Your Go To Tank Books

[ripley]

What are your go to tank books ?  I've been lending a few of mine out to guys from the LHS as they really have no clue where to look for info on paint schemes , stowage and kit bashing options . The 2 general one I use are the old ( old ) standards - Encyclopedia of German Tanks , and British and US Tanks in WW2 . Both great for showing you the various versions of tanks , half tracks and SPGs . Lots of prototype , display and in action / combat photos . Great for ideas on stowage and battle damage . The smaller book , Weapons of WW2 covers the more popular Infantry , Artillery , Tanks , Planes and Ships of the major combatants of WW2 . Plus its got some nice color scheme drawings of most weapons covered .  Not a stand alone book but great as a secondary reference .

As well I 've  got various Squadron / Signal , Osprey / Vanguard , Ambersand , Tankograd , Tankpower ,Concord , Schiffer and a few other one offs  dealing with one   vehicle  type  or Unit in combat . Just picked up the latest Haynes - Panzer III , great addition to the others , word is they plan a Stug book in the near future

So what books do you use for your builds , conversions and paint schemes ?

[ultravanillasmurf]

I have the Osprey books (New Vanguard), I tend to get the one relevant to my next project.

The British Tanks in Normandy by Ludovic Fortin seems pretty good.

I have found the Tankograd books quite useful, though the range is limited.

[ripley]

Yes , Tanks in Normandy is a great book , picked it last fall , after I built my Sherman  . The Tankograd line has some good books but a limited range in WW2 , they have  a lot more on  modern stuff . Some are OOP at this time , but they do reprint them from time to time . Thinking about getting the one on the Opel Blitz truck variations and maybe a couple of their US Army vehicle manual reprints , M4 , M8 , M5 , maybe more than a couple .

[ultravanillasmurf]

I have a lot of the modern Tankograd books, only the Opel and the Studebaker ones so far for WW2.

[Ballardian]

I think there are others here who can point out excellent historical & technical sources so I'll concentrate on books I've found useful as painting guides.
 Those produced by Mig Jimenez for AK Interactive are pretty good (with titles covering Late war German camo & Soviet schemes).
The book by Reuben Tarragosa & Mig Jimenez (again) 'Painting Wargames Tanks' is good, both as a starting point for those wishing to explore the current approaches to highlighting (modulation, zenithal etc) & weathering, while having enough depth to always have a useful tip to those with more experience.
 The Mig (yes, him again) FAQ books are pretty much the final word on painting & weathering (& have the price to show it), but a considerably lower cost, the 'Step By Step' books by Glenn Bartolotti are a reasonable substitute.
 The 'Tank Art' series by Micheal Rinaldi (Rinaldi Studio Press) are excellent, covering a good number of subects, also Adam Wilder's 'Adam's Armour' series.
 Hope thats useful!

[Pinky]

There are definitely a few books I keep going back to:

Chamberlain & Ellis - British and American Tanks of WW2.  This was my first armour reference book (given to me 40 years ago), and it's still amazingly comprehensive and reliable.  I think some entries could do with revising (e.g. the Sherman), but it holds up well.  Everyone should have it.

Hunnicutt - Sherman. Still the definitive Sherman book. 

Jentz - Panzer Truppen I and II.  Another must-have.

Zaloga - Armoured Thunderbolt.  The service history of the Sherman, and an attempt to correct the myths.  An excellent companion to Hunnicutt.

Restayn - Tiger I on the Eastern/Western Front.  While more concise than others, this seems to be the best reference on the Tiger I's service history.

Fortin - British Tanks in Normandy.  Despite some dodgy English and not enough photos, it's another definitive work.

Bernage - The Panzers and the Battle of Normandy.  Really comprehensive unit-by-unit account of the German armoured forces in Normandy.  An excellent companion to Fortin.

Oliver & Starmer - The New Breed.  A great book on British armour at the time of Alamein.

Restayn and Miller - The 10th Panzer Division.  One of the best of the JJ Fedorowicz coffee table books.  Lots of really good photos of this unit, both before and during the Tunisian campaign.

