Does anyone remember the M-114 recon vehicle during the Vietnam war? Saw tons of them at Ft. Knox during training. Don't know if a model was ever made of them, they were real little hot rods.

I know Roco makes a 1/87 scale one, but there is not one in 1:35 scale plastic. It is an interesting vehicle that didn't stay in the inventory for very long,nor was it widely exported.

I remember seeing them parked in alot of army posts...
But the had a modified one in Ft Dix that was uparmored and use as a moving target on aht tank subcaliber range. As a matter of fact, it was my first job as a Tank Commander...

Accurate Armour used to make one, and I have heard rumors that they may be restarting the line. I have a copy at home, awaiting my building efforts. The US did not use the M114 in Vietnam, theCAV units replaced it with the M113, however, the South Vietnamese Army was issued M114s initially for their cavalry squadrons *which is how we learned they were useless in Vietnam). The vehicle was actually an abortion put on the Army by McNamara. It had no ground clearance and the nose extended past the track, so that the vehicle dug its nose in the ground while crossing any ditch. I drove/rode in them in my Armor Officer Basic Course, and was glad they left the active inventory before I joined an active unit. (Rant - off)

Jeff

My father was at Ft. Hood when they were fielded as division recon assets, and command vehicles. He still kicks at the ground and curses under his breath when I mention them. I don't think anyone who had any experience with them was very impressed.

I'll second that!

Accurate Armour has released a resin M114, and both the .50 cal and 20mm versions are in the same box. The kit looks clean (first AA kit I've actually seen in the resin) and pretty well packed with detail parts for the interior. The price is (locally) 110.00 USD. Better be good for that price, keeping in mind the overall size of the kit is smaller than an M113.

I was "lucky" enough to be able to TI the ones in our Combat Support Company at Ft Hood. Gave quite a feel for the simplicity of the design. Given that, why then did it leak hydraulic fluid like a seive all the time!!! The Chevy 283 sounded nice. The idea of being in an aluminum box with gasoline didn't thrill me too much tho,,,,,,,

While serving as 1st Bde Command Vehicle Section Sargent 4th Armored Div in 69 I was blessed with two of these unique vehicles. M114a1e1's. They sat in one corner of the maintenance hanger all alone and near forgotten. Both had been deadlined for several years. NO repair parts. You could get items such as tracks, seats, head lights, wheels, brackets, etc. What you could'nt get were engines, transmissions, universal joints, filters, bearings or anything else. The tracks were deadlined for numerous reasons such as overheating, broken universal joints, and scheduled mainenance not performed. Took six months but finally got the Xo's track running. We bought filters, hoses and tuneup kits through the PX auto hobby shop. Talked a guy in the 3rd echelon maintanance company into welding the universal joint. He said "I'm wasting my time but I'll try". Installed it, crossed our fingers and drove it around the parking lot. It worked. Well it worked until a month later the driver put it in water steer so he could do a pivot steer and busted it permanently. BUT for a short time the unit had a 100% vehicle ready status. The 283 was one tough little engine. You couldn't DX the track as long as the major components were functioning so the mechanics drained the oil and fired it up set the hand throttle and let it run till it seized. After it cooled down they cranked it up to see what it sounded like. Sucker fired right up and ran till it seized again. Took 4 trys to get it right. Dx'd both of them. They were never replaced. Co and the Xo never used them anyway.

For what it's worth, there is one in Ludlow Vt ( or the next little town North..) as a gate guard/pedestal queen at the VT Army Nat Guard building there.

It doen't have a roof hatch/weapon so you can get right inside for photo purposes. It has suffered a little being right next to the high school and being outside in Vermont winters, but is in surprisingly good condition.

I took a couple of rolls of film before I decided that scratchbuilding one was beyond my abilities.

Mike

I just remembered I have photos of the T114 prototype sitting outside one the class halls at Ft. Knox. No interior shots though. I will have to locate them. Some M114s were equipped with a 327 ci engine. They were hotrods on the highway, but totally sucked cross country.