1/35 Academy M50 Ontos, WIP 6/12/10, Completed

Steve - Thanks, I always appreciate your thoughts

Rounds Complete!!

Busy week and weekend all keeping me away from the bench. I did get in some time to finish some of the details.

On the right side I finished up the pioneer tool kit. The tools are Tamiya Flat Black and Testors USMC Green on the wood parts. The paint worn off the wood is Tamiya Buff dry brushed. The metal parts with ware are Alclad Steel dry brushed. The rack still needs some straps to finish

On the other side, from front to back is an Academy MG set 30 cal tripod. The tripod is also parkerized. There are two PE clips from the PE set holing the tripod on. Still need to add a strap across the clips. The spare track cleats are painted with Alclad Steel and their holding bars are USMC green. Each cleat has a mold seam across the thickness.  Leave the seam as the cleats are a two part split assembly to bolt through the track band.  At the end is a gas can which is a PE holder in USMC Green, The can is in Tamiya XF-74 JSCF OD, the scratches are Alclad Steel, The strap is Tamiya XF-62 OD with Flat Black buckle and some brass show through for ware.

On the turret, I began to assemble the recoilless rifles, first, the lower two and then moving across through the upper four. I had to be VERY careful as the line up and fit is not that good and care needs to be taken in order to get the barrels mounted straight and all even. In order to make working on the turret a little more east, I mounted it to a small piece of wood with double stick tape.

After getting all the rifles mounted I then added the 50 cal spotting rifle receivers. Here are the rifles mounted with the spotting rifles.

Take note….the instructions have you mount all the spotting rifles in the same direction. This is incorrect as one is mounted in the opposite direction. Since the spotting rifles are keyed, the one to be reversed needs to have part of the key removed to allow opposite installation. Without the key, this needs to be done carefully to get the rifle and barrel to line up straight. Here you can see the one opposed spotting rifle which is second from the left.

That’s it for now. I have to add the 30 cal MG, radio antennas and scratch the electric firing cables to the turret. Then onto decals and weathering in the road wheel/track area.

As always your comments either good or bad are appreciated.

Rounds Complete!!

Sweet work as always Mike, the idea for the turret with the wood/tape is a good one. I can imagine having an extra 'handle' to deal with made all the difference.

Thanks Bill...Yep, 3M heavy duty double side tape works wonders. Having the turret mounted makes gluing and lining up MUCH simpler

Thanks again

Rounds Complete!!

Very nice, Mike--those painted tools look especially good. I like the chipping and old paint on them.

Here's a curiosity question for you Mike...why did they use .50 cals as the spotting rifles? I understand why they needed spotting rifles in terms of insuring that the recoiless rifles were properly sighted in...but the use of .50 cals for that is something I've always wondered about.

Karl - Thanks, always appreciate you stopping in

Bill - Well, to some extent it is simple.....at the time it was the only thing in the inventory with enough range and balistics to match the 106mm. It had a large enough round such that the tracer was very easy to see at a long range and ammunition was very available.

Anything larger would have had a recoil.....does not work well on a recoilless rifle....the 50 cal is most likely the largest round which could be in a fixed mount without much more reinforcement.

Also a 20mm though larger may/would not have "added" anything and the 30 cal was too small and lacked the range.

It is an interesting setup. The funny part was the weapon was not empoyed as originally designed...an anti-tank weapon....but was a great ground troop support weapon. In VN, sweeping the turret and firing beehive rounds a single Ontos could clear a lot of jungle.

It was in the right place at the right time!!

If you look at the concept....the Stryker 1128 Mobile Gun System is a similar concept and give the troops on the ground a powerful shot when they need it.

Rounds Complete!!

Great progress Legs That looks like some very tense hair pulling hard work to me.

Tony Lee

Looking AWESOME there Mike!! The RR's are coming out just gorgous and that tool rack (BII Kit?) is absolutely stunning! Freaking WOW!

Another reason for the .50 cal spotting rifle (nothing larger, nothing smaller) is the fact that the .50 round had similiar flight characteristics as the 106 RR round. Don't ask me the specifics, I just recall reading that somewhere. Keep in mind that tracers work both ways and you had to be really quick/good zeroing in on target in those days.

Tony - Thanks....It all depends where the hair is!!

Kevin - Thanks....it's the anal detail stuff that keeps me sane ....too many years in the woods!!!

BTW....Love the new avatar.

Thanks for the additional info on the spotting rifles.

Based on my reading, most of the crews did not have to wait for the tracer to impact....once it was about 2/3 downrange it was close enough and they would fire the 106. Now....once you fire the 106, the entire planet knows where you are....especially at night!!

Rounds Complete!!

MIke, saaaahhhhh weeeeey man.  Your custom mix for the parkerizing is simply perfect.  And those tools man....great job!

Brian

Wicked man,can all six be fired simultaneously? What a commotion that would make!

Wicked Cool, Redleg, there's something elegant about raw, unpolished FUNCTION.  Utilitarian is way cooler than sleek and sexy.

I would HATE to see that turret tracking my way. 

She's coming along great Mike.  Excellent work as usual.

Brian - Thanks.....I love playing with the details. Glad you like them

Detailfreak - Thanks....Yep, you could fire all six at one time......but why......as I was stating earlier...they would load six rounds of Beehive and then track from one side to another, firing as they tracked and clearing a wide swath of jungle.

