M48A3 Patton Tank - WIP

[FreakyFenton]

Cool projects? Will they be commercially available?

[Rich H]

The M48 will be as it's a commission.
The rest will be on spec see if they want more.

List is currently:
Ontos
Sheridan
Gage Commando

Now Adding:
Otter

But there is a lon glist of other things too... 

[FreakyFenton]

Oh nice, I might pm you and finally order some of these excellent models! 

Thanks for the heads up!

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Oooh, a Cadillac Gage Commando.That brings back memories of The Morrow Proect.

[carlos marighela]

Nobody ever seems to remember, or care for my favourite ‘toy’ jeep, the USMC’s very own M-422 Mighty Mite. Cute in a sort of anime way but saw a bit of service.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M422_Mighty_Mite

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Nobody ever seems to remember, or care for my favourite ‘toy’ jeep, the USMC’s very own M-422 Mighty Mite. Cute in a sort of anime way but saw a bit of service.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M422_Mighty_Mite

That is cute.

[Munindk]

Very cute

On the topic of other vehicles, specifically jeeps, I'm wondering how much difference there is between the old WW2 era jeeps and the Vietnam war era jeeps?

From pictures it seems that the main difference was the grille being vertical instead of horizontal slots.

[Rich H]

Pretty sure the later jeeps were signifiacntly larger too.

Bit of progress last night but the ankle biter decided that sleeping was boring and he'd much rather scream.

By the way the top cupola is almost as bad as the main turret.... 

[carlos marighela]

How technical do you want to get? Suffice it to say that the M-151 MUTT was a completely different vehicle with almost nothing in common with a WW2 era Willys MB / Ford GPW jeep, structurally or motor mechanically.

MUTTs weren’t the only jeeps in service in Vietnam. There were still substantial holdings of M-38A1 s, the successor to the M-38, itself the successor to the WW2 era Willys MB/ Ford GPW. The only 28mm sized ones I know of is the 1/48 version that comes with the Monogram/Revell CH-53 kit. You also get a 105mm howitzer but I doubt you’ll want to shell out big bucks for a two foot long helicopter.

There are a number of 1/64 diecast CJ-5 models out there, the M-38A1 essentially being the military version. They are rather on the small side though.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

From pictures it seems that the main difference was the grille being vertical instead of horizontal slots.

I had looked at http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=114631.msg1450143#msg1450143 many times but not noticed the horizontal grill.

There is a tendency to consider a jeep is a jeep is a jeep (except when it is a gitpanzer), as Carlos rightly points out that is not the case

[Munindk]

So Gringos is the only reasonably priced M151, but M38s werent completely fased out?

[Rich H]

Corrected the title... damn American naming conventions...

So the MUTT is covered, what else is missing from the Vietnam range in 28mm?

[mrcleh]

How about the Dodge M37? It was also converted into gun trucks:

[carlos marighela]

What else is missing? Quite a lot but how much is desired is another thing.

The M-37 is a good choice, although it will irritate me slightly having gone to the trouble of cutting up a perfectly good 1/50 Dodge WC just to make one. Its replacement, the M-715 would give you a distinctive looking model but limited to the latter half of the war.

The ten ton M-54 is the most obvious softskin missing. It looks like the M-35 series but it’s bigger. The M-54 was actually the basis for most of the gun trucks.

For the USMC,  the LVT series: LVTP-5 LVTE-6 and the LVTH-6. It’s surprising to read of the frequency with which they appear in USMC operations not just shore landings.

Armour? The US Army fielded a number of the cute but rather impractical M-56 Scorpion SPAT guns. It has essentially the same running gear as that Otter. It’s former Cold War board moderator Arlequin’s favourite vehicle.

For later war an M-551 Sheridan is required. They replaced M-48s and occasionally M-113 in various armoured cavalry units and were the second principle tank used by the US Army in Vietnam.  They are available on Shapeways and Company B did a 1/56 version IIRC. Think that one is OOP though.

If you fancied using the M-48 chassis for other things then there’s the M-88 ARV and a bridge layer would be pretty cool. The Marines, being the Marines had their own ARV, the M-51, based on the M-103 chassis. That would definitely pander to any desire to make something big. They were massive items.

Plenty of other stuff but I’m already in silly/ fantasy territory.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

There is the M41 Walker Bulldog, in use with ARVN plus the M42 Duster.

Due to losses, M48A2s were used due to shortages of t diesel A3s.