The Sherman A History of the American Tank by Hunnicutt has finally been released and is available from several on line dealers. Originally copyrighted in 1978 by R.P. Hunnicutt, with another edition in 1994, and published by Presidio Press, this Limited Edition of 1000 copies is published by Historical Archive Press. Pulling in sometimes way over $500.00 on bidding on E-Bay, it's nice to see this limited edition published again for those that missed it.
A closer look
Announcement of this edition started the usual rumor mills on the various web sites as to its quality. With everything from a poor reproduction to rip off photocopied pages, these prophets of negativity and soothsayers of the unseen have been proved wrong once again. Not having an original copy, (Of course if I did have one, there would have been no reason for me to buy another!) I used my original printing of the Halftrack book, and my copy of Chamberlain and Ellis’s British and American Tanks of World War Two, last published in 2004 for comparison. Comparing the paperweight, all three are the same heavy weight paper. The Half-Track book was printed on glossy paper, and I assume the original Sherman book was also. The reprint is printed on semi-glossy paper, the same as my latest edition of Chamberlain and Ellis. Comparing the print, the latest Sherman print is as sharp and clear as my original Half-Track, and latest edition of Chamberlain and Ellis.
Photo quality is the same as the original half-track and my latest printing of Chamberlain and Ellis. My personal opinion of the photos is they are a lot better than many of those posted on web site and in magazines. With a rare not so top shelf photo that I just mark up to the quality of the original photo used.
What’s in the book
Well, if you are looking for a modeling manual to tell you to put part A to part B, or to shorten this doohickey and this nut is out of place on your kit, you are not going to find it. What you will find are hundreds of photos of Sherman tanks, from conception to final model, and everything in-between.
Part One starts off with the birth of the medium tank, the M1921 starts the ball game in Part One covering the developments up to the Canadian Ram I and II, with the M3 Lee and Grant in between.
Part Two Kicks off with the T-6 and M4E1 and M4E6 closing with El Alamein, Sherman’s in North Africa and Worldwide Service.
Part Three Start with the proposed improvements, and finishes up with British Shermans and “The New Tank Goes Into Battle”.
Part Four covers the Special Tanks, and the Armored Vehicles based on the Sherman.
Part Five covers Post War Service.
Part Six covers the reference section, with some nice color photos, vehicle and weapons data sheets.
Clear crisp photos from beginning to end help convey the History of the American Medium Tank, not just the Sherman.
SUMMARY
Highs: Realistic, affordable price if you are fast enough to get one.Lows: Low number of prints in the run, which will probably leave a few modelers out who would like one. But will also help maintain it value.Verdict: Get it while you can, well worth the money even if you only have a passing interest in Shermans. Not a modelers “How to fix your kit book” But a solid reference book for those who would rather do the research themselves to fix their kits.
About Dave O'Meara (Grumpyoldman) FROM: FLORIDA, UNITED STATES
I'm rewriting this in a much more humoristic way, to help over inflate my ego, and place my self on a pedestal, because I don't have a life, and plastic models are the only thing I live for. I plead guilty as charged to excessive babble, light hearted humor, and continued encouragement to youngsters...
Good review, Dave.
I have one of the original 1978 books and, just for the record, it is not published on gloss or semi-gloss paper. I don't know about the later reprints. Funny you mention the Halftrack book -- I am due to buy one from another area modeler next week!
In its day, Hunnicutt's Sherman was the end-all of Sherman references. Now we know that it has some shortcomings, but I don't think anyone can deny that more Sherman or M3 Lee/Grant information cannot be found in any single book.
Thanks Bob for that information. Sounds like it is really closer to the original than I thought, which is good, and probably the only way to tell them apart is to check the copyright page or spline for the latest printing.
Thanks for the review Dave, I decided to check out some of my local hobby stores and found a copy, not cheap, but considering the criminal going rates just a few months ago on e-bay... quite reasonable. For the record, I spent $180 CDN on my copy, if you think this is steep, keep in mind that this is a special limited edition of a thousand copies..... Now which of my Shermans to start with?!?
Michael... let us know how much you end up paying,... once all the shipping costs are factored in, I'd like to know either how much I saved or how much more I dished out!
Frank
If only mine were in mint condition ... the dust jacket is long gone, the spine is scuffed from months on the bench, some pages are smudged with fingerprints, a few notes are written here and there, sticky notes all over the place ... this is not a book that has been on a shelf gathering dust for nearly 30 years.
Thanks for the review Dave. I've hmmd and hawed about getting this, for the price of it I can buy 3 DML Shermans or 2 Tasca Fireflies . I think I'll wait for Pat Stansell's Son of Sherman to come out, and wait....and wait.... and wait :-)
I'd rather be with my copy than without, and I'm reasonably sure my 90s print one is on semi-gloss paper (but I'll check to make sure).
You can never have too many good reference books.
David
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