Hey

I plan on using this Legends figure in my GMV build along with the driver and crew no. 2. I was wondering what the laptop he's supplied with is for? Is it a personal one or supplied by the army for mission use? Does it use a commercial OS or something else?

I'm asking because I plan on printing a small decal/piece of paper to simulate the screen.

Any help wpuld be appreciated

Anirudh

We generally were issued Toughbooks (whoever makes those) for various uses in the field. The most common use was for collecting biometrics.
On a side note, we didn't have a lot of time for personal laptops, even when not on a mission. Besides, the last thing you want is for it to fall into the wrong hands.

I can understand that using personal laptops would pose security risks and I can imagine you didn't really have that much time.

Toughbooks? Do you mean the panasonic ones like this?



This one looks pretty similar to the Legends casting apart from the carry handle. I read that the toughbooks ran Windows 2000, but the article was from 2003. So would I be correct in assuming the toughbook would use XP or even Vista?
Is it possible for you to describe the biometric software, or even post a photo of it, or would that compromise operational security?

Thanks for your help Rob!

Anirudh

oh yeah this was the article, in case your interested:
http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/commentary/cultofmac/2003/03/57961

Anirudh,
I'm a weapons guy -- if it has a trigger, it falls into my purview. Anything with an on/off switch I hand over to one of the commo gurus.
That said the programs were easy enough for even me to understand. (I've checked today-I don't have to kill you after telling you this) I did fingerprinting and retina scans. We had the capability of doing it wherever we were, not just in a dedicated BAT building like in this article:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9761654-7.html

Almost all Iraqis are cooperative ewhen it comes to this. They understand the need for it.

My advice to you if you want to put something on the screen is a giant fingerprint. Connect a small device about the size of a docking station to the computer via USB cable. That's the fingerprint unit. It's black.

Alrighty then, I'll mockup an image of a desktop, background and a fingerprint to use, and build some sort of scanner and its cable. This info's really helpful.

Its also good to know I'll survive long enough to finish the build. I can imagine you don't want to deal with tech problems whilst on a mission. They're enough of a problem sitting at a desk.

Since your a weapons guy, I've got a question for ya. Which sights are more commonly used on m4s: the eotech holographic ones, ACOGs or the aimpoints? Or is it whichever is best for the mission.

I'm trying to build this GMV as accurately as I can so your help is invaluable.

Anirudh

Like you said, it's taiored to the mission. If I were to be in a role where I was more apt to be firing at a longer range, I'd use the ACOG.
For door kicking, which I'll take any day of the week, the M68 Aimpoint or the EOTech, I started my tour in Iraq using the M68, but as the EOTech became available I switched over to it simply because of the larger viewing area. Either work very well, and in the absence of an ACOG, I'd still use them for longer range. In fact all I used in Afghanistan early on was the M68.
We've graduated to even more "exotic" sights now, but the nice thing about irons - they don't need batteries.

By the way, got your email. CD on the way. Thanks,

Edit: You're doing Legend's GMV? Go with the Aimpoint.

In that case I'll use similar sights on all the weapons. Actually Im not using the Legends kit since its a bit pricey for me. I'm using the Tamiya Humvee, Blast wheels, Pro art radios and the rest will be scratch. But I've got a few aimpoints from some Legends figures so I'll use those.

Thanks for the CD.

'Exotic' sights eh? sounds interesting.

Anirudh

Scratchbuilt works too! Have a look at these photos Matte Black posted a few years back. He was scratchbuilding EVERYTHING back then.

Oh yeah Matte's thread was one of the first I saw. Saved the photos for further reference just in case. His work is very impressive and has been really useful when building the rear bed. Has he used parts of the Pro Art GMV set?

Anirudh