M747 - Semi Trailer Low Bed, Heavy Equipment Transporter, 60 ton



HTH
Frenchy

Gino-- I love that photo of the M577 in the 40th Armor. The Berlin Brigade had the best of everything. I bet that vehicle never saw dirt....not a track that you would see in any other tactical unit of the period.
DJ

Wayne, your work is fantastic. I have been looking for info on Aussie M577's since I was over doing some joint operational stuff. Do you know anyone who can get me some recent M577 pics? I have the kit just waiting.

Carty,

Sorry mate I was in in the days before digital cameras and as such my available references are a bit scant. Most of the stuff I used came off the internet or photos kindly uploaded to model websites from other people. I have a few books but don’t have electronic copies of these photos. PM me your email address and I will email you the .jpg files I got off the net.

I have a solid set of references for the exterior of the Aust M577 and only 3 photos of the inside of an Australian vehicle 2 of which are above in this thread. http://www.primeportal.net/home.htm has a great set of internal pictures of a US vehicle which is almost exactly the same as ours except for the radio set up and we also have a small battery box on the right hand side up front near the fire wall. I have no idea of the exact dimensions I just made mine big enough for 2 batteries and pilled a bunch of stowage on it!!!!

Go and take a look at http://www.mheaust.com.au/index.html. They have most of the products you need to make a off the shelf M113 into an Aust variant. Many of their M113 products will work for a M577.

What time period are you aiming at as I could help you out on what mods were fitted when. If you’re looking at doing a version of the vehicle from ~2002 – current you’ll need to install Diehl track and Raven radios (I don’t think anyone makes resin versions of these). Earlier than 2002 its easier as you can use standard track and VIC 1 harness style radios (verlinden, maple leaf models and mouse house).

Thanks for the compliments on the build. It’s the first time I ever uploaded photos of my builds to a website. The project took me the best bit of 1 year.

W

Garys right this vehicle is a 10th Light House Regiment vehicle from Western Australia.

http://www.mheaust.com.au/Aust/Research/XLH/xlhvisit.htm

W

I never was around one of them, but have seen them from a distance. Track looks great, and looks lived in. About the only thing missing was the coffee pot! Also noticed that those poor officers were being feed a daily ration of C-Rats!
great job!
gary

Thanks Gary, glad you like it.

HI

Hmmmm after all that attention to detail I am somewhat surprised to see the ejection marks still present. Then again, it's not like you are going to enter it into a contest with the roof off.

Tom

Carty,

Just emailed you all the photos I used on my project.

The air filter on the aust M577A1 is the same as mounted on the cargo hatch of the M113A1. As for placement, I really had to guestimate the placement as it is normally hidden below a bunch of stowage. Here is an in progress photo of mine. Sorry for the poor quality I was not any good at using my camera at that stage.



You said you were doing a vehicle from 95 onwards:
• Well by that stage the vehicles had the indicators front and back. They were added just after Vietnam. The new ‘truck’ style indicators were not added until ~2000 and onwards. They were slowly rolled out to the fleet so it’s not unusual to see the old style indicators even up to 2006 and 2007. Some vehicles even have a mix of old and new indicator fitted.
• Note the placement of rear indicators on the M577 is different from an APC. The references I sent you should help
• You can probably use the old track – standard in most M113 kits – up until 2000ish
• You should add the sponson armour metal plates on the underside of the sponson from the 1st to the 3rd road wheel (only visible if you don’t put track shrouds on).
• Note aust vehicles have a locking mechanism inside the drivers hatch. Pictured above.
• And you would probably want to mount a .30cal MG on anything before 2001 ish. The pintle mount was very basic.

ACV’s tend to get modified a fair bit by their crews so you can generally get away with allot. That’s about all I can think of. Best of luck.

W

wow... that came out real real real nice. Great detail/Great work

Wayne,

Neering completion of my M577. Was wondering what you used for rucks on yours. It is bits from Mouse House or did you use other stuff. Having a hard time finding pics of Aussie rucks to make my own.

Carty

Great to hear your ACV is coming along well. It would be nice to see some pics.

The personal kit I stowed on my vehicle comes from a mix of sources. The back pack you can see on the roof of the ACV is an Aust pattern pack made in resin by MouseHouse. The pattern of the packs that come in their kit is fine from the early 1990s through to mid ~2005. However there are a bunch of companies in Aust that sell DPCU (Aust camouflaged) kit and it’s not uncommon to see DPCU alice packs or other style packs. Frankly I tend to take whatever is in my spares box paint it DPCU and not get too stressed. That said the Mouse House backpacks kit does come with the pouches needed to make Aust patter webbing which is a nice touch.

The mouse house folks also make a CES (Complete Equipment Schedule) kit which includes much of the goods and chattels that are stowed on and in Aust armoured vehicles. Insulated coffee mugs, track breaking gear bags for the stowage of the tools used for track maintenance, even a jaffel iron for the toasty sandwiches which seem to be a bit of an institution in the RAAC.

