Centurion Tanks of the IDF, Shot Kal Alef, VOL.3 (Centurion Tanks of the IDF, 3)

Within these 80 pages the reader will find a well-written history of the middle period of Centurion service with Israel, that is, an explanation of the Shot Kal upgrade package and a portion of the Centurion Shot Kal Alef's service during the Yom Kippur War itself. Initially the Shot Kal upgrade package was far more extensive than imagined and included, among other things, a new diesel power plant, additional fuel tanks, and the replacement of the original 20 pound main gun with the more powerful British 105 mm L7 gun The book contains, 74 period black and white photographs that are well-produced throughout the text in a format reminiscent of that found in Concord's AFV books. Among these photographs are many detailing the upgrade effort and the actions of the 7th Brigade on the Golan Heights. The photographs have informative captions explaining what is shown in the photograph. There are also 12 scale line drawings of different Shot Kals, some seen in the photographs. Most of the drawings contain left, right, front, back and top views. They also have captions explaining salient features of the vehicle portrayed. There are, 221 walkaround photographs of a Centurion Shot Kal Alef in the Latrun Museum. These color photographs show the kind of items the most detail oriented modeler craves. The photographs are clear and well-produced. Dr. Manasherob addresses the problem common in museum pieces by pointing out where the museum specimen has more modern updates than the Shot Kal Alef visible. Finally, there are 9 color prints of different Shot Kal Alefs. These color profiles by Arkadiusz Wrobel are very well done and include detailed captions.