Here is my take on it from 2020
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boy i wish someone would make a HEMTT (any variant) in 1/25th scale.
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Scratch build one. As soon as you finish, someone will come out with a plastic kit.
Ken
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Ha ha, no doubt!
Really looks great and gives a wonderful sense of scale.
are you thinking of a kitbash Gino?
Im Having problems with the wheels and Tires on my Takom G6 howitzer the tires are causing the polystyrene wheels to melt
That is a neat looking vehicle but…by the time an aircraft gets into range of that thing, isn’t it too late?
Nope, done with HEMTT conversions for a while.
Probably, but it isn’t designed for use against aircraft. It is part of a system meant to shoot down artillery shells, rockets, and mortars. C-RAM stands for Counter Rocket, Artillery, and Mortars.
Did you paint the wheels well? I have had no issues as long as the styrene wheels are sealed well with paint. As long as the styrene and rubber are not in direct contact there should be no issues.
Ohhhh. Thanks for the link! I am really ignorant when it comes to post 2000 military stuff. Is the subject of this thread a variant of Centurion C-RAM? Was this vehicle tested back in 2005 for use in Iraq?
This subject genuinely interests me. HEMTTs are very good looking vehicles. I would eventually like to build one or three, perhaps starting with an easy variant.
It is. I don’t know when it was tested, but it was not accepted in the HEMTT A3 configuration. The US Army went with a flatbed trailer-mounted version instead.
You certainly have a point. By the time the aircraft is in range it would have already released its’ “fire and forget” ordinance. However this might be excellent for incoming missile defense and defense against drones.
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Like I said above, it is not for aircraft.
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I was wrong. Phalanx, a ship born system developed back in the 1970s, was designed to kill aircraft and missiles targeting task force units at short range. Centurion C-RAM is a derivative of the Phalanx system with some hardware and software changes. It was developed back in 2004 as a quick solution for protecting land bases in Iraq against ordinance launched at close range by guerilla troops. Based on my reading, it worked quite well. The Israelis, concurrently with the development of Centurion C-RAM, modified Phalanx into the Iron Dome system.
HEMTTs are expensive. Trailers are cheap. The powers that be must have decided that since Centurion C-RAM defends static positions for a long period, it is cheaper to put it on a trailer and drop it where needed rather than tying up an expensive mobile vehicle for the same deployments. If the United States ever gets involved in a very mobile war against a peer opponent, then it would make sense to mount Centurion C-RAM on a heavy truck or tracked vehicle because leaving it in one place for any length of time would mean a dead asset.
The efffective range of the Phalanx CIWS (the system for ships) is between 1 to 5 nautical miles.
Anything within that range that gets classified as a potential threat
and possible to engage will be engaged.
Aircraft outside the effective range will thus not be considered targets.
If an aircraft fires a missile from outside the effective range and the missile enters the target zone in a threatening manner then the missile will be engaged. The aircraft is not an immediate threat and it is outside the effective range anyway so it will be ignored.
20mm Close-in Weapons System (CIWS) “Phalanx” is a last-ditch defense against any aerial and surface threat within range of the gatling gun. It is fully autonomous and Block II has forward-looking infrared and TV camera for better detection independent of radar.
The problem with Phalanx is that, being automatic, it can track practically anything with a radar signature. I’ve seen the CIWS radar function during Fleet Week which I won’t disclose here…they had one Phalanx turned on aboard a destroyer when I visited before Year 2000.
As such, some 20mm CIWS were replaced with Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles (ESSM) behind the 5" destroyer’s gun to remedy the short range of CIWS and to deal with mass missile attacks. Some Phalanx were replaced with 21-shot RIM 116 RAM or 11-shot SeaRAM to extend the range of the CIWS in the rear of the destroyers.
Another problem with 20mm CIWS is that if the enemy missile is large and fast enough, a hit can still propel the enemy missile fragments forward through kinetic energy and still “frag” the US Navy warship. The late Tom Clancy wrote that in “Red Storm Rising” thriller novel.
US Army C-RAM on a trailer has self-destructive 20mm ammunition that detonates in the air if it doesn’t hit anything. The ship’s 20mm ammo is hard tungsten instead of Depleted Uranium.
Another problem with C-RAM on a HEMTT is that it won’t fit inside amphibious ships as being too tall. On a lowboy trailer, perhaps C-RAM is of a lower height than on a HEMTT.
No one has ever put the US Navy’s RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) on a trailer or truck yet (below photos).
11-shot SeaRAM has a Phalanx radar to track targets independent of the ship’s radar that the RIM-116 RAM 21-shot launcher depends on.
SeaRAM
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A common issue with some rubber/vinyl tyres. As has been said, a good coat of primer followed by a full paint before adding the tyres is needed to overcome this.
Panzerart does a resin set if you need to replace them.
Not heard of that with takoms, but you need to put a barrier between the rubber tyre & plastic wheel,
Thin Alu duct tape, and/or painting with acrylic clearcoat, and not using ‘hot’ lacquer or enamels to finish the rubber tyres, were the go-to for the Tamiya LRDG, which has the same problem.
Once it starts though, you may have no recourse other than to replace wheels/tyres with resin aftermarket.
Brian at Scale Reproductions in Louisville says they already have this in stock.
um-hum …
that’s a new twist on things …
Need a barrier to protect the parts from the evil rubber …
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