Right you are!
Though, the word ' triangle' may confue those who never saw it.
It was a broad piece of metal that was flat at the side below and formed a triangle at the top. In the top the hole for the lifting hook, or shackle, was drilled.
The whole was fixed to the generator. It could move in two brackets at each end and would normaly lay flat.
It was fixed between the middle of the long side of the generator.

My memories were of one operation where we ate "reconstituted cases" of C rations for three weeks. The only meals in those cases were beans and franks and spaghetti and meat sauce. We made a lot of jokes about biological warfare, and posting no smoking signs. It got pretty rank after a while.

That's a perfect description of my memory.

All over the s(h)ame!!!!

One of my gunners fixed with a lot of artistic handy craft a sign which stated:

Entering this vehicle may be hazardous to your health

This was swinging at the back, next to the small ramp door. We caried it quite some time, until one day the brigade commander, a humorless general from the Engineers, visited our battery gun site and ordered this young officer to remove it immediately since it was, I quote " an instruction that could not be found in the military handbooks, covering the use and maintenance of a M577 Command Vehicle." .

HTH

H.P.

Hi Henri-Pierre,
Is there any miltary item in the whole world of which you do NOT have at least one picture!?!?

Some times the crows feet - the spreaders that go on top of the poles was slid between the poles and the vehicle. The crows feet come apart in threes. This would be real cool to add those as well. With the poles , don't forget some huge bag of camo netting. Usually by al bag like comes with some of them113 that you see strapped to the front water board held on by relocated seatbelts.

I think that Henri-Pierre deserves a special titel like The Fabulous French Photo Finder.

I really like the stories of your experiences from your times served. Always nice to hear those

@Bruce



Sorry to say that it is not exactly clear to me what you mean. It is always difficult to get a picture of what someone means just by words.

Do you mean the two poles that have the three smaller rods attached to them ( on the model I used brass rod an aluminium rod for those)?

As for the bag for the tent I am still thinking of how I want to make that. Still not sure if I am going to use the tissue paper and white glue method or Milliput / Green-stuff.

I am going to be loading it up with a fair amount of personal gear on the exterior. Found some good pictures of duffel bags and backpacks hanging on the side attached with straps.

But rest assured, before I fix anything to the model I will be checking in with you guys

Beste Jan-Willem,

Be aware about the fact that these vehicles were mainly staff vehicles. They had to be accessable for many people during opeation hours. I myself did not allow the "office" part to be loaded with all kind of personal gear, which was not direct involved in executing the tasks. One should be able to study maps, react on radio messages, do calculating for battery instructions, etc. All these requires quite some personal space. A battery staff was 3 people in the back, doing everything together at the same time. Not to speak about howitser commanders coming in with their on affairs, related to their gun and/or crew.
Therefore, only sleeping bags, jackets and personal weapons were seen in my M577. The rest, spare underwear, socks etc. were kept in bags, carried by one of the staf trucks. Only one trunk was never out of side: the one with the privately purchased (canned) food stuff, since, especially during larger field exercises, the guys, running the field kitchen, either never showed up or brought, at most unlikely hours, two or three meals at once! .
Also, remember, the storage of gear outside the vehicle is restricted.
First of all, in peace time, by traffic laws ( width, height, risks for other traffic), secondly, while driving in training areas, trees could rip off quite some stuff. And all stuff lost had to be explained and replaced ( not seldom at personal costs ), but worse: it was almost never replaced immediately, thus making military life very unpleasant in case you were waiting for critical stuff like sleepin bags and alike.
But maybe, other than Dutch users were able to couple a trailer to the M577. Towing trailers by AFV's is not a Dutch habbit. The only AFV towed items were 120 mm mortars and mine laying equipment.
So, take that in mind when completing your very nice build.

Looking forward to see your next steps.

Cheers,

Spreader pics :





Such parts have been recently released by AFV Club :

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/news/15099


H.P.

He Paul,
The photos I am basing the external equipment on are from US vehicles. Some look like they are from an exercise and some from a peace keeping missions in Kosovo.
I am assuming that different countries have different SOP’s on what you can and cannot hang on a vehicle. Plus individuals will do their own thing during long operations.
But it sounds like you kept a tidy vehicle. But with such a cramped office you would have to.

@ Henri-Pierre
You did it again, I might take a look at the AFV Club camo net set to see if it is worth getting a hold of.
What if I said I was looking for a picture of a unicorn riding a Leopard firing candy

Just found another view of the 4.2 kW generator in my archives :



H.P.

Why does it not wonder me...................

I guess pics would be better than drawings. These have seen better days

http://www.govliquidation.com/auction/view?auctionId=6311947

http://www.govliquidation.com/auction/view?auctionId=6311609

Just click on the pics to enlarge them.

H.P.

Jan-Willem,

All details you still might need to finish your M577 can be found in the TM 9-2300-257-10, Dep of the Army technical manual, operator's manual for the carrier, command post, light, tracked, M577A1-2320-056-6808, issued by the Head Quarters, Department of the Army in December 1968!


Yeh! I understand that this might be quite a challenge for you to get. Therefore, send me a private email about what you still need and I will scan it. (The book is part of my military private history!) I will be happy to help you.

Furthermore, I hope you are showing us more soon.

I am afraid that the TM 9-2300-257-10, Dep of the Army technical manual, operator's manual for the carrier, command post, light, tracked, M577A1-2320-056-6808, issued by the Head Quarters, Department of the Army in December 1968 might not be in my local library

Thank you for the offer. I have no idea jet of what I might have missed but as soon as I get the chance to get some pictures of the model and someone points out something I missed I will definitely let you know.

