Introduction
The following introduction is taken from the Tankograd website:
Development of vehicles of the CVR(T) family and their introduction into service with the British Army 50 years ago can be considered a revolution in the field of conducting armoured reconnaissance. Never before had the attributes of mobility, speed, protection and firepower been combined so perfectly in one type of vehicle. Being constantly upgraded, they are still capable of performing their tasks under the current military mission range, despite the fact that they have been in service for half a century already. In the coming decade the British military will successively replace the CVR(T)s. Despite this, the story of this vehicle family is far from over. Latvia decided to procure CVR(T)s from British surplus stocks - as a result, the type will be part of the fleet of NATO combat vehicles for years to come.
This double volume publication, lavishly illustrated with no less than 260 colour and black&white photos plus graphics on a total of 128 pages describes the development history and technology, yet first and foremost the use of the many CVR(T) family vehicles on exercise. Volume One (Special 9033) covers the Scorpion, Scimitar and Sabre reconnaissance vehicles while Volume Two (Special 9034) deals with the variants such as the Striker, Spartan, Samaritan, Sultan, Samson, Stormer and Shielder.
Review
In this review I will be looking at two new titles, covering the CVR (T). One looks at the variants, the other looks at the Scorpion, Scimitar and Sabre. These offering from Tankograd are authored by Daniel Nowak, both are soft backed books with a glossy card cover, that will do a reasonable job of protecting the contents, during normal use. Inside each title provides 64 pages, of approximately A4 size that show the pictures off to good effect. These publication are duel language with German on the left and English on the right of each page. The font used is clear, but I find it a little bit small for my eyes as I have gotten older.
The CVR family of vehicles served for many years with the British Army and proved to be a reliable vehicle in use. The Scimitar was even in service and served in Afghanistan and is a particularly visually pleasing variant of this long lived tracked vehicle. When these two books landed on my doorstep, I was particularly pleased as I have the two models for AFV Club and I have purchased items from a company called SMM Scorpion miniature Models, who have done a great job of providing upgrades of all kinds, to enable the modeller to cover many of the vehicles in these two releases, and with these two I suspect to be a customer again in the reasonably near future, with Michael providing a very good service. It is with these model parts being available that for me make these two books particularly valuable. Even if you are not one for reading a book, these two offerings from Tankograd more than cover their cost, due to the glorious pictures inside, showing the vehicle variants in both black and white and colour. Each of the photographs again are provided with a caption, in both German and English, and the parts that I find particularly pleasing are the close up of specific attributes and showing the vehicle in the field performing the roles if was designed for.
Conclusion
The two releases from Tankograd are a must have for any modeller interested in the CVR (T) family. Looking through these two titles, really helps to get the juices flowing, and makes you want to grab a model to start building. In the case of these two titles Tankograd Publishing, AFV Club and Scorpion Miniature Models make the perfect Trifector for any modeller.