Armoured Hemtt

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Armoured Hemtt
Publisher: Tankograd
Author: Carl Schulze
Series: Tankograd American Special 3004
Price: 14.95 Euros

Introduction

I was excited when I was given this book to be reviewed. As I am a modern armour fan it was almost impossible to resist. Do not worry, I’ll keep my review as unbiased as possible. The technological machinery of the modern warfare as always interested me. Majority of the people are in love with WW I & II military vehicles and believe me there is an enormous following throughout the world. That’s one of the reasons why I like modern armour. There are hardly any fans. Well, not trying to sound pessimistic, there are many but the WW II fans dominate this era by far. Well, that’s all right by me. It leaves me with more modern vehicles to model.

Now, let me get into reviewing what this book, Armoured Hemtt, is all about. This will be a short review as I like to hit points quickly without all the gibberish. Secondly, the content is basic Tankograd theme, which doesn’t need a lot of unnecessary diversions to make it more complicated and trite.

Contents

Armoured Hemtt can be simply summarized as the description of up-armoured US Hemtt vehicles in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). The sudden need for the field mod & commercial extensive armour became a reality after in 2003 OIF when many of the US vehicles became vulnerable to extensive insurgent and road side IED’s attacks. The US military personnel had to protect themselves against such horrible events, as more and more men and women were being killed or injured.

The book showcases these great Hemtt vehicles after their up-armoured modification. As usual, Tankograd, as provided its usual trademark, German/English text. This of course, equally satisfies both their native German fans and foreign fans.

The book begins with a small introduction on the basic Hemtt variant needs and their roles since 1996. It also goes into a small explanation of the reason for the up-armoured Hemtt in several military events. There is also description of the material used for the cabs and other vital info for modelling purposes. Here is what you fine in the beginning of the first few pages. The text is more summarized to contain as much info as possible. In-depth explanations are not the norm in these types of publications. Thank goodness for that. There won’t be any room for pictures. From a modeller's point of view, this is a big advantage. The topics covered are:

The info provided is more than sufficient for modern armour fans. Again, one thing I’ve always liked from Tankograd is the many pictures they provide with their publications. Don’t worry, there are many pictures. Pictures say more than a thousand words and for modelling, this is a huge help. HEMTT galore is the major subject matter of this publication. I’ll list those vehicles shown in this book to give you an idea of what to expect. For those modellers looking for inspiration on your next HEMTT project, then you can’t do any wrong with this list:

The list above doesn’t look like many but the variations of which they are presented are many. With descriptions under each individual picture, it gives the reader a little info on which the picture was based on. There is even an exploded view of the CPK armour showing what the pieces look like before adding it to the vehicle. One thing I would have wished for was a dedicated page for this exploded diagram. It would have been much better on the eyes. Regardless, it still a plus it was added. This would be very helpful to those trying to be prototypical of their model building. Yes, they do exist. At the end of the book there are abbreviations to remind you of what some of the vehicle terms mean. Something we all tend to forget with all the many terms that are popping up all over the place.

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Conclusion

There’s really not a lot to say about this book as it was meant to be concise and give a comprehensive, photographic gallery of add-on armour HEMTT trucks. Overall, the book is like many of Tankograd other publications. A reasonable amount of write up and lots of pictures is what this book is all about. From the modellers stand point it is a great resource book for accurate representation of a particular HEMTT vehicle before or after the add-on armour. If you’re adding one of the upgrade OIF HEMTT vehicles to your collection, then you will appreciate what this book has to offer. If you are fan of Tankograd publications and own quite a few of their books than you will not be disappointed with this addition. It is highly recommended for modellers. If you’re not a modeller, but only interested in gaining knowledge without going into depth, than this publication will suit you just fine.

For full details of all Tankograd publications, please see their website: Tankograd