Best book sets or Publishers for WWII

STUKA · Post by **STUKA** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 2:12 pm

Are the Osprey Publishers the best series when it comes to reference of WWII items? I was looking at some of the books today and like them for the details they give - that one can't find in other places.

I want more details about the PZ IV/70(V) or Brummbar so I could make one from my RC PZ IV.

So I figured this would be a good topic. If this is already covered - just move me to where I need to be

Website · Post by **Teamski** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 4:45 am

One of the best series of books I've seen are published by Histoire & Collections. They are fantastically priced and top notch. All are hardbound, with tons of illustrations and diagrams. I'm telling you, they are not to be missed!! Here are a couple of them:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/290818 ... oding=UTF8

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/291390 ... oding=UTF8

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/291523 ... oding=UTF8

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/291523 ... oding=UTF8

There are more, if you can find them. They should be priced double of that!!

-Ski

digger · Post by **digger** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 6:39 am

Yes - these are awesome. The close-ups and details are for the 1:1 collector or insane modellor so if getting it "right" is your thing you need this series as a reference. Shown one by another board member I was convinced.
Ski, pointing out the sale you just cost me a pretty penny.

STUKA · Post by **STUKA** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 11:50 am

I was just checking those out - they also have mini-guides. Are those worth the $7.00. It appears amazon.com is the best place to find them for price and shipping.

I saw another armor collection from a russian site but can't find it right now nor remember the name -
For the price it appears the Histoire & Collections book on the german uniforms would be better than Osprey as they have extra books on SS uniforms and Panzer Tanker uniforms at much cheaper prices used.

does anyone else have a favorite book or publisher - ?

Website · Post by **Teamski** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 4:55 pm

digger wrote:Yes - these are awesome. The close-ups and details are for the 1:1 collector or insane modellor so if getting it "right" is your thing you need this series as a reference. Shown one by another board member I was convinced.
Ski, pointing out the sale you just cost me a pretty penny.

Yeah, well, I picked up the airborne vols 1 and 2 since I have never seen them before. I want to get the Canadian and German volumes, but I think I would upset the missus, hehehehe....

-Ski

STUKA · Post by **STUKA** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 10:41 am

Another good book I found with great color pictures of German tanks is " German Tanks of World War II in Color."
by MBI.

i picked one up for $14.95 at a barned and noble.

digger · Post by **digger** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 11:08 am

my problem with that book is that a lot of the paint jobs aren't authentic, so it is not a great reference book. But you do get good up-close photos of the armor and some facts too.

STUKA · Post by **STUKA** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 11:37 am

true - but they do state when the paintjob is not original -
I'm also thinking about picking up the German Tanks at War (Hardcover)
by Bob Carruthers from amazon dot com. comes out to about $15.00 with shipping for a used one. Anyone have that book?

The MBI website has a great collection www.motorbooks.com

I'm not sure what their shipping is - they have some of the Histoire & Collections series - I'm gonna have to save my allowance for that - my problem is that money goes toward 1:18
grr.

Website · Post by **Teamski** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 1:21 pm

STUKA wrote:true - but they do state when the paintjob is not original -
I'm also thinking about picking up the German Tanks at War (Hardcover)
by Bob Carruthers from amazon dot com. comes out to about $15.00 with shipping for a used one. Anyone have that book?

The MBI website has a great collection www.motorbooks.com

I'm not sure what their shipping is - they have some of the Histoire & Collections series - I'm gonna have to save my allowance for that - my problem is that money goes toward 1:18
grr.

What I love about Amazon is the fact that they don't charge shipping on anything over $25. So, you get a great price without sales tax and no shipping!!

-Ski

Mr. Football · Post by **Mr. Football** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 11:19 pm

I like Chris Bishop books a lot.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/searc ... ris+Bishop

Also enjoy the Thomas Jentz stuff from Schiffer
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/searc ... omas+jentz

As well as the JJ Fedorowicz stuff like Tigers in Combat:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/searc ... fedorowicz

STUKA · Post by **STUKA** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 9:42 am

The Chris Bishop books look really good - and for a good price - add another book and free shipping!!
Thanks for your input - this is good stuff.

luftpanzer · Post by **luftpanzer** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 10:54 am

check out RZM imports, they have a good selection of books and magazines. Also there is a series of papaerback books called Soldat by a collector named Cyrus Lee. It is a good source of Uniform reference for the german soldier. And then there is Squadron signal that put out reference books during the 70s and 80s that are still in print such as panzergrenadier in action and waffen ss in action. Panzer Color 1 and panzer Colors 2.

JimBob55 · Post by **JimBob55** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 7:52 pm

Yes, I have some of the Osprey books and I like them alot. I have Osprey books covering the Avenger and Dauntless squadrons of WW2. I also have numerous copies of the Squadron/Signal "In Action" series for aircraft and aircraft carriers. Squadron/Signal also publishes the "In Action and Scale" books which includes a photographic 'walk-around' of the subject aircraft. I have (of course

) the 2 volumes covering the Corsair. All of these books feature a good selection of contemporary photos, color profiles and historic information and specifications.

Regards,
JimBob

JimBob55 · Post by **JimBob55** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 8:02 pm

I was going to start a new thread, but this fits here...

