My father passed away at the end of this past December. After making his final arrangements, I decided that I would build several models of subjects that he was associmaged with from his time in the service and career with TWA afterwards. I went thru his old photos and found some from his time in the Army in Germany in the mid 1950s. So the first builds are going to be from his time with D Battery 95th Anti Aircraft Artillery Battalion. I found this photo of him (that’s him on the radio or field phone) with a M55 Quad .50 gun system, so I decided that this would be the first build.
Anyways, I found the Dragon M55 kit at a LHS, and bought it yesterday.
And this afternoon I began construction. Only Step 1 so far.
I’m very sorry for your loss. Like you, I did too as you know. I have that M40 GMC to build, and maybe two photos total of him in the service. Plus an 8 mm mom made of his unit on parade. He’s the guy in khaki with the green helmet, I think.
Good idea for a project. BTW impressive that you are still a) able to find a hobby shop and b) they had an M55 on the shelf.
Bob, I had been wanting to build a couple of the projects that I have in mind beforehand. But now I added a few more to the que after looking thru his photos. Next after this for him will be the Hobbyboss M4 High Speed Tractor
GM, yes I do remember your fathers recent passing as well. Funny that both of ours were redlegs in the same time period roughly (Korean War era) although mine was ADA, and yours FA. And I am pretty jazzed that he has a whole bunch of photos from his service time. Although there are a few that I remember seeing once upon a time that I have not seen again in years. Yes it was nice to find the M55 kit on the shelf here. But we’re are most fortunate to still have several Hobby Shops in the area.
Bish, Pawel, Gamera, and Armornut, thank you for your condolences. I think that these will be some fun projects to do and kind of in my “gray” area of between WWII and Vietnam/late Cold War that most of my armor builds are usually. And eventually all displayed as a group once completed. Thanks for looking in and commenting. I should have more progress in a day or so.
Pawel, I will have a look at your links and see how much I may or may not alter on my build. I’m trying to use this to get my motivation going again at the bench and superdetailing has bogged down my last few projects.
Sorry to hear about your dad, bud. This should be good therapy [:)]
That quad .50 is some kind of weapon. I remember reading about the only one the French had at Dien Bien Phu in 54’. It devistated the Viet Mihn infantry assaults over and over at critical times. Where’d you get it, Brookhurst?
Thanks. Not so much therapy as a part of a good way to honor him in a small way (literally and figuratively). I picked this kit up at Military Hobbies in Orange.
I am sorry to hear about your dad’s passing Stik. I lost mine about 20 years ago and still miss him. I understand your wanting to honor him as I have a couple of kits that I want to build that are some of the planes he flew in the Navy. He learned in a Stearman and was flying jets when he retired. Saw action in WW2, Korea and Nam.
I know he will be tickled pink knowing you are building these kits in his honor.
Thank you Steve. Yes I’m sure that he would appreciate the builds. Before I joined the Army, I had built a B-26 Invader and TWA Lockheed Constellation for him. He crewed one and worked on the other. But I have no idea what happened to those builds.
Yes, I did notice the armor flaps being folded on the one in the photo. And yes, those are standard M2 HB .50 caliber machne guns. I do remember fro my trigger tim e on those that there is a pronounced arc in trajectory. Especially at longer ranges. I dont recal exact barrel length, (although I do have a manual for the M2 in my garage with all the specs) but it is somewhere around 3 feet long. Give or take a few inches.
