USCG UH-65A Dolphin by Jack12477 - 1:48 scale - Trumpeter - FINISHED

[Egilman]

49 minutes ago, lmagna said:

He bragged that when they shot a round from their main gun, it was not IF they hit the target, it was WHERE they hit!

No doubt, the Shillegah was a 152 mm wire guided missile.... (just keep the crosshairs on the target) They could fire that and a low velocity standard heat round, ask him if such held true when firing that..... (no it didn't) The main dish about the Sheridan was it didn't carry a lot of ammo compared to a real tank, and it was very lightly armored, but it was light and air-transportable and that 152 mm missile would make scrap iron out of anything it hit. Tow missiles rendered it obsolescent. 

 

They also mounted the Shillelagh missile system in the M-60A2 which was nicknamed the "Starship" The troops in Germany, (where most of them were deployed) were real happy when they traded in their Starships for M-60A3's The Shillelagh was not considered a successful weapon system, when it worked, it worked well, but that was it's main problem, keeping it working in the field...

Edited April 8, 2020 by Egilman

[Edwardkenway]

1 minute ago, Jack12477 said:

Why the minority on Sherman? 

Text blindness,  I meant definite in my liking of the Sherman 😖 

Battle of the Bulge, another favourite film of a desperate time, touch and go for the allies. Coincidentally just finished re-watching Band of Brothers  episode set in the Ardennes/Bastogne

[Jack12477]

8 minutes ago, Egilman said:

that 152 mm missile would make scrap iron out of anything it hit

Oh Yea !!!!  Saw classified photos when I was in Army of the first test fire they did, remotely fired of course; had an in-bore explosion.   Holy Shxxt, Batman !!!!!   

[Old Collingwood]

3 minutes ago, Edwardkenway said:

Text blindness,  I meant definite in my liking of the Sherman 😖 

Battle of the Bulge, another favourite film of a desperate time, touch and go for the allies. Coincidentally just finished re-watching Band of Brothers  episode set in the Ardennes/Bastogne

One of mine was  "A bridge too far"     after watching the film as a teenager  I went out and brought the Airfix Dio kit  of the same  thing  - soldiers and Tanks and the bridge  all in 1/72.

 

OC.

[Jack12477]

14 minutes ago, Egilman said:

Tow missiles rendered it obsolescent

I think the technology developed by/for Shillelagh was later used for TOW, but I was out of Army by then, so couldn't follow it 

[lmagna]

1 hour ago, Jack12477 said:

The Sheridan/Shillelagh weapon system was under development at the Arsenal I was stationed at, my civilian boss was the Project Manager.

So was what I was told true, or just bragging?

[Canute]

Jack, hope your Shermans have markings for the 4th or 10th Armored Divisions. The 4th was Patton's spearhead heading up to Bastogne. The 10th was the division my Uncle Jimmy served in and helped open Bastogne. My Dad was one of the MPs directing traffic up those frozen French and Belgian roads. I still get goose bumps in mid December remembering Dad's tales of Shermans sliding off the high crowned frozen roads into the ditches.

[Jack12477]

3 minutes ago, lmagna said:

So was what I was told true, or just bragging?

Don't know for sure, Lou.  When I left Army it was still in development, working the bugs out of the system. But from the damage it did to turret, barrel, and tank after the in-bore, I would say yes. I remember one of the engineers commenting "now if we can just hit the enemy tank".  I don't know how it performed in service. 

[Jack12477]

6 minutes ago, Canute said:

Jack, hope your Shermans have markings for the 4th or 10th Armored Divisions. The 4th was Patton's spearhead heading up to Bastogne. The 10th was the division my Uncle Jimmy served in and helped open Bastogne. My Dad was one of the MPs directing traffic up those frozen French and Belgian roads. I still get goose bumps in mid December remembering Dad's tales of Shermans sliding off the high crowned frozen roads into the ditches.

The boxes came shrink wrapped, haven't looked inside yet.   My Dad's youngest brother was a Captain in a tank retrieval unit somewhere in France, can't remember where tho.   

[Old Collingwood]

38 minutes ago, Jack12477 said:

The boxes came shrink wrapped, haven't looked inside yet.   My Dad's youngest brother was a Captain in a tank retrieval unit somewhere in France, can't remember where tho.   

Small world  Jack/Ken.

 

OC.

[mtaylor]

Here's probably more than you'll ever want to know about the Sheridan.... https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/the-curious-case-the-us-armys-m551-sheridan-light-tank-19227.   They just reposted this article recently. 

