Written by Ralph Zwilling
Reviewed by Marcus Jacob www.militarymodelling.info
The Leopard 2 main battle tank - a German success story! In addition to the two Tankograd Publishing standard works on Leopard 2 by Frank Lobitz, and the photo book Leopard 2 Maintenance I have already reviewed here, Tankograd now offers us another illustrated book from the In-Detail series: The Leopard 2A4. In keeping with the new model of this important main battle tank from Meng, I am excited about the content and would like to share a look with you.
This quality paperback edition contains 96 pages with 221 colour photos in perfect quality. The text is in both German and English.
Tankograd Publishing considers this illustrated book as a supplement to the existing In-Detail series Leopard 2 Maintenance, and addresses the target group as the technically interested and, of course, us modellers.
This illustrated book is a detailed tour of the best-known standard tank of the Bundeswehr. For this purpose, the book is divided into the following sections:
The author, Ralph Zwilling, known from numerous publications from Tankograd Publishing, discusses the evolution of the Leopard 2A4 in the first section. Here he gives a fairly detailed overview of the production variants and different construction batches.
Beginning with the Leopard 2A0, he describes the changes and combat performance upgrades of 2A1, 2A2, 2A3 to 2A4 and their various modifications. Finally, a fairly detailed table shows the quantities produced of different variants. This section also includes photos of the Leopard 2A4 in use. The high quality pictures show, for example, a tank in winter camouflage, in an advanced position and very, very filthy. Here is plenty of inspiration for the modeller.
In the following sections, the reader is treated to interesting insights into the details of the Leopard 2A4. The quality and the selection of the photos from the author leaves no detail of the tank in the dark. This is a veritable treasure trove for the ambitious modeller or enthusiastic artist. All of the photos include short descriptions in German and English.
This is a photo book of the usual high quality from Tankograd Publishing. The high-quality and detailed pictures show a wonderful insight into the Leopard 2A4 and helps feed the ambitious modeller with great detail and background knowledge. The compact but concise explanations from the author provide interesting background information on the former standard tank of the Bundeswehr.
A successful photo book, the way you want it. For modellers or art fans, this book is absolutely worth reading! For me, as an avowed fan of heavy iron, it is a must-have and therefore gets my clear recommendation.
Series: In-Detail
Title: Leopard 2A4 - Cold War Hero
Author: Ralph Zwilling
Publisher: Tankograd Publishing
Format: A4, 96 pages, illustrated book, text in German and English
ISBN: 978-3-936519-41-9
Price: € 22.00