I am building a 1/72nd scale m-728 CEV during the 1980’s and would like to know did the 728’s all have the search light on top of the turret just behind the gun barrel? if I didn’t have one on my 728 would that be considered wrong?
I they did have them, do you know where you can buy the search light in 1/72nd scale since my kit didn’t supply me with a light?
Thank you.
They could be found with or without the searchlight, so you can choose how you want to go. AFAIK there are no aftermarket searchlights available.
Ken
Yep - the light was removable, and unless they felt the need, chances are the delicate device might not even leave the tank park when the M728 went out into the field. So not having one is just a matter of the “story” behind you model.
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thank you for the information!
Generally, in the 1990s, the searchlights were not fit to M728 CEVs in active Army units.
In the late 1980s, I was serving as a US Army combat engineer in Germany. I don’t remember seeing any M728 CEVs with searchlights mounted by any US engineer unit in Germany from 1986-1991.
I commanded C Company, 1st Engineer Battalion, 1st Infantry Division from 1992-1994 at Ft. Riley. 1st Engineers had M728s as did our sister battalion at Ft. Riley, the 70th Engineers. None of the M728s in our battalion or the 70th Engineer Battalion had the searchlights mounted or even had them on hand to mount them if we had wanted to. (1st Engineers supported 1st Brigade and 70th Engineers supported 2nd Brigade.)
None of the M728s at the National Training Center had searchlights fit to their M728s at that time either.
The general consensus at that time was that the searchlights were not needed or helpful. We had good personal and vehicular night vision equipment therefore didn’t need searchlights. Turning such a thing on was generally considered an invitation to get killed.
All of our 1st ID vehicles were painted “sand” at that time, including the M728s, and had served in Operation Desert Storm. Prior to Desert Storm, there were all painted plain OD, actually CARC green.
Hope this helps.
Sir,
I was stationed at Fort Benning Georgia during 80 to 82 and I noticed that some of the CEV’S in my unit 72nd combat engineer company kelly hill, did have them on the vehicles.
Thank you very much for your information as well anyway. It does help me in future projects.