Here are the photos of the completed Mutt Gun Jeep. I made the corrections to the rear fenders and changed the steering wheel. I used the Academy model kit for the base. All the armor is scratch built using plastic stock from Evergreen. http://groups.msn.com/armorama/gunjeep.msnw?albumlist=2 This is a neat little kit that is fun to build and modify. It has a few minor flaws that are pretty easy to correct. Thanks to Pawel's photos it made it even easier.

Looks great, must be a lot cheaper than the Verlinden set. How is the new kit? Is the machine gun set up better than the old M151A2?

Making the armor from the plastic stock is a lot cheaper. About $1.00 worth of plastic. The M-60 looks like it is the same as in the A2 kit. I used a M-60 from the DML Dragon weapons kit instead of the Academy one. The radios and engine have more detail than the old kit I think.

The old kit didn't have an engine, just an oil pqan when viewed from underneath. Gonna have to check out this new kit.

Rob, early last year I purchased the VP update for the Tamiya M151A2, allowing you to backdate it to an A-1. When I was about halyway through (isn't this how it usually happens???), Academy released the A-1. With the detailed engine bay, it is quite an improvement on the Tamiya. No rear seat though. One important note: The rear suspension is STILL the A-2 version. Since the M151 and A-1 models used the earlier style, it would not be that hard to correct/scratchbuild. Since you would be hard-pressed to see it anyway without turning it over, I just let it go. "Don't ask, etc".

Jim Peterson

Whoops, one more thing, Animal. Good looking assembly on the armor pirces. I used an old Tamiya kit over 15 years ago and the Armor in Vietnam book as a basis for an armored M151. Used sheet plastic, angle pieces, sprue and the M113 Tamiya radio set at the time. The M-4 post mount for the M60 has never been correctly rendered in plastic or resin, but is easy to replicate. Makes a world of difference also in the finished product. After a few years, it became a donor for other projects, but the spares box still has slabs of styrene "armor plate" floating around,,

Jim Peterson

I've got both the Verlinden armor set as well as the Verlinden conversion and CMK engine set up so I'm well invested in the Tamiya M151A2 line (have multiple TOW and one gun Jeep and one trailer kti). I think it's a cool little vehicle and I remember them fondly. I like being able to grab the older A2 kits for $2-3, especially the TOW one. It always goes for giveaway prices.

I do have the new recoilless rifle variant (I like RR mounted vehicles).

Gotta love them MUTTs! Looking real nice. Did you drill out the vent/lightening holes on the rims or do they come that way?
Isn't this a fun and simple conversion? I did both a scratch conversion using the one in Squdron's Armor in Vietnam with a pair of M1919 Brownings and Verlinden's PE to do one with a twin M60 mount as features in Squadron's Gun Trucks . Of course that meant a scratch backdate of the Tamiya/Early Academy kits.

Animal,

It is still not too late to correct one small inaccuracy of Academy kit - the shape of the fender, right behind the rear wheels is incorrect for the A1 version. It looks like A2 version, just with the lifting eye removed.

This picture shows how it looks in Academy kit:


and here how it should look in M151A1:


Two quick cuts with a sharp blade will solve this problem

There are also some other small inaccuracies in Academy kit, but these can be ignored without damage to the model: the steering wheel is incorrect for A1 type, the windshield wipers motors are incorrectly reproduced (one should be "upside down"), and of course the rear suspension is A2 type, not A1.

I will probably publish a review of this Academy kit on my web page later today. I'll send a short notification on this forum once it is finished.

Regards,
Pawel

Good eye there Pawel. Going to have to write that one down and put it in my M151A1 kit box.

Anyone got a line on the Custom Diorama hardtop conversion? All the Jeeps in my battalion (and everywhere else in Europe) used the hardtop.

Al, the wheels come already drilled out This Academy kit is one of the better one out so far.

Pawel thanks for the photos and infpo to correct the problems. I will make them today.

I have the finished photos posted