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M247 Sgt. York (enhanced)


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The venerable Tamiya kit, I've built this beastie before, straight out of the box,

 

31975289394_ef45ba1425_z.jpgSgt York 3 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

This is typical early eighties Tamiya, I remember building this as a teenager a long time ago. I can't find anything on the box or the instructions to tell you how old, but the blurb on the front of the instructions talks about "the first batch of 50 vehicles will begin construction in May 1982". So it's dated.

 

A bit of history then. The vehicle / system is named for Sgt. York who won the CMH in the first world war. It was also the first tracked system not to be named after a General officer and was also the star of a really bad Eddie Murphy movie years and years ago.

 

In April 1977 the US Army announced a bidding process for a vehicle mounted AAA system to complement the M163 Vulcan and replace the very old M42. Five bids were submited and ultimately the design by Ford Aerospace was chosen in May 1981, with a fixed cost of $6.97 BILLION. Initially called DIVAD (Division Air Defence) Ford used two 40mm L/70 Bofors guns with a modified Westinghouse fire control system, using elements from the system installed in F16's. Initial tests were good and showed the system to be about 40% more effective than the West German Gepard. Something I've also built;

 

32694879881_a8866d38e1_z.jpgFlakpanzer Gepard 3 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

The system is mounted on a modified M48A5 chassis and has a crew of 3, driver, commander and gunner. It was envisaged a total of 618 vehicles would be produced and each armoured division would have 36 M247 and 12 Chaparal (Low Altitude Surface to Air) (AIM 9 Sidewinder) systems with the M163 Vulcan. The system generally fell out of favour after it encountered development problems and the realisation that the Warsaw Pact forces were bringing on line new attack helicopters that could engage the M247 well beyond the range of the 40mm guns. The project was eventually shelved in August 1985 with 50 vehicle / systems having been produced.

 

But I like it, it's an ugly brute and the kit comes with very little detail, i guess being developmental when the kit came out they wouldn't know too much about it. So a bit of room to explore then. What if, for instance, the Israeli's had taken a shine to it. This ties in nicely with my continuing interest in the IDF, what if they had taken it, made it work and continued to improve on the idea. Say a new fire control system, better engine, more stowage etc. 

 

Well let's see what happens.

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On with the show. First the traditional box shot;

 

34446484721_1f5431c761_z.jpgM247 - 1 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

contents

 

34535783886_1a1c2ac7c2_z.jpgM247 - 3 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

and classic Tamiya instruction sheet.

 

33766672833_c4372b7529_z.jpgM247 - 4 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

On with it then.

 

34446485041_7dfe532e67_z.jpgM247 - 2 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

An hours work sees the lower hull pretty much sorted out. A bit of pre shading, 

 

33753026474_5dd27b22a9_z.jpgM247 - 6 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

First bit of scratching, if we're putting in better engines then we need to upgrade the exhaust, the kit one is very simple and bland, so some plastic and build it up a little so it sits parallel with the chassis, it will eventually have some stowage on top.

 

34478671551_39f0f1843d_z.jpgM247 - 7 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Any thoughts etc then join in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Nice one, huge chunk of real estate isn't it? Didn't one of these have an electronic brainstorm while being displayed to the top brass causing great agitation and soiled underwear for some generals?

:yes:

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I'll be following this intently!

 

The only one I ever saw was undergoing testing in Yuma, Arizona. Half the time it had to be towed into position first. Rumor was the complex electronics of the fire control system were incompatible with the automotive systems of the base tank. When It was tested "publicly" great care was taken to have the vehicle pre-positioned on level ground. Apparently there's a huge difference between an F-16 and an M-48 tank. Who would have thought?

 

G

 

 

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Tamiya was in such a rush to get a kit of this (then) new vehical out that they designed it before the prototype was done so they based it on the wooden mock-up. Which as you'd imagine lacked a lot of detail and differed from the final prototype.   

 

 

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Some work on the turret, the original box version is pretty bland and quite a few sink marks, so if you're going to do it, it's go big or go home!

