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Book Review
AT-T Vehicle Family in Detail
Soviet AT-T, BTM-3, BAT-M and MDK-2M (G059)
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by: Mario Matijasic [ MAKI ]

Introduction:

Wings & Wheels Publications (WWP) is a publishing company from Czech Republic, producing photographic reference manuals for modelers. WWP's range is broad, covering military tracked and wheeled vehicles, artillery, airplanes, helicopters, as well as individual weapons. This review covers WWP's latest title featuring Soviet Cold War era artillery tractor: AT-T Vehicles Family in detail (G059).

Review:

PanzerShop produced first 1/35 scale offerings of AT-T family of vehicles as full resin kits. These are superb kits with loads of details, but suitable for experienced modelers only. Plastic AT-T 1/35 scale kit was introduced under Trumpeter label in 2016. The company soon offered other variants of the vehicle as well. Although there are some reference images of these vehicles available on-line, I was really looking forward to the WWP's title. Having over 20 reference photo manuals from the company, I knew I could expect nothing but the best images covering the vehicle in great depth, inside and out.

The book arrived safely packed in a hard cardboard box and additionally secured inside a bubble-wrap. Browsing through the book, I'm impressed with the high-quality paper and easy-to-follow chapter structure, but even more with the quantity of large and clear color photos showing just about every detail of the subject. Here are the basics:

Title: AT-T Vehicles Family in detail (Soviet engineering vehicles AT-T, BTM-3, BAT, BAT-M and MDK-2M)
Publisher: Wings & Wheels Publications (WWP)
Code: G059
Authors: Jan Horák and František Kořán
Format: softcover (22x24 cm)
Pages: 96
Color: full color
Language: English
ISBN: 978-80-87509-65-4
Retail Price: $33 (€26)

The book delivers photos of AT-T family vehicles from army museums and military parks in East European countries. The chapter are color-coded for easy navigation:

• Contents (002-005)
• AT-T Prime Mover (006-041)
• BAT Dozer (042-043)
• BTM-3 Trench Digger (044-064)
• BAT-M Dozer (065-087)
• MDK-2M Ditch Digger (088-095)

The title opens with Contents, showing a large photo of each subject, denoting the pages covering the specific vehicle. The first vehicle covered is AT-T Prime Mover, with the following 36 pages dedicated to providing all the possible details of the system. The chapter starts with a short introduction to the vehicle, describing its development and providing info on its variants. The walk around section covers all the vehicle exterior features: cab details, engine compartment with 6 pages dedicated to showing the engine, centre wall battery and tool boxes, cargo body, internal winch, wheels and tracks. Cab interior is extensively covered, with the doors, dashboard, windows and roof, floor with pedals and levers, as well as seat details. A very short chapter on early BAT Dozer comes next, delivering photos specific for that type of vehicle. The 21-page long chapter on BTM-3 Trench Digger shows this peculiar AT-T variant that features a specialized spade for digging trenches. After a short introduction on the vehicle and info on the excavator wheel, the section provides walk around photos and very detailed coverage of excavator with power transfer and scraper details. The following 23 pages are dedicated to BAT-M Dozer, again starting with a brief introduction on this versatile engineers' machine. The body details, crane details, dozer blade power... it's all there. The extensive coverage of this vehicle variant should please even the most dedicated rivet counters. Finally, the chapter on MDK-2M Ditch Digger shows the vehicle with bulldozer blade and a tilting high-speed rotary excavator mounted transversely to the body. The digger system is shown in great detail.

Conclusion:

With over 310 large high-res color photos and 20 manual drawings, the AT-T Vehicle Family in Detail (G059) from WWP provides an amazing wealth of reference for anyone modeling the AT-T and its derivatives BAT-M, BTM-3 and MDK-2M.

A big thank you to Frantisek from WWP for this review sample.

SUMMARY
Highs: Printed on a high-quality paper, well structured and packed with large color photos, this book is a perfect reference manual for anyone modeling AT-T family of vehicles.
Lows: None.
Verdict: Highly recommended.
  Scale: N/A
  Mfg. ID: G059
  Related Link: WWP website
  PUBLISHED: Dec 25, 2018
  NATIONALITY: Russia
NETWORK-WIDE AVERAGE RATINGS
  THIS REVIEWER: 93.37%
  MAKER/PUBLISHER: 93.24%

Our Thanks to Wings & Wheels!
This item was provided by them for the purpose of having it reviewed on this KitMaker Network site. If you would like your kit, book, or product reviewed, please contact us.

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About Mario Matijasic (Maki)
FROM: CROATIA HRVATSKA

You wonder how did this addiction start? I was a kid when my dad broght home a 1/72 Concord airplane; we built it together as well as couple of other airplanes after that. This phase was just pure fun: glue, paint, decals in no particular order... everything was finished in a day or two. Then I disc...

Copyright ©2021 text by Mario Matijasic [ MAKI ]. All rights reserved.



   
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