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Not a bad idea at all. There is plenty room for a modeler to choose his project. I just fear the overall white will turn boring in the end of the campaign
This will be a true challenge for our painting skills.
Olivier
My years as a flyer in the military had some of the missions I flew for about 6 months carrying UN vehicles in and out of Zaire...with hardly any white among them. Unless something changed since the 80's, most of the vehicles that were on our airplane(s) were various shades of gray...pick your poison as no one shade of gray was the same. Of the 36 or so vehicles we carried at any one time, less than a half dozen were white.
All vehicle did carry at least the big UN markings, and carried those markings on all four sides. The vehicles for the most part did carry the UN lettering on their hoods (bonnets), but not all. As I recall none of the AML 60/90's had roof markings. Adding more confusion, and non conformity to boot, some of these vehicles carried the blue UN emblem along side the UN markings, but very few.
Some of the vehicles in theatre you ask? How 'bout Land Rovers, M151's, AML 60's and 90's for starts...
All of these vehicles, in all configurations, came from Corsica (with the French Foreign Legion as passengers), with temporary drop offs and pick ups in Gabon for final destination and use in Zaire, in 1978/1979.
Now, this 'Operation Shaba' may not have been an "official" UN mission, but 95% of the vehicles on our aircraft possessed UN markings. Every mission I participated and flew on for a better part of 7 months all had predominate UN marked vehicles...no matter the make/model. The French Foreign Legion, Belgian and United States were the predominated players with a smatterings of other western nations such as West Germany, and China, Egypt and Iran...against probable rebel forces from Angola, Cuba and the Soviet Union (advisors).
Towards the end of 1978 and remaining into 1979, the entire region soon came under control of French and Belgian paratroops, until they were relieved by an Inter-African Force (Force Interafricaine) led by 1,500 soldiers from Morocco and comprising Senegal (560-600), Togo and Gabon.[4] Other contributors to the force included Cote d'Ivoire who dispatched about 200 medics. While not completely a UN mission, it did have UN elements and deployments monitored by UN observers. We even carried personnel representing the UN on our aircraft.
Since 1978/1979, ongoing conflict in the country continues with under watchful eye of the UN with continuing deployment(s) to the region.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kolwezihttp://usacac.army.mil/cac2/CGSC/CARL/download/csipubs/ShabaII_FrenchBelgianIntervention_Odom.pdfAs a side bar, I flew alot of UN marked equipment into countries not considered sanctioned UN missions...in areas such as Suez and Central Africa, as well as Central American jungle wars...all with UN vehicles and not declared official UN missions. There was a fine line drawn in almost every conflict on the rules of engagement and what vehicles were 'allowed' to participate when representing the UN...whether unofficial or not.
So, if you want to model other abstract 'underground' vehicles used in these UN unpublished/unannounced/unsanctioned UN missions for purposes of this campaign, I guess thats up to the campaign guru...have fun!
I wouldn't mind marking my AML 90 in UN badging for the time I spent in and around Zaire.