Just purchased the M106 conversion set from hobby link for my Academy M113. Is there also any kit of the M1064? And besides the M106 used in Vietnam, when were these two vehicles used in combat ? Thanks for your help.
The M106 was used up through Desert Storm, 1991. In the mid '90s, they were replaced with M1064A3s. The M1064A3 has been in use since then and saw a lot of action in Iraq. I think we have given them to Ukraine as well.
“U.S. Army soldiers fire mortar at insurgent positions. Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. Operation al Fajr (New Dawn), Fallujah, Iraq 08-NOV-2004”
“U.S. soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, fire the M120 Mortar system out of a M113 Armored Personal Carrier (APC) on Forward Operating Base Taji, Baghdad, Iraq, April 25, 2009.”
There is a conversion set for the M1064 by MR Modellbau in Germany. It uses the Tamiya M106 kit as a start.
I have built a couple using the MR Modellbau set and it comes out really nicely.
https://archive.armorama.com/features/1014/index.htm
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Ok yeah I remember that post from the old site. The model came excellent btw.
I noticed the lower pic of the M1064 from OIF has the slat armor, does anyone make that ? And the cupola armor as well- very cool looking track. And is the MR set the only one for the M1064? Thanks very much Gino
I don’t think anyone does the M113 slat armor. The TCs armor surround and gun shield is the same as on a standard M113. It is available in most M113 kits.
Yes, as far as I know, the MR Modellbau set is it for an M1064A3.
So I would need the Tamiya M106 as a base kit for the MR conversion set right ?
I have a nice walk around of it from Iraq with the slat armor. The photographs concentrate on the armor and how it is attached but of course it has excellent interior shots as well. Yours for the asking. Let me know.
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Yes, that is correct. Tamiya M106 kit and the MR conversion set to build an M1064A3.
In a somewhat similar vein - I’m thinking of putting this leftover Stryker mortar in one of my many Meng Bradley kits to make an educated guess at a Bradley BMV.
Thinking not so much as waiting for more photos, even if I have to go get them.
That should be pretty nice as it probably is/will be the same mortar system. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out. I’m still hoping some one (Meng or Kinetic) will come out with a few AMPV Bradleys.
Thanks a lot Robert I’ll probably take you up on that. It looks pretty daunting to build the slat armor from scratch but I just might give it a try. Do you know off hand if there were any M1064s in Iraq that didn’t have the slat armor? It would make the project so much easier obviously.
Hi Rob,
May I have the walk around photos of that M1064 with slat armor also? They don’t look difficult for me to CAD and 3D print.
Kind regards,
James
I’d be interested in that James as I don’t know of anyone who makes it. Unless I try to adapt a Stryker slat armor set to the M1064…
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Yes, slat armor was used later in Iraq, '06 or so. Up to that point, the M1064A3s did not have it. Not all got it then either. The first pic I posted is one in Iraq w/o slat armor.
Oh yeah, I scrolled right past it Gino - duh! That makes things a little easier, but that slat armor does add another element to the vehicle for sure.
Send me your email address. I probably have it, but it’ll save me time.
The slat armor came later after IED’s really became a problem, especially up where we were.
Dona Anna sucked so much I volunteered to go on the PDSS just to get away from there. When we got to Rabiah we climbed to the top of the grain elevator so I could make a video for the team, and while up there saw two IED’s go off - on the only road that led to our COP. It was then I began to wonder if the college money had really been worth it.
So, a little story about the M1064’s in case anyone missed it a few years a go-
We spent the night once on a hilltop overlooking the Syrian border - about a klick away. We noticed a lot of unusual activity, especially tracers being fired into the air from the Syrian side. Obviously these were signals, and the Iraqi Border Patrol helped facilitate movement across the border. Most of it was harmless - cigsarettes, gasoline, etc. But we were there because that area was well known as a crossing used by FFF. (Foreign Fighter Facilitators)
So the other Bravo and I launched a Karl Gustav Illum round over the border, and all shenanigans stopped for the night.
The next day I went over to speak to the COP Commander (we lived on the Iraqi side) to propose an idea. Since the range of the mortar was roughly seven klicks, and they had two of them, we could effectively shut down operations on 28 kilometers of the Syrian border by firing illum rounds over it at random times. The COP Commander, who was only a captain, said their PD’s were missing, and the mortars couldn’t be fired. Now it had been five years since I taught Soviet mortars to the ANA for a month, so I said “What in the hell is a PD?” to which he replied, “The pointing device.” with an expression on his face like, “Geez, everyone knows what a PD is.” He had an audience of course. So I told him where I came from a PD was a Specialist or a PFC, which drew a little laughter. I went on to say it would be illum only - you don’t need to be a rocket surgeon to make them go where you want.
He was getting more and more annoyed with me, a mere SFC, and said “So we cover 28 kilometers of the border. So what? What about the rest?” I pointed out the beauty of it. It was 28 kilometers less that my team had to cover, with two gun trucks no less. All we had to do was wait for them to figure out the range of the mortars was 28 Klicks, and they’d start going around thet edge of the border. Where my team wouold be waiting.
So in front ot the whole TOC he shut me down, asked me what I knew about mortars (plenty, jackass) yada, yada, yada, and that he wasn’t going to commit resources for some ill-conceived plan.
The fact is they rarely left the wire, and the one time one of their Abrams did leave the wire, they flipped it. Yes, I’ve posted photos. This guy was so risk averse it was unreal. So the only thing those M1064’s might have been used for was boffing some of the females, if that… But I doubt it - there was a whole 14 story grain elevator with a roof on it for that.
Pointing Device, 2007:
Pointing Device, pretty much the rest of the history of US mortars:
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Lol great story Robert. The Karl Gustav shoots illum rounds ? Didn’t know that.
I’ll send you a PM with my email.
That Tamiya M106 is proving very hard to find. eBay has a few but ridiculously priced even before shipping. Sprue brothers and BNA don’t have them it seems unless I missed them which is entirely possible. I made an offer to a guy on eBay, just waiting for a response.
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Btw, is this Tamiya kit a collectors item? It’s difficult to find and guys are asking ridiculous prices for them. I have not checked many places except Sprue and BNA as I said earlier but jeez.
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I don’t think you need it. It looks like you could get some cardstock, fill in the M113 opening, and then cut a new one for the M1064 opening, along with the hatch pieces. Should be pretty straightforward.
Photos sent, by the way.
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Hi Richard,
That M106 kit has been out of production for a decade or so. I have been looking for one myself for several years, and could never find one at a reasonable price.
Kind regards,
James
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Yes I could try that. It’s really just the top of the hull with the hatches I guess.
Yes thanks a bunch for the pics they look excellent.
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