I usually stick to WW2 & earlier, but if I had to go "modern" I wish there was a kit of any of the 800-series 5-ton from the 70's.

I would love to do an M818 tractor with an M127 12-ton S&P, and an M816 wrecker. You know, fond memories of my younger days.

I've looked but not found anything yet. One of the M52/M54/M543 predecessors might be hackable, but I don't think one of those exists.

John

There are no 54 to 800 series kits out there. I have made a lot of the 54 series and one or two 800 series cab's in the past. The photo is of the Alabama Slammer a proto type OIF gun truck that was never completed by the Army. It was based on the M818 Tractor. I went and finished a model of the truck and it is now on display at the Ft. Eustis Museum of Transportation.
The second photo is of the M-54 five ton that I convert from the AFV Club M-35A1 or 2 series kits.

As Dave states, the 800 series is still in use with reserve forces. I still have an M816 wrecker and M817 dump truck that we have to roll out on occasion to train folks on. I know there are still M818 tractors rolling around as well.

Well, then those just might be my first full-blown scratch-builds (in a long time). I see some TM's on Portrayal Press, but I'm not sure if they cover all models or just the base chassis & 813 cargo. Can anyone give me a good source of 3-views, better than typical TM ones ???

I have some great pix of one of my 816's that rolled over & crushed the crane hydraulic tank -- we replaced it with a 55-gallon drum & it worked fine (there is of course a much longer but TRUE story here). It was painted to look like a Bud can 'till the Bn Cdr saw it .... no sense of humor ...

I have 818 & 816 stories to go for hours ..., but I won't ....

John

Try this site for info and pics. I use it all the time for some of my builds. http://www.jedsite.info/content/jed1.html

Here is the direct link to the 809 series five ton trucks. http://www.jedsite.info/transport/mike-number-us/m809_series/m809-series.html

Hello Dave, I found a real interesting truck, the M819 truck tractor 5 ton 6X6 Wrecker w/winch, the only thing they give all the measurements for the truck, but basically you only need a few measurements on the truck, cause when you buy a truck similar to that, most of that stuff will fall in line.

You just need the wheel base, and of course the setting for the fifth wheel which the truck you will buy won't have, but the crane is the baby you got to have all the detail on, and all they give you is over all height, and the total width of it, and that is the only two measurements they give on that.

With all your wisdom,and skills, do you know how to find the measurements for the crane part, or on something like this do you spend many hours measuring, with what few measurements they give you, to calculate the actual size of everything, and hope to find more pictures of it showing the other side, to which this is a another thing it doesn't show either.

Thank you for your time

Kerry

Dave/animal: Thanks, I swiped all those pictures already !!!!

My TM source doesn't have the M816 or M818, so I have to think about this for a while; I can get the basic manuals which will do for cab & frame.

Kerry/straightedge: the M819 was used only by aviation units, IIRC -- us Ordnance guys didn't consider it a real wrecker.

For my purposes, if I have a couple good dimensions, then the rest is "simply" trying to get decent "proportional scale" off whatever photos exist. I look hard for tech manuals to get into the nitty-gritty, but that also gets really expensive, really fast.

John

I don't like that expensive part, I thought scratching would be something that should be less, but I guess not, not if you want it accurate I guess. To when I seen they used it to change barrels on some of the guns also,so I assumed they were something like the old M578, only on a truck frame.

I appreciate hearing the background on it John, I didn't know, anything about it, just that it looked interesting, I figure when I build something, it shouldn't cost much, cause the time I'll have in it will make up for enough cost. Thank you again for your time

Kerry

No, they were not like the M578, they didn't leak hydraulic fluid all over the motor pool :-)

I have (just now, today) come across the -10, -20, -34/1, & -34/2 TM's for the 809 series in PDF format. They are the "new" style manuals, more drawings than pictures, but still handy.

If you'll PM your snail mail address, I'll send you a CD.

John

OK, looking for some advice here & making no commitment to start anything, although it is tempting.

I have gotten the 800-series TM's (-10/Operator, -20/Org Maint, -20P/Org Parts, and -34/Support Maint) which cover the M818 Tractor & M816 Wrecker. I also found the TM's for the M127 12-ton trailer and the M131 5000gal tanker. I want to build early-mid 70's vehicles, bu the TM's are mid-90's so I might have to kludge a bit. The only real problem I see is with M131 which are A4 & A5, and I suspect I'd want to do earlier A1-3 version so I need to figure differences.

So, I kinda have no excuses. But I'm OK with flat & rectangular things, and rounded edges thereto, but I'm not much on roundish thingies like axles, wheels & tires. I think I can rip the wheels & tires from spares left from the AFV Club Long Tom build (need 100x20) & maybe axles reworked from the AFV Club M35 series.

I'm thinking of the M818 & M127A1 for the Heavy Haulers campaign, but I'd have to do all the research & drawings in the next few days & kids are coming for Holidays & all that, so I just don't know if this is a good idea at this time.

Anyone got thoughts, comments, suggestions on all this ???? Don't encourage me, I'm doing that myself -- give me some good technical/modelling advice.

