Hi
Does any company make a kit or a conversion set to make a
ZSU-57-2AA. I want to build 1 for a Vietnam idea that I have.

Shaun

Armo has released a full kit :

http://www.jadar.com.pl/armo/35008/index.html

Steve Zaloga's build

HTH

Frenchy

Hi Frenchy
Thanks for the fast reply.
That's a nice looking kit. Works out about £50 plus p&p.
Now to see if anyone in the UK stocks it.
Thanks again

Shaun

I think Steve is wrong about the use of the ZSU57 in Vietnam. They did use the radar guided 57mm guns, but they were stationary (towed). They were used as far south as Kam Duc area on the Ho Chi Mein Trail. But the track might have showed up after the pull out, and stayed north of the DMZ as well.

If I'm wrong please correct me with a dated photo
gary

hello gary

Not 100% sure but looks like it ,(nam)
Look at the guy on the left.
But mabye iam wrong.



greetz
chris

you maybe right. The area looks like Laos up near the Ashau. The guy on the left is Vietnamese, as is the guy on the upper right side (background). I'd date the picture to be 1973 or later (really a wild guess). What's interesting is that it's common knowledge that the North Vietnamese brought in radar guided 37mm and 57mm towed guns on the trail in late 1968, and were prime targets for Shrikes. This kinda rendered them usless without the radar. I will speak with an SOG guy later in the week who's traveled all the way up the trail from the Cambodian Border to a few miles inside North Vietnam to see if he has any serious knowledge about them. I also have one other source for the Lao portion of the trail, and I'll also ask him as well. I suspect that this track is post Lam Son 719 by at least 18 months (that area).

Looking at the two men standing by, I see a couple things that are rather fuzzey. NVA would often be seen wear U.S. style flak jackets (they never learned the lesson of being shot with one on). The other is wearing a U.S. style set of fatigues. They look similar to a well faded pair of greens the NVA were often seen in. Secondly; half the southern Army were very sympathetic to the North if not VC. So the guy may have been a deserter from sometime recently (he has the correct uniform for a regular infantry guy). But most RVN troops in that era and that were accross the border wore tiger stripes.

By the way that's a typical 2000lb. bomb crater from a typical B52 Arc Light Mission. What we maybe seeing in the photo is a cross border BDA recon that's post Lam Son 719. Prior to that the recon would be done by SOG or U.S. Special Forces. Regular Army troops were not allowed to do cross border raids thanks to the U.S. Ambassador to Laos (known as a double agent I might add)

Lastly in that photo, you all can see from ground level what three B52's carrying a "class A" load out can do in about 90 seconds
gary

Hi
I was using information for the reason to build this vehicle taken from the book. Vietnam Tracks by Simon Dunston.
It shows a convoy of ZSu's covered in leaves nea Loc Ninh in April 1972.

I've found the picture in Chris's post on another forum. According to the caption, it was taken during the PAVN Easter offensive in 1972.

I guess this is another view of the same ZSU :






Like these ?











HTH

Frenchy

Hi Frenchy
The 2nd from last is the picture that I was on about.
The rest are new to me so Thanks Very Much for posting them.

Shaun

that date would be interesting, as the SOG guy was in Laos pretty much all thru 1972. I know this for a fact as John Plaster interviews him in just about every chapter of his book SOG. As for radar guided 57mm guns, were could hear them in late summer of 1968, and would often home in on the sound. I had an even better source than Steve, but he passed away last week, and I'm sure the second guy I spoke will know about them. He'll be visiting me in March for an informal bash, and just maybe I can prod a little data out of him.

There was a rumor that the NVA had anti aircraft tracks in the Ashau Valley, but have yet to ever run accross anybody that actually saw one (let alone how it got there). My bet would be that it was (assuming it was) a defensive track for COMPVN headquarters inside Laos, and just accross the border from Khe Sahn. The happened accross the place by accident, and B52'd it several times to get their undivided attention. Much of anything south of the Ashau would have been open season

Whatever it still will be an interesting build, and good luck to you
gary