SU-122 ARV - need some help

I’m looking for information to help me build an SU-122 that has been converted to an ARV/repair vehicle. They are rare animals and the only ones I have found photo references for were used by the Hungarian Army from the 1950s to probably as late as the 1980s(?).

There is a good walkround of a derelict vehicle available but it’s missing almost all the external fittings. I want to build mine as an active vehicle so I need to work out what was carried.

SU-122 ARV Walkround

I’m confident it was a glorified repair vehicle rather than a true recovery vehicle, equipped with a lightweight (collapsible?) A-frame because there are mounting lugs on the nose and hooks on the front corners of the roof for cable stays. That means the a-frame should stowed somewhere and a chain hoist or winch would also be carried externally. I also think it carried smoke canisters on the upper hull sides (curved mounting brackets of about the right size). However, beyond that I get lost.

There are mounting lugs scattered around the hull sides and front, brackets on the rear of the crew compartment, on the engine deck edges and small trays on either side of the hull. There may have been a work tray over the engine deck; probably carried tow ropes and must have carried additional tools, but the remaining mounting lugs don’t give me enough to be able to interpret what the external stowage might have looked like.

I believe these SU-122 conversions were developed over time by Hungary and took a different path to their WP neighbours. Even if the two images below show the same vehicle, it is clear that there are extra features and fittings on the more recent image. We can all guess at what equipment an ARV should carry, but I need it to match the available mounting lugs on the vehicle in question.

If anyone has additional images of this type of vehicle showing them in service, extracts from tech manuals or anything similar, that would be much appreciated.

Many thanks,
John


SU_122_ARV