I have the Academy M163A1 Vulcan and M981 FISTV kits. Which time frame can I build these from for the US Army? I know the M163 was used in Desert Storm but was it used anywhere before or after that in the NATO camouflage?
Also, where was the M981 used? I found an article about Operation Just Cause that shows an image with the caption that says it is an M981. The image credit goes to Ken Sabin. The image is at the bottom of the article. https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/1989-us-invasion-of-panama/
If you click the image from the above link, it takes you to Imgur also giving credit to Ken Sabin but that caption says M113. Is this an M901 or M981?
The track in the photo is a M901, from my old company E 4/6 in Panama during Just Cause.
The M981 FISTV served only in NATO camo or overall Sand. The M163 Vulcan tracks had a long service life and wore multiple schemes, solid OD, Sand, MASSTER, various MERDCs, and NATO. Plus one offs like a local scheme in Vietnam and the experimental/developmental scheme worn by 5th ID in the mid 80’s.
The M163 was used/tested in Vietnam in limited numbers. It was in continual service and updated to A2 standards. It was retired after ODS in the mid-'90s. It was in pretty much every conflict during that time period in various camo schemes, including forest green, MERDC, NATO, and sand.
The M981A2 FISTV was fielded in 1978 and retired in the early 2000s. It was built on older M901 ITOW chassis. It too was in pretty much every conflict during that time period in various camo schemes, including forest green, NATO, and sand.
I wasn’t sure if the one in Panama was an M901 or M981 as I didn’t see the external fuel tanks as on the M981. Not sure if the external tanks could be removed from the M981 though.
Was the M981 used in Panama or OIF though? If in OIF, was it still in the NATO camo?
That was done a lot in the late 1980s, during the transition to NATO camo. Older vehicles painted MERDC using enamel paints were modified to look like NATO by painting out the sand/tan areas and often enlarging the black areas.
If you compare the top two photos, the black areas in the top one are much thicker than in the middle one.
Ken
They came in just about every camo scheme, merdac, nato, sand and just plain carc green. Many of the unit’s hand painted the schemes at one point or another, occasionally a contractor would come in and do them in the motor pool.
No. There was only one Mech unit, a Mech Infantry Battalion, in Panama for Just Cause. M163s were part of the Division ADA Battalion, two batteries of tracked Vulcans and two batteries of tracked Chaparral, and not part of the Armor or Infantry Battalions.
would only be if you were doing an early version of the M163 would you have differences like they had either and open dish or no dish at all fitted and also did not have the link disposal port on the right side
this trial version had a flat faced dish and also the left side armour on the turret was a different shape where it went back down on an angle before going up (just under where the feed chute is) they changed to that plate going strait back then up. this was because of the mounting of the gun was slightly different also like the bars coming up and over on the later versions that were added for stability and strength of the gun mount.
the M981 along with the M901 were the first variants in US service to have external fuel cells fitted on the A2 variant as a lot were new into service at that time so built to the full A2 standard. most US carriers only included them from the A3 upgrade as most A2’s in use were upgraded from A1 hulls but there were some A2’s with them on in US service (ones that were built new)
other countries fitted the external cells on the A2’s like Canada.
M901s did not have any external fuel cells. At least none that I ever came across in my service career stateside or in Europe. That’s one of three visual ID differences: the front and rear of the hammerhead have different opening configurations, the M901 has folding armor plates on the sides of the cargo hatch for protection during reloading of the hammerhead which are not present on the M981, and the M901 does not have external fuel cells…. at least not in US Army service.
