I have followed this thread since I first started getting back into modeling a few weeks ago. I think I also saw this work somewhere else on the internet were they had a huge argument about it and some of the posters who were even in Vietnam were WRONG about some issues.

Hugo, you did some good work there. Some things were spot on, some things were close and some things were way off. I won't comment on your building technique as mine is probably not as good right now, probably not close. What I will comment on is from my knowledge of weapons, tactics and having been in the US Army during the 1980s and a CAV scout in the 1/11th ACR.

Overall I think for someone who never served it was a great job and I commend you on that.

Let's start with the jeep, The dual 60s look too far forward, all the gun jeeps I see pictures of had them behind a plate that was behind the driver and passenger seats. I have seen panels half way up and all the way up. As far as I read this was a kit that came in an early version and later one, but before that they did use their own armor plates they found wherever. I have seen a few different 60 mounts, single in the middle, 2 on either side, double and even a triple one in the middle behind that plate. Yes I have a picture of that one. On that plate they strung smoke grenades. Since these vehicles were never used for anything other then convoy or perimeter duty they never carried their Alice packs and all that gear for longer operations. A can of C rats, some water, a change of clothes (maybe), weapons/ammo and that's it.

Anything inside was strapped down or tucked tight on the floor of a vehicle. I never saw any packs on the outside of those gun jeeps. The weapon on the drivers door is what? That type of setup is from WWII and you would never put it there, it would hit your left arm, jeeps are a tight fit inside. In WWII they were mounted on the outside. A thermos with hot chow, nope, that's right in the way of the gunner, I'd hate to die because I could not get my weapon on target because of a thermos. The M79 should be hanging some where not sitting like that. Also yes they hung them with the breech open, why, I don't know. Maybe they had issues with them and it was easier to load one and kept it open and at the ready but unloaded, I carried an M203 not the M79. Plus the 60 would NOT be joined by their feed tray it would be the mount that joins them.

Those look like 5.56mm ammo cans and they would be using 7.62mm cans for the 60s. One weakness of the 60 was the feed mechanism so to have those long belts hanging like that is something I doubt, many used a can from the C rats (C Rations) or a coke can to help with the feed(coke cans were not soft aluminum then, they were pretty strong). I carried an M-60 and had the belt that was wrapped around my arm break apart on me and fall to the floor of the M113 I was in. Nobody would hold their M16 like that too. Also the ones I have pictures of had their extra tire bolted to the back.

The bottom line for the Jeep is that they were used for convoy and perimeter security, period. You needed room back there to swing the gun into action were it was needed and the idea was to fire and get the hell out of there before you got him with 7.62mm AP, 12.7mm rounds or an RPG. Wheeled vehicles were not good in that theater for anything else, ACAVs were the workhorse.

Now for the M37, pretty good job of changing it from the earlier model and I am going to TRY to do the same thing. It's mostly the fenders, the front part is turned down in the M37 and the rear cab is different. Those vehicles were used by officers on convoy, they usually had a pair of m60s or even 50 cals which were probably not a good idea, if you ever fired one you would know why. Again the rear compartment is cluttered and left little room to fight, you fought from your vehicle and did not dismount. If those are gas cans forget it. gas goes BOOM and you are then engulfed in flame, not a nice way to die. You never carried gas inside a vehicle. The smell itself can get you sick. A loaded RPG...wow NEVER...it was frowned upon to use enemy weapons but to have a loaded RPG sticking up like that.....a stray round and Ka-boom if the fuse got hit(I'm pretty sure it was easy to set those fuses off). Plus Chi-Com and Russian equipment did not have the quality control and it was dangerous to even fire one. Again just too much gear no need for bedrolls unless it was a long op and you weren't going into the field with those vehicles they were purely for convoy duty and perimeter defense.

Also the radios that were used were called pricks for PRC 9 and 25 models. The hand held radios were from Korea and WWII. The vehicle radios were called something else and I forget.

I'm guessing the balding dude is an officer and he would never have a 40mm vest on. He'd have a .45 and maybe an M16 unless he wanted to be cool and got his hands on one of those XM-177 or an Air Force CAR15.

Last but not least the mud is wrong. Those vehicles like I said were only used on the base or in convoy and they would never have that kind of Vietnam reddish mud/clay, they would have that yellowish sand/dust coating.

And using any USMC stuff is OK, you traded with guys and scrounged whatever you could get. I'm sure if something looked cool and worked better then what you were issued you traded or bought it or stole it. I actually carried an M-3 grease gun and scrounged a pair of magazines for it, they were never issued to me. Along with some cooler web gear. I stole it from our master sargent...he hide it in some place they had us cleaning up and I just took it for a 5 finger discount. Someone once stole my vest and that cost me $35 and I paid back Uncle Sam, someone stole my wet weather gear too, that's the Army.

Overall a good try from someone who did not serve and would not know these things. But all this information is on the internet. It's easy to sit back and say these things being someone who used most of this equipment. So overall a good try but a little flawed. The concept is also flawed. A situation like that would be more like a pair of M113s, one being an ACAV. I know I did an operation like that, it was a jeep (Which my track followed) and my m113 meeting a full bird and a OH-58. The full bird was COL. Franks who lost a leg in Nam, he also served later in the first Gulf war then retired. A good guy and much better then the creep who took over, LT.Col Abrams, yes they named the M1 after his father, he was a real ________ fill in the blank with any derogatory term.

For future builds I recommend that conceptually you pick an actual battle or time period. For instance at a certain time everybody was issued the M16 which had a different flash hider then the M16A1 which had the birdcage. Use a birdcage M16 for a US Marine in 1965 to lets say the battle for Hue and you would be wrong.

Talking about M37...

Dave Wilett's scratchbuilt guntruck

Frenchy