While doing some research for my M1117 I ran across some great walkarouinds over on War Wheels. One by a gentleman named John Charvat has some really useful and clear photos. In other words, great! While looking at them I noticed they are actually of two very different vehicles. The M1117 is an odd beast in itself as it has different hinges that allow the side door to be one piece and swing out far from the vehicles side. It also has what appears to be an A/C unit on the back of the turret. The other vehicle is clearly longer than an M1117 and has a GPK turret instead of the armored turret of the M1117. I have seen photos of this variant in use by the Afghan National Army. John's photos were taken in the US. Does the US use this version? Is this vehicle still called an M1117? The M1200 and the M1117 appear to have more in common than the M1117 has to the longer vehicle.

Regards,

Eric

Why not ask John directly? He is a member here and goes by "Tankrider".

Eric,
Those pictures were from a Textron display taken during either the 2009 or 2010 Fires Conference at Fort Sill, OK. There were two V-300 series vehicles in the display that the senior Textron representative was a retired Colonel that I served with iat the CFLLC headquarters at Camp Doha, Kuwait in 2003. He let me climb all over them to take pictures as it was the end of the day.

One was the same version that Iraq purchased as a personnel carrier and the second was configured as a Reconnaissance Surveillance and Target Acquisition (RSTA) Vehicle. Let me know if you need any questions answered and I will do my best to assist.

Thanks Gino for the assist.

John, thank you for the quick reply! You answered all of my questions. Thank you. Both the Iraqi/Afghani variant and the M1200 would make great conversions. I know someone did the M1200 but it's impossible to find. Someday I may have to give it a shot. Thank you also for the clear photos.

Regards,

Eric

Building the M1200 is no witchcraft. WWP Book on M1117/M1200 contains an excellent 5-side drawing and photos. Use Blast Models LRAS sensor and build the rest from scratch. Build mine and it worked fine.

The M1200 conversion set for the M1117 had been released by Formations Models, but it's OOP... :

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/3/t/139005.aspx

As a Plan B you can even order a mahogany wood one from eBay





H.P.

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/3/t/139005.aspx
Someone reports/blogs about using that Formations conversion.
/ Robin

Looks like we're hunting on the same ground Robin

H.P.

Eric,
Rob Ervin, former owner of Formations, did a second edition casting of the M1200 conversion for the M1117. Shoot me an e-mail ([email protected]) and I provide discuss the conversion in more detail.

John

Eric, it's ironic you've posted your question now about John Charvat's pics on my Warwheels site. I'm busy trying to square away all of Textron's newer Commando products vs. The M1117. I'll be posting new info very shortly.

BUT... The pics John gave us showing the longer hulled vehicles with a hull height the same as the M1117 are Textron's Commando Advanced APC/Recce Vehicle. The ones with the longer hulled vehicles with a higher hull are their Commando Select Vehicle. And their Commando Advanced ASV are about the same as the M1117.

Finally, their Commando Elite vehicle is what the new Canadian TAPV are built on.

Google showed it to me, lots of images with the same address