Hi Gang,
can anybody gimme hints for offroad trucks/jeeps/pick-ups that can be uses as technicals? I know of the pick-up kit from Meng and Takom, but are there any other "jeeps" from Japanese car companies. Looks to me that the Japanese cars are the most widely used vehicles for this type of "weapon".
Thanks
H.-H.

I like the old Monogram Snap-Tite kits. There are several, but my favorite are the Datsun and Toyota pickups. I've posted some build photos of them on here before.

Hello Hans-Herman, science a 'technical' is more or less a localy produced weapon system, composed of various items of military and civil origin, you may use all available cars, lorries or, as I have seen in Bosnia, tractors. The unimog is a possibility, but also a tractor pulling a gun is valid. Furthermore, the conflicts in the Middle East and northern Africa makes one asume that almost any possibility beween an eastern European weapon system and a pick-up is correct.

Italeri re-released the old Land Rover, which was/is used in almost every conflict around... but it has the right hand steering.

By the way, are you asking about what kits that can be used for that.. or are you asking about vehicles in real life?

Hisham

Hi Paul,
I am aware of the fact that a "technical" is everything that
can shoot and drive. As said above, I look for alternate chassis other than the Meng kit in 1/32 or 1/35 scale. But as usual, I am again bitten by a bug.
H.-H.

Hi Hisham,
after the weapons and equipoment deliveries of our government to the Kurds in Iraq, I did a little Googlesearch about the weapons of the Peshmerga. Maybe I will combine Mengs Toyota pick-up with Trumpeters 107 mm MRL. But I am still occupied with my PzH2000 kit from Meng.
Thanks
H.-H.

You mean something like this vehicle that was used in Libya? I started working on one some time ago, then put it aside somewhere here



Hisham

Mig Productions had released some older Toyota LandCruiser kits:





...but I guess they're probably OOP.

H.P.

On a side note, I know Diopark's Mercedes kit is an older model, but here's an idea...



Hisham

And don't forget the good old land rover.

I recall something about a Mitsubishi Pajero in 1/35 on the way. I'm sure teh cab could be cut off to do it as a technical also.

There's one announced by Takom :

http://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/222140&page=1

H.P.

I've seen the GAZ-66 used in Africa as a gun truck as well as the Ural truck but usually they are paired with something heavier than just an MG. I'll try and get a couple of pictures up here today in case anyone is interested.

Hey, Karl... something like this could be a fun project when Trumpeter release their Gaz-66



NOT MY WORK... just a pic I saw on Facebook!

Hisham

Thats just the sort of thing I was talking about Hisham- great find! Great choice of colour by whoever the artist is.

So I have some photos as I said- just let me apologise for the quality- I think the original recording was done on VHS!



This is a Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front (EPLF) GAZ-66 with the cab chopped off and a ZU-23 in the back. Like most of the Eritrean vehicles it probably started life as a vehicle sold by the USSR to the Ethiopian Government and was likely green and used as a supply truck by them until it was repainted tan by the EPLF whenever they made the other modifications.



Another EPLF GAZ-66.



EPLF GAZ-66- As you can see there was usually a crew on these vehicles.



This is a Ural with a ZU-23- can't figure out the origin of this one though- the reason being the flat tire- it could have been a disabled Ethiopian gun truck that was abandoned due to the flat tire (or perhaps other damage we can't see in the image) and the gun was turned to fire on them by the advancing EPLF or it is an EPLF vehicle with a flat tire. It got me wondering though- can the Ural crew deflate and inflate the tires when they want to? Would this be of any use in terms of stabilising the truck while firing the ZU?



This is another EPLF gun truck which looks to me like it could be a US 5 Ton truck- which could have easily been bought by Ethiopian's prior to the Revolution when they still had military ties with the US.



This one is also a Ural but its what is in the back that is most interesting. To me it looks like a Soviet howitzer, maybe a D30 122mm like the Cubans mount in their Urals- the reason I say this is because the Cubans were, alongside the Soviets, military advisors to the Ethiopian Government for a while. That being said I have no idea when the Cubans started to mount their D30s onto their Ural trucks- this EPLF truck is from footage supposed to be taken during a battle in 1990 so the time frame might not add up but its still an interesting gun truck variety!