Lifting the Fog of War: Command and Control

Does this also count for this campaign? Maybe after finishing my M1130. I plan on MASSTER camo with 2ns ACR markings.

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Looks like it does :+1:

The M114 was a lightweight, low-silhouette vehicle, designed to complement the M113 in command and reconnaissance roles. It looked like a sleeker, lower M113. It was constructed of aluminum and weighed 13,100 lb (5.94 metric tons) empty, with a combat weight of 15,093 lb (6.846 metric tons). It was powered by a Chevrolet V-8 engine with a 283 cubic inch (4.6 liters) displacement. The engine was rated at 160 horsepower. It had a three-man crew, and a top speed of 36 mph (58 km/h). It could swim, propelled by its tracks, and was light enough to be transported by cargo aircraft and dropped by parachute.

In October 1961 the Army awarded General Motors Corporation two contracts totaling $14.9 million for the production of 1215 T114s.[1]

The original M114 required the commander’s cupola hatch be opened to fire the .50 caliber machine gun, which rotated along with the hatch to allow aim in any direction. The updated M114A1 allowed the firing of the machine gun from the inside, utilizing manual traverse and elevating mechanisms. The M114A2 (aka M114A1E1) had a hydraulically powered cupola and mounted the M139 20mm cannon with greatly improved firepower. The observer in the rear had an M60 7.62mm machine gun mounted on a pedestal. There was stowage on the rear door for three M72A1 “LAW” anti-tank rockets.

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FYI, from a former Plt Sgt, their rig never had the mg installed as it was just a two man crew with no observer so they left it at the armory.

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Does anyone know if there is a good walkaround online?

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Counts for sure Hermann. Build it!

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Impressive parts count for a small track.


Looks like an easy OOTB build

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Prime Portal has a couple.

That is the no interior version as well. The new version should have one or two more sprues for the interior.

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In a swing of mood, I decided to build the M114 now. Any objections?:wink:

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Hull parts go together quite well.



On the low side, painting instructions are again provided by Ammo of MIG. Unfortunatly, there is no plan for the upper side of the hull. :roll_eyes:

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Bulkheads installed.

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So, I shall refer to the Black Ch2 from here on in as Nomad…
Anyway, on the images, as I said there are no extra fuel drums and I won’t be fitting them. But, the ratchet straps are still in situ.
Now, do I look to get some aftermarket ones…
Or do I make the most of the kit and go down the crazy route … :grin:

So, the external fuel drums in the kit went from looking like this…

And after being introduced to a razor saw…

Then after some very careful trimming and sanding… We are left with 2 lovely little ratchet handles…

Which will eventually look like this after I make some straps for them…

And before all that I found another image of Nomad from the left side, and it clearly shows the front wheel station has the plain dish road wheel fitted, so I had to carefully fill the individual holes on one of the kit wheels, then with a damp cotton bud smooth them down.
To this …

Will continue with the last 2 ratchet tomorrow and some more assembly of the kit :+1:

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Wow… I would have just gone to my AM parts box…


:rofl:

Looking good John. Your attention to detail will really pay off I think.

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What make are those Peter, I know Acc Arm do a set, so they are probably handy to have around … Do they come with straps like the AA ones ?

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Not sure why, but this build seems to have people losing their marbles.

John is carving straps out of oil drums, Brian is working under a microscope and I’ve decided to do silly things with PE.

Only managed to lose two of them… FIND THEM
and then promptly lose two different ones :disappointed:

This image is looking into what should be the 37mm storage racks. Given that there’s no gun to fire them, I felt this would make a good map board/desk area. Opposite is where the radio will sit. The kit part is moulded to fit the US radio, so I replaced it with stock for a No. 19.

Also got the drive train done, which was easy because Tamiya supplies it as one piece!

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Yeah as Ryan points out they are Djiti’s Production. There are quite a few different manufacturers that do the ratchets, but all the others are multipart etch

http://www.tetramodel.com/?act=shop.goods_view&GS=77&GC=GD02&page=2

These are resin. No straps with them, but all the others have etch brass straps at pre-determined lengths, whereas I can make my own straps any length I want. A close up of what you get:



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Meanwhile, in the Land of the Blind, or Nearly Blind, I’ve just undertaken a sort of Staff Check to make sure that what I envisage will come to pass:

A fair way to go yet as I’m awaiting extra vehicles; then I have to make a start on more tents/shelters. I’ve installed a couple of trees just to check the effect, and added a modicum of raised terrain using cardboard to add a little bit of interest. When I cover them with Polyfilla or tiling-grout (my usual method) they should look OK. I will have to devise a method of adding some sort of texture to the ground; even the finest model railway flock might appear as too coarse so I may have to experiment a bit.

The 2 vehicles in the top left are representing the position of 2 x Signals wagons I’ve yet to acquire. I will use brass rod to make the requisite masts.

I plan on showing a helipad top right as described before. Figures, as in any diorama, will be key in bringing it all to life; I’m not looking that forward to adding weapons and webbing in this scale. They are slightly too large but I’ll work with what I’ve got.

Meanwhile, back to making more office trucks!

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The Djiti’s Production Ratchet Set is really nice. I have used them quite a few times, most recently on my M985A2 HEMTT w/M989 HEMAT MLRS ammo carrier. I have a couple sets on hand at all times. I cut the straps from masking tape.

Open…
IMG_1991

and closed.
IMG_1994

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Brian, where are your vehicles from?

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Don, I’ve very fortunate in that they are made for me by a superb modeller quite well known on the UK circuit, especially majoring in small scale, one Paul Gandy who is also a mover and shaker within MAFVA (the Miniature AFV Association); he is an accomplished modeller and has made masters for several firms in the past in both small scale and 1:35. He also produced for a time his own range of N Gauge AFVs to tie in with the model railway range in that scale.

Back in 2017 I met him at a modelling show in Folkestone and he had an N Gauge work-in-progress of a Brigade HQ; now this was all grist to my mill so we got chatting and I also mentioned both Div and Corps HQs. In discussing the latter, I described the AEC ACV which got him very interested indeed. I also pointed to the existence of an article on Brit ACVs I’d seen in a magazine “Wheels & Tracks” which briefly mentioned the ACV. I described how I’d been dabbling in a depiction of a Div HQ using 1:300 wargame models produced by Heroics & Ros – that scale being about the only one I could utilise to show the whole. Long story short: Paul very kindly produced the ACV – known colloquially as “The Pig”, and the Bedford RL office trucks, all in pewter.

Paul also produces a newsletter for the South Wales branch of MAFVA “The Dragon” which is currently covering the development of the Pig (only x 3 were produced apparently) from a technical viewpoint (one of Paul’s modelling mates who has researched it thoroughly), and a user standpoint – me folks. In fact, in scraping the barrel of my memory I actually ended up producing some 10 pages of my memories from my time at Corps HQ, just to set the vehicle’s use in context; so if you want to know all about life in Corps HQ as I knew it, or at least in the field, I’m your man - and mightily bored you’ll be! That said, I do describe how British HQs were organised at the time, and how they deployed.

All this of course, drove me to produce the diorama I’m now working on; all from memory, although I do find the more I actually do, the more I remember (still can’t remember what I had for breakfast yesterday, but 50-odd years ago…)

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