At today's field trip to my motor pool at Ft. Devens, about 22 people showed. Among the attendees were about 8 or so Armorama members. The trip was an expansion of the Nordland AMPS monthly meeting, but members from several local model building organizations as well as just a few modelers from nearby also attended.

It was a beautiful summer day and I gave rides to all in an M113A3 (with unpainted aluminum floor plates). Former M60A2 tanker Jim Norian was the lucky one chosen to crank the M1A1 for all to hear.

It was good to put faces with some online names I hadn't met like MLD and Marty. Glad you guys could all come out. If anyone took a decent shot of my ugly mug, I'd appreciate a copy.

List of Armorama members who attended:
Alpenflage
Dixon66
Grasshopp12
Jerry009
KKeefe
MLD
TUNA
and of course, myself Sabot. Hope I didn't miss anyone.

Rob, thank you very much for organizing such a great trip. I enjoyed every second if it. The highlight of the trip for me personally was the ride on the M113A3. It was a blast! I also enjoyed meeting some the of Armorama members. It was good to put faces to some of the familiar names. Once again, thank you.

i know Jim! He makes great paper panzers in Styrene.Wish I could have been there.Alas,maybe next time.Though I hear there is a military vehicle show in August at the Quonset Air Museum. (++)

Rob,
A hearty second to Marty's thanks for having us over.
Your directions were spot on, too!

Innard shots of the 113 series, climbing all over the 548's, innards of the bradleys and that M113A3 ride... wow!
I should have come back from the ride with teeth full of bugs since I couldn't stop grinning!

And of course the fun of putting names and faces to avatars and screen names.

I'm so stoked , that's long hair talk for "very excited , sir!" that I almost went and got the 1hr developing, but they close at 5.. bummer..
Oh well, pics back on Tues.

Thanks again, good to see you all
Where are we going next?
:-)

Mike
-that tall, gooney-looking one in the blue shirt taking pics of every 113 fitting..

You are right. It is going to take place the 23rd and 24th of August. Perhaps we can all get together again then.

Yes indeed... a great day, and a great time!! Perhaps a bit too sunny for taking photographs, but still a wonderful time and great to meet the guys (and two gals) that made the trip.

For me personally, it was great to be back on Ft. Devens and to recall the great times there from my past.

I'm taking the liberty to post a couple of pictures. Rob, I hope that you don't mind... if so, let me know.

Thanks for a great day!!!

The man of the day on the M113 that he took us around in....


And some of the guys on the deck of the M1 that purrrrrred up really nice for us....


(Rob, this photo was not taken intentionally, and I apologize... )

Great meeting you guys!!

Here is one of my 120+ photos. The gang is getting ready to test drive the M113A3.

Rob,
thank you very much for such an awesome field trip. it was sure a great way to spend a gorgeous day!
the M113a3 ride was deffinatly the highlight of the trip for both myself and my wife. (she wants a model of one now for her desk at work!!!) agin thank you for such an entertaining and thrilling day! My wife, and my inlaws deffinatly send their thanks also they had a very good time and know now a little bit about my obcession with armor!
It was great to meet all of the armorama guys and deffinatly looking forward to seeing you at some point!!
Maybe getting all the New England guys together to tell some stories and drink a little to much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cheers all,

-jerry
(guy whinning about his surgury all day)

Thanks for a great day!!! My father and I had a blast down there. I was able to take a pile more reference shots, and my father was quite impressed with the M-88s. We both also REALLY enjoyed the trip on the M113A3. It was nice to take a ride in a vehicle I have modelled before.

Again, thank you very much for organizing this great day!!!

Hey Rob:
Do I need to dig out your 1987 photo for comparison to the one posted here?
Not much has changed, just a little wiser I suppose.
Let me know when the filed trip moves to McCoy.... Great idea by the way

Man, I envy you guys. :-) What a great day you all had. I hope someone can post some more pictures so the rest of us can put faces to names. Very cool indeed.

Major Thanks to Major G!!!!

Robin, just want to say a big Thankyou from all!! Eric and I both had a blast.. and it was great to meet other Local Modellers... As others stated it was also a thrill to buzz around in the M113!!! Stopped at Sparetime one the way home and picked up an M1A1 kit for Eric to build!!!

I think everyone really appreciated the fact that made this event happen...
Thanks again..

Tuna/Charlie

Thanks for having is up! Was a great day. Brought back lots of old memories for me personally and some of the others I am sure also.

