Kubinka Photo Album Vol. 1
Mini book review by Brian Bocchino
Kubinka Photo Album Vol. 1, CA-Rock Press, 1999.
This is the first of at least a four volume series. Unlike most other Japanese publications, this book contains both Japanese and English text. Contains some 110 pages with approximately 3 or 4 photos per page. I purchased mine direct from Rainbow10 in Japan for $26.85 plus about $5 for shipping.
The photos are clear and of good quality, but they appear to mostly be black and white photos which seems odd for this day and age when taking photos inside of a museum. A nice feature is that scale drawings in 1/35 scale are included of each of the vehicles. Each vehicle is covered with a short history and then detailed photographs of the vehicle, which also include captions explaining what is in the photo. There are also a couple of wartime photographs included.
The fist vehicle covered in the German Maus, many of these photos have been seen in other publications, but their are 14 pages worth of photos and a pull out page of the 1/35 scale drawing.
The next vehicle covered is the German sIG 33 Panzer III, which they are referring to as a StuIG33B. 14 pages cover this vehicle as well, with the first 3 pages being history and wartime photos.
The next two vehicles are a rare treat, they are the Hungarian Turan II medium tank and the Zrinyi II assault gun (similar to the German StuG III). These vehicles are covered in 26 pages.
The Russian SU-122 is covered next in 16 pages.
Next is a very rare vehicle, the SdKfz 250/9 Neu Art. This vehicle is covered in 14 pages, but loads of photographs per page. Of particular interest is a number of interior shots. These have always been rare to find.
The Japanese Type 4 Ke-Nu is covered in 10 pages.
The Russian BA-3 Armored Car finishes off the volume 1 in 5 pages.
According to the back cover, the following volumes will cover:
Vol. 2: Karl, Panzer I Ausf F, SU-152, Dicker Max, Amphibious Tank Type 2, and the Tiger I
Vol. 3: T-35 Heavy Tank, Ferdinad, Brummbar, Wespe, JV-1S Heavy Tank, Type 94/97 Tankette
Vol. 4: Jagdtiger, Waffentrager, SU-101 Assault Gun, SU-100Y Assault Gun, Minenraumer, Engineer Vehicle Type 95