RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Overview of the figures on the tank.

After trying various locations, I determined the best fit for the squad point man is on the turret front air fan cover, which offers a flat surface for sitting on and a good view of the bushes ahead. Anything that moves in front will get shot at.
His right foot rests on one of the smoke grenade discharger, the other will rest on some stowage to be determined.
Overview of the crew and tank riders. With the addition of this last figure, the spread of the men on the tank is more balanced.
Now that the figures are completed, the next steps is to finalize the tank itself, installation of the electronics, testing and fine detailing.

Regards, Louis

Looks like the M79 grenade launcher was produced through 1971, but I found a picture of it in use in Panama in 1989. The wiki even states it was used all the way through Operation Iraqi Freedom to clear mines and by special forces since it's range/accuracy is better than the M203. It is your decision though and either way the crew looks great.

Good looking Squad there Lt.!

Barry

I particularly love watching you build the figures with you sharing your thought processes behind their construction

Thank you very much for sharing.

tankme wrote:Looks like the M79 grenade launcher was produced through 1971, but I found a picture of it in use in Panama in 1989. The wiki even states it was used all the way through Operation Iraqi Freedom to clear mines and by special forces since it's range/accuracy is better than the M203. It is your decision though and either way the crew looks great.

We still had the m-79 in our Armory in 1980. That was in Germany.

Ok, I am convinced, the M-79 fits here.
I therefore created another figure. This one is mostly based on the Dragon Vietnam Seal. Its Stoner LMG that is specific to the Seals need to be changed. The figure is difficult to build, I needed to do a lot of adjustments on every parts in order to fit them together. Model makers usually like to build idealistic tall and muscular soldiers, but this one is short and bulky. It's ok, its different. The face is not well detailed compared to the other figures on the tank and need to be changed with a resin one for a better fit.
I gave it a Reedees Miniatures head, a Verlinden Vietnam helmet, an M79 grenade launcher and a sawed-off shotgun as back-up weapon. I read the 40mm M576 buckshot round for the M79 was devastating at close range.
And a new arrival today for the troops. Strait from the UK are these superb Reedees Miniatures M72 Light Anti-tank Weapon (LAW) in 1/16 scale, great against bunkers and other hard targets in Vietnam. This is new stuff from Reedees. Before this, there was only the Verlinden M72 available, which is impossible to find at a reasonable cost. I also got their new L1A1 SLR for a future build.
Regards, Louis

Hi,

Time to complete the construction of the vehicle. Someone building this vehicle strait from the box can probably be finished in just a couple of days. My idea to make the fun last longer is by adding extras and try to improve a few things. Its not easy to find something to fix on this model.

As seen in earlier post, the M551 in Vietnam was equipped with a titanium add-on armor plate under the belly to protect the crew against mines. Other than some fuzzy pictures seen on the web, the wonderful book "M551 in Action" from Squadron Signal provides more information on it. Tamiya does not provide the add-on armor, although the bolts are present and need to be removed if the armor is created.
The visible add-on armor section is easily reproduced in plasticard and glued in place. The Tamiya bolt heads were replaced by M1 brass bolts with a washer and screwed in place to hold the armor plate like the real thing.
As suggested by Barry, a plasticard strip is used to fill the gap at the front of the vehicle between the upper and lower hull. A plasticard plate is also placed to represent the hull glacis under the viewing glass (used for the driver to see when the flotation kit is up). The glass itself will be inserted from under later after painting.
The plasticard strip at the front totally fixes the gap issue at the back.
The Tamiya engine grills are put on, a perfect fit. There must be something wrong with them for Voyager models to propose a totally new set of engine grills. Whatever extra they provide, I found the Tamiya grills to be acceptable to me. I would normally have replace the solid grill handles by brass ones in 1mm rods but they are located in a way that make the removal of the plastic ones difficult. Still TBD.
While studying Sheridan walk around books, it is difficult to find something to add. A few bolt heads here and there. The searchlight cable hole in the hull can be refined. And when the searchlight is not put on, the wire connector needs to be plugged.
The loader's hatch handle need to be replaced in brass. There is also a bracket over the hinge, supporting the hatch when open and providing additional support when the loader is sitting on it.
As seen in references, two ammo boxes are placed inside the commander's cupola rear section on each side of the door for easy assess to reloads. I can't really see the commander stepping out of the cupola in the middle of combat to unfasten some ammo boxes strapped on the exterior side of the turret... For sure, some boxes must have been stored inside the turret as well.
Continuing on following post.

