Having previously bought some of AK’s excellent books, when I saw their latest release on Book world’s stand at the Brampton Model Show I just had to thumb through it. In a matter of seconds I knew I just had to have it. 366 pages of Vietnam War history and 209 full colour profiles of towed artillery, mechanised artillery, support vechicles and even aircraft used by the artillery; what more reference could a modeler with an interest in this period want?
The problem with an A3 sized hardback book with this number of pages is that it’s very difficult to scan, so apologies for the ‘snapshot’ photos taken while I was thumbing through it – but they should serve to show the extent this book goes to and the quality of the production. The great thing I found was that despite already having an extensive collection of Vietnam War books very few of the photos had been seen before.
The main appeal of this book has to be the huge number of photos, not just showing the equipment. but also the environment they operated in giving much inspiration for dioramas… there’s also quite a lot of words, which I’ll get round to reading eventually!
This is about more than just big guns. Every aspect of artillery is covered including helicopter transportation, ‘brown water’ artillery and spotter aircraft.
The section on profiles at the back of the book deals with pretty much everything that has been mentioned in the first part, giving the modeler a well rounded source of information on both what the featured equipment looked like in action and as a guide for detailing, painting and marking.
As you have probably guessed I’d recommend this book. In fact I’ve already pulled a kit from the stash to build a vignette based on one of the pictures. If you’d like a copy they are available from www.bookworldws.co.uk at £49.99 plus courier delivery.
Paid up MAFVA members can get a 10% discount on all purchases from Bookworld. Just go to the Member’s Area to find your discount code and quote that when ordering by phone – call 01299 823330. A discount voucher code for ordering via their website will be available shortly.