M42 Duster questions

Or barbeque with a 90 year old USAAF vet. The stories all come out...

Shellback

 

Hans von Hammer:

 

 

T-rex:

Wow, I did not expect this discussion to go on for long.

 

 

Never been to the bar at the VFW have ya...

 

 

If this thread is to be compared to being at the bar of a VFW then we should be prepared to be here for another 30 - 40 pages .......................

If it is a North east VFW.......if it's a Southern VFW......may need its own web site

Rounds Complete!!

Heh.. Reckon so, lol..

"This is no sh*t now.. There we was..."

Hans von Hammer

T-rex:

Wow, I did not expect this discussion to go on for long.

 

Never been to the bar at the VFW have ya...

If this thread is to be compared to being at the bar of a VFW then we should be prepared to be here for another 30 - 40 pages .......................

T-rex

Wow, I did not expect this discussion to go on for long.

Never been to the bar at the VFW have ya...

Wow, I did not expect this discussion to go on for long.

Well I'm some problem with the camo, but nothing I can't fix. It will be done in time for the western Canada regional contest along with my OT-26.

I'll post the finish model soon.

Well where 's T-Rex ? He's got plenty of info now .....................

I'm bettin' that the TC in that pic is sittin' down in the hatch for a much different reason..

stikpusher

 The original Tamiya Bradley and Abrams TC's were weak...

That original Tamiya M1 TC is a great piece of Americana; Mike Dukakis, former presidential candidate.

Rob Gronovius

First time I ever saw a Duster was Fort Drum, NY the summer of 1984 and again in the summer of 1985 during National Guard annual training. The 50th Armor Division still used Dusters in the air defense battalion. I actually got off my tank and walked over to the crew to ask what the heck type of vehicle it was. And tankers never get off the tank.

Only ADA I ever came into personal contact with was the Battery Stinger team.. Two guys in a quarter-ton with a trailer.. They lived quite well though..  And not very menacing..

But if your jet or helicopter had a red star on it...  Do svidaniya, Ivan!

Rob Gronovius

 

In the early 1980s we often wore jungle fatigues. The first BDUs were too hot, too expensive and too hard to get ahold of and jungle fatigues were available for sale at clothing sales for less than $8 a set. I still have a pair of the shirts hanging in the garage. I want to say 1985 is when we stopped being able to wear the old style pickle suits and jungles went away in 1987.

Thats all I wore from the time they were authorized in 1984 until that sad final wear out date in summer 1987. Unless it was required uniform of the day (such as REFORGER or NTC deployments) or for guard mount, my BDUs sat in my wall locker for most of those years. I still have a few old sets of my jungle fatigues, but I am not 160 lbs anymore...

It would be nice to see more 1/35 Cold War US figures from the Post Vietnam, pre K-pot/BDU era. Like the guy who comes in M151 kits in the ERDL jungle cammies or the TC on the LVTP and Sgt York kits. The original Tamiya Bradley and Abrams TC's were weak...

First time I ever saw a Duster was Fort Drum, NY the summer of 1984 and again in the summer of 1985 during National Guard annual training. The 50th Armor Division still used Dusters in the air defense battalion. I actually got off my tank and walked over to the crew to ask what the heck type of vehicle it was. And tankers never get off the tank.

Oh yeah.. The Tamiya "107MM Mortar" set as some good figures in the "Pickle Suit" era, too... 

In the early 1980s we often wore jungle fatigues.

True that, but I never saw any Dusters in the 80's that weren't in a museum or on the Impact Area..  So I figure 60's-70s for the era I suggested.. Maybe the Guard still had some though..

The first BDUs were too hot, too expensive and too hard to get ahold of and jungle fatigues were available for sale at clothing sales for less than $8 a set.

Back then, the BDUs had that effin' "Elvis" collar too.. Dunno who's bright idea THAT was... 

I too hit Ft Hood Clothing Sales the day after they announced that they had 'em in stock, and bought up a bunch of Jungles..  Got five sets of "Medium Long" (Don't remember the price, but I know they were under ten bucks), and went back the next day to get four more... Bad idea to wait.. There was NOTHING left but "Dwarf "and "Baby Elephant" sizes left then...   Pretty sure you're right about the wear-out dates on the Pickle Suit.. I still wore the cotton "Starchies" back then too.. The two sets I had left were so faded that the Top told me to quite wearin' Cook Whites" in the field, lol..

The CVC helmet isn't ate up, it's the older Nam era style.

I know it's the older style CVC, wore one m'self back in the 70s, and also have one on my "Helmet Shelf".. (My Army career spanned from '76 to '06, Rob, so we're about the same era)  I meant the Tamiya TC's CVC was ate up..  It's ate up in it's "shape" on the figure, especially when viewed from the front.... Looks like George Lucas designed it for a Death Star gunner..  So's the driver figure's CVC, but it's not near as bad, and is still usable.. (Driver only comes with the M113 and M577 kits though. The Command Set is sold separately, or with the Tamiya M577 kit)

Here's the back of the box, and you can kinda see how the TC looks, but it's not a good pic of the TC.. The helmet is really mis-shapen...

Hans von Hammer

Tamiya's old US Command Post figures would work with some "Frankensteining"... The uniform's cuts and boots are good from the 50's through the early 80's... These were circa 1965.. 'Cept for that guy on the far right.. I think they tried to mold jungles, but the shirt is AFU with that "pocket" thing going on.. Sand it off..

