M55 Quad 50 Vietnam - Diorama completed!!!

Pawel,

Thank you for the thread.  I missed that one somehow.  Must have been pre-coffee this am.

CHeers

Dave

Gennulmen, you're just too kind! Thanks a lot for your comments!

Marc, Dave - I'd just hate to tease you! As I wrote previously, I'd like to direct your kind attention to the dio thread here: /forums/t/120371.aspx?PageIndex=6 where all the fotos can be seen.

Mike - good to hear from you again! I just love to work with pros!

Thanks again and have a nice day

Pawel

Nice....very nice....love the mermite can....squeakie gave you the straight on the uniforms.

Looking good

Rounds Complete!! 

Stunning work sir!  I have to agree with others, that concrete work is simply amazing. Now where are the rest of the photos?

Cheers

Dave

Looks great Pawel.  Now stop teasing us!

Pawel

Gary, thanks a lot for your comments. As I already wrote in the dio thread I owe you for this one, without your help I would at least have a lot of trouble starting this. The dio started rolling just after you sent me the bunker dimensions. Maybe someday I'll build another one, with sheet metal roof, like you wrote me... Once again, my special thanks to you, and 'till next one!

Pawel

that's still the best concrete job I've ever seen anybody do on any board. The gun just looks right!

gary

Gary, thanks a lot for your comments. As I already wrote in the dio thread I owe you for this one, without your help I would at least have a lot of trouble starting this. The dio started rolling just after you sent me the bunker dimensions. Maybe someday I'll build another one, with sheet metal roof, like you wrote me... Once again, my special thanks to you, and 'till next one!

Pawel

Pawel

Hello Adam!

Thanks a lot for your comment. Oh, it's going to be emplaced soon.

By the way, let me summarize the changes that have to be considered, when building this Quad, especially for Vietnam:

• The ammo chests (tombstones) have to be discarded, some other ammo containers have to be used. Either regular M2 ammo trays plus boxes, or something more exotic
• The gunner is dressed for WWII. That would have to be changed for Vietnam
• The guns would in most cases have the flash suppressors fitted
• The gunners platform should be omitted for quads mounted outside of M16s and M17s (also true for WWII)
• Most quads had the voltmeter on the junction box (above the battery) deleted and a hydrometer case (elongated vertical box, approx. the size of a flashlight) added. Also true for WWII.
• I have not seen a foto of a Vietnam quad 50 with its sight in place. I have to assume they were not particularily useful for firing on ground targets
• Many quads in Vietnam (if not all) had the power chargers changed to a completely different type (A Lycoming, according to Gary aka squeakie - thanks a lot for the info, Gary). I'd do this modification if I only had more reference
• If shown emplaced with the jacks extended, the mounting of the rear jacks should be changed, so the jacks don't interfere with the gunners shield
• One minor detail missing from the kit, but easily added, is the miscellaneous wiring (batteries, power charger, guns, trailer)

Thanks for reading, have a nice day

Pawel

* actually it was common to see the stateside heavier uniforms well into 1968. But remember the name tag was changed a littler earlier from the white to either a black background or O.D. (don't remember) in 1967. I do remember seeing the white background every once in awhile back in the rear. There were two styles of shirts worn in the states. One had button cuffs and the other didn't. Most everybody went over seas with at least one pair of leather boots during the era that I was over there. And somewhere in the middle of 1968 they did two emblem changes for chevrons. The first was that all were black (this might have taken place in late 1967), and of course there was the e-2 and PFC changes. And even then it was common to see men with gold and silver bars as well as regular stripes. But most of the time enlisted men wore no rankings on their uniforms. Only NCO's and Officers were big on that stuff (guess it was an ego thing). Yet in the bush the only folks wearing rank were Officers, and then not always.

* that little generator looks sorta like the motor in a Cessna airplane, but of course smaller. They were very common, and if you DX'd a generator that's what you normally were given.

* you do nice work!

gary

Hello everybody!

Maybe it could be interesting for you, I completed the emplacement for my Quad 50. Here's the teaser foto:

more pics here in the dioramas forum:

/forums/t/120371.aspx?PageIndex=6

Thanks for looking, have a nice day

Pawel

New Hampshire

You can never have enough M2 machine guns!

'Speshly when it's getting dark, eh?

Glad you like it, thanks a lot for the comment Brian, and have a nice day

Pawel

She looks great Pawel!  You can never have enough M2 machine guns!

Brian

Hello Adam!

Thanks a lot for your comment. Oh, it's going to be emplaced soon.

By the way, let me summarize the changes that have to be considered, when building this Quad, especially for Vietnam:

• The ammo chests (tombstones) have to be discarded, some other ammo containers have to be used. Either regular M2 ammo trays plus boxes, or something more exotic
• The gunner is dressed for WWII. That would have to be changed for Vietnam
• The guns would in most cases have the flash suppressors fitted
• The gunners platform should be omitted for quads mounted outside of M16s and M17s (also true for WWII)
• Most quads had the voltmeter on the junction box (above the battery) deleted and a hydrometer case (elongated vertical box, approx. the size of a flashlight) added. Also true for WWII.
• I have not seen a foto of a Vietnam quad 50 with its sight in place. I have to assume they were not particularily useful for firing on ground targets
• Many quads in Vietnam (if not all) had the power chargers changed to a completely different type (A Lycoming, according to Gary aka squeakie - thanks a lot for the info, Gary). I'd do this modification if I only had more reference
• If shown emplaced with the jacks extended, the mounting of the rear jacks should be changed, so the jacks don't interfere with the gunners shield
• One minor detail missing from the kit, but easily added, is the miscellaneous wiring (batteries, power charger, guns, trailer)

Thanks for reading, have a nice day

Pawel

~Eh ya Pawel--

That's seriously cool 'ole Buddy!!

