Egilman

Have you decoded how your going to rig it yet? it looks naked without it's cables... {chuckle} ( i know your not finished yet) a suggestion? the canvas top would look more realistic in Field Drab, it's what happened to OD green dyed canvas when it completely dried.... Excellent build on an old classic......

Thanks OC, life interuuptus is trying to rear it's ugly head again but I'm holding it off...... {chuckle}

If you like Ian Toll, you will love John Toland...... Look him up..

Ok put together a few more details as time allowed... Wheels on and body mounted... Some of the finer details added to the engine compartment and rear .... Decided that I will mount the M1919A4 gun and it's pedestal mount... I saw a lot of images of the Jeeps with the 101st on D-Day had the gun and the wire cutter so I will include both..... as far as the gun, it seems like the only pics taken were ones of them loading the thing on gliders, or in C-47's, none of them in actual use..... That's a shame cause for the first employment in europe the AB divisions primary artillery support was this gun..... Makes one think that the AB division didn't have anything other than what they jumped with... which is not correct at all... In fact they all didn't jump many battalions came in on gliders rather than jumping out of airplanes.... We always hear about the pathfinders and parachute infantry regiments, we never hear about the glider infantry regiments which in many cases took twice the casualties than their silk hung brethren... Anyway, almost done. Researched the Artillery rounds that came with the gun, they are M48 HE rounds 5 of them. in WWII in Europe they were delivered in wooden cases, two to a case and they were in protective tubes black in color with a yellow tape seal..... the only time there were shells out and about ws when there was firing going on, other than that they were never removed from their protective tubes..... So there is really no need for exposed shells in the back of the jeep..... although I may still make up a couple of crates and some of the other equipment used with the piece....... I guess the gun was meant for a diorama with a crew manning it... Next up finishing the aft details, mostly grab handles, hood, windshield and weapons... Onwards...

From Wiki..... Because the M2 was designed to operate in many configurations, it can be adapted to feed from the left or right side of the weapon by exchanging the belt-holding pawls, and the front and rear cartridge stops (three-piece set to include link stripper), then reversing the bolt switch. The operator must also convert the top-cover belt feed slide assembly from left to right hand feed as well as the spring and plunger in the feed arm. This will take a well trained individual less than two minutes to perform. The charging assembly may be changed from left to right hand charge. A right hand charging handle spring, lock wire and a little "know-how" are all that are required to accomplish this. The M2 can be battle-ready and easily interchanged if it is preemptively fitted with a retracting slide assembly on both sides of the weapon system. This eliminates the need to have the weapon removed from service to accomplish this task. Also the USAAF aircraft version used in WWII, the lightweight .50 cal AN/M2, fired at 800 to 1200 rpm through a 36" barrel....

Yeah, it was an oxygen tank, very clear along with several closeup high res shots of the ball turret on the AF Museum's website.... (the top turret had one also) The fact that the guns were not universal is true, they were built in right and left hand versions..... As far as the navigators gun position the Belle did have one, it shows on the war bond tour they did after sending her home and on the museums aircraft restoration.... Restoration.... War Bond Tour.... Dedication ceremony during tour.... Restoration work.... There are several more shots of it on the museums restoration site.... The Dorsal gun position was seldom used cause it afforded a very poor angle of fire and little to no visability to attacking aircraft... But the Belle had one.... EG

Dennis, I found these from a tour of the CAF's B-17 G with staggered gun position with the 600 rnd ammo boxes... Port side looking forward.... Starboard side looking aft... Overview looking aft.... As a comparison, here is the early B-17 waist position using 200 rnd ammo cans.... Of course there is pics of everything you would want to know about the Belle... NMUSAF 380 shots of her some pretty good colors also...... The Belle was an "F" model didn't have staggered waist guns... And another thing about the guns, the .50's used on the aircraft gunner positions on heavy bombers were not standard M2HB's... they could feed from any direction... on this ship I gave pics for above the port side gun feeds from the bottom, the starboard side gun feeds from the left side and if you look closely at the the bottom pic, the ones with ammo cans, they are feeding from opposite sides.... I don't know if that is going to help at this point.... I've been kinda out of the loop here for a while..... (sorry bout that My friend) The waist guns on the Belle fed from opposite sides the ammo boxes being astern of the guns. (like the "F" model with ammo cans) She did have the 600 rnd ammo boxes though

Down in Oregon? Mark the only one they try to keep open year round up here is Snoqualmie Pass on I-90, (and they don't always succeed) the rest get closed at least part of the year, every year...

