The Nuts & Bolts series of books offer a detailed look at specific vehicles, and are strongly geared towards the modeller researching a build. This particular volume takes a look at the S.d.Kfz.9 “FAMO” 18 ton half-track. This book is printed in both English and German with pages divided down the centre and one language on each side, or in the case of photo captions being in English first followed by the German translation.

The first six pages deal with a brief history of German Half-tracks as well as the history of the Sd.Kfz.9 and it’s variants from its pre-war inception through to the early war years. This isn’t a massively in-depth history but more an overview of the development. This is followed by a photo index, a brief listing of available 1/35 scale model kits, a list of known surviving vehicles, and a chart of technical data.

From there we move onto the good stuff, with sixteen pages of black and white period photos, with three to four very good photos per page. These photos are all very clear and include some rare examples plus a very good one of the engine. We then get eleven pages of 1/35 scale diagramatic line drawings of the various Sd.Kfz.9 variants including the artillery tractor, 6 ton and 10 ton crane versions and the the armoured cab version mounting an 8.8cm FlaK 36/37.

This is followed by six pages of reference photos of a preserved vehicle in the Wheatcroft collection. These include a lot of good detail photos of the front suspension. There is then a brief dalliance into four pages of colour profile drawings before getting back to the Wheatfield vehicle with another thirty six pages of reference photos that cover the vehicle inside and out quite thoroughly. These forty two pages of reference photos all have three, and sometimes four, photos per page for over 120 very nice, clear photos of every part of the vehicle.

The book concludes with twelve pages, again with three to four photos per page, of other vehicles in museums and collections in varying degrees of repair from a chassis only to an in-use Sd.Kfz.7/2 10 ton crane. Some of these are very useful as they include photos of parts which would normally only be seen with parts of the vehicle removed.

From a modelling perspective this book is an invaluable reference tool that should be on the workbench of anyone tackling Tamiya’s beautiful Sd.Kfz.9 kit. It brings together in one handy tome hundreds of useful photos that would either never be found, or possibly found only after months of scouring the net and libraries. If you’re looking for the definitive development history of the “FAMO” then this isn’t it, but if you’re planning to build one then it’s a must have in my opinion.

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Click on thumbnails to enlarge images.

FAMO, nuts and bolts vol 12, Sdkfz 9

Pz.Kpfw III Ausf. G FAMO

FAMO, panzer III, pzkpfw III, Sdkfz 9