 

33883665793_65bc2293ca_z.jpgUntitled by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

34562986291_bbb9e5b1f0_z.jpgUntitled by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

The turret is a fairly odd shape, lots of angles, none of them the same, so I used shapes of plastic card to enlarge and then on with the filler to for those gaps.

 

34655833926_7375346a5a_z.jpgUntitled by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

My usual neat job. 

 

Once filled and sanded then the addition of some access panels and stowage.

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I've seen some live-fire vids.  It's surprising what a volume of fire twin Bofors can put down.  I believe they were modified for belt or magazine feed.  The 40mm Bofors round is significantly more effective than the Oerlikon 35mm on the Gepard.  I was involved on the periphery of choosing the new weapon for Scout and Warrior, and a Bofors-chambered weapon such as the Mk4 Bushmaster was preferred.  But wouldn't fit Warrior so we went with the CTAS 40.

 

On which subject, an evolved DIVAADS might have gained different weapons.  ATK did develop a Chain Gun chambered for the Bofors round, the Mk4.  Big beast, fluted barrel like M242.  One of the losing DIVAADS competitors had a 37mm version of the Vulcan.  Then along came the GAU-8 Avenger for the A-10 and naval Goalkeeper.  And the US have gone for the 57mm Bofors for the Littoral Combat Ship.  US also looked at the CTAS40 for its aborted TRACER scout project

 

Some alternative weapon suggestions:

  • Twin Mk4 Bushmaster
  • Twin CTAS40
  • Single 37mm rotary
  • single GAU-8 (effectively, a tank-mounted Goalkeeper - have a look at the FCS antennas on that)
  • Twin 57mm Bofors (with water cooled barrels?)
  • Single OTO 76mm Super Rapid (yes, it's been done as a prototype, and USN uses the gun).  Check out the beast below.

Image result for 76mm super rapid

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Although intended as an AA weapon in the land domain, it's naval use is dual-purpose.  With the latest version capable of 120rpm I wouldn't like to be anywhere within range on the ground, even in an MBT, and certainly not in the open or in anything soft facing the time or proximity fused pre-frag ammo used for AA and anti-missile.  Brings a whole new definition to "fire mission".  Ammunition capacity is of course a limiting factor on land, less so on a ship.  I imagine this beast only carries enough for less than a minute's sustained firing.  There was an earlier prototype on an MBT chassis, Ariete I believe.

 

Don't forget we now have trailer-mounted Phalanx systems deployed for static defence.  I'm thinking that, had it gone ahead, DIVAADS might well have evolved into a "Land Goalkeeper" with the GAU-8.

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One of the first weapons proposed for DIVAD was the GAU-8 but it was rejected (IIRC) because of it's short range compared to the Bofors 40mm. It was the coolest looking DIVAD proposal IMO tho :P

 

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Bit of an update then......

 

33875134084_142c98f0ef_z.jpgM247 - 11 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Sanded down and cleaned up then a quick undercoat / primer.

 

33936786764_94b39260d7_z.jpgM247 - 14 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

34778601875_67fff47c65_z.jpgM247 - 15 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Looks okay, it could stand a little more filler, some of those joints are a bit trench like! 

Onto the upper hull, some heavy pre shading and a view of the improved exhaust. The white plastic strip down either side is the beginning of the skirts for her to wear. 

 

33875134114_384ff87284_z.jpgM247 - 12 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Steady progress then, life and work getting in the way as usual. Thanks for looking.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Updates, following work and real life getting in the way, some time at the bench was found. So the underneath getting done complete with kit supplied rubber band tracks;

 

34968586785_56107ed3df_z.jpgM247 - 16 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

34968586835_a66d400e3b_z.jpgM247 - 17 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Tracks obviously need work & some detail on the underside, she's going to be wearing skirts but I haven't decided if they're going to be short skirts or long skirts, so I might need some detail, however small, in there.

Started on adding some detail to the turret in the form of a couple of hatches, still deciding on the stowage and would she have a Commander's GPMG? Those two 40mm Bofors are pretty effective anti everything.

 

34930550056_939ccbfbb1_z.jpgM247 - 18 by phil da greek, on Flickr

 

Thanks for looking.

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