That is the point of commitmentent right there..... First half done... You get to feel like you actually accomplished something, at least for a little while....

SR 123 Cayuse Pass is clear, open all the way to 410, Hwy 410 Chinook Pass is still closed with no idea when it will reopen...

Small update... Got the seats in and the body mounted to the chassis. still waiting on the dullcoat to dry on the dash sealing in the dash decals.... And a comparison of size..... Next up finish the Cowl and tires & wheels.... Thank you all for the views, comments and likes... EG

Yeah for the after action resulting from the actual action....

That's a Louisville Ford with a Cummins 6 isn't it? Nice work....

Central Connecticut and Southern Vermont for me, There wasn't any such thing back then...

Chuckle.... "Mort aux cons" Context is everything.... (mostly paraphrased from wiki) Death to the idiots is the name of a Jeep from the 2nd French Armored Division of General Leclerc. During the Second World War, Captain Raymond Dronne of the Free French Forces 9th Armored Combat Company, La Nueve of the Chadian March regiment of the 2nd French Armored Division, baptized his Jeep, "death to the idiots" She was the first Allied vehicle to enter Paris, August 24, 1944, during the battle for the liberation of the capital. Regarding the inscription, Charles de Gaulle would have declared Vaste program or Lourde task in comment, but the forms of the anecdote vary, proposing other contexts. Jean-Louis Delayen reports in his memoirs, (Le Baroudeur - The four wars of General Delayen) having used it during operations in the French Indochina War (Vietnam) the acronym MACVP, for "Mort aux cons, vast program!" (ie The Military Assistance Command, Vietnam Program)..... Death to the idiots.... Sounds to me like Capitaine Dronne was being prophetic in August 1944.... (as General Delayen tried to remind the French High Command of during the run up to the Vietnam War) To make it clear, The quote, in the context Delayen used it, represents an ambitious project, ran by idiots and what happened to the idiots in the end..... (there is no evidence that General/President DeGaulle ever commented publicly on it)

Heck, they close the passes around here with 4" of snow on the ground.... But then again an inch of snow closes the schools..... Me? I grew up walking to school in a foot of snow, uphill both ways........ (true story)

Yeah, I'll be working on a project out in the workshop that's going to take a few days, go in at night, and tomorrow, all the tools are picked up and put away. Sometimes not where they belong, so, it takes a while to drag them all out again..... Rinse and repeat the next day.... I'm here to tell ya, it's neat the first few times, then it becomes a real drag to getting anything done....

You have family brother... in spirit at least...

Why thank you Denis, I was thinking about making up a little ammo crate for those and sit it in the back of the Jeep.... (WWII they used wood crates for the shells) Glad to have you join in.....

Ok, step four, initial body work...... Body pan.... Radiator & Headlights Firewall & Tailgate.... Taillights!... Sitting on it's chassis.... Beginning to look like something now, next up Seats and Dashboard.... EG

Yep, cause of their speed they became multi role, (strike bombers and photo recon) aircraft very early in the war. They would fly so close to the ground on recon penetration missions that nap of the earth was considered excessive altitude.... (and one of the reasons pilots loved to fly them)

Well, we split the shift so to speak, one of each, we are lucky we still have hair.... (the psyche people advised not to pull it all out)

I call it creative ignorance, a very useful skill.....

I know, Testors is the closest to fresh OD that has fully cured. Period US OD green goes on very green when wet and when it finally completely cures, is when it leans towards that ever so slight brownish tint. Sun fading brings out the tint even more..... Looks like it is fresh out of the repair depot..... The green on the cable on the winch is a dead giveaway to that, (paint doesn't matter on a winch cable) within six months of use that green will be gone and you will have shiny tempered steel (blueblack gunmetal color) with streaks of black grease from the lube..... Nice work so far, I'm sure it's going to fit right into whatever scenario you wish to put it in...

The yellow in the OD tends to make it crisp, like freshly painted OD that hasn't had a chance to fade yet... Nice touch.....