 

[Egilman]

7 hours ago, lmagna said:

So was what I was told true, or just bragging?

True, as far as he went, there was no real issue with the missile/warhead, it would toast anything it detonated against. The problem was with the electronic control systems, first generation, they were figuring it out. I actually heard from someone who needs to remain nameless that the real reason it was deployed was two-fold, #1, proof of concept under field conditions, #2, so much money was spent on development that to justify the expenditure Congress required it's deployment..... (most people haven't a clue how much congressional issues affect military developments, you don't keep the congress critters happy, you don't get funding)

 

Shilleagh had a relatively short life as far as military weapons system go, the troops didn't like it from a reliability standpoint. From it's development we got the TOW Missile and eventually the Hellfire which is a true destroy anything it hits weapon. So on that basis it was considered a success... In the Iraq war, both of them, most Iraqi tanks were destroyed by TOW's or Hellfire's around 73% if I remember right. The Abram's were used exclusively in the role they were designed for, breakthrough and exploitation leaving the Bradley's & Missile carrying HMMWV's to clean up the rest.... No contest.... 

[Jack12477]

Mark, EG,  thanks for the information.

 

After I left the Army I didn't pay much attention to anything military, was to busy learning how to program the operating system for large mainframe computers. Got interested in the Tamiya tank kits after seeing them at my local hobby shop.  Kinda did what RGL is doing with his ship models. Picked US, British and German WWII tanks that "struck my fancy" and built them, but didn't do much digging into their history. 

[Edwardkenway]

1 minute ago, Jack12477 said:

Picked US, British and German WWII tanks that "struck my fancy" and built them, but didn't do much digging into their history. 

That's basically how I pick all my models because if you like them you're more likely to finish them😋

[lmagna]

4 hours ago, Edwardkenway said:

if you like them you're more likely to finish them

That is 100% true. All of the potential builds that draw my attention are related to something I either experienced or read about. Unfortunately I do a lot of reading! 

[Edwardkenway]

33 minutes ago, lmagna said:

Unfortunately I do a lot of reading! 

Depends how you look at it, wether it's unfortunate. 

You'll never be short of subject matter🤓

[Jack12477]

Well, it is now finished.  All the decals are applied, the final fiddly bits attached, radio antenna wired, and a coat of floor wax applied to seal everything and give it a nice gloss finish. Now to find a place to display it in my ever shrinking display areas. 

 

Thanks for following along, the comments, critiques, and assorted off-topic side conversations - enjoyed them all.

 

Photos follow:

 

In case anyone is wondering, it carries the markings for Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City (Michigan , I believe)

 

Stay tuned for the next incarceration build

 

 

Edited April 9, 2020 by Jack12477

[Egilman]

2 hours ago, lmagna said:

That is 100% true. All of the potential builds that draw my attention are related to something I either experienced or read about. Unfortunately I do a lot of reading! 

That is part of the fun of modeling, doing the research and learning about a subject, either historical or scientific.....

[Edwardkenway]

1 hour ago, Jack12477 said:

Well, it is now finished

Good job Jack, it's very red! We don't get many red ones over here, ours are very yellow,  or yellow and blue.  I like it😃😃

 

1 hour ago, Jack12477 said:

Stay tuned for the next incarceration build

I'm in before you start, that is unless you've already started it🤪

[Jack12477]

40 minutes ago, Edwardkenway said:

ours are very yellow,  or yellow and blue

In the 1940s and 1950s our USCG helos were bright yellow also, for the centennial of Coast Guard aviation they painted  a few yellow like the JayHawk below:

Haven't started a new build yet , still debating what I want to do. But I will definitely welcome you aboard when I do.

 

Thanks for the compliments.

 

[Old Collingwood]

Really really nice Jack  well done finishing it,    I have already  put my hammock up  in the garden  waiting for your next one  - in fact I like it already.

 

OC.

[Jack12477]

Thanks OC

[popeye the sailor]

congratz on finishing Jack........took me awhile to get to your log....but boy!..........it was so worth it!    great looking bevy of tanks........look'in forward to seeing your next log......which ever makes the cut first  

[mtaylor]

Well done, Jack.  Definitely two thumbs up on the model.

[Egilman]

Very Impressive Jack, well done....

[cog]

Nicely done Jack

[GrandpaPhil]

Well done!

[Jack12477]

Thanks, Phil