 Nobody would be wearing Jungle Fatigues in a Stateside FTX, since the jungles were "Organizational Equipment" (meaning they belonged to the unit's Supply Daddy rather than being an individual clothing issue) and were issued to troops when they arrived in-country, along with the rest of their TA-50 and battle-rattle...

You'll probably want to get some different heads though.. Especially for the TC.. That CVC helemt is ALL ate-up...

 

In the early 1980s we often wore jungle fatigues. The first BDUs were too hot, too expensive and too hard to get ahold of and jungle fatigues were available for sale at clothing sales for less than $8 a set. I still have a pair of the shirts hanging in the garage. I want to say 1985 is when we stopped being able to wear the old style pickle suits and jungles went away in 1987.

The CVC helmet isn't ate up, it's the older Nam era style.
http://www.warstuff.com/detail.asp?id=1371&n=US-VIETNAM-WAR-TANK-CREWMANS-HELMET

Elevate the darn guns. Add one tree- backed over and sticking out horizontal behind.

You know in Vietnam the Duster was also used to guard U.S. bases against ground assaults .Also used for armed convoy escort over there .  That would be an interesting dio .

Tamiya's old US Command Post figures would work with some "Frankensteining"... The uniform's cuts and boots are good from the 50's through the early 80's... These were circa 1965.. 'Cept for that guy on the far right.. I think they tried to mold jungles, but the shirt is AFU with that "pocket" thing going on.. Sand it off..

 Nobody would be wearing Jungle Fatigues in a Stateside FTX, since the jungles were "Organizational Equipment" (meaning they belonged to the unit's Supply Daddy rather than being an individual clothing issue) and were issued to troops when they arrived in-country, along with the rest of their TA-50 and battle-rattle...

You'll probably want to get some different heads though.. Especially for the TC.. That CVC helemt is ALL ate-up...

Interesting, I always learn something new in FSM forum.

Well I'm glad to know that its an alaskan division (I was worried it was a foreign nation like Lebanon) and that the winter camo painting is hand painted by the crew, so no airbrush on this build.

I'm having second though on the diorama though, is not so much the setting that bothers me not, its the context, see the only figure I could get from the vietnam era (60s) is tamiya's old tank figure, there not good position for a move out in the woods, but it is perfect for another interesting idea I got from watching this youtube video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keFzBeJkFCI

So Now I'm thinking target practice with the Duster on a Rocky Ridge in Alaska, as for the woodland diorama, don't worry, I think it would be better suited for a smaller tank like a Stug III or a cougar.

Thanks for the info guys, much appreciated.

Yes, it's easy to spot a comment from someone who's never taken a piece of government equipment into the field. My company commander used to use the command, "Follow my jeep" when I was an M60A3 platoon leader. Needless to say, his jeep was much narrower than our tanks as he picked his way through spider trails in Germany.

I'd often tell him the trail was too narrow and he'd say "You're in a tank, and they're just trees."

Rob Gronovius

Nah, old school before there were tree huggers and we had to become good stewards of the environment, we drove through and knocked over trees as a matter of course. Do in training as you would in war; in war, a few trees wouldn't matter.

Maneuver damage didn't become a negative buzz word until the late 80s.

ADA assets like a Duster would back into forested areas along air avenues of approach like valleys. Sort of an ambush position for inbound Hind-Ds and other Warsaw Pact rotary wing aircraft.

LMAO....yet soooo true. Nothing like an M110 crunching a tree to get into position!!!

Yes, the old days when you could crunch trees, dig large holes, sometimes with explosives, use a field latreen or a cat hole and not look for the bright green porta-potty.....eat out of a mess kit rather than the portable Burger King truck.

The kinder gentler society could not take the hell out of war but the made training very wimpy....God I loved the old days

Rounds Complete!!

T26E4

"training exercise near the woods" -- are you meaning to show it travelling through the woods?  They wouldn't just park it there.  And frankly, the driver would rather go around them as to not nick up his fenders -- it's training after all.

We used to run over small trees in our 113s on training exercises all the time. Just something a 19 year old will do in an AFV... Its fun! And the tankers... oh boy...

Yes a position on the edge of a woodline is perfectly feasable, as long as there is a clear field of fire. After all, some concealment is helpful to survival. ADA assets are (or were) a priority target since taking them out allowed friendly Close Air Support a better chance of survival. The markings, if they were not a sticker that Rob described were also printed on canvas squares that were taped (with 100mph tape, aka OD green duct tape) onto the vehicle for the duration of the war game.

Nah, old school before there were tree huggers and we had to become good stewards of the environment, we drove through and knocked over trees as a matter of course. Do in training as you would in war; in war, a few trees wouldn't matter.

Maneuver damage didn't become a negative buzz word until the late 80s.

ADA assets like a Duster would back into forested areas along air avenues of approach like valleys. Sort of an ambush position for inbound Hind-Ds and other Warsaw Pact rotary wing aircraft.

"training exercise near the woods" -- are you meaning to show it travelling through the woods?  They wouldn't just park it there.  And frankly, the driver would rather go around them as to not nick up his fenders -- it's training after all.

I believe those are US Army markings from maneuvers in Alaska. The white squiggles would be temporary camouflage painted on the standard OD green. The white circle with green triangle would literally be a big peel type sticker that was also temporary manuever markings.

Most likely the paint was hand brushed by the crew.