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1970's Army tank crew - found

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  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
1970's Army tank crew - found
Posted by M. Brindos on Saturday, April 25, 2015 4:55 PM

I've got the new Dragon 1/35 M-60A1 kit in que next and my Dad is not having much luck finding a crew for it. He has found a set of Marines, but he's ex Army. Marines will not work for this build. Seems the new kit has an almost fully decked out interior and so the crew needs to be out of the tank to show this off. LED lighting will be used on this one. I'm not asking anyone to do my searching for me, I'm looking for any info any of you may have readily available. I'll be running my own search, but if a short cut is available, I'll take it lol. Thank you in advance.

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Valrico, FL
Posted by HeavyArty on Saturday, April 25, 2015 5:19 PM

There isn't much out there for '70s figures, tankers or otherwise.

Hobby Fan just released this one for the M60A1.

He is designed to be in the turret, but could have his arm swapped/repositioned to be standing outside of it.  Another option is to use one of Verlinden's '80s tank crewmen and swap out the head for one with a bone dome helmet.

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  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Sonora Desert
Posted by stikpusher on Saturday, April 25, 2015 7:33 PM

There are some old Tamiya figures that could serve as a basis for conversion. They come with the M106 and M577 kits or as separate sets: 4.2" mortar, & commanders set or something like that. Tamiya's original M1 and M2 kits also came with some pickle suit TC figures, but with the 80s style CVC helmet. But good honest to goodness pre BDU non Vietnam uniformed US Army figures in 1/35 are few and far between...

 

F is for FIRE, That burns down the whole town!

U is for URANIUM... BOMBS!

N is for NO SURVIVORS...

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  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
Posted by M. Brindos on Sunday, April 26, 2015 12:38 AM
Yeah that's what I'm finding out. I may have to get "close enough" and modify them to suit. I'm going to need to get some Sculpy lol.
One more for the wish list. :/

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Sonora Desert
Posted by stikpusher on Sunday, April 26, 2015 12:47 AM

You would think that with the way Dragon has been going at Cold War tanks from that era lately in their "Black Label" series that they would give us some tanker figures in a set or three to go with them.... US, Brit, and West German.

 

F is for FIRE, That burns down the whole town!

U is for URANIUM... BOMBS!

N is for NO SURVIVORS...

       - Plankton

LSM

 

  • Member since
    November 2005
  • From: Formerly Bryan, now Arlington, Texas
Posted by CapnMac82 on Sunday, April 26, 2015 1:46 AM

You'd think it would not be that hard to issue some figure sets in OG-109 fatigues and M-56 gear..  Especially since the M-56 ammo carrier was supposed to be "universal" as in carrying BAR mags, Garand clips, Carbine magazines, or M14 magazines.

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Sonora Desert
Posted by stikpusher on Sunday, April 26, 2015 2:38 AM

And you would be pretty hard pressed to tell any difference between a M1943, a M1951, and a M1965 Field Jacket...

 

F is for FIRE, That burns down the whole town!

U is for URANIUM... BOMBS!

N is for NO SURVIVORS...

       - Plankton

LSM

 

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
Posted by M. Brindos on Sunday, April 26, 2015 12:35 PM

All VERY valid points guys. You'd think there would be something out there. Especially since there are so many cold war era guys building models right now. This has left me scratching my head. Call me silly, but I assumed this wouldn't be hard lol.

They have Russians from that era, but not US Service men? Am I missing something?? Lol

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Sonora Desert
Posted by stikpusher on Monday, April 27, 2015 1:01 PM

Well, when you look at the times in question, Vietnam gets the lions share of the attention. The stuff in Europe just did not have the exotic flavor and "eye appeal" of troops and tankers in South East Asia. Like I said before, a lot of late WWII or Korean War figures can be used as a starting point for Cold War Europe US Army troops.

 

F is for FIRE, That burns down the whole town!

U is for URANIUM... BOMBS!

N is for NO SURVIVORS...

       - Plankton

LSM

 

  • Member since
    September 2012
Posted by GMorrison on Monday, April 27, 2015 3:46 PM

I used these recently for 1967 Egyptians! Swapped out their helmets for Russian ones.

Don't know if that helps.

(I have the helmets)

I know, not tankers...

www.tamiyausa.com/.../u-s-107mm-mortar-crew-kit-35119

 Modeling is an excuse to buy books.

 

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
Posted by M. Brindos on Monday, April 27, 2015 4:36 PM

Those come pretty close.

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

  • Member since
    October 2004
  • From: Orlando, Florida
Posted by ikar01 on Monday, April 27, 2015 9:48 PM

Maybe you can clear something up for me.  Why can't marine figures be used?  Except for the different fatigue hat, didn't they wear the same types of fatigues?  I was in the Air Force in the 70s and 80s and I think we wore the same type of Stateside fatigues.  Granted I didn't pay that much attention to them but I know we had the same jungle fatigues.  We had cammoflaged and our tiger stripe fatigues were variable according to which local shop made them for us.  

I have a few Tamiya and Academy figures left over from their M-113 kits and maybe a couple others. if you think they might work.

What part of the world do you need them to represent, S.E.A. or Stateside/Europe?

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
Posted by M. Brindos on Tuesday, April 28, 2015 8:43 PM

I'm needing to represent Germany in the mid 70's. I think it's the blouse pockets that are different besides the covers for Tankers. If I found the right set I could definitely modify them.

At this point anything close enough will work. I've found some, but they're not cheap and I can't put a whole kit on my wishlist just for a few figures... or... maybe. I'll get back to you guys on that subject.

