You're welcome Joe. Thinking about it, I've never seen a M416 with round fenders, so maybe Academy guys had the M100 in mind when they add the round fenders option...

Frenchy

Good point, Frenchy.
What other trailers were used in Vietnam? Fuel trailers/water trailers/equipment trailers/etc/etc...? And which model manufacturer makes them?
Joe.

The first that come to mind are the M101 3/4ton trailer, the M102 and M104 1 1/2ton trailer, the M332 Ammo trailer, and the M149 water trailer which nickname was "water buffalo" :


More info about these trailers here :
http://www.olive-drab.com/od_mvg_vehicle_id_trailers.php (the pictured M149A1 has a different tank)

Azimut and Miniman Factory both make a M104, Italeri has released a M101, and the M332 has been released by Azimut and Verlinden.

Perfect Scale has released a M149A2 water trailer.

The picture below shows the 2 variants of the M149 trailer :



Frenchy

The M100 trailer looks the same as an M416 trailer with rounded fenders, but it is actually 3 inches narrower and uses the same wheels as an M38A1, as opposed to the M416 which uses M151 wheels. The trailer was narrower to match the narrower track of the M38A1.

Pawel (Vodnik) did the conversion of the M100 trailer a while ago. You can follow it at his site. And see his M38A1 project here.

Frenchy,
Thanks a million for the heads up on the trailer issue. I'll get on the case to see what I can find in the morning.
Gino,
How are you? I haven't heard from you in a while! Thanks a bunch for putting me in touch with Pawels website. That is exactly what I'd like to build! He has made a really beautiful model there, dont you think?
Joe.

I can't say as we never had a trailer hooked up behind a Jeep. To be exact the only trailer my company had was the big double axle one, and I never saw it ever used.

There's an M38 setting down the road from me (you might have already seen pictures of it from a distance). It dosn't have a top on it, and is kinda used up! But it's all there. Never was around an M38 in the Army as my unit came over with M151's
gary

Hi Gary,
Yeah, I did see the M38 in the background of one of the pictures you sent me. Any photos of it would be greatly appreciated, my friend.
Joe.

We used to pull 1 1/2 ton trailers behind M113s and M577s. To increase the wheel base for stability, we mounted the wheels inside out. We converted one to a mobile cp by building a plywood shed on it and covering the roof with a spare tarp for waterproofing.

Back to the Jeep trailers, the M100s and M416s were watertight and in FM 5-20 (The Engineers Bible) there was a drawing on how to make an expedant unpowered ferry with one. They were rated to float loaded with 500 lbs of cargo.

Some of the other trailers used were log trailers, compressor trailers, engineer tool trailers, even 1 1/2 ton trailers fitted with one fuel pod from a fuel truck.

Hi Richard,
Thanks a lot for your very interesting input! I really like to hear about a soldiers personal experience with the equipment issued. I dont suppose you have any photographs of the equipment you've described as it sounds great & I'd love to see some!
Joe.

Frenchy,
I dont know if it's me or not, but I'm having difficulty locating any of the kits you mentioned yesterday. I dont suppose you know the kit numbers, do you?
I have found the perfect modellbau water trailer but the rest are proving elusive!
Thanks, my friend.
Joe.

I must say I've got some of these kits in the stash for quite a long time, so I have to checked out about their availability

Azimut M104 (AZI35066)

Azimut M332 (AZI35042)

Miniman Factory M101 (MMF35003) (It's a M101, not a M104 as stated in my last post...)

Verlinden M332 (#2100)

Italeri old M101 has been reboxed by Bilek :


HTH

Frenchy

Frenchy,
What would I do without you, eh?
Thanks my friend.
Joe.

check your email
glt

Gary,
Top man! Thanks for those, buddy! Any idea if this is an early or a late version M38?
Joe.

somewhere I have a photo of the bronze name plate out front (well it's actually on my old hard drive that still has about 2000 photos on it). I think it maybe Korean War vintage, but don't take it for fact! And if it is Korean war vintage, don't worry about it as there was lots of stuff from that era in country (we shot ammo made in 1944 and 1945 in very early 1968).

I need something! We all know what PSP steel plate is, but they didn't use much of it later in the war (post 1967), and used a plate that interlocked like PSP, but had a smooth outside surface (may have been aluminum). One side had wide ribes (close to 100mm wide), and the otherside was smooth. It came in four and eight foot long pieces. Who sells the stuff in plastic or resin? Gonna need a bunch of it!

Here's a book to be on the hunt for; Armored Combat In Vietnam, by Gen. Donn Starry. I found a nice used copy yesterday. Cannot vouch for total accuracey, but from what I sorta skimed over it looks really good. He did get the Tam Key affair out of location (close to 30 klicks!), but he's got the facts fairly close. Also he could have done his after action report a little more accurately (Alpha had four moving tracks after the fact). He does a nice report on Charlie Troop 3/4 CAV in Tet 68 (you read this in Birdwell's book). Supplies maps and a lot of photos in the book. Recommended

Charlie don't need no main post PX when he's got a U.S. supplied trash dump to pick thru
gary

Hi Gary,
Thanks for the info on the jeep. Also, I will keep a look out for Donn Starrys book but as to the PSP you want I haven't got a clue. I think you might be able to find some in etched brass mabye. I'll keep a look out & give you a shout when I find some. Is it the PSP on the sides of those M48's in Birdwells book that you're after?
Joe.

Like that ?



Maybe some Evergreen stuff would do the trick

Frenchy

it's similar, but yet a little different from that stuff. I'd say it's aboput 12" wide and maybe 1 1/4" thick. Usually painted a grey green color. That looks like the fold down seat out of the back of a duce and a half.

gary

I must say I was not really satisfied with the picture in my last post. This one should be a better match :

These M113s belong to the 4th Bn, 23rd Infantry (Mechanized) "Tomahawks" of the 25th ID (Cambodia 1970):



The stand-off armor looks like metal roofing panels...

HTH

Frenchy

I bet it's wood. Here's why; it was found in late 1968 that the crystalene warhead on an RPG7 or 14 had a problem with very soft metals and mushing thicknesses. Wood would fall into that catagory even though it's too dense. The best material was plain old styrofoam sandwiched between two piece of metal. The round would penetrate the outer surface and explode in the styrofoam. RPG rounds like very hard surfaces on impact to cause the crystal to penetrate in both directions setting off the round. There's a reason everybody hangs their laundry over the side!

gary

Anybody know where I can get a nice set of resin wheels for the M38A1?
Joe.