Toadman's Tank Pictures
105mm H.M.C. M7, M7B1 and M7B2 Photo Detail CD #15
by  Chris "Toadman" Hughes
Reviewed By  Dennis Tennant, IPMS# 41582

[book cover image]
MSRP: $7.99
Available from the Toadman at www.toadmanstankpictures.com .

[review image]
Chris "Toadman" Hughes has done it again. His latest CD on the M7 "Priest" gun carriage is another in his collection of top-notch photo reference CDs. On one CD you'll have access to hundreds of reference photos of three variants of the M7 without using a lot of valuable shelf space storing reference materials. That leaves you with more room for your models, right?

This CD contains 377 photos of three different versions of this mobile howitzer. Called the "Priest" by our British allies because of its pulpit-like machine gunner's station, this WWII Allied vehicle saw action in WWII as well as the Korean War.

[review image]
The quality of the photos on this CD are excellent. They are sharp, well-lit and provide an excellent walk-around views of three different versions of this howitzer motor carriage. Chris and other contributors photographed the M7 at the American Society of Military History's "Tankland" in El Monte Ca. and at the Virginia Museum of Military Vehicles in Prince William County, Va. The M7B1 was photographed at Ft. Knox, Ky. and Lawrenceville, N.J. and the M7B2 at Camp Roberts, Ca., and the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation in Portola Valley, Ca.

[review image]
This CD will run on both PC and Macs. It consists of a series of HTML files and JPEG images put together like a single, interlinked website on one disk. If you have a web browser, nothing else is needed to use this CD. All images are captioned clearly and provide a thorough, detailed look at the M7. There are photos of the engine, the main gun, various weld seams, tracks and even shots of the underside.

[review image]
Despite the fact that all vehicles were photographed in a controlled, outdoor setting, it's obvious the photographer had great access to these AFVs. My only quibble is I wish the photos included some sort of scale reference (a ruler or something similar to provide a way to gauge the size of objects in the photos) to help those of us without access to detailed plans.

That said, there are a lot of different camera angles and detail shots that every Priest modeler will find useful. I spent over an hour looking at the photos on this disk and can see how immensely useful it will be to any armor modeler interested in reproducing this fighting vehicle.

If you've got an M7 kit lying around, be sure to get one of these CDs before starting. The small outlay in money is minor when you consider how much time you'll save researching the M7 elsewhere. This one's a keeper.

Thanks to "Toadman" Chris for providing a review copy to IPMS.

Information, images, and all other items placed electronically on this site
are the intellectual property of IPMS/USA ®.