Books

One of the reasons I am able to write a blog on military models is I have a great library.  It includes four bookcases not unlike this one.   There are many great resources online, but to really get into the meat of a topic and learn the very minuscule details, you have to read books.  I like to study technology, so I will buy books on tanks in general, tanks from a specific nation, and then how that nation employs tanks, and finally on individual tank types.  Which tank is best?  The answer is the tank that fulfills it role it was designed to perform.  The Panzer III was supposed to be the main German tank in World War Two and it performed that role very well for three or four years.  The Panzer IV was designed to provide heavy armor and fire support to the Panzer III, and it did that job well for about three years.  In war, three years is a very long time.  The American Sherman tank was designed to be superior to the Panzer IV and it generally was a better tank than the Panzer IV.

The Germans made fewer than 8,600 Panzer IV and the Americans  made nearly 50,000 Sherman tanks.  That was one of the other criteria for the Sherman, it had to be fast and easy to build, the Germans had a five year head start on building the Panzer IV also before the first Sherman was built at the end of 1941.

Sometimes these books can be expensive, but I find they are the best way to learn about the models we build and toys we play with.  I have learned history, geography, politics, technology, and many other things by building models, and reading about the real thing.  That's part of what I like about this hobby, there are so many different aspects to it.