Hi
I was wondering when the British Security force used the Humber Pig from and to in Northern Ireland. Thanks for your help. Nick

through the 70,s and 80,s and 60,s too i think, and what a pig it was to drive

Hi Tony
Thanks for that help.


Hence the nickname (and its looks)
Cheers. Nick

i remember the 1st time i drove one the boss man looked at me and said you got a licence ? me, er yes boss, can you drive a pig ? never driven one before boss, WELL this is your LUCKY DAY ! belive me he was so wrong

1970's ----they were recalled --cost a fortune to buy them back from all over the place --' 72 they were uparmoured ---OP BRACELET--had 6 months at Marchington 300+ were modified-----most done by 8Fd Wksps
First 2 out the gate only made it to top of camp ---suspension (drive joints) gave out ..'cause of extra armour
Then there was the "Flying Pig "and the "Foaming Pig "
Yep the best hard-working unit I ever served in
aye
BARV
(GOSMG)

Hi guys



So would this one by Accurate Armour be suitable for the 1980's or not. I want to make a NI dio but cant find any SLR's so have decided to do an '80s dio with SA80's. Cheers, Nick

yep it would, all it needs are a few little mods which are not to hard and you will a good rep of a NI pig i may be able to get some slr,s how many do you need. give me a couple of days

Nick...........................thats a Mk1 ....uparmoured are Mk2

As Tony says .......a few tweeks and it would suit --lose the rear bins and revamp the flaps and doors..... ....can you both get in touch with Murdo---he is going to do NI dio with Pigs and "Piglet"....(have his other Pig (AA) here waiting for him ....he also looking for SLR's...has all my pics of Pigs
BTW .....most of new armour was inside -floor -walls-engine bulkhead
aye
BARV
(GOSMG)

Hi guys
May I jst say that after being a member here for just over two years I have found the helpfulness of all the members to be great and you guys are no exception.
Tony, if you could get some SLR's that would be briliant probably need about 10 to 15 max if thats ok.
Steve, I will pm Murdo.
Cheers, Nick

steve,s right, you can also put wing mirror,s on a barricade bumper[ thats the polite way of saying it ] we had a 12 inch black rubber skirt and steel mesh over all lights and mirror,s some had mesh half way down to cover the wheels and of course wings

There are probably loads of photos available of the Pig but recently I took some in the Parola Tank Museum in Finland of all places .



The rest are here

http://photos.kitmaker.net/showgallery.php/cat/20352

Unfortunately I didn't have my stepladder with me that day so no shots of the roof.

Hi Pat
Thanks very much for those, ever useful.


You mean you forgot to put it in your pocket in the morning LOL
Tony, thanks for that info. Nick

Hi guys,

I'd be very happy to e-mail you any pics. I have a 3Mb zipped directory. Send me you address and I'll pass them on to you.

Hi Tony, I'm definitely interested in SLRs too and GPMGs.

Here is a very good link for more pics.

http://www.warwheels.net/HumberPigINDEX.html

Here's a pic of me (front) and my Pig in Belfast, early 1980s.

Hi Murdo
Thanks very much for that link and also the pic, check your pm re the other pics. Cheers. Nick

This is the "Piglet" that Steve mentioned It is scratched from the Tamiya Ambulance Rover:













I can't find the fully finished pics but I hope these help.

Hi Murdo
That looks cool. Hw did you make the riot helmets? Nick

The figgies are the old Airfix Modern British Infantry. They are made from Polypropelene or something and very soft. They don't sand down at all so I had to very carefully cut the original "Tin Bin" helmets down to "riot helmet" shape with a razor blade.

The visor is just clear plastic from a container superglued in place. Swine of a job to get it to stick to the figgie... Even with Superglue!

The rifles although SLRs bend far to easily, hence they need replacing.

Unfortunately as far as I know they are the only figures that cover the British Army for the thirty years between the SMLE to the SA80 and with 58 pattern webbing.

A bit of a shocking lapse for manufacturers considering all the conflicts Brit Squaddies took part in from Brunei to Aden to The Falklands to Northern Ireland. And especially don't forget the Cold War!

"The what war"? I hear you Young Un's ask...

Hi Murdo
Yeah, I know what you mean. Accurate Armour used to make some Falklands figures but for some reason they dropped them unfortunately . Cheers, Nick

Great thread guys.
I currently have my AA Pig and other assorted pieces ready to go once I finish my current dio.
Murdo I would love to see any further pic's you have. In that photo of you it appears you don't have any webbing on - was this standard practice
Seems like a few of us are doing N.I dio's
*sniff, sniff*
Do I smell a campaign build ?

Hi Andy


Sounds like a good idea. Nick

Hi Andy,

Now that I come to think of it... There were quite a few webbing variations in NI.

On vehicle patrols few pouches were normally attached due to the restricted space in the roof hatch. Generally just the Belt with two ammo pouches and water bottle was acceptable.

Sometimes the Respirator pouch was left attached too for carrying extras like chocolate, sweets... Anything that would give an energy surge etc. (Oh, Shh! And hunting catapults with ball bearings as ammo, pepper sprays and small stones for throwing back at ...um... Crows, seagulls etc)

However as our INIBA (flak Jacket) was by then worn under the Combat Jacket this made the belt liable to slip down, therefore the Yoke (shoulder harness) was often attached to support the belt and aforementioned pouches.

On foot patrol in Urban areas e.g. Belfast, The above was worn.

On foot patrol in the countryside normal CEFO was worn for short range patrols and CEMO for going out on the ground for several days.

As for a campaign build? Great idea!

By the way.

If you ever do a figure for NI carrying an SLR you have to do this...

The SLR sling was always disconnected from the front swivel, a loop was made and this was used to attach the sling to the right wrist. The back of the sling was left attached to the rear swivel.

If something happened and you dropped your rifle it remained attached to you by the sling loop around your wrist.

I'll see if I can dig out some pics for you.

This isn't a great pic but it will give you the gist of it.

not many people put their sling around their wrists they tended to just put the loop around the carring handle of the slr, the only time we did was if some big wig wanted to see themselves in the papers visiting the troops, webbing was up to the soldier to decide what he needed my kit consisted of 2 ammo pouches and 6 water bottle pouches, and body armour was carried in the wagon but hardly ever worn, the way we looked at it was the hoods knew where the plates were and that the rest of the flak aint bullet proof so all they would do was to go for a head or lower body shot, anyway whats the point if you drive over a 500lb culvert bomb, none of the guys inside survived, this was just our battalion and i suppose it varied from unit to unit

Hi Tony,

As you say, "...different Units..."

In my old Mob the only time we were expected / allowed to slip the noose off our wrist and onto the butt was when we were not on patrol.

Flak jackets were to be worn at all times which was horrible in anything other than cold winter.

If you went over a 500lb culvert bomb and nobody survived then what was left of you had bloody well better be still attached to a flak jacket and an SLR... Or else!

Ah! Such fun filled days.