Model Art Co, Ltd
Elefant/Ferdinand Super Detail Photo Book
Reviewed By  Mark Aldrich, IPMS# 39295
[book cover image]
MSRP: 2,300 Yen, approx $25.00

I have always thought that the Elefant was a really neat looking armored vehicle. It was one of the first kits I ever bought with my own money and had it built within in week Why can't I seem to do that nowadays?

For many years, to my knowledge, Italeri had the market cornered with the only styrene kit of the Elefant on the market. Then Dragon ups and releases at least four that I know of. They have the Ferdinand, Elefant and Premium editions of each.

If you plan to build any of these fine kits, this would be a great volume to acquire. This book was definitely aimed at the model builder during its inception. I don't think they could have fit any more photos onto any more pages without making it a larger volume and costing more.

The book is 56 pages long with the pages being of a good sturdy photo stock paper. It is filled from front to back with both black and white and color photographs, two pages of color plates and two 1/35 scale drawings. The text is in both Japanese and English. The English text is written in a readable format. All the photographs in the history section are black and white and most are "in the field" shots. These photographs are followed by four pages of 1/35 line drawings and then we transition into the walk around shots.

The book uses two vehicles for the walk around pictures. The Ferdinand is a three tone camouflage vehicle from a inside Museum I don't recognize and the Elefant is a monotone sand colored vehicle from Aberdeen Proving grounds in Maryland. All of the photographs are of excellent quality. They offer great, up close shots of virtually every area of the vehicles.

This is another great book designed specifically for the model builder. You can order it directly from Model Art (www.modelart.jp). With the $25.00 price tag, it is well worth the investment to have as you build your Ferdinand/Elefant. I would like to thank Model Art and IPMS/USA for the opportunity to review this excellent book.
Information, images, and all other items placed electronically on this site
are the intellectual property of IPMS/USA ®.