=)

Rob

Rob,
What can be said that hasn't already been posted.
Thanks for offering and coming through on an incredible first field trip.

Dave S.

Wow! It really seems like those who attended had a blast! Rob, it sure was nice of you to get all these great guys together for such an eventful, and memorable time.

I'm with Porkchop....please let us know when the field trip is at McCoy. I'm a Wisconsinite along with Porkchop. I'd love the opportunity to do what you all did on your trip.

Great Stuff!:-) :-) :-) :-)

John

Those 113's still drive with sticks or did they finally put Cadillac's on them?. Haven't been in one since '79 when I opted to be a Fist Chief for a few months to cross train in Arty. Sounds like everyone had a ball.

Marty's picture shows Mike (MLD) in the TC's hatch and Kevin (kkeefe) in the cargo hatch with blue shirt and sunglasses (face partially obscured by the exhaust). Jeff (Grasshopp12) is in the black shirt with dark cap on backwards. His dad in in the white shirt.

Smile on Charlie's son Eric was the overall feeling of just about all attendees.

Dark haired woman with the white & black shirt rode a bike 14 miles to the site. I was impressed especially since she braved the open roads of Massachusetts.

Blaster76: the A3 model uses a yoke like the Bradley and with a turbo charged diesel, has a little more pep than the old A2. Ask MLD, he now knows the difference between 20 mph on a dirt road and 35 mph on pavement. That's why his second trip was done from the TC's hatch, much more stable position.

Too bad one or two more current or former tankers weren't there, then I would have been more comfortable taking the M1A1 out. I did get great help from our resident ex-mortarman Kevin and an ex-M109 crewman Hugh and of course ex-tanker Jim who prove that it all comes back real quick.

Just a little bit Jealous...man I miss the smell of Deisel fumes in the morning! :-)

Well, maybe it is on OUR heads to get something going here in the upper midwest...Ft. McCoy or Camp Ripley, or maybe even Ft. Snelling...they have those re-enactment pieces...

Major Gronovius. Thank you for the outstanding time yesterday. My stepson Chris and I had a blast. Being a prior-service Marine it reminded of why I signed up in the first place. Getting to crawl around the M1A1, M109A2's, M1064, M578 ARV, M88A1 ARV, and other vehicles (incl the new MTV 5T's) was awesome. I felt like a kid again myself ! Nothing will beat that M113A3 ride for sometime ! Meeting other members from Amorama and local IPMS clubs was fun as well. Some even remember me from vending at their model shows. Chris had a great time and raved about it the whole trip home. I got to take some photos of my own (on cheapo cameras) and will try to get these onto a disk so I can post some here on Armorama. Thank you again . We couldn't have asked for a better time, and the weather was PERFECT !

Thank you, Sir !

Hoorah !!!

Robert Burnside
(Cpl USMC)

Looks and sounds like everyone had a blast. Wish I could have been there!

We've been trying to organize a roadtrip for our AMPS club in Kansas City to Fort Riley. We hope to visit a number of armor and infantry units, as well as see the collection of stuff captured during the first Gulf War. Plus Riley is home to the Cavalry Museum, which has a nice little collection of WWII vehicles. Unfortunately, deployments and security seem to keep setting us back, and we have yet to firm up a visit date. Maybe next year ...

Rob Feehan:
Welcome to the site. Glad to have you on board.

Jauques: Snelling does have some sort of armor museum, inlcuding a M-247, possible trip for Nordicon? I Don't know the specifics about the facility....

Hey Porkchop: I am not sure what is up with Snelling, I think they have had some sort of SNAFU with the museum and the re-enactment group. I have not been able to get a straight answer out of anyone lately as to the status of anything. Annoying. Apparently there were problems from the "sale" of the ex-army equipment, including those M901's, out of Ft. McCoy all those years ago, and was then exacerbated by 9-11 and recent security measures...Ft. Snelling overlooks one of the main flyways for the Intl airport...SIGH.

Jacques:
Yeah I know there were having issues after 9-11, I think the air museum there was too, but I haven't kept up.
Just FYI for others, the air museum on-site at Snelling is pretty cool. F-89, SR-71 and Candian F-101 are among the more rare items there.

Porkchop: As for the air Museum, I think you can still get in but the IPMS meetings that were going on there onthe Guard Base had to end due to "security Issues" and they have moved to a new building, which is were my club, the Minnesota Military Figure Society, will start meeting next month as well. So that should give an idea of what all these nice freindly bases used to be like and will hopefully, but the grace of God, will be again someday.