Or if you saw someting already please point it out.

Cheers and many thaks for your offer,

JW

Hi, Jan-Willem, the offer was not intended to critisise your build. But I thought that you are such a detail lover, you might have some open questions left. Especially, the generator, which is well described in that manual.

Still: show us more soon!

Tot ziens in Grunn................

In the US Army we towed a 1 1/2 ton trailer with the wheels reversed to widen the track behind our M577s and M113s, but then we were a Combat Engineer unit and there was no room inside the tracks for any of our equipment

Dear Paul, It was not taken as criticism at all, quite the opposite. I value the additional information you and the others have given me and I will take you up on your offer (check your inbox )

@Richard
The 1 1/2 ton trailer you used, is there a model of that on the market? It might not be 100% accurate but would make a nice addition to the model.

Cheers,

JW

I'm quite sure Richard is talking about the M105 trailer. A 1/35th scale kit has been released by PSM (#35067) :



In Vietnam, the wheel spacing of trailers was often extended to conform to the track path of the M577 or the M113, so as to reduce the likelihood of mine detonation.




H.P.

He guys,

No real update on the build its self but what is on the way.

I got the M-105 trailor, AFV's camouflage net to be put on the model and the AFV camouflage support poles have been ordered.
I have some new antenna bases on the way to replace the ones I used from Arms Corps Models. They look better that the ones Diti productions so I am going to give those a try.

Thanks to Paul I have gotten some great additional photos of some missing detail that I can add on the vehicle and I might try and improve the generator.

I do have to do some repairs as I managed to drop the model and knock some of the PE off a while ago. The PE for the headlights has to be replaced but thankfully I have a few M-113 PE sets that I can use.

As soon as I have some real progress to report I will be posting some new photos.

Again thank you to all that have taken the time to give me feedback and tip on this build.

Cheers,

JW

1st let me say your build is fantastic! 2nd Every unit has a different SOP as to were stuff is stored. I was assigned to a Mechanized Infantry Battalion on my second tour and our 577 were not allowed to have anything attached to the sides. this was mainly due to the possible loss of equipment while operating in dense wooded terrain and the officers didn't want to do the paperwork. As to the pole length, we were required to make sure that in an emergency or attack we had to be able to drive out from under them without getting tangled in the running gear. Just my 2 cents worth. Again great build and can't wait to see more.

Hi, Jan-Willem,

https://4e9ced86-a-62cb3a1a-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/merdccamo/home/merdc-camouflage-templates/m577_2.jpg?attachauth=ANoY7crJoVt2GCE8LH7UOGq2Ya8nTiJt01uHV8H2PBWwlXWmZDcZWeyYh4pp8piRBpWF0Fshj4GPyUXT_JiPh4nT6h1ZRGj86KE784Cg509WFhAA6niFsigjdrP5vYT97A1awdNhdrn3msv9OPe3Lrc674wOdFzAlYrdAk2tQiYpdvD9AO_nw8I3bpHBwsGL8-C1geSQA89aoG7g7kMRaE3kZbB7JNnG6xQVHbDOJSuyLm0Qkhkd-KRNxUi_rxy5KkJuLBuNP-Yz&attredirects=0

and

https://4e9ced86-a-62cb3a1a-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/merdccamo/home/merdc-camouflage-templates/m577_1.jpg?attachauth=ANoY7cpmdY0yxq8w4PUOe0aLFp0VwbIvDkCxzz9uZSVzUH5gGIU9t1UWgjzoYhulLIO-GMe1fo9VqFLru6IvrzO3BIbvCit-4h510LszGdVpnXfjxTWqwWNGepEZHFrHbb7wDjSbXwv6DieA6MsAJ71v9uV0tni-4ZsSK8C2O74JWEd9FPhb8JWzZEoKEXcVAKltlZdhKbDxW1pwqWLs6dboRNjfDcPM7Be70nVn4c-mkSHnfJrlu1fOpj83mqu30zAIyB9T1Jtm&attredirects=0

or

https://sites.google.com/site/merdccamo/home/merdc-photos-1

Usefull?

I was in the Mech Inf for about 10 years and the SOP for the cammo nets was the same for every unit I ever saw. The bag that contained the nets(one large,2 small) was attached to the trim vane by tie down straps and the bag for the cammo net poles and spreaders was attached on front of the vehicle,right on top of the trim vane. When stored in the motor pool,the bags were strapped onto the inside of the rear ramp.
HTH,
As was previously stated,a good vehicle TC would never let clutter get in the way of the combat ops of his vehicle and all items inside needed to be tied down and stowed out of the way as there were sometimes violent direction changes which would throw everything around inside if not stowed correctly. The duffle bags with extra gear were tied down on top. I used to take this seriously and if anyones' stuff compromised my ops I was not adverse to flinging the crap overboard while turning the air blue.

Really steller job you are doing on this vehicle buddy,
J

Hi Guys,

It has been a while sins my last update.

Thank you all for your advice and first hand experiences. Truly invaluable information and wonderful to read.

The M-577 has been primed and is sitting awaiting paint.
Meanwhile I have gotten the M105 trailer ready.

The Perfectscale model is a nice kit and builds easily. I did have to add some more detail like cabling and chains. I know the wiring underneath is not correct but I wanted to busy it up a bit more. It will be most likely covered by mud anyway.











This does raise another little question. Where do the connectors of the tailor connect to the rear of the M-577?

Cheers and thank you all again for your input,

JW