I just got my monthly catalog from the "Military Book Club" and it features a great-looking book entitled "Luftwaffe Squadrons 1939-1945". I thought of you Luftwaffe enthusiasts when I saw it. It has beautiful profiles and says it has 320 color/b&w photos and plates in 192 pages. Check it out at:
http://www.militarybookclub.com

(I think you can browse without being a member)

JimBob

STUKA · Post by **STUKA** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 6:59 pm

JimBob55 Good stuff - I always look at the ads in WWIImags about the book clubs but never follow through - any rip-off problems?

luftpanzer - I will look into those -
thank you for the additional resources.

theToyFederation · Post by **theToyFederation** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 10:23 pm

JJ Fedorowicz publishes great but pricey books. There photo album books are hard to beat. I recently purchased SS Armor on the Eastern Front 1943-1945 it contains hundreds of late war photos many never published. This book had a treasure trove of photos relating to the Waffen SS in Hungary in 1945. Their next offering covers the Northern Front during the Battle of Kursk which I link to in another thread.

Threetoughtrucks · Post by **Threetoughtrucks** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 10:08 am

There is a series of LONG out of print bound books called "The United States Army in WW2" It was published in 1950-51 by the Army.

These books are historical records of WW2 written by US Army historians and they are detaled records of every battle of every unit. Each book details a half dozen battles and they diary ever fight and the actions of every GI involved. Reading this stuff is like looking over these guy's shoulders. Maps and disagrams as well as actual pics (not the generic pics we see on TV) are part of every historical record of these fights. These historians were there with these units or used after the battle witness documents.

I have six volumes of these books as well as a separate three volume set which is "The Pictorial" volumes, just pics and descriptions. I found one of these books at a MV show and found the rest in old book stores in NYC over the course of years of hunting (sometimes having a field job gives you time to hunt up stuff). I have seen entire sets of over 26 volumes, but of course, whenever I saw complete sets I never could buy them due to price.

Unbelievable pics, clear, detailed pics of fights and my personal favorits, pics of day to day life at the front and behind it.

TTT

Mr. Football · Post by **Mr. Football** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 1:53 am

The Time-Life WWII Series is fantastic.

You can piece together the set by visiting Half-Price books. I got most of them there, then filled in the holes via Ebay.

Great photos, layout, and especially the writing. Interesting vignettes about individual stories of heroism, heartache, etc.

A must have.

flpickupman · Post by **flpickupman** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 5:44 am

I have to agree the Time Life books are pretty damn good.

I'm also in Stuka's boat. I need a project idea for a turretless Panzer IV. Anyone have a recommendation for the most comprehensive title on that particular tank? Perhaps something along the lines of Tigers in Combat? Thanks

STUKA · Post by **STUKA** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 3:31 pm

Now the problem is I want to check out all these books. I have the civil War Timelife set .. How does the WWII differ from that set?

theToyFederation · Post by **theToyFederation** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 9:05 am

They both have the same general format. Both are roughly 30 volumes. The WW2 set probably has more photos. There is also a Time-Life set on the Third Reich that is very good. It has about 20 volumes and came out in the late 1980's. It is harder to find and usually costs more when you do find them.

STUKA · Post by **STUKA** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 8:25 am

FieroDude - this was a thread on books earlier this year - add what you find to this thread

ostketten · Post by **ostketten** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 5:26 pm

There is a series of LONG out of print bound books called "The United States Army in WW2" It was published in 1950-51 by the Army.

I would love to have the complete series as a set of hardbound books. Here is a link which shows a listing of the complete series at the US Army Center for Military History (CMH for short), each with a brief description... http://www.army.mil/cmh/books/wwii/11-9/11-9c.htm

I know the complete text (with maps and photos) of some of these titles are available for free online, here's my favorite, The Ardennes: Battle Of The Bulge... http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/wwii/7-8/7-8_cont.htm

This is great stuff for the historian, collector and modeler alike.

ostketten · Post by **ostketten** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 10:27 am

AN ADDENDUM TO THE ABOVE POST:

The complete US Army in WWII series (the so-called "green books") are now available on CD-ROM in PDF format from the Center For Military History... http://www.army.mil/cmh/catalog/pubs/em/em.html#em_0224
Offered as a 7 set multi-disc series, they can be purchased online at the USGPO bookstore.... http://bookstore.gpo.gov/
The pictorial record disk (part of set #3) alone is worth three times the $10 asking price just for the hundreds of high quality images of US Army WWII hardware, an invaluable reference resource to the modeler and collector IMO, and the CD's represent a great value for those that do not have the space or money for the hardbound books. Images follow...

STUKA · Post by **STUKA** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 9:16 pm

I picked up "Panzers at War" WITH Christmas money
from the At War series by Green and Green
Zenith Press
ISBN-13: 978-0-7603-2152-2
ISBN-10: 0-7603-2152-3

Very nice book - great pics new and old.
many Four-view line drawings and shows where shells were placed in Panther and Tiger.

Now I still have $40 in gift certificates for Barnes and Noble!!
What should I get?

Small Scale Military Headquarters

Best book sets or Publishers for WWII

Best book sets or Publishers for WWII

yup

Re: yup

books

WW2 Book series

Luftwaffe book