HISTORY:
** Squadron Signal Publications is proud to present it's first new vehicle book release from the new Georgia Squadron location. The Vietnam Gun Trucks "Detail In Action" includes all the best parts from the "In Action" and the "Walk Around" series combined into one book! PLUS, this book features 144 pages! **
** Quoted from the Squadron web site.
** In Action books, despite the title of the genre, are books that trace the development of a single type of aircraft, armored vehicle, or ship from prototype to the final production variant. Experimental or “one-off” variants can also be included. Our first In Action book was printed in 1971. **
** Quoted from Page 2 of the book.
THE BOOK:
Squadron/Signal Publications has released Vietnam Gun Trucks, Detail In Action as Number 39009 in their Detail in Action series. It’s a 144-page soft cover book, 8 1/4 x 11 inches in size. Included with the text are black and white and color photographs, detailed captions and more. It has a 2023 copyright, and the ISBN is 978-0-89747-008-7.
THE CONTENTS:
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- The 2 1/2 Ton
- The 5-Ton 6x6
- The 3/4 Ton
- Gun Truck Weapons
- Birth of a Gun Truck
- 2 1/2-Ton Gun Truck
- 5-Ton Gun Truck
- Gun Box
- Minigun-Armed Trucks
- APC-bodied Gun Trucks
- Engineer Trucks
- M151
- M37
- Eve of Destruction
THE TEXT:
Author David Doyle provides a well written and informative text which details some of the subjects listed in the contents section and in doing so provides information on the 2 1/2-ton truck, the 5-ton 6x6 truck, the 3/4-ton vehicle, the gun truck weapons and the birth of a gun truck. In total there are 11 pages of text detailing the previously listed subjects as well as the author’s introduction and acknowledgements. The remainder of the text featured throughout the book is in the form of the well detailed captions accompanying each photograph. The text in the book is nicely written, well detailed and informative. David Doyle doesn’t use what I refer to as fluff writing where a large amount of non-essential extra text is provided just to help fill the pages. As I read through the text, I didn’t notice any spelling or grammatical errors. Grammar and spelling might not be an important factor to everyone; however, it is something that I take notice of and pass on my findings.
THE PHOTOGRAPHS:
A total of 80 black and white photographs and 225 color photographs are included in this volume. The photographs range from wide angle photographs to close-up detailed photographs. They contain a combination of in-action photographs, photographs which appear to have been removed from motion pictures, to photographs that have been staged for the photographer. The photographs are of stock unmodified military vehicles, vehicles modified into gun trucks, artwork on the vehicles such as cartoon characters and the names given to the vehicles by their crews, vehicle crew served weapons and personal weapons, the crews, battle damage to the vehicles, military numerical markings, etc. There are a total of 68 color walk-around photographs of the M54A2C gun truck “Eve of Destruction” which were taken by the author at the U. S. Army Transportation Museum at Fort Eustis, Texas where the gun truck is housed and on display for the public. The remainder of the photographs in the book were provided by the US Army Transportation Museum at Fort Eustis, Texas. Many of the photographs are official military archive photographs and others appear to be from military manuals. The majority of the photographs are clear and easily viewable; however, a few do have an out of focus look to them and some appear to be too dark, and others appear too light. This can be typical for military photographs from the discussed period of history and the quality of the photographs is no fault of the author and do not take anything away from the book. Author David Doyle stuck to the title of the book and chose subject specific photographs and did not include photographs that strayed from the main subject of the book. The majority, if not all, of the photographs will prove to be excellent reference material for the scale modeler, especially the walk-around photographs, due to the details they contain. The military historian, as well as anyone interested in the use of gun trucks and other military vehicles during the Vietnam War, will also benefit from the excellent photographs.
THE ILLUSTRATIONS:
There are 2 color illustrations included in the volume by illustrator Antonis Karidis. The illustrations are of the gun truck “Eve of Destruction” and are very well done, nicely detailed and are featured on the front and rear covers of the book.
THE CAPTIONS:
The captions are well written and explain the accompanying photographs in great detail eliminating any doubt as to what is shown. The captions go into very specific detail as to the specific type of gun truck shown, the name of the gun truck and the military unit to which it was assigned, specific parts shown such as armor plating and weapon mounts, the type of battle damage done to various trucks and what type of weapon caused it, the type and designation of various weapons, specific individuals names, military ranks, dates, locations and other such pertinent information. As I read through the captions, I didn’t notice any spelling or grammatical errors. However, I did notice that on Page 2 the caption for the photograph on Page 1 states “(Title Page) “Snoopy” was one of the breed of gun trucks developed to protect supply convoys during the Vietnam War”. The error is that the gun truck shown in the photograph on the title page is “Black Widow”, not “Snoopy”. I was impressed by David Doyle’s captions as they are very helpful to the reader due to their detailed content as opposed to other captions that I have seen in other publications that are brief and lacking in detail.
AUTHOR:
David Doyle’s earliest published works appeared in periodicals aimed at the historic military vehicle restoration hobby. By 1999 this included regular features in leading hobby publications, appearing regularly in US, English and Polish magazines. Soon, this expanded to publications aimed at scale model enthusiasts as well. In 2003 his first book was published, and since that time has written more than 200 additional titles, with aviation and nautical topics joining his initial efforts concerning vehicles. He and his wife Denise live in west Tennessee.
ARTIST:
Antonis Karidis was born in Corfu, Greece, an island in the Ionian Sea. A self-taught artist, he uses graphics software like Cinema4d, DAZ3d, Poser, Vue, After Effects, and Photoshop to create amazing artwork. Antonis does accept commissions but, on a case-by-case basis. His work had been published in magazines and websites, including PC Magazine, Model World, Plastic Models World, Pinterest, and many others. The most successful works Antonis had done so far (besides ours) is for the much-known WW1 PC game "Rise of Flight" and "IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad" from 777 Studios. He did the box art and other aviation art scenes, plus a few trailer clips for YouTube. Antonis also did the scene of the "Dam Busters – Operation Chastise" for the Duxford Imperial War Museum in the UK.
CONCLUSION:
This is a very nice reference book from Squadron/Signal that contains many excellent subject specific photographs and well written captions and text all detailing various gun trucks, their crews and associated weaponry during the Vietnam War. I would have no hesitation in recommending this book to others as it will be a welcome addition to one’s personal reference library.
PRICE:
MSRP: $32.99
Squadron/Signal Price: $26.39
This book was provided to me by Squadron/Signal Publications. Please be sure to mention that you saw the book reviewed here on the KitMaker Network when you make your purchase. Thank you.