PMMS

book Amphibious Jeeps in detail
Special Museum Line No32
František Korán, František Sykora, Jan Moštek
ISBN 80-86416-41-0
Wings & Wheels Publications.
Published by RAK, Czech Republic.

72 pages all in colour.

Review by Terry Ashley


Wings & Wheels continue to publish some superb photo essays for the modeller and this latest title is no exception.

Ford GPA 'Seep":
The first 53 pages deals in great detail with the US Ford GPA being one of only three Amphibious vehicles used in WWII after the DUKW and German Schwimmwagen.

The detail shown here is simply superb and starts with a few pages of general all round views of a preserved Seep following by a photo record of the GPA during the restoration process with many photos of the body minus all suspension and fittings to give an excellent view of the structures followed by shots of the front and rear axles again separate from the vehicle.
Following this are many sequence shots as the vehicle is reassembled showing many of the sub-assemblies exposed as you would not normally see them such as the engine, gearbox and transmission looking from above without the floor panels fitted as well as the many body supports and structures.

The engine and gearbox comes next with incredibly detailed shots of the various components such as individual photos of the distributor, belt gear wheels and plumbing to name just a few with the gearbox/transmission covered in equally close-up detail along with the pump, piping and control valves with all the shots again taken before the floor panels are fitted for excellent details.

Next comes a series of external walk around close-up shots of the fully restored vehicle that has individual close-up shots of just about every external feature there is on Seep, how about four separate photos of the tail light to give some idea of the level of detail in the shots.

The undersides don't miss out with shots of the diffs and axles, wheels and rear screw propeller in equally excellent close up.

The interior is next with incredible shots of the dashboard, instruments, driver's controls, seats and floor panels as well as the fuel tank under the rear seat and the insides of the windscreen showing all the hinges and fittings which leaves you wondering how so much detail can actually be in such a small vehicle?

Finally there are several shots of the 30.cal MG and its pedestal mounting sometimes fitted to the GPA with excellent shots of the ammo box and mountings and quite frankly if you want more details of the Seep you will never be satisfied.

GAZ-46 MAV:
The next section has eleven pages on the postwar Russian GAZ-46 MAV which was inspired by the GPA and there are many detailed walk around shots of the exterior body fittings, a look into the open engine bay and some detailed interior photos for a nice coverage of this little known vehicle.

Skoda 973:
Finally there are seven pages on the unusual looking Skoda 973 built for the Czech Army with general external shots plus some engine bay and interiors shots to give a brief but detailed photo essay on this vehicle that will be of interest if only to show it existed.

This book continues the sensational photo coverage of the subject we have come to expect from Wings and Wheels publications and is everything the modeller would want.

Highly recommended

Thanks to my Credit Card and the usual excellent service from Blast Models for the book.



Page Created 11 April 2005

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