Hi Guys, I'm planning to build the AFV guntruck kit next and was thinking about mounting the M113 ACAV in back in place of the .50 cal. My question is are the tracks,bogies, and spindles removed ? Do you guys know if it was chained down or bolted down so it wouldn't slide out the back ? Thanks for any help you may have.

Alky

The M113 APC was secured by turnbuckles into the cargo bed of an M54 series 5-ton cargo truck - not the M35 series Deuce. The conversion kit, though nice, isn't accurate in the choice of truck to mount the M113 APC onto, however...

Gunnie

Thanks for the quick reply. I guess I'll just have to buy me another kit to make it look right.

Alky

Alky - you're gonna have a little extra work ahead of you. There is no 1:35th scale M54 5-ton cargo truck presently produced out there. You can convert a 2 1/2-ton cargo truck into a 5-ton and there are several examples of this approach out on the Internet - to varying degrees of accuracy and finish. It isn't too difficult to pull off, however...

Gunnie

Right after I hit the submit I thought duh there is no kit . But I remember an article in FSM about the conversion. On the real vehicles was the ACAV intact when secured in the bed?

Alky

Pretty much everything useful was stripped out of the M113 to use as spare parts for other tracks. What was then hoisted up and placed into the cargo bed of the truck was essentially a shell. Some veterans model the interior with the crew seats in place - so I feel comfortable that this is a common feature. I don't think the Fuel Tank and other internal gear would likely be left in there - but there's always an exception...

Gunnie

Gunnie is right about the five ton being stipped. On the big Kahuna or the Outlaw APC GunTrucks We left the seats in the compartment but everything else was removed. I have some photos of the actual trucks form the early 70's. The shells were attached by steel cables in the front and rear othe shell. If you need instructions on converting the M-35 cab to the M-54 five ton I would be glad to help you out. E-mail me and I will give you the measurement and some photo examples to go by.

If you go to our GunTruck web site and look at the photos you will see many examples of the Gun Trucks and of the different mode;ls that have been builtof them. There were over 500 different trucks built from late 1967 to the end of the era in 1973. There are gun trucks being used today in columbia and in the Phillipeans(Spelling?). http://groups.msn.com/VietnamGuntrucks/_homepage.msnw