For all humvee fanatics out there, please help me clarify this......

The front bumper grills on humvees in iraq were mounted or taken off depending on the crew?

The M1046 by Tamiya depicts it without the grills



and so does the Academy



Is there a written rule anywhere that these bumper grills must be up for specific purposes?

Jeremy, we had been issued the grill kits for our Hummers when they first came out, back in '90. The whole unit had them installed just prior to deployment to Iraq (Gulf War I). As far as I know this is an ongoing program to provide some sort of protection for the rather flimsy fiberglass fenders, at least on the older generation Hummers. I can't speak to newer vehicles; but I do remember that the fenders took quite a beating in the woods of Ft. Bragg. So, to answer your question, I'd say that all Hummers in the Army since '90-'91 have had these grills mounted and that replacement of them is pretty well regulated. HTH, Dave

Brush guards (the grills you call them) were initially added by the crews modified from old CUCVs (Chevy pickups & Blazers) brush guards. Eventually, brush guard kits were developed by different companies, some for civilianized Hummers (think Armold when he got his Hummer).

Older HMMWVs may or may not have them added by crews, newer trucks began to come with them already installed. This decision was based on the cost of the brush guard versus the cost of a new fiberglass hood.

Sorry i was unaware of its actual name and came up with that to describe it as best i could. :-)




So it sounds to me it wouldnt be strange to see a modern hummer in iraq with brush guards then. I ask only because im wanting to build the Tamiya M1046 but would like to add them on the finished product since it does come in the kit.

The instructions in the kit specifically said not to add it in but from past experiences, Tamiya instructions isnt exactly the bible.

Yes, most current HMMWVs have some sort of brush guard installed. Tamiya is wrong.

Well, I would not go that far to say they they were wrong. I checked my collection of TOW carriers in Iraq and about one third to a half of them do not have brush guards installed. So both ways is still correct.

Pawel

After reading this I spent some time wandering parking lots here on Camp Victory and came up with this. Most 1114s either have no brush guard or have really cool push bars mounted (would have got some pics but the battery died in my camera, I'll post some here tomorrow). Didn't see any 1046s but all the other models I found were a mix of guards, no guards or some type of "Hill Billy" bumper. Those of you who have been here may agree that currently just about anything goes when it comes to Humvees, lol.

Question, the brush guards included in Academy and Tamiya kits, how accurate they are? Because in most of my references, the brush guards are different than those on the kits, some times with grille, sometimes not.....
best regards

There are about 4 or 5 different brush guards out there. The Academy and Tamiya ones are two that are most common. Italeri has the tubular type in their TOW HMMWV as well. All these are accurate. There are some that are home-made by the units as well. Pretty much anything goes.

Thanks Gino, helpful as usual
cheers

Most of the trucks in my platoon had home made ones made from 3" steel pipe, and a section of angle iron to stabilize it..


We had large brackets that came out from the ends of the bumpers. And the pipe, was all one piece that was mandrel bent.

I may have a pic somewhere

But they were nothing compared to what Ops Group at Ft. Polk had:

24" extension from the bumper, a 6" diameter full width bumper with 3" "brush grard welded to that

Still on the same topic, the colour schemes for Humvees in general were changed to suit the deployment surrounding? Ie: You could find an M966 in a light sand colour scheme and a M1046 in the Nato Camo colours?

Yes and no, depends on how fast a unit is deployed, how long are they in a staging area before crossing the LD, etc.

2ACR for example still had the NATO scheme in Iraq because they were deployed in a week or two after getting the warning order.