Quite old Italeri kit improved with resin wheels (Def Models) and PE set from Eduard. On the bed I placed some resin accesories using variuos brands.
Yes it came very nice!
Maybe move the ammo box to the left side of the gun?
As mentioned, 50.cal ammo feeds from the left side of the gun. You have it mounted/feeding from the right.
Otherwise, looks good for an old kit. Love the outhouse load!
The .50 will feed from either right or left side.
This is true, with modifications to the feed mechanism. However, the standard setup from the factory is left hand feed. It is not common for a vehicle or ground mount M2 .50 cal to have right hand feed. It would be more correct to swap the ammo can around to the left side.
Also, it looks like you added the hard top to the cab thinking it is a soft top by how it is painted. A hard top w/.50 cal ring mount is not a common setup either since you can not access the gun with the hard top in place. Also, the hard top is not a light tan as you have it painted. It is usually the same color as the rest of the vehicle, in this case sand. It could also be either green or NATO camo as well since it could have come from another vehicle painted in those colors.
I did have a hard top M925 maintenance truck with a .50 cal ring mount in Iraq, but we cut a hole in the hard top roof to access the .50 cal.
Lastly, the .50 cal is pushed down too far in the pintle mount. There are two holes on the lower sides of the gun on the cradle. That is where the pins on the pintle ends insert, which raises the gun up into the pintle.
My bad, you are correct, it can feed from both sides.
I thought that was the case, but trying to find a picture of an in-service .50 in use by the US feeding from the right side (other then in a twin mount) is pretty difficult. I’m still trawling through books and the net and I have yet to find one, so definitely a very uncommon arrangement, but not impossible.
NBD, the reason it sticks in my mind: as a young trooper in RVN, I watched my Platoon Sgt set up a .50 on our bunker and proceed to load it from the right side. When I said “Sarge, you’re loading that from the wrong side”, he just gave me a cold stare, sat down and fired a quick burst. He said “you must have slept through that class…” Years later, when I was the old PSG, I always made sure my troops knew that little fact.
First, very nice job on the truck. Sometimes we need to take a breath and enjoy a piece for what it’s trying to represent.
As for the fi’ty, I wouldn’t sweat it too much. They can indeed be set up either way. A simple job of rotating one part non top of the bolt - looks similar to a locomotive turntable, and reversing the feed pawl.
Generally they’re reversed to accommodate a dual gun setup. However, I did see one on another team’s gun truck reversed. Their gunner was left handed, as am I, and switched it just because he could, I suppose. It’s not hard to charge with either hand. Takes one man or two small boys to charge it. (I wonder why a disproportionate number of SF guys are left handed - every time I teach combat pistol marksmanship it’s between 30 to 40 percent)
At any rate, having seen it set up on a single gun with my own eyes, I was confident enough with it to replicate it on my chopper without feeling bad about it. Charging handle assembly used as suicide shifter: (and note Hellfighter as headlight)
Very interesting particularity !
Like on this picture:
Always wondering how the gunner can stay in this position without fall.
Yes, very similar. No armored plates on the one I had. The trucks there are M818 5-ton tractors though.
Very interesting about the .50 cal.
Wow that’s a cool bike! Reminds me of Orange County chopper lol
So you build bikes too?
Rich
Jersey barriers and an outhouse. Superb and surprising choice for cargo.
Sounds like a literal s**t detail. The Jersey barriers are cool - I think they’re the water filled type, which are absolutely worthless when not actually filled with water. I’ve had to mention that at far too many bases. Wait - outhouse…Jersey barriers - I think I see a real world solution here!
Talking of different loads, Im looking for info on the 600 gallon tank and pump unit’s use (like PSM’s one). Anyone see the real one used in sandy places?
Re the seating position; Ass on the ring, one foot braced on the cut out in the roof, one foot on the folded-up seat base/ top of dashboard?
Good for the glutes I’d guess.
I like the chipping. Sponge used?
They were used in ODS. Pretty much by OIF ('03 and onward), they had been replaced by M987 HEMTT Fuelers.
Thanks Gino. When I get enough confidence to start a resin kit, id like to do this one.
Its just arrived. Has anyone any experience with this kit?
