Mike, thank you sir. I hardly know what to say.

Except to say that I am doing my best to provide solutions to a problem that many on this site seem to be having with the absence of the CHU.

Plan drawing for construction of the two CHU hook assemblies:

Hooks (Blue) - Top hook is fixed (glued) - Bottom hook is pinned (hinged) and rotates 90 degrees.

Friction spacer side bars (Green) are narrower and thinner than main bars. (Orange)

Center bar (Gray) has the same cross section as the main bars but is shorter to allow for hooks.

Hex nuts were added later and serve only as decoration.

Great scratchbuilding skills Mike ! I've just came across a different type of CHU, called Enhanced Container Handling Unit (E-CHU) built by HIAB/Multilift :




https://vimeo.com/24496794

H.P.

Yes Frenchy, apparently there are several more simplified "new" styles/designs for the E-CHU.



However I question if either one of these enhanced designs has the load capacity of the original.

It may be just my strange eye for looking at various things; but doesn't the original CHU design remind you of the "Recognizers" from the movie TRON?

Just taking a few "fun" photos while enjoying this build:









p.s. What is the general opinion here? Have I overdone the faded pale green treatment on the Oshkosh fiberglass hood? I could tone that down considerably but I sort of like it.

I don't know if it is the paint Oshkosh uses that reacts with the fiberglass or, more likely the color is actually manufactured INTO the fiberglass and the dye in the fiberglass doesn't hold up as well as the real paint on the rest of the vehicle when exposed to sunlight. Whatever they are using, both the green and the sand colors fade rapidly. The green more so than the sand.

The CHU is coming along great. Waiting to see how the rear support portion looks; great I'm sure. The hood color looks good to me as well.

I can't wait to get back to work on my PLS. We just moved into our new house and have started wading through boxes. The hobby room will be last to unpack, unfortunately.

Gino I definitely want to see more of your PLS. Hope the unpacking goes quickly.

I still have not worked out the "design engineering" on those rear container guides. I have hopes of working out something that can actually be folded up so I can use either a flatrack or the CHU w/container on either the HEMTT or the Mk 8x8's. I got a feeling I will have to build one truck as folded and one as extended but that will be very limiting.

Probably my next build will be a 20' AMCOM half-height ammo contanier.

here in Sweden we will soon be getting the A-CHU

/ Robin

Really? Here in the US we have only been vaccinated against the E-CHU. Looks like we may be in for a rough season!

I know this is a long shot but . . . .

Anyone have a set of the Italeri #6516 decal sheet they would be willing to part with/sell?

Earlier Gino mentioned the rear container supports - I like to call them support guides.

Any vehicle that is going to carry containers without also using an intermediate flatrack must have these container support guides installed. The bottom of the standard container is not suitable to work with the rear loading rollers that are intended to work with the flatracks. These support guides can be retrofitted onto just about any LHS vehicle. They fold out of the way when loading a standard flatrack but must be unfolded and locked in place in order to load a container. This is true for almost ALL military vehicles including HEMTT LHS, the Navy Mk 8x8 LHS and the PLS with LHS.

. . . . . . . . .


Note above: Container Load Lock in the open position.

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Container Load Lock, LOCKED.

Close-up, colorized views (more photoshop) of the container support guides from the Tech Manual:

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. . . . .

If you go to the Italeri website, you can order the decal sheet for about $5. You just email them the request as a parts request with the kit #. They also sell individual sprues the same way for $5 each as well. I got the gun ring sprue from the M977 guntruck kit that I used on my M983A2.

Thank you Gino - I will check that out!

Well this photo answers one question. The heavy arm that supports the guide tray is canted on it's pivot axis. As you rotate the arm out 90 degrees to the frame it swings both out AND upwards. The guide tray ends up being higher than the rollers (as it should be) when the whole thing is finally locked into place.



The above applies to both the HEMTT and the Mk 8x8 LHS vehicles. The above design DOES NOT apply to the PLS which has a different fixed, non-folding support guide design.

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Fixed support guides on a PLS. (Do not know what they do when they encounter having to haul a Flatrack. I suspect they just remove the guide tray and stow it somewhere on the vehicle.)

Roughing in the new parts blanks for the CHU container support guides:


The two massive support arms are at the top, lower left and right are the support guide trays themselves and finally in the center is the start of the 'T' bearing assemblies to connect all these parts together.

Construction of the guide trays is progressing along:

For those interested: I have recently revised and/or colorized a number of the drawings posted within the last two pages of this thread. In a number of cases I have corrected problems with the drawings and, I think, made them more understandable.

Just sharing that fact.

Hard to find a good photo angle on this little gizmo!


Mounting these on the already completed Mk frame is going to be another issue, as in challenging!

Reworked the guide trays today - I had it wrong regarding the two tabs sticking out the rear of the tray.
Yes the container load locks connect to these tabs but the tabs do not extend beyond the end of the guide tray.

Two snips with the sprue cutters, re-drill two holes - done.

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Also made a trip to my LHS and picked up the smallest size square brass tubing they had. Used the tubing to build the mounts
for the removable extended guide wings on the sides of the trays.


I hope to make the guide extensions removable on my model as well.

On-vehicle stowage of guide tray extension:

Does anyone other than myself see the mother bird feeding the two baby birds in the above photo?

The frame that supports the two baby birds is actually a stand that will hold the CHU when not in use. Somehow the CHU is flipped over upside-down on the hook and then lowered onto these two "baby birds" to be stored there in order to free up the big hook when dealing with a flatrack rather than container.

I believe this is correct but do not yet know how
this upside-down action is accomplished.

Currently at a temporary impasse - I think I may have to start over on those heavy swing arms that support the guide trays when loading a container.

Another small correction:
Here is the "before" picture that you saw earlier at the top of this page -




During construction I missed this detail - adding a small gap in the center of the movable hook shaft. (Gray) On the real CHU another hook can be inserted into this gap to accommodate an assortment of different height containers. (This hook is actually the one that is designed to accommodate the half-height containers.)

And now the "after" image -


Bottom two drawings are from the TM. This will give you an additional correct detail on the movable hooks. However if in the end you want to deal with multiple containers of different heights adding this option will allow you to keep your options open for the future.