Trackpad Publishing has three new titles scheduled for release in December.

Belgian Pionierpanzer - Last of the Breed Part 1.
The Belgian Pionierpanzer, with the Leguan AVLB, are the Last of the Breed of Leopards (or any tracked, armoured vehicle) in service in Belgium.

Compared to its sister vehicle, the Bergepanzer 2 ARV, the Pionierpanzer AEV (Armoured Engineer vehicle) was equipped with a more powerful hydraulic system with a heat exchanger. A larger dozer blade was also installed which could be extended to 3.75 metres. It could also be fitted with scarifiers (teeth) to scrape (in reverse) frozen ground or concrete surfaces. Other specific features were hydraulic earth augers enabling the vehicle to drill holes to a depth of up to 1.9 metres.

This Model Foto Focus takes a thorough look around these fascinating machines. For the modeller, this is the ultimate walkaround for an accurate model. For the armour enthusiast, it describes the Belgian version of this interesting engineer vehicle in great detail and shows you how it operates.

Format: A4, landscape, 80 pages, 268 photographs.

Belgian Leguan - Last of the Breed Part 2
The Belgian Leguan replaced twelve ageing M48A2 AVLBs and, with the Pionierpanzer AEV, are the Last of the Breed of Leopards (or any tracked, armoured vehicle) in service in Belgium.

The name Leguan is an adaptation of the German word legen, meaning ‘to lay’. The main task of an AVLB (Assault Vehicle Launch Bridge) is to provide an armoured and/or mechanised combat formation with a fast solution to overcome natural obstacles, or artificial obstacles created by the enemy. This gives an attacking unit the element of surprise, not limiting the unit to the available intact civilian road and bridge infra-structure.

This Model Foto Focus takes a thorough look around these fascinating machines. For the modeller, this is the ultimate walkaround for an accurate model.

For the armour enthusiast, it describes the Belgian version of this rare bridgelayer in great detail, and shows you how it operates.

Format: A4, landscape, 88 pages, 287 photographs.

Tilly Colours
Unavailable for some time, Trackpad Publishing is set to bring the title back again, this time in a different format.

The intention of this profile is to highlight the many and varied colour schemes applicable to Austin, Hillman, Morris and Standard Light Utilities – Tillys – during the war years. Indeed, the general colours here are equally applicable to all other British military vehicles of the period. The problem of identifying British wartime colours has always been a tricky one. Throughout the war, there were many interpretations of not only the official camouflage schemes, but also of the colours themselves.

Virtually every photograph in the book is a black and white picture of a Tilly in military service during the war. With the invaluable help of Mike Starmer, who has long been recognised for his work in identifying these colours and patterns, the book contains a colour explanation so that the photographs can be usefully interpreted. Wherever possible, an illustration and explanation of the vehicle’s unit markings is provided.

It opens up a wealth of suggestions for accurate liveries that would be appropriate for use on either a restored vehicle or a scale miniature. Hopefully, this little book makes it clear to both modellers and vehicle restorers/owners that there is more than just one plain green colour scheme available to them. British wartime camouflage is equally as interesting as those used by the opposing Axis forces.

Format: A5, portrait, 62 pages, 122 photographs.


All the above titles will be published by December 14. Pre-orders are very welcome.