Thanks,
John

For the chassis, wheels and axles you can use the M-925 series shelter truck kit by Italeri. They are close enough to work. the 800 series cab is the easy part. the AFV Club cab can be lengthen and the fenders widen. the dimension are just about the same as with the M-54 five ton cab. The nose is the same as on the 2 12/2 ton so you won't have to modify that. A mesh grill will cover the front and you should have the look. Shorten the chassis and build the fifth wheel etc. I built a few of the M127 trailers for the Museum and I have some photos of them in my gallery I have some photos on my web shots page that I can get if you need them. You can go there by clicking on my selected link in my sig block

Here is a direct link to the project http://community.webshots.com/album/91970838VIMZAX

Has anybody been to the Heller site and looked at their new line up. That new wrecker with the twin booms, they said was used quite a bit by the military, the only thing, why do they use such odd scales that fit nothing else.

What is it 1/43 or something like that, so that would make it to small for 1/35, or to large for 1/48, or 1/72 for sure. I think if they would of made it 1/35 some people could be using the crane for military trucks, or 1/48 if that scale takes off, but 1/43, it has no other purpose.

Unless somebody can scale it up or down.
Kerry

1/43 is a scale that's widely used by Die-cast cars and trucks manufacturers (at least in Europe ) BTW the "new" 1/43 kits from Heller closely resemble (to say the least) those which were released by AMT/Matchbox back in the 80s...Only the decals have changed !

Frenchy

1/43 is probably the most widely used scale for dicast model cars worldwide. It is also the scale commonly used for British O scale trains. The most widely used scale for diecast trucks is probably 1/50. There is very little 1/48 in diecast . Recently there has been a little 1/35 introduced (armoured vehicles). I have seen some cars ln 1/34, but 1/32 is more common. There are also much larger scales such as 1/16 ans 1/18. Interestingly HO 1/87 scale diecast is a fairly recent development despite the fact that HO trains have been popular for over 50 years.

A good site to see what diecast is available in the US market is

www.diecastdirect.com

G U L P !!!!! I better quit now.

Three questions.

I remember our floor boards were staggered & the TM calls for doing so when replacing them. Yours are lined up ?

Do you have any info on the wear strips, a long piece of metal that was IIRC grooved into the floor boards lengthwise & was just a tad higher than the boards ??
I have no good picture of them, in my mind or on paper.

Last, IIRC the frame rails & the cross-members were shaped like U's on their side and not solid.
_
|_ well, you get the idea ....

Can you confirm ? I am sure the frame rails faced inward, but am unsure if all cross-members faced back -- ie, the open end to the back. Can you help ?

I see your tanker also -- an M131 ?

John

I am sure they face to the rear.








You are right about the boards being staggered. I forgot. It has been a long time (Senior moment).


I am pretty sure they were just below the boards.




Yes I built three of these for some of my Vietnam Vet friends who drove them. I drove them on occasion also.

Dave:

Thanks for responses.

I've been to the museum at Eustis once, but it was a quick trip & I had no camera.
I live about 3 hours away & I guess really need to get back there one day soon.
I've been Ordnance & Quartermaster & spent decades with M-800/127/131 but never thought to do model-detail photography of them ...

Thanks,
John

OK, Animal ( AKA Darth Vader) ....
You've drawn me over to the Dark Side (Post WW2).

I got the AFV M35 & IT M925 today, so it looks like I'll have to spend some quality time with those kits & my TM's and see what I can do ....

AFTER the present Campaigns !!!!

It's all your fault & I told my wife so when she saw the UPS truck show up not 2 weeks after Christmas !!! I even blamed everything else in the box on you !!!

Go ahead and blame me. I am rally good at hiding LOL :-) Beware that you can't just build one conversion.

Hello John, when I first read your post, I seen you say the main difference between the 819, and the 578 was the 819 didn't leak all over the motor pool floor.

Well I noticed the 578 had a Detroit's in them, and in the civilian models on the 71 series even if we took a picture of that engine, we would haft to put an oil pan under it to catch the oil, they leaked that bad.

Then the 92 series came out, Detroit claimed to stop the oil leaks completely, well they did do a lot better job, but they still leaked some, then a few you can keep clean, but very few.

But you said hydraulic fluid, by any chance did these 578 have 92 series in them, or other wise there had to be oil mix with it, or there was things floating inside the engine compartment.

Cause we had the best mechanics try to stop the leaks on these 71 series with no luck, and one thing if you seen a clean 71, it was going to blow, it never lasted.
Kerry

Kerry:

578's had the good ol' 8V71(T) used in various howitzers & the good old Greyhound bus. It was not the source of the oil leaks on the 578.

The crane & turret hydraulics were the culprit.

John

for John Ratzenberger
I'm an italian modeler and I share with you the passion for softskin vehicles. I have scratchbuilt a GMC cckw 352 lot 7 and a GMC cckw 353 750 gallon fuel tank. For your question about 800-series 5-tons trucks , take a look to the following website:
https://www.logsa.army.mil/etms/find_etm.cfm
click on "Table of fielded CD ROMs", look at the "EM Number" in the first column of the list: "0039 Trucks, 5 ton". You must write this number (0039) in the "EM Number" box that you will see when you open the website. At this point, you will see an entire list of TMs and you will can to download all of them in PDF format.
Good work and happy modelling.
Paolo

Paolo:

Thanks for the post -- I found all the TM's via a different route (but probably very similar source) and I have 'em all safe & sound on my hard drive !!!!

In fact since my post of 4 Jan, I've collected TM's on many different traiulers to go with the M818, so all I have to do is get to work.

Again, thnaks for the tip & I'll go look your way to see if there is any other info available that I missed.

The one thing I did find is that to get decent dimensions, one needs the 55-series TM for that vehicle -- that covers shipment & gives all the dimensioned drawings (that used to be in the ordnance TM's but aren't anymore).

John