If you’re worried about ordering from Mouse House products from US there are no worries. I currently live in the US and they deliver a bunch of stuff through to me with no problem. I normally email them my order and then call through to their phone number with the credit card details. I use http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/ to find a time that works. Normally my US evening coincides with their Aust morning. Could not be easier!

Best of luck mate and take some shots of your work.

W

love the interior! as a whole great detail. takes me back the the days of Germany in the BOX!!

When I was in the 1st Infantry Division my M88 was assigned to provide support for 121st Signal (I think it was them) for deep water fording exercises at a Corps of Engineers lake bordering the base. The last track to cross was an M577. By then it was late afternoon and the wind had picked up a little bit making the water a bit choppy. I saw the look on the drivers face as he inched the track into the water. I elbowed our 88 driver and said 'Uh-oh! This one is going to be a problem!" Sure enough, once he was afloat, the thing started drifting this way and that. He kept trying to get it to steer and I guess since it didn't act like it did on land, he started getting anxious. Somehow, he got it swung around and facing into the waves running parallel to the shore instead of towards it. The third wave that splashed water in his face sent him into a panic and started trying to scramble out of the driver hatch. The thing started dipping and rocking and he lost his footing a couple of times and fell back inside. That just sent him further into his fright and he started yelling in terror. Each time he was trying to climb out onto the top of the track, that corner dipped into the water and lots of it was getting inside. By the time he got out of the hatch and jumped into the water, it had taken enough water on to where the front section was about at the water's level. Each wave began to wash into the front hatches. There were a pair of those Zodiac type inflatable boats with guys in wet suits supporting the exercise, too and they got the driver pulled to safety. Turned out he couldn't swim either. After the track took on enough water and the front hatches submerged, the whole thing began to slowly sink. The top hatch on the rear portion popped open and the rest of the crew climbed out and dove into the water. When the last guy jumped, it looked like he was standing on the water. It ended up sinking in some 30 feet of water and sticking in the mud at the bottom. The unit had been in the field for a week on a training exercise and this fording exercise was the last thing they were to do before going in and home for the weekend. When the 577 sank, it was completely equipped with all the radios and charts, plus held all the gear including weapons that the crew had. It was one of the more interesting and unusual recovery missions I conducted during my time in service. Some 37 years later whenever I see an M577, I still see the look on that drivers face as clearly in my mind as if it was yesterday! I have always been curious what the total damages amounted to dollar-wise from that sinking. Seeing the inside, which oddly enough, I never really paid much attention to when I was in the service -I was 19 so I had other interests!- makes me shudder to think what the damages were!

I was a course driver in an M577(Queen Mary as it is affectionately nicknamed in the Canadian Forces) way back in 1989. And the interior is spot on.

Cheers.
Todd.

Thanks again Wayne. Have to figure out how to get my pics the right size for the site. STill working on that one. I have a ton of rucks in my spares box so I guess I will just start bashing away at some stowage. Hope to have some pictures up soon.

Wayne, one more question. Noticed 30cals on these two M577s. Picture should be fairly recent. Could I get away with putting a 30 cal on my track? I figure my track represents someting in the last 3-5 year.

cartyb: to make a live link in your posts put the letters url in brackets like this- [ ] at the very front of the link, no spaces between the inside bracket and the adddress and at the end of the address put /url -backslash and the letters url- again inside brackets, [ ] with no spaces between the brackets and the address. that will give the reader the ability to click the link from inside your post rather than copy and paste in a new browser window.

i can't really show it here because since it's hypertext it will not be visible.

Thanks. I think I figured it out. I edited the text to get the picture to show up.

Hey mate,

Yeah you can use a .30 cal. In fact a .30cal is really the most common armament to be found on a M577A1 throughout its service life in Aust. The weapon was however phased out in ~2005.

M577's predominantly used .30 cals on a very basic flex mount which I understand is similar to that which was mounted on the M113A1 MRV. If you’re mounting a .30 cal go for the one with the pistol grip on the buffer assembly at the rear of the weapon. I think it’s the L3A4. The pistol grip gives the gunner something to hold onto when firing the weapon in a self defense role.

If you’re doing a recent vehicle you might be able to use the Platt mount system as seen on the ASLAV.

Love that photo you posted above. Will your vehicle be stowed that high? Nothing better than burring all your carefully built details under a mountain of stowage!

W

excellent builds Gino and Wayne . Just wanted to comment on swimming ( sinking ) M113's my dad was a medic with Australian army 5RAR in 60's-70's and when he was based at Holdsworthy they used to swim M113's over the Georges River there . Its not a very wide river , but he said that they sunk some there on choppy days . Also he told me something about a drivers hatch coming unrestained and killing a driver . Someone might know were the drivers hatch restrains beefed up , modified ? Its great to see so many Australian subjects being built . regards brian

love this ,, its almost like looking in the back of a real wagon ,, very good low angle photography ,,

the trailer in your picture is M747 SEMI- LOWBOY. got any more picture on vietnam please forward on Thanks.