Howdy All,

Was fascinated to find, having done a 'search' on this site for an Australian military vehicle thread, that there was none! I have always found their unique style of vehicle varaitions, refit configurations, and camo scheme's quite intriguing. They remind me a little of the IDF style vehicles. Recently I have had the priviledge of chatting with a couple of chaps from the big island 'down under' and have had my eyes opened a bit more to the Australian way of doing things. So, I thought I might share some pics, and some thoughts, and probably even more questions regarding Australian Military Vehicle's.
So here it goes....................

Feel free to join in :-)

Here's an Australian M579 Fitter's Track. Note the unique right-side stowage box with caged in Jerry cans sitting on top of the crane counterweights.


Here's a shot of that same vehicle from the front. Note the double extended splashboard.



Tread.

And, didn't I tell you the Australian's had unique camo patterns?

Check this out!

This special pattern was applied to a Unimog.



Tread.

And yet another......

This time on a trailer.


Tread.

Cool pics, those are some crazy camo patterns :-)

Here's a Australian JRA 6X6 Long Range Patrol Vehicle

A full sized dirt bike mounts on the rear.

Tread.

Purty kinky kamo if you ask me...

I think that the Aussie M113 FOVs are just gorgeous!

if you wanna see WW2 Aussie stuff and some unique trucks go to the gallery, 'roo's truck archives' and 'australian WW2 trucks'.

G'day folks,

Interesting things these Aussie Vehicles, the M579 Fitters Track, that unit obscured under the open hatch is an Aircon Unit, which is standard to all M113's in the ADF. This vehicle can [to a degree] be built from the Academy IDF Fitters Vehicle kit, with Aussie Armour bits added to bring it up to spec. our cammo schemes on the M113's are Tan, French Artilary Green and Black. In the Hunbrol range for a close match they are 116,118 and 86.

The Unimog and the trailer cammo's are both patterns, used for trials prior to the first Gulf War, the colours are similar to the Peanut Scheme applied to the A-10 WartHog.
The Aussie JRA 6x6 LRPV this carries a quad bike in the back, has a crew of 4 and the mountings for the Mag 58's can be seen behind the drivers head rest, there are 4 variations of this armed vehicle, other versions of it are an Ambulance, a Fitters Vehicle and a Troop Carrier. These vehicles have two distinct cam paterns, depending on their deployment, from jungle or desert regions.
The 6x6 vehicle' s have been deployed in both Afganastan and Iraq. Another intersting ADF Subject is the Lav 25, Maple Leaf do the resin Wheels for our version, but the flutted gun barrel is the major headache.

Most of you would know that I do resin conversions to Aussie vehicles, the 6x6 and 4x4 series of the Land Rovers, are in the pipeline for later this year, a photo appears in my gallery of the RAAF Gun Buggy, which is another resin project of ours.

I hope I have been of help, in pionying out some of these differences.

Regards
Rob

G'day TreadHead, to eb honest i have never seen that camo pattern used on that Unimog, the most common camo scheme for armour and all sorts of military vehicles over here is the one seen on the M579.
Good pics, Cheers

Howdy fellas,

Well, speak of the devils...'Roo and 29Foxtrot are the "chaps" from the Island down under I was talking about!
Thanks for chiming in guys.
Now......let me get this straight 'Roo...you have something like 318 pages of photos?? (or did I read that wrong?).

Holy Mackeral!.....you do! I just checked. Man o man..........:-)

Tread.

hehehehehe ....now you know why I said where they were rathet then post them here.

Roo
PS> there will be some more pics posted soon so it will be 319plus pages in my album...lol

Howdy 'Roo,

Been looking through your mountain of photograghs.......I am getting on heck of a cavity from indulging this 'sweet tooth' of mine....but I' loving every minute of it!

The Aussie's really used the Quad quite a bit too! Makes me think of a lot of possibilities for the Quad kit!

Tread.

Tread we really did not use the 'Quad' itself all that much as we had our own versions of gun tractors. But the Quad is one type of Canadian Military Pattern (CMP) vehicle that we used thousands of in all sorts of roles. I am working on a 3 ton GS type now in resin. This will eventually be a full kit. Below is the pic of the truck that sparked the idea.

What, is this?



Tread.

Here's anothr interesting one......



Tread.

and another shot


Tread

Howdy 'Roo,

My fault, what I was talking about was the body (cab) style itself. I was talking about the Chevy?GMC 15/30 CWT truck 'style'. I just happen to have an old Testor's Chevy 15 CWT (dated 1983) that would make a very good candidate for any one of these interesting Australian trucks!

Like I need another kit on the modelingschedule!! #:-)

Tread.

Howdy fellas,

Here's a truck I'd love to build using the Testor's 15CWT kit...



What do ya think?

Tread.

Howdy guys,

What was this used for, pray tell?


I got this picture from our good Mr. Roo's FANTASTIC photo archive if anyone's interested. If you guys want to see some interesting stuff, check it out.

Tread.

yes not bad just remember to stretch the wheelbase. Also bigger tyres will be required but I can help with those.If you want I will find out what the wheelbase was and let you know.




mobile crane that one. Fork hoists for unloading trucks were hard to come by.

Howdy 'Roo,

Many thx for the intel. Both of these vehicles are on the 'ToDo' list, and in the reference gathering stage. On the Ambulance, I would indeed appreciate some of the dimensions, including 'stretched' wheelbase. (As you know, I've already done this on my HEMTT, when I 'stretched' it from the 10-Ton, eight-wheeled version, to the 16.5-Ton, ten-wheeled variant).
I would also (don't mean to get greedy) like to know any particulars such as whether it had a drive shaft mid-point 'collar' or not (just like on your 3-Tonner).
And speaking of your 3-Tonner. Is my Chevy 15CWT cab a completely different cab than your 3-Tonner cab? And if so, are you scratrching your cab, or is there a kit of it available?
I've seen both cab configurations, the one with the swept forward configuration (like mine), and the swept back config. (like yours).
That 5-Ton crane version is too intriguing to pass up. And fortunately your superb archive provides I think four (4) photos of one.....just enough to get me in trouble.

Tread.

[



Hey tread yes I will find the info for you but you may have to scale some sizes off the pic.

My cab (easier to discribe the different headlights - in body or on guards) is a scratch built item and a complete cab and chassis (less driveshaft) with motor is away getting cast now to check fit so far. After this is done I can do what ever body (seperate from cab) that I wish so the possibilities are almost endless. I intend on getting two done for a start and if fit is oK I will master the rest of the body and cast a few full kits.




those 4 pics were all I could find too. If you require info on it I can only suggest you contact the Australian War Museum direct as they are the original holders of those images.

Roo

It seems that the images of the Unimog aren't working, any chance they can be reposted or emailed to me?

Cheers

Howdy kkoori,

Darn, I just deleted them from my gallery to make more room. I will see if I can retreive them somehow. Kinda busy lately, so, it might be a bit.

Tread.

Here's another interesting Australian 'king cab' truck....


...again, courtesy of 'Roo's Archive's.

Tread.