\

What a gem........can't wait to see this in place----it's gunna rock!

Hello everybody!

And here it is, finally completed, my Quad 50 of Vietnam:

It's going to be used in my dio, you can check it out here

Hope you like it, have a nice day

Pawel

It has been a long time, my apologizes as Ive been watching from my email notifications but haven't gotten around to logging in and commenting.

Your figure scratch building is impeccable and I'm really looking forward to the custom figures over in that dio thread getting some paint on them.

Best of luck in finishing this one! I'll make sure to check out the dio thread too

Hello Chris!

It's been a long time, I'm glad to know you're still tuned in! Thanks for your comment and I'm glad you like the Quad. Hopefully it won't be long now - the quad is almost done and for the dio I need to finish painting the figs. Thanks again and have a nice day

Pawel

WOW look at that! The Quad is really looking nice! Great job on this one, looking forward to the completed dio

Hello everybody,

I have another update for you, I finally installed the batteries and the power charger. First I added the cables made out of thin slodering wire:

And the I fabricated two tiny wingnuts that attach the ground cables to the frame and finally installed the stuff. As you can see there's not much left to complete the whole quad:

I only plan to add the hydrometer box and that would be it. In later Quad 50's the voltimeter in the junction box was deleted and the hydrometer box was added. Probably because measuring the voltage on the batteries doesn't tell you exactly in what condition the batteries are, and measuring the electrolyte parameters does (that's what the hydrometer does).

As always I'm waiting for your remarks, have a nice weekend and 'till the next time

Pawel

Mikeym_us

Navy/gray

Mikeym_us - that would confirm my assumption, that your box is an ex-navy item, wouldn't it? But would it be possible fo find such box in the jungles of Vietnam (was it available at that time)?

Thanks again, have a nice day

Pawel

The 40mm was also used by the army in the 1960's the M42 Duster comes to mind. As for all the words on the can they are US military wording as the military in total have their own vocabulary of words and terms. And each service has their own colors for their ammo cans Navy/gray, Airforce/OD Green, Army/OD Green,Marines/ Marine corps green. 

Hello!

Thanks a lot for your comments!

mikeym_us - of course I remember. Thanks a lot for the fotos, they just might come handy for a certain 40mm AA subject (kinda obvious what it might be, isn't it?). What made me think - the inscription on the top of the box, saying MK something, MOD something - isn't this NAVY nomenclature? That would make sense, as 40 mm is used by the navy a lot. My question would be could such a box be seen in the jungle of South Vietnam, end of the sixties?

Brian - that's exactly what I thought meself some time ago

Keep 'em coming, have a nice day

Pawel

Q:  What is more badass than a Ma Deuce?

A:  4 Ma Deuces!

Looking good!

Brian

Pawel remember that ammo can I was talking about when you first started this thread I finally got the pictures of it.

It definitely looks like a 40mm bofors ammo can

Pawel

Looks just like it won't be long now, hopefully.

Hello everybody!

I eventually DID take long - oh well... Did you miss me? I guess not Anyhow here's a small, long overdue update.

After test fitting the top to the base it turns out the jacks of the base seem to be a major nuisance for everybody working around the guns. I thought: what would I do if I was there? I'd lower the base on top of a pair of two by fours and fold the jacks so they don't get in the way. On more permanent emplacement it was common to remove the jacks and the towing bar altogether. Sometimes the base was put in a kind of armoured box too. Tha two by fours would also help to get a stable emplacement on an uneven surface and keep the base out of mud or water.

I also added some "grease" to the jacks - mixture of humbol gloss black and gun metal paints and weathered the whole trailer with sand-coloured acrylic wash. Here's what it looks now:

I'd say that would be it for the base/trailer, I'll concentrate on finishing the mount now. As always I'm waiting for your opinions, don't be shy. Have a nice day

Pawel

Hello everybody!

Guney - thanks a lot for the comment. It motivates me to try even harder.

Redleg - glad you like it, I have some more to do here, if you'd like to take a look. While painting the helmet it was important to take a really close look at the foto of the real thing.

In the meantime I got back from a business trip to Germany (that's why I didn't reply fot so long) and got back to work. I fitted the ammo cans to the trunnions and added the ammo belts. So here's what it looks like:

Looks just like it won't be long now, hopefully. Then I'd like to invite you to this diorama thread, where this quad 50 will be looking for a place to call home. Looking forward to your comments, please stay tuned and have a nice day

Pawel

Nice work on the fig.....especially the helmet!

Rounds Complete!!

Great work Pawel...:)

Thanks for the comment Ken, nice to hear from you again! You seem to like watching movies, don't you?

I finally fitted the gunner this time. First I had to tackle the steering yoke.Here's what it looks like finished:

Then I attached the yoke to the gunner, and then the gunner to the mount. Then it looked like below:

And then I faced the fitting of the shield. I knew from previous test-fitting, that the gunner's feet (that I modified with jungle boots - read more about it here) are going to get in the way of the shield. I used a piece of paper put inside the shield and covered with pencil dust to sand just the right place of the boots and finally got the shield to fit. The nice thing is the modification is not visible from outside, even though the shield has an open underside. Here are some fotos:

Before putting the shield on I cut off the little armored "flaps" and I'm going to pose them in "open" position. This is often seen in fotos from Vietnam, probably to allow the gunner a better view. As the ammo cans are almost done I'll assemble the complete trunnion groups next, so please stay tuned. I'm looking forward to your comments, have a nice day

Pawel

Very nice work Pawel!

I saw one of these mounts very briefly on TV last night. HBO is showing Band of Brothers episodes and in the 6th episode, during the German night bombing raid on Bastogne they show a trailer-mounted, quad-50 shooting up at the bombers! It's a very brief glimpse but it reminded me of this thread.