Citadelgrad87 - Yep.....could cause you to clean your shorts!! Night firing had to be the best!!

Thanks again for the comments and for stopping by

Rounds Complete!!

Gino - Great minds think alike.....you snuck in while I was posting.......as always, Thanks

Rounds Complete!!

Looks to be more fun than firing a black powder gun in the dark! One of the most awesome pieces of weaponry I was priveledged to be near during my military career was the vulcan doing a night fire excercise at the NTC.Sounded like one of those fart machines with a nasty stream of tracers.This is going to be a very cool finally.

Looking very very good!!  The 106's came out perfect and the color really stands out against the Marine green.

Just to chime in on the spotting rifle,, when I had 106s (Not Ontos) we used more incendiary rounds than tracers,,actually if my old memory works they were TPI rounds...and they were not standard .50 BMG rounds they came packaged as spotter rounds only. This was post Vietnam--late 70s. We were always told that the spotter rounds had a different loading than the standard 50 BMG rounds...but I can tell you that Marines being Marines...we did use the standard rounds once in a while,,just because we could. I never took a round apart and measured powder and bullet wt,,probably would today though..

We used the TPI to range the 106 for the AP or HE rounds,,,,Flechette or beehive no spotter required,,set up in a lazy W and 'Fire the 106 !!'...

Redleg thanks for this build,, it got me back to the forum and has brought back many forgotten memories..modelling is great !!!

Kevin

Kevin - First thanks you for the comments, thanks for the info on the spotting rounds, but most of all I am glad this has brought back many of your memories. It is those types of comments that make the time I spend posting my work all worth while. I am glad to have been a help!!

Thanks again

Rounds Complete!!

Mike that is squaring up beautifully great etch work as well. I can't forsee the finish but it has GOLD written all over it so far. THis one deserves an article.

Terry.

Terry - Thanks for stopping by and for the kind comments......

PS Thanks for allowing me post

3,000 

Ok.....that's enough of that......and now we return to our regular armor forum!!

Rounds Complete!! 

Well it was a long Memorial Day holiday weekend which means lots of outside time and chores, shopping, traveling….but not much bench time. With that said, I was able to squeeze a few things in

To get the track area ready I first coated the area with Liquitex Ceramic Stucco gel tinted with US Earth Red. This gives a nice fine “chunky” look. This is a bit simpler to apply with the road wheels out of the way. After the road wheels are added it will be time for pigments.

Next it was time for the decals. Not much on this Ontos as I decided to stay with the kit supplied decals. The simple B23 on the rear doors and front fender and the vehicle ID number on the side

With the decals on I could now mount the barrel travel supports.  With the stucco work in the lower area I mounted the road wheels and also mounted MV Lenses for the headlights.

Getting anal with the recoilless rifles, I uses some 18 gauge black coated wire for the black electric cables to the 50 cal spotting rifles. For the recoilless firing cables I used a n 18 gauge nylon coated cable which I painted with Alclad Steel. This cable has a thin coating but still shows texture as the real cables appear to be armor covered cable.

That’s it for now. Next up is weathering, tracks and detail adds.     

As always your comments either good or bad are appreciated.

Rounds Complete!!

The mud is looking great, Mike! Might wanna mix in some long grass in there? Vietnam is pretty dense with vegetation, I hear?

The whole thing is really coming together and the detailing with the wiring is up to your usual standards--really a fantastic job so far!

Mike

I love the night firing picture - that is just six barrels of unsolicited RAGE!  Awesome...

I am also loving your progress.  Super work...  I am sorely tempted to add this little guy to my stash now that you have highlighted it so nicely.

One question about the spotting rifle - why was only one mounted in 'reverse'?  Also, (OK I lied - two questions...) was it always the same one (second from left as you have it)?  I looked at the set up and tried to figure out the practical reasons, for example, access for loading, but I can't see one...

Karl - Thanks...Yep, planning on some grass also. There is an outside suspension bar which connects all the wheels. I have some pics where that became a "grass catcher" ....planning on it. Lots of red dust...chunks and grass where stuff can get caught.

Thanks again

Boyd - Glad you like the pic, it is a fun little kit.

Now to the question...well the "inside" ones are easy.....they both face the TC hatch for access. The outside left faces outside and the outside for access....then the right faces inside....which is the military way....almost all thought out but one just to pi$$ you off!! That one I cannot explain but the drawing from Aberdeen shows it facing in!!.....That's the best answer I have.

Thanks again guys

Rounds Complete!!

Looks great Mike. And congrats on the 30k

wing_nut

Looks great Mike. And congrats on the 30k

30K??!!  WOWZA....

I trust your over-cafeinated fingers really meant to not throw that extra '0' in there, eh Marc...

Mike, good answer on that 'flipped' spotting rifle thing - no real reason is needed so long as it makes 'military sense'...

OOPS

Yup, comin' off a rough  weekend.  Must be the DT's

Coming along very nice Redleg!  This wee beastie gonna give some Vietcong nightmares I bet!

Brian

Marc -  First, thank you.....second, thank you for the thought on the postings....third....math class 3K = 3000 ...lastly...long weekend, remember this or this is much better than or this ......

Thanks again

Boyd - I knew you would understand military intelligence

Brian - Thanks for stopping in....and it most certainly did in its day!!

Rounds Complete!!