Ken-l

Dear all, found another (excellent) conversion/scratch-build by Steve Guthrie in Military Modelling volume 38 #15 from December 2008. This is of a Chevrolet CMP C60L 158" 2-pdr portee and uses both Tamiya and Italeri Quad kit parts. It is the closest to the F60L I'm aspiring to produce. Highly recommend this account.

Ha! Good call Mike: I do have the Vanderveen book - 25/- when I bought it [£1.25.]

Many thanks Mike, It is surprising that no-one has done a comprehensive article (or book) on the 'Portee Period' in the desert - from the 2-pounders up to the Deacon. It is an interesting 'mini arms race' of armour vs anti-tank.

Thanks for your comments gents. I do believe that 2-pounder portees featured more than one cab type - both cab 12 (Tamiya Quad has this bonnet/ windscreen config.) and cab 13 (with 'wide' bonnet and forward sloping windscreen). I can see no record of there being a 30cwt with a 158" wheelbase, hence my assumption these were F (or C) 60L 3-tonner chassis. Both Ford and Chevrolet '30s' had 134" wheelbases only, shared with the SWB version of the 60 3-tonner. You'll appreciate that I find the subject does to be a confusing one. Orders from 1941 base ordnance records do list 3-tonners being utilised for portee conversions, and the 6-pounder was not available until the spring of 1942.

Hi Mike (and Rob) I've managed to find myself a Vulcan 2-pdr kit, and have a Tamiya FGT (CMP-pattern Ford gun tractor) to start. The basis for the conversion is a 3-ton chassis, but I cannot determine if these were F60S or L chassis: in other words short wheelbase (134") or long wheelbase (158") variants - or whether both were used. Any thoughts?

many thanks Mike, I'm not yet committed on which base vehicle to use. I think I am going to go with a CMP 30cwt, Ford or Chevrolet Cab 13 using a Mirror Models donor kit ......... or there's using a cut-down Quad. The more I look into this, the more the combinations seem to open up. I'm aware that the Sovereign 2000 gun is 1/32, but may have to live with it unless I can obtain a European-sourced Vulcan kit (postage from US is unrealistic).

I'm likewise working up to a build, and have just bought a resin Sovereign 2000 2 pdr, the Vulcan seemingly unavailable anywhere now. The list of base vehicles used seems extensive.

hi dov, I have since come across another image of the same Czech vehicle (same registration # and background), though it claims to be on display in Vienna

The were connections between Schneider (the SOMUA parent company) and the Skoda works in Czechoslovakia: I believe some design ideas were being shared. The suspension system patented by Aleksei Surin is thought to be the basis for that employed by the Somua S-35. Could it be that one or more were purchased by the French to test against the S-35, which was coming off the production line at the same time? The Czechs were exporting tanks right up until the German invasion of March 1939 though I have never seen sales to France mentioned

Hi there, echoing Das Abteilung, it remains the case, to my best knowledge, that no-one has attempted the oft-called 'Nairn' open turret as used by the 11th Hussars in model form. Apart from that famous IWM picture featured on p89 of your Haynes book, I've only ever seen one other picture which you'll find via any search engine. You'd have to scratch-build a turret based on these two photos. Incidentally, it may have been inspired by, but is not the same as that fitted ion the Morris C9 armoured car, also used by the Hussars