Minitracks

Minitracks Magazine #3 (New Series)(Bilingual Edition)

Reviewed By  Jim Pearsall, IPMS# 2209

MSRP: 10.95€ ($14.58) per issue           1 year subscription (4 issues) including postage 51.50€ ($68.58) Contact:   Editions du Barbotin   25, rue des Jardins   91160 BALLANVILLIERS   FRANCE Thanks to MiniTracks for the review copy. The Magazine: High quality, heavy color cover, Perfect Bound. 70 full color pages, offset printed. A4 size (8-3/4 X 11-3/4 inches) Text is French in the left column, English in the right column. The Content: This issue has 12 articles, each with a superb 1/72 or 1/76 scale AFV as its central subject. Of course, there's one exception, a "how-to" article on how to make good looking concrete pavement using foam core board. There is a very good build review of Retrokit's "Da Vinci Tank". The diorama depicts what the builder/author thinks would have happened to Da Vinci's idea if it had been built and fielded. Considering the state of roads in the 1500s and the "footprint" of the concept vehicle, it wouldn't have gotten far. Here's a great idea. For 2 years now, there has been a model contest for armor/military vehicle modelers only, and they hold it at the French Armor Museum at Samur. The museum not only provides a great venue, they get some of the vehicles out and let the enthusiasts actually see and hear what the original vehicles were like. There's a "walk around" on the British Staghound Armored car, with a tie-in article which reviews the RPM Staghound kit, with the usual outstanding diorama. Wonder how they did that to a PzKw IV with a Staghound. There's also a photo tour of the Swiss Armor Museum at Thun and a feature article (see the cover) on the Hotchkiss H-35. The H-35 article explains why the French tanks were considered less capable than their German counterparts, including the facts that France had to import much of its steel (smaller tank, thinner armor), low birthrate after WW1 (made a crew of more than 2 impractical), the necessity for reusing the guns from the WW1 vintage FT-17s (budgetary considerations), and the program was due to be completed in 1941. The Bottom Line: If you know everything there is to know about small scale armor, and your modeling techniques are flawless and need no improvement, then you'll probably still find this magazine interesting, because they cover the "new releases" for European kits you'll only hear rumors of until after they're out of production. This is 1/2 page of 7 pages of new stuff. For the rest of us mortals, any help they can give me is more than welcome. I wish there was more coverage of techniques in the build/review articles, but the "how to" articles are sufficiently in depth to be of great help. If you still have well-thumbed copies of AFV G-2 in your book case, and you're pining for more good reference material, this magazine will help. Not just with the articles, but also with their quick reviews of recently released specialist books.

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