Introduction

Accion Press, one of the more prolific publishers of the scale modeling world, has recently introduced a new series to go along with their other offerings. The new series is titled, "Panzer Aces Profiles, Guide to camouflage and insignia of the German Tanks, 1935-1945.

Contents

If you are familiar with the Panzer Aces magazine series this will look very familiar to you. The profile is 72 pages of all color, glossy, heavy stock magazine type paper with a front and back cover made from an even heavier stock to give the publication a much sturdier binding that should hold up well over the years.

The text is split into two columns, one in Spanish and the other in English. The monograph begins with an article on the history of German camouflage practices up to 1945. The article is accompanied by several wartime photographs, all of which I have seen before and that I am sure will be familiar to many readers as well.

Review

Accion Pressprovides an interesting page of camouflage color registration along with an accompanying set of the same colors as seen in black and white. This could be particularly useful if you are trying to identify colors from far more common black and white photos.

Clearly, the meat of the publication is the series of color profiles by Carlos de Diego Vaquerizo and Rodrigo Hernandez Cabos. These are all very well done, there will be little to quibble about with these illustrations as the colors all look 'right' to my eye. Profiles all from multiple perspectives, most four view profiles with extra details or enlargements of key areas. The vehicles covered in this issue are the Panzer I, II, III, IV, and 38(t) as well as a short section on beutepanzer (captured) vehicles. One would assume that a future issue will cover the Panther, Tiger, and other later vehicles.

Each of the profiles (except the beutepanzers) come with a complete caption that provides the exact version, unit, and location as well as a paragraph or so of background information. I appreciated that none of the vehicles were marked as "unknown unit", showing that Accion Press did their homework on this aspect. Fifty-four vehicles are given the full profile treatment, with multi-view illustrations, unit, and short marking and color history. In addition they have included 5 of the beutepanzer vehicles but each of those have only a single side profile included. The issue ends with a 2 page spread on German unit emblems during the war as well as a 2 page bibliography, although it does not appear to be arranged in any kind of systematic form.

Conclusion

This issue is highly recommended for fans of German armor and particularly of the earlier panzers.