I have worked on the weapons mounts, there are two foldable mounts on the sides of the superstructure, I’ve built one deployed:
And one folded:
I had to scratchbuild their locking levers. I’ve also added what Ikar was always pointing out - the chains securing the fuel filler caps. A third chain is on the trailer hitch in the rear:
I was also working on the armament:
One “pig” is from an AFV Club kit, the other one from a Dragon figure set, and their mounts are leftovers from my TAKOM Sgt. York. The “invention” on the left is the XM174 automatic grenade launcher that was tested in Vietnam by USAF (another info provided by Ikar01).
To add some stowage I started with the ammo boxes. Another info from Ikar01 is that some boxes were painted white and meant to hold the 40mm illum rounds:
And that would be it for now - thanks for looking and have a nice day
Among other things we have here an M16 with a (scratchbuilt) underslung XM148 grenade launcher (tested in Vietnam, superseded by the M203), 40mm grenade clipsfor the XM174 (the oval ones), a radio yet to be painted and a drink cooler (I still have to paint the “zinc coating” on it).
Looks pretty good. Hard to believe I would have a 13 man reaction /assault squad back there. They didn’t seem to mind most of the time, but I think they were either sleeping, snacking, or playing cards while I was driving.
Hello Rob! @ikar01 I sure did miss you! Too bad we lost contact in the time when I was finishing this. Otherwise I wanted to further customize it as your vehicle. If you like, just for kicks now maybe you could list some differences between your machine and my model?
Sometimes a vehicle would have black markings, even if it was painted green.
We didn’t have the whip antennas because normally we didn’t go outside the fence and our portable radios on our web belts had enough range to cover the entire base.
Once in a while the mirrors did not match. When the factory mirror was knocked off, motor pool would replace it with a normal vehicle mirror, usually a rectangular one. They were usually not painted, just silver like on a normal truck.
We had a small chain fixed to the gas caps and the hull. It wasn’t too long but just enough to unscrew the cap and sit it on the hull while getting fuel and not having it stolen.
Loved the XM-174, I still have to get a few of them.
That’s about it so far, but I’ll take another look at my pictures later. Have a good new year.
Bob
Man this is some good stuff right here Pawel. I’m a fan of details and buddy…this one is laced with it. My one regret is that I didn’t follow this one from the start. Exceptional work on this beast.
@mustang1989 - thanks a lot for your comment and for your kind words!
@ikar01 - more interesting details! It’s a pity I didn’t have them before the build was completed. So how was the radio rack in the back equipped? Probably some smaller transceiver right?
If you want, I can get you a few 3D printed XM174s, PM me and we’ll work something out.
As for the chains - I made them especially for you:
The radio racks were empty, we relied on our new portable radios we normally kept in the pouch on our web belts. They had an on/off knob and a knob to switch from our frequency to one of the other two us peons used. In case of something happening, base defense control would come over the radio and tell K-9 and us at Law Enforcement to go to combat. That way everyone was on base defense station.
If we were off duty and something happened, the squadron recall uas used and we had to report to the armory in whatever fatigues we waned, jungle green or cammo. When we got to the armory, we would be given an assignment and gave them the issue card for the appropriate weapon. the radios were sometimes already set for the right band but you had to check while at the weapons window.
I’ll send you a note on the launchers.
Here’s something I just noticed on the close up. The windows were a sort of medium green, and I think the raised line around the hatch was a rubber or black color. The power lines for the lights went into the hull a little behind them and the horn line went into the same hole
I like the fuel stains from the gas cap, nice touch.
