New 1/35 Tamiya: M561 Gama Goat

Never thought I'd see one of those things again(the goat). As a wheel and track mechanic stationed at Ft Hood from 75-78 I used to work on those strange little buggers. They had the worst gear shifting apparatus I've even seen on a vehicle. Was kinda like trying to move a sledgehammer thru a pail of rocks. And the noise that diesel made, my ears still ring. When I saw that kit at armorcon this year sure brought back memories.

  Former spec 4, E company 27th maint btn 1st cav  

Are you gonna get one of the kits?

I do believe I will...you?

Yes, I will definitely be getting one as well

Nice, just viewed the review on the kit and they say it has decals for the us army in 1976....wonder if that's 1st cav decals....that would be perfect. The last half of 77 I was assigned to a camouflage paint crew....we painted all the vehicles in the 1st cav. that was a sweet gig...no formations, no inspections and we worked only at night.

I'll definitely have to get one as well. It's probably the first "must get" Tamiya kit (to me) since their M60A3.

I'll get one, also.

Does anyone remember the GOER vehicle?  It was like a Gama Goat on steroids, but did not have a forward axle.  Very unsafe vehicle.  Last time I saw one was at Baumholder in 1976-77 time period.  Would like to see that in plastic.

Curt

Yup, I remember the GOER. We still had them in the mid-late 80s at Ft Polk. Then came the HMMETT around 87 or so...

we  hdd them in 3-33 AR in kirchgoens (the other "THE ROCK"). as a tank co xo for a loooong 6 months before taking the mortar platoon, loved the tanker goer, not so much the cargo one. certainly were a *** to road march, max speed wqas 15mph. we were road marching to friedburg to rail load when one got a flat. fortunately my csc M-578 was in the rear so we used it to lift the front end and fix it and still made railhead though the shoulder on the autbahn was worse for wear.;

Having recently built one of these kits, all I can say is get one! Sure, it's an ugly vehicle, but it's so ugly that it becomes cool. And like any new Tamiya kit, thet pretty much just fall together.

I will probably finish mine as an 82nd AB vehicle, using the decals that come with the kit.

Ok I did it, wasn't in stock at the LHS so I ordered it online....C'mon UPS   cant wait to get my hands on the weird little bugger. I'll have to post some pics of the build if my phone will cooperate.