This book written by a French officer who served as Chief of the UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) Liaison Office for one year brings you into the on-going conflict between Lebanon and Israel through an unusual approach. Indeed, its primary focus is to cover the armored vehicles used by the UN troops since 1978 when the UNIFIL was first deployed.
It comes in a soft cover format and is printed on a semi-mat paper which gives a nice look to the pictures. Throughout the 112 pages, no less than 185 color pictures cover the UNIFIL contingents as well as the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Israeli Defense Forces. For the non-French readers, all the text and pictures captions are provided in English.
The book is divided into 4 chapters. Chapter one is a short historical overview of the UNIFIL creation and presence in Southern Lebanon. In this chapter you will become more familiar with this conflict, the UN Security Council resolutions and the tricky situations at some hot spots within the UNIFIL area of operations.
This is were you will find the rare pictures of the vehicles deployed at the early stages of the operation.
Chapter 2 starts with a brief explanation of the summer war of 2006 which led to the change of the UNIFIL into UNIFIL 2 under a new UN resolution. Under this one, some countries like France, Italy and Spain deployed stronger armored vehicles including tanks, IFVs and artillery guns. This chapter is the largest and covers each contingent in the alphabetical order.
Chapter 3 briefly deals with the Lebanese armored vehicles and unfortunately shows few pictures.
Chapter 4 covers a large variety of Israeli vehicles from the Sufa to the latest Merkava 4 and the Namer.
From a modeler’s perspective, this book is really interesting; all the more that many vehicles which are pictured in it are currently available in various scales. It also offers some nice samples of UN white weathering.
SUMMARY
Highs: All the contingents are covered; most of the pictures were unseen so far; it is readable by English readers.Lows: Mainly focused on the post 2006 war; it contains too few pictures of the early deployed AFVs which means nearly 30 years of presence omitted.Verdict: For those interested in this conflict or more generally in the UN missions, this book is worth the price. It provides the reader with some really nice ideas of dioramas or weathering effects.
Our Thanks to Caraktère Presse et Editions! This item was provided by them for the purpose of having it reviewed on this KitMaker Network site. If you would like your kit, book, or product reviewed, please contact us.
About Olivier Carneau (bison126) FROM: CORREZE, FRANCE
I have been in the hobby for years and I'm still learning.
As a modeler, I only build 1/35 modern military vehicles, mainly armored ones.
I also run a website where I share a lot of walkarounds. Just click on my banner to pay a visit to it.
I bought the book and must admit I agree with your review Olivier.
Thus the book is a little bit pricy it is very interesting and inspiring.
Sean, four A4 pages covering the IRISHBATT. Some images of Pirnaha 3, RG-32 and 8x8 MAN truck can be seen.
cheers
Walter
Sean,
Walter already answered your question but I can add that I was a bit "frustrated" by the title pretending the book covered 1978-2011 while it's mainly focused on 2006 onward. So you will not see any of the early Irish deployment vehicles.
Olivier
Thanks for the review Olivier.
Like Walter I think this is a bit expensive though, at 20 euros or less I would have bought it for sure. At 30 I'll wait to have the opportunity to browse before I make a decision to purchase, or not...
Plus the photo quality (reproduction?) doesn't seem to be optimal.
Cheers,
Christophe
Not sure what copy you have Christophe, but the photos are very sharp in the printed form of the book.The price is comparable for a limited run publication.
Anthony
And I don't think it's more limited than Kagero for instance.
Bought their gorgeous book on the Leclerc for a lot less than 30 euros.
Cheers,
Christophe
Salut Christophe,
new pictures have been sent to Armorama so they do more justice to the original ones.
Concerning the price, I think it's not that high. The book has more pages than, let's say, the Desert Eagle offerings which are quite close in terms of price.
Olivier
Thanks Walther & Olivier. 4 pages on Irish involvement might just make it worth the price for me....our gear doesn't get covered very often in these types of reference books.
Now just need someone to produce a Piranha IIIH and RG-32 in 1/35 scale
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