I used the Tamiya ammo boxes for the attachment points outside of the turret basket. I find them acceptable.
Planning and stowage accumulation requires time and money. All these add-ons are very expensive. Someone can easily spend more on these than then actual RC tank itself. But for a hybrid model like this one (both RC and a scale model), they bring the vehicle to life even when on static display, where it spends most of its time.
Drinking beer in the field seem to have been much easier during the Vietnam war than the recent wars in Muslim countries. It was probably against regulations to carry these on vehicles even in Vietnam, some Vietnam vets could provide some insight... But if I had been a tank commander going into Cambodia in the heat of summer for many weeks, I would likely have brought a few cases for the guys once the Night Defensive Perimeter has been set up.
These are Verlinden C-ration boxes. Seems a bit large but they look good.
A shipment of Special Ops modern equipment arrived today. They are being sorted out.
The size of the .50 cal ammo boxes for the M2 is a challenge to anyone who want to use what they have in stock, and display them together. None of the boxes from the various sources have the same size although they were all advertised as 1/16. From left to right are: a set of unknown 3D printed boxes found in inventory and pretty much useless. Not sure where i got these. Next is the Tamiya Sheridan turret ammo box with the attachment strap removed for use as loose ammo box in the turret basket. Next is a Tamiya WW2 ammo box coming with the M2. Next is the Special Ops ammo box. Now, this is a shock to notice how bigger they are compared to the Tamiya ones. Not sure what I am going to do with them. They do not fit the M2 cradle as is, and are too big when put next to the Tamiya boxes. I might not be able to use them on this build, and not sure what M2 cradle brand they were made to go with. They do not seem to be 1/16 at all, unless they represent a new type of modern ammo box that is bigger than the older models. Some modern vets might want to provide advice here. And last on the right is a DioramaParts resin WW2 box. From what i remember, the Live Resin WW2 box, not shown here, is a good match for the Tamiya WW2 boxes.
The special Ops ammo seen next to the Tamiya WW2 box coming with the M2. It is clear that some work will be required to use them on the Tamiya cradle. This is unexpected, specially at the price they are sold.
While i am still waiting for some more shipment, next step is to install the electronics and do all the testing.

Regards, Louis

Your work is looking awesome, the detail work is really adding to busyness of the exterior look!

Modern 50 Cal. Ammo Can dimensions.

I scaled out one of my real ammo cans as compared to the Special Ops can.
The Special Ops offering scales out to within 1/8" to 1/4" of the real can.

Perhaps just as important is the Master, Aber and the Live Resin 50 Cal. rounds fit inside the Special Ops can. I did not compare their fit to the Tamiya can.

Barry

Great, thank you Barry. I have therefore decided to do whatever is required to make the Special Ops resin ammo boxes fit the M2 cradle.

With the "open" variant of the ammo box that is perfect for this build, about 0.5mm can be removed from the front and back side of the ammo box without damaging them. It is just enough to slide them in the M2 cradle with some light pressure. As for the ammo belt section coming with it, the resin between each ammo can be cleaned for a nice looking belt section. Not as perfect looking as the Aber brass ammo and PE links under the skills of a Photo-Etching master bender, these resin links have the benefit of providing acceptable results with limited work.
Then the ammo belt section can be loaded on the Tamiya M2 with some tweaking,
Once painted, it should look really good. The boxes come with decals that should be improving the effect even further.
An additional box is made ready next to the loader's M2. It provides the opportunity to display the detailed interior of the ammo lid, adding value to the overall look of the model.
Both M2s are locked and loaded. I am finally very happy with the Special Ops ammo boxes. Just don't expect to simply drop them into the Tamiya M2 cradle like the Live Resin ones.
Regards, Louis