Concord - they are great sources for photos but the accuracy varies.  I really like Zaloga's titles (mostly US and Soviet subjects), and the titles devoted to British armour (Fletcher writes good captions).  The German titles are less reliable, and anything by Michulec is suspect.

Osprey New Vanguard.  I buy these because of the broad range of subjects they cover and because they are cheap and don't take up too much space.  Again, Zaloga dominates this range, because he's delved into subjects like French and Eastern European armour.  He's also not afraid to challenge the perceived wisdom on German armour.  Fletcher's British armour titles are well written and honest.

Squadron/Signal.  I prefer the older titles.  They had well chosen photos and useful technical drawings. 

Tankograd - Wehrmacht Special series. I have a few of these; the info is limited (and the captions aren't great) but they have a lot of photos which haven't been published elsewhere. 

Tankograd - Technical Manual series.  The best source I've found for details that aren't available elsewhere.  I only have a few, however.

Some books are over-rated.  I find Spielberger's books quite badly organised, and the translation seems off in places.  Panzer Colours used to be indispensable, but it's been shown to have a lot of mistakes.

[tyroflyer]

Your book collection is making me envious Pinky.

I have the Chamberlain & Ellis book you mention plus the equivalent Encyclopedia of German Tanks of World War Two by Chamberlin & Doyle. Also a few others including the odd Osprey, Bellona print and squadron/signal publication.

My interest in military history not only extends into the aviation and naval spheres it also goes back into recorded history. The book I'm currently reading is about Cannae (Hannibal was a military genius) and the Army I'm currently working on is from 1st century Rome. My collection of books is therefore somewhat diverse and explains my lack of in depth knowledge on the tanks. I find it all of great interest nonetheless and feel my enthusiasm for buying books on military vehicles growing. If only there wasn't so much other interesting stuff on military campaigns through the ages diverting the book budget!   

[Pinky]

The book by Reuben Tarragosa & Mig Jimenez (again) 'Painting Wargames Tanks' is good, both as a starting point for those wishing to explore the current approaches to highlighting (modulation, zenithal etc) & weathering, while having enough depth to always have a useful tip to those with more experience.

I might look for this book; I didn't know about it.  Thanks!

Your book collection is making me envious Pinky.

It's taken many years to accumulate, and there are quite a few duds in there (usually impulse buys when let loose in a large bookshop).  The larger books are obviously very expensive, and I've run out of shelf space, which is why I tend to stick to Osprey.

My interest in military history not only extends into the aviation and naval spheres it also goes back into recorded history. The book I'm currently reading is about Cannae (Hannibal was a military genius) and the Army I'm currently working on is from 1st century Rome. My collection of books is therefore somewhat diverse and explains my lack of in depth knowledge on the tanks. I find it all of great interest nonetheless and feel my enthusiasm for buying books on military vehicles growing. If only there wasn't so much other interesting stuff on military campaigns through the ages diverting the book budget!   

I am also interested in earlier periods - especially the Napoleonic Wars and the American Civil War - and naval warfare generally.  But it's armour that I keep coming back to.  My in-depth knowledge of armour tails off after the 1980s - I have stuff on the Vietnam War and Arab-Israeli wars, but not much after that.  I have a lot of books about individual WW2 battles and campaigns, as well more general works like Forczyk's 2-volume series on armoured combat on the Eastern Front.  Plus interesting stuff like 'On the Psychology of Military Incompetence' and 'The Face of Battle'.

[tyroflyer]

One of my books I failed to mention is World Encyclopaedia of the TANK by Christopher Chant published in the mid 90's. Although not WWII specific it's a good overview that includes the period between the world wars and post war. Worth looking out for in second hand bookshops.

[Ballardian]

Forgot about 'Modulation & Light Techniques' (yes it's Mr Jimenej again) - a good comparison of the different approaches to highlighting vehicles (modulation, zenithal, panel & spotlight).
 I also forgot to mention that the 'Painting Wargames Tanks' book was written with 15mm in mind, that said, the tecniques covered are applicable to any scale - just that the bigger you get, the less you have to exaggerate the colour contrasts. (Also it's Ruben Torregrosa not whatever abomnable mangling of his name I produced earlier )