Tankograd Publishing

IDF Armoured Vehicles

by  Soeren Suenkler & Marsh Gelbart

Reviewed By  Mark Aldrich, IPMS# 39295

MSRP: $72.95 ISBN: 3-936519-03-X Available from the publisher (www.tankograd.com) or online stores such as Squadron. This is a Must Have book!!! That is if, like me, you are into the Israeli Defense Force or just looking at some really cool, all color photographs. I am not sure how "new" this book is, but the flyleaf page states October 2006. So I am assuming this is pretty new. I had gone to the Squadron website to look for the Legend Productions "Magach" book and after typing Magach in the search, this also came up and I HAD TO HAVE IT (I know everyone that builds models has used that excuse before). The book is 160 pages long and hard bound. The cover leaf is in color and the book itself is bound in a blue hardcover with the title done in gold relief. Inside these two blue hard ends are 260 pages of full color pictures of the Israeli Army's newer vehicles. The text is columnized in English and German. The English translation is very well done. The book is broken down into eleven chapters. It starts off with a ten page history on Israeli fighting and breaks down each war or conflict to present describing how the Israeli armored core evolved after each battle. The first armored vehicle chapter is the venerable M113 and it receives 37 pages. It covers the basic M113 and lots of specialty Zeldas as well. Some of the specialty vehicles covered are the Nagmash (basic), Nagmash Chatap (engineer), Nagmash Vayzata (toga armor), Nagmash Vayzata Pikud (command), Nagman (Urban), Kasman (better urban) Nagmash AMEV (ambulance), Fitter (M579), and the Mugaf (M577). The book then moves onto the T-54/55 Achzarit with some great all around color photos on nine pages. The Achzarit is followed by a 26 page spread covering the Puma, Nagmashot, Nagmachon, Nagmachon-Mifleset, and Nakpadon. The Magach (M60) and it's variants are covered in the next eleven pages. The M60 AVLB (bridge layer) or Magach Tagash Tsemed is given seven pages of up close glory. The M88 Chiluz only receives a mere 4 pages but they are some really decent low light shots. The Merkava 2/3/4 is covered in the next 30 pages with some excellent photos of the Merkava 4. The D9 DOV and DUBI Caterpillar D9 dozers come up next. The photos here make me realize I will probably never be scratch building one of these beasts in Israeli service. The final chapter has ten pages of M109 Rochev/Doher photographs that are not as close up as others in the book. Anyone wishing to build a vehicle of this version will probably need to seek photos elsewhere. The big difference is the new travel lock and the photographer did not get any good close up pictures of the new device. Overall this is an incredible book and well worth the price tag. The reading is well thought out and the photographs are all of excellent quality and appear to have been planned out well by the photographers. I would like to thank my wonderful wife Jerry for supporting my hobby and allowing me to purchase this item as a late Christmas present to myself. If you are a fan of the IDF then this book is a definite must have. Happy modeling!!!

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