Hi all:
As the subject says, I’m looking for photos of the Sheridan “American Woman” from the 11th ACR in Vietnam, as well as details of the larger extended turret basket that many M551s in Vietnam were fitted with. I’ve got the Echelon decal set that I’m planning to use on the Tamiya kit. This vehicle does not seem to be nearly so well documented as some others in its troop, such as “Aretha.”
I understand that the larger turret basket was a standard fitting and not something that was cooked up individually in the field, since I have a digital copy of a maintenance order (I think) that discusses how to install or remove the turret basket, among other things (I’m travelling and this document isn’t on this computer, or else I would cite the number). I intend to scratchbuild this basket, so any help here would be particularly appreciated.
Cheers and thanks,
Scott
You can take a look at mine if that’s any help. I used the basket from the Academy kit as a template to scratch build mine but it did need to be modified to fit the Tamiya kit properly
https://forums.kitmaker.net/uploads/default/original/3X/c/1/c144adaff9d285ab6d05d4e9da6d019cf7589b8a.jpeg
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I wish you would have made this post about six weeks ago. I know the old Command Sgt. Major from that unit and era well. If anybody had a photo; he would.
Turret baskets were pretty much a field mod, and varied all over the map. Many started out by modifying the OEM basket, and simply made it bigger. Others completely replaced it. In my stretch of the woods; raw material was the issue. You saw a little angle iron and a lot of engineer stakes used. Some used chicken wire and others used anything they could lay there hands on. The 11th CAV (if memory serves me right) pretty much used the same design on all their Sheridan’s. Around me, the 1st of the 1st CAV used a very simple design that started out with the OEM basket kept in place. It was common to see them stealing material from junk tanks and trucks in the rear.
gary