Thank you for your input. You've got me thinking.  :)

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Sonora Desert
Posted by stikpusher on Tuesday, April 28, 2015 9:33 PM

All four services wore the same cotton sateen fatigues in that period. Different headgear of course. Later on the Army started using perma press cotton blend fatigues. I'm not sure if any other service adopted that uniform.

 

F is for FIRE, That burns down the whole town!

U is for URANIUM... BOMBS!

N is for NO SURVIVORS...

       - Plankton

LSM

 

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
Posted by M. Brindos on Wednesday, April 29, 2015 11:57 AM

I believe I'm thinking of this from the wrong angle. I was looking for an easy option where I wouldn't have to do much but paint them, but I need to change that way of thinking.

I'll figure this out guys. Thanks for all the feed back.  :)

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

  • Member since
    November 2005
  • From: Formerly Bryan, now Arlington, Texas
Posted by CapnMac82 on Wednesday, April 29, 2015 11:34 PM

USMC had their own Utilities until about '68-'69, before changing to the "tails out" blouse in OG-109.

Which then went through  a bunch of changes.  Confused even more by the ERDL camo going to SEA

What I want to remember is that AF (other than in SEA( kept their tucked-in OG-107 (or whatever Shade the AF called that) Fatigues.  They were last to adopt the Woodlands BDU.  DeptNav bought enormous quantities of solid OD 'BDU' uniforms with a minority, special units "buy" of Woodlands camo.  Eventually, that flip-flopped and the buy was 80-90% Woodlands, with a minority buy of solid-OD Utilities.

I'm pretty sure Stick is right about the Field Jackets, other than I want to remember that one of those models had angled pocket flaps rather than straight.

The tough part is the LBE & web gear--once the M-56 gear is introduced.  Which is the other fly in the ointment for using Marines to sub in--782 gear remains unique to the Corps until about '70-71.

Which is why the ALCE & LC-2 gear was made so adaptable--so it would accommodate all of the legacy gear in inventory.

  • Member since
    September 2012
Posted by GMorrison on Wednesday, April 29, 2015 11:38 PM

When someone finds this crew, I'm hiring them. This evenings commute was totally insane.

 Modeling is an excuse to buy books.

 

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Sonora Desert
Posted by stikpusher on Thursday, April 30, 2015 12:16 AM

Yeah I know.,.  Lots of crashes here in the evening commute...

 

F is for FIRE, That burns down the whole town!

U is for URANIUM... BOMBS!

N is for NO SURVIVORS...

       - Plankton

LSM

 

  • Member since
    October 2004
  • From: Orlando, Florida
Posted by ikar01 on Saturday, May 2, 2015 11:11 PM

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Sonora Desert
Posted by stikpusher on Sunday, December 20, 2015 6:13 PM

Field Pants and Field Jackets, not bad for stateside or Europe during spring & fall. Those look good.

 

F is for FIRE, That burns down the whole town!

U is for URANIUM... BOMBS!

N is for NO SURVIVORS...

       - Plankton

LSM

 

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Monday, December 21, 2015 9:28 PM

Cool, I'm going to have to pick up a set or three of these for myself.

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
Posted by M. Brindos on Tuesday, December 22, 2015 2:35 PM

Oh yeah. I may get more than one as well. They would go well with an M-60 slick as well as the A1, A2, etc.

Some Alpine heads and some arm changes and the possibilities are almost endless lol.

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
Posted by M. Brindos on Sunday, February 14, 2016 5:14 PM

Update;

I've got these figure in my hands and they are worth every penny! Valkyrie is still including the mic booms as cast items and they are extremely fragile and difficult to remove from the casting block in one piece. If you can, I recommend getting some PE mics instead as they are, in this case, easier to work with.

The poses are excellent and natural looking (as you can see in the above picture) and there is no flash. The casting blocks are in areas that make removal and clean-up a breeze. The choice of early or late style helmets is a nice bonus and typical of Vlakyrie.

And one more thing worth mentioning is to answer the question about how well they fit in the hatches of an M-60A1. They fit perfectly. Even though they are wearing field jackets (I really thought this would make them too bulky to fit into the hatches thus redering all of my detail work pointless) they fit in the hatches with room to spare. You can actually see around the full bodied figures with little effort. The TC fits in the cupola with enough room to not contact the periscope and you can still see the details on the inside of the cupola around him.

No, you can't see much past that as he does stand in the way, but you can see enough to make your efforts worth-while.

These figures are a bit pricey right now, but they are a new release. If you're worried about value, Valkyrie hasn't let me down yet and can compare to Alpine and Hornet for absolute gorgeous detail levels and realism. If you need a crew for your M-60 series vehicles, these won't disappoint you.

Thanks for the read-through and have a wonderfull Valentine's Day.

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Sunday, February 14, 2016 5:58 PM

Very cool, thanks for the update Mike!

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Wednesday, March 9, 2016 7:49 AM

Ohhhhhh, nice find there TigerII! All of those are cool but I really like the second set. If only I could paint them that well... 

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
Posted by M. Brindos on Wednesday, March 9, 2016 1:00 PM

NICE! I really like that first set of figures! Nice to see some action poses for once! I'll have to show these to Dad and see if he wants a set. He just got some Hornet heads in last week that look amazing.

Definately a "DO WANT".  :D  Thanks for posting those!!  :)

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

  • Member since
    June 2006
  • From: Michigan
Posted by ps1scw on Sunday, April 24, 2016 4:13 PM

 

sad day when they took these away from us. (not mine, image from net)

  • Member since
    October 2015
Posted by Modelrob on Monday, April 25, 2016 5:45 AM

ps1scw

 

sad day when they took these away from us. (not mine, image from net)

 

 

You are right it was a sad day. I was with NMCB 4 when we made the shift. The embroidery shop was sure busy during that time. I was just glad I retired before the last uniform shift.

 

Robert

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