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Military Tech: Armor No. 1 – M5 and M5A1 Stuart Light
Tank, by David Doyle
M5 and M5A1 Stuart Light Tank
by David Doyle
Reviewed by John Prigent
Summary
Publisher and Title
Military Tech: Armor No. 1 – M5 and M5A1
Stuart Light Tank, by David Doyle, Crooked Creek Publishing LLC for
Stevens International
ISBN:
0-9786084—2
Media and Contents:
40 pages
Price:
Review Type:
First Read
Advantages:
Nice photographic study of the Stuart M5A1
Disadvantages:
Recommendation:
Highly Recommended
FirstRead
This is a nice photographic study of the Stuart M5A1, with a few
wartime photos of the M5 for good measure.
It begins with 12 pages of WW2 monochrome shots, nearly all M5A1
though the two right-hand photos on page 5 are M5s despite their
captions. Here there’s a good mix of detail views and in-the-field
photographs, and 1st Marine Tank Battalion’s fitting of a
flamethrower in the bow gun position is shown by 3 detail photos as
well as an in-action shot.
The colour section begins with 3 WW2 photos and then there are 15
pages of detailed closeups of restored M5A1s with the motor, hull
and turret interiors well covered as well as exterior details. Some
of the interior views are a bit on the dark side, taken without
flash to avoid the extra-dark shadows cast by flash, but they’re
still very usable so this isn’t a criticism. I wish I had had this
book handy when I built my own model with interior! It’s back to
monochrome for another five pages of in-service shots, followed by a
dimensioned five-view US Army Ordnance plan of the M5A1. This is
spread over four pages to allow reproduction at a large scale with a
great deal of visible detail. Although the scale isn’t specified it
does have scale bars to allow you to measure and compare features
for your models.
The final touch is another three pages of wartime photos in British
Commonwealth service and one of a deturretted M5 or M5A1 converted
to an APC by the Egyptian Army after the war.