Hi. I'm a newcomer to the site, although I've been modeling for quite a few years now. Most of my experience is with 1/24-25 scale stuff, and after my first tour in Iraq I got into military pieces. I've got a few current projects going (maybe 6 HUMVEES, a few tracks, and some Iraqi stuff).

I'll throw out the offer that if anyone wants specific pics of equipment in country, let me know via PM, since I'm here right now. As long as its not a sensitive item, I'll be more than happy to do what I can. I also have all the HUMVEE manuals in PDF, as well as access to most others.

First the info-
In 2004, I scratchbuilt a HUMVEE hard top, since no one offered it yet (I'd show you pics, but I don't have any, and the piece itself is on its way here). Now that Pro-Arts kit is out, I've read a few reviews and liked them, so I decided to buy a few. The one thing its missing for the two door model is the cargo divider. This diagram is straight from the Helmet Hardtop install manual I have-


Unfortunately, I don't have any pics of it.
Heres a pic of the other styles available, although I've never seen the mid height or trailer versions anywhere but in this pic-


If anyone wants any other specific diagrams from the manual, let me know, but most of it is just how to bolt it to the truck and kind of sparse.

Question-
I'm building a model of the truck I drove last tour-


I'm looking for a specific radio that it had. Its an AN/VRC-97. Its two pieces and it looks like this (the phone in the first pic)-


The box on the top left of the mount-

I know its pretty easy to scratchbuild, I was just wondering if it was out there.

Welcome back home and welcome to Armorama. At the moment, there is a Humvee campaign going on, so there is a lot of talk here about Humvee related material. As far as radios go, there isnt too much aftermarket stuff available. Pro Art makes a SINCGARS setup, but thats about it. I hate to tell ya, but I think your gonna have to build that one from scratch. fortunately, it doesnt look that hard. Pete aka "Epi" posted the manual of the blue force radio table and such yesterday. I believe he said he was going to attempt to scratch build it. Perhaps he will pick up on this thread and be able to shed a bit more light on that radio then I can. The push bar on your hardtop is available in the academy kit. I have the correct one in the spares box if you need it. MIG makes the correct wheels for your humvee, and unfortunately, no one makes the roof rack. your going to have to scratch that one out of angle styrene and some mesh. I recently built one, its not difficult at all. here is a picture


Good luck, and thanks for posting the pictures.

PS - the radio shelf in that picture is available in the Eduard Photo Etch set for the M1025. If you have patience, I would highly reccomend this kit as it provides all the seat belts, straps, tie downs, and lots of little details not found on the ordinary Tamiya kit. But hell, you drove the real thing, you would recognize whats missing from the kit better then me! LOL

Careful Cahilj, as COMSEC custodian in our elctronics shop, I have to give you a friendly warning. The VRC 97 is considered a SENSITIVE ITEM, so you might want to be careful about what you ask or what you post about it.

But yea, Gary is right, your gonna have to build it yourself. The only modern thing available as far as commo goes is SINCGARS from Real Models or Pro Art Models.

Thats why I didn't post anything that wasn't available through a Google search. I'm with you on OPSEC, but unfortunately, theres sites like www.globalINsecurity.org to feed from. If you ever see me throwing tons of info out about something that you and I both know isn't supposed to be out, you have full permission to hunt me down :-)

CahilJ, your hummer gave me an intertesting idea. I noticed on the push bar, you had two lights attached. Do you or can you attach lights to the newer style push bars? If so, what would be the correct location??

Cahilj,
We got each others back on that! Seriously, if you saw on my other thread, it was brought up about security becasue I posted pictures of the BFT set up. I ask Gino if I did and he said it was fine and so di someone else.

The only reason why I now that the VRC-97 is COMSEC equipment is becasue I work on it along with some other COMSEC equipment.

Well enough of that and back to modeling!

Gary,
Those are IR lights, we use them becasue you can see better with the NVG's rather than just using the vehicle block out lights. They can be located pretty much any where you can mount them.

Yup, those are IR. I've also seen them mounted where blackout drive light is supposed to be (next to the drivers side headlight) too. They can be had from pretty much any M113 kit.

If I ever get around to recovering my old hard drive, I can show you some good pics of the HEMMT front seat I put in too.

Thanks for the info guys. I knew they were blackout lights, I just never saw additional ones on a Humvee before. I would imagine driving at night wearing NVG's and headlights on would pretty much make you blind LOL I have an extra set from an old Bradley Kit Im gonna throw on my 1044. I havent seen anyone else do that yet. Thanks for the info and idea!

Oh, and the HEMTT front seat.........LOL.........I really like seeing ingenuity!

hey Pete,

Do you still have the diagram for the scissor mount on the LAV? I scratched one up last night, but it looks a tad bit big. I remember the one on your LAv was perfect.