps taken in the vehicles history.

The M7 Priest is not exactly over catered to in modelling circles with Scale Mates only listing 21 models in 1/35th scale and a further 5 in 1/72nd scale. Of these models it has to be remembered that many are re-releases of earlier productions and even other producer’s kits under new companies. The latest offerings are I believe the Dragon offerings and Dragon even in its best days never had a great reputation with vehicle models other than World War German armour. So all of the models out there need help and this offering from Pen and Sword may be the answer to the modeller’s prayers.

This book covers the vehicles progression in photographs with excellent captions to each of those photographs. Most of the photographs in the book are black and white period offerings which cover an incredible amount of the vehicles inside and out and so allow very specific modifications to be added to models by those who go to great depths to get everything just so. With the photographs being broken up into specific chapters the reader can quickly identify which vehicle they want to produce and be sure that what they add is correct for that vehicle type due to the period photographs.

While most of the photographs in this title are period black and white offerings there are also a small number of colour period photographs that I am sure will prove a very popular inclusion in the book. Looking at the pictures I was very pleased that the author has provided information in the captions covering what, when and where if possible and so this makes the reference of even greater use. There are also a number of photographs of preserved and restored vehicles and these have been used by the author to point out specific areas of interest, but as we all know restored and even preserved vehicles can be a mix of vehicle specific parts.

Conclusion

With the M7 Priest having limited coverage by the model manufacturers I am really pleased to have a copy of this book from Pen and Sword as part of their ‘Images of War’ book series. The period photographs are a great visual reference on the M7 Priest and with the very good captions provided with the photographs increasing their value even further. I am not a huge fan of restored and preserved vehicles being included in a book of this nature, but I also understand that period images do not always cover aspects that the author wants to share with the reader and so he is forgiven. The thing I did like finding in this title where the period colour photographs of the M7 Priest and are a great inclusion for the modeller. This is a great visual reference on the M7 Priest at a very good price.