Does anyone know anything about this M1114 HMMWV? I think I first saw this posted on Prime Portal but it has been removed or I am mistaken. It has such an unusual paint job, I thought it must have an interesting story attached to it. I also could have sworn that I saw a decal sheet with these markings on them some time about but again I could be wrong...getting old I guess.
Any hints, stories other relatable images would be appreciated.
Thanks
Bill

It was in Iraq, I think, and the decals for it are on the Echelon HMMWV set.

Gino, no wonder I couldn't find any other references to them. I'll see if I can track down the Echelon set.
Many thanks
Bill

I foundand bought the Echelon decal set at the Barrel Store in London Ontario, thanks for the tip. I still haven't had any other information about the "White Devils" operating in Afghanistan.

" they were in A-stan. They were vehicles used by 2/504 PIR 82ABN"

Any other information about 2/504 PIR 82ABN?
Many thanks
Bill

William, you can take a look HERE or at the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) webpage for some basic info and a few pics...

Frenchy

Thanks for the info, guys. This is very tempting and cool camouflage.

Thanks for sharing

Gary
It is hard to be specific when you don't know anything about the topic. In all my searching on the internet there are a handful of HMMWV's that have unique camouflage so I suspected it was applied for a specific reason. I wanted to know the story about why these three of four vehicles were painted (and sometimes outfitted) in a way unusual to every other vehicle. There was another HMMWV that I found fascinating with an unusual camouflage and configuration and it was modeled by a person with similar interests as mine. That HMMWV was a scud hunting team in Iraq. This is the only photo I have seen of this team.


I don't want to know top secret information I just want to model something other than the run of the mill variants. Inevitably the more unique the subject the less information there is. You yourself helped me out as did Frency by telling me that you recognized the vehicle used by 2/504 PIR 82ABN and by confirming that I was correct about these being used in Afghanistan and not in Iraq as Gino thought. It is (as I posted earlier in another thread) the collective knowledge of these forums that benefits the modelers of the world. Do you have something that you'd like to share?
Bill

Did you come across this one (belonging to the USMC 1st Recon Battalion in Iraq) ? :


More pics and info HERE

HTH
Frenchy

WOW!
Frenchy, you're the man. I have never seen this one before. I think you understand what I'm getting at. I wish I could find more images of unusual HMMWV's like this one, I'm sure they exsist.
Thanks
Bill

Do a search for Special Forces Dumvees or just Special Forces humvees. They typically modify their humvees to be light and fast and very heavily armed, such as the Force Recon guys. Lately they have also been modifying their humvees in a more armored way but it still looks unconventional.

Try this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGg6x0q1F-w

These are part of the 75th Rangers Regiment in Iraq circa 2005ish.

Jeff

Jeff
This comes back to our original conversation about up armored HMMWV's. I had seen a mini gun on a solitary HMMWV before but thought it was a one off. I like the secondary MG mount on the armor shielding of the first vehicle as well. I have searched for Special Forces, Spec Ops, GMV you name it and I do have an interesting collection of images mostly of the Blast and Pro Art type conversions for the DUMVEE, this is what I have on the bench at the moment. There seems to be a certain configuration for those DUMVEE vehicles because I've seen many that look very similar. This You Tube shows an evolution from those earlier versions with the full armored sides and roof armor much like the M1114 up-armored base model. I guess the urban battle ground necessitates this where as a long range recon/scud hunters had lighter vehicles with greater payload, speed and distance over armor protection.
The Afghanistan image I posted has a second mount for a lighter MG as well.


Thank for your positive input Jeff

If its the same type of secondary mount that I'm thinking of, there is a copy of it in Blast Models Humvee weapons set. But the turret that accessory kit provides is for M1025-type armament carriers and not for M1114-type armament carriers. Given the hatch design, I'm not sure if that secondary mount, which usually was attached to the right rear section of the turret ring, would fit on an uparmored humvee turret ring, even though the image is clearly of an early M1114. And now with the all-around armor, secondary weapons are usually no more than a crewman's M-4.

You can see what the mount looks like in my gallery on a couple of my humvees (I used the actual Blast Models resin piece on the M1025, and a scratchbuilt copy on the M1046 TOW carrier)

Jeff

Besides the humor, here's a good one for ya.

http://bp2.blogger.com/_SCjVUmrlWDc/Rp5Ji0IL8EI/AAAAAAAAA9w/o2Tzbn_yFsQ/s1600-h/2007.07.18volunteers.JPG

I really like the quote and the image. Point in fact, that HMMWV is the generic GMV special forces vehicle I was speaking about earlier but with a cool pain job. I too have the Blast set you used on your 1025 kit and I think you are correct that on the higher rez version I have it mounts differently than the Blast one, see here.

I have just constructed a ammunition storage locker seen on many GMV's to hold three spare cases of 50 rounds. I can't find a clear view on how it mounts to the weapons ring, any ideas? Lots of eye level views but none from directly above showing the relationship to the folded hatch cover..I'll keep looking

Thanks Jeff

I can't quite tell either. From what little I can see, it looks like there is a plate that attaches to the turret ring and then there is a raised piece at the edge to raise the ammo bin from scratching the roof.

Also, head over to your M1114 post, I've got some images that may provide useful in areas from both this and the other topic.

Jeff

Think I can give some insight on this subject as those HMMWV's were used by 1st platoon in my company (Dco 2-504 PIR) in afghanistan during OEF 6 (april 2005- march 2006) The platoon Sergeant of that Platoon was behind the rather unorthadox paint job and he was told afterward's to paint the vehicles back to the original color. They never did paint them until right before we left country because tan paint could not be found.

We had normal uparmored's and they do not come with an additional mount to put light machine gun's on so we had to have mounts welded on. They do have the mount for the heavy caliber weapons but for some reason do not come with one on for an additional weapon. The skull on the side is from the punk band called the Misfits. In Iraq we used mud to camoflage our vehicled which worked great. 2-504 is again back in iraq on their 4th deployment.

Jeremy
Good of you to share your first hand experiences and observations. I have many questions to ask so please bear with me.
Would you know if there any other pictures of these vehicles operating in Afghanistan?
What is the reasoning for the secondary light MG mount? These HMMWV's certainly stand out amongst the multitudes on the www, did the camo scheme work for the intended purpose in Afghanistan?
You wouldn't happen to have a picture of your mud camo scheme would you?
Here is a closeup image of the welded MG mount for Jeff, I hope this helps.

I'l do a search for 2/504 PIR 82ABN.
Thanks Jeremy, feel free to expand upon this thread, I'd appreciate it.
Bill

Great, several more hummers that I'll need to model and add to my collection.
Ch

Jeff
I thought you might know this one. In the Pro Art Dumvee kit there is a M249 Para mounted on the swing arm on the passengers side. The instructions say to add the magazine to the MG like this

More often though I see the mags like this


Now I thought that this second MG was a different weapon (version) and that the M249 PARA is a modified shorter barrel, stock etc.
the MG mount on the kit blocks the mounting this way unless modified like this modeller did.(beautiful model by the way)

Is there a reason for one over the other and is there a right way and a wrong way, whew. The kit instructions are very vague.
Many thanks
Bill

[quote]
>>>What is the reasoning for the secondary light MG mount?

Most Humvees are armed with a M2 or MK-19 40mm grenade launcher as the primary armament. That's too heavy firepower in urban environs. The enemy knows one is not really going to fire such a heavy weapon at 2-10m distance, and such a heavy gun is cumbersome to move and align on target at close ranges. The 40mm grenade already needs a few meters to arm. As such, having a light MG aids in close-quarter combat, so that's why some Humvees mount two guns...one for distance and the other for close-in.

Before, the GMV (Dumvee) mounted LMGs only on the passenger side. The idea was since Americans drive on the right side of the road, to retreat means turning left to have all three guns (ring, passenger, and bed) firing broadside. Now, some beds have two guns, one on both the passenger and driver's side, for four MGs total.

The SAW has such a box because troops found the large green undergun box has a tendency to kink the 200-round belt inside of it. Some troops prefer the 100-round soft canvas ammo bag or just using 100 rounds. I believe the smaller box holds just 100-rounds. Such a box is also found on SEAL M60s, also holding 100 rounds.

Peter
Thanks for the explanation. I should have looked at your profile to see your interest in the tech/historical side of things. Your explanation using the Mk 19 is very reasonable and I expect the 50 cal close up would be cumbersome as well.
Your explanation about the 200 vs the 100 sounds good as well. This is the kind of information Joe modeler (me) wouldn't know by looking at pictures, it helps to have experience and references to model this stuff convincingly. The beauty of the collective.
Thanks for this
Bill

Peter, your right on with your explanation. The MK-19 is pretty much worthless at very close ranges. I'll never understand why an additional mount is not welded on from the factory for Light Machine Guns, but seeing modern pictures from Iraq it looks like it would not be possible because the Gun turret look's almost fully enclosed with armor. Afghanistan is totally different because many vehicles have no additional armor on top other than a gun shield because of the issue of them being to top heavy with all the additional armor.

William, i'm not sure if any more pictures of these vehicles are around. There were a total of 4 vehicles painted this pattern. I'll have to look around to see if I have any, think I might have a couple. I could kick my self for not buying a digital camera, but OEF6 was my 3rd deployment and I didnt care about taking anymore war pictures. I didnt even know these pictures were on the internet. I'll see if I can find a good photo from Iraq as well. As far as this camoflage pattern working, I'd say it worked as well as any other pattern. Most of the time when we traveled is was off road and HUGE clouds of dust were kicked up so it was impossible not to be seen for miles. Even when stopped, at times our vehicles stuck out like a sore thumb. Plus HMMWV's put of a distinct exhaust noise that can travel a good distance in the dead at night.

If you are interested in 2bn 504 PIR they have an official sight but i'm not sure if there are any good pictures on it or not.

Downtown Kandahar