rustybaer
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Post by rustybaer on Jul 2, 2020 18:39:48 GMT -6
Okay, what's a Slammer? Good question. It was a proposal by Soltam, Ltd for an alternative to the M109, a 155mm gun in a fully enclosed rotating turret mounted on a Merkava 1 hull. Soltam built two, and it was axed due to high cost and the lack of available Merkava hulls. I wanted to scratch one in the worst way, but I only have two pictures of the thing, and it would mean lots of guesswork. I shelved the idea, held on to the old Museum Ordnance mag from 1996 that has the article, and forgot about it. Then I was cruising the Sprue Bros weekly special a little while ago, and the Meng kit of the French AUF 1 TA 155 was on sale for $35." What a deal!" I said and bought two. I only wanted one, must have been a little hasty with the buttons..... Anyway, I had the brilliant idea (modest, aren't I?) to do a Slammer-type SPH, a perfect way to use up the Meng Merk 3 I have that's missing turret parts. So what I'm telling myself is that Soltam stayed at it, cooperated with the French (been done before) and paired up the AUF 1 turret with now-available Merkava hulls, in this case a Merk 3, hence "Slammer II". Works for me. So, today I grafted the Merk turret ring onto the AUF turret base, and checked it for fit. So far so good.  IMG_1358 by Russel Baer, on Flickr By the way, the AUF turret base has some really huge ejector pin marks. Deep, big, and half of them were actual studs sticking up. Wow.
I have a spare set of Friuls for a Merk 1 to use, and other than that, most everything will come out of two boxes. All I have to scratch is a really big gun travel lock, but I'm off to my happy place.
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Post by dogfish7 (R.I.P.) on Jul 2, 2020 23:24:33 GMT -6
Never heard of one. but will sure watch.  I'd like to see a pic of this Hybrid Tank, Rusty. |
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rustybaer
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Post by rustybaer on Jul 3, 2020 14:40:47 GMT -6
On the way! Here's a pic of the actual vehicle, all credit to Museum Ordnance. It's big.
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Post by JCON on Jul 3, 2020 15:47:56 GMT -6
Yup that's a big bad boy alright!!!  |
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Post by dogfish7 (R.I.P.) on Jul 3, 2020 16:35:18 GMT -6
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Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2020 23:37:47 GMT -6
I never heard of one either. I spent time with the 1/77 FA 1st Cav. We were a 155 self-propelled unit. I was a 13E20 - Fire Direction Control. We operated out of an M577 - Command Post Carrier. I was the driver. I shook the daylights out of the guys more than once. When the Lt said GO, I went - fast. LOL!
Looking forward to seeing this thing built.
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Post by JED on Jul 4, 2020 13:49:55 GMT -6
Looking good to me,I'm in for this build
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Post by BUCKY on Jul 4, 2020 18:03:39 GMT -6
I'm certainly gonna check in!
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rustybaer
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Post by rustybaer on Jul 4, 2020 19:54:39 GMT -6
Keep in mind I'm using the AUF 1 turret, so it won't be quite as massive, but it's still going to me hefty. I hope to get some more done next week, watching the neighbors blow stuff up now.
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rustybaer
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Post by rustybaer on Jul 8, 2020 17:33:11 GMT -6
Oh boy, it actually looks like it could have worked in real life....  IMG_1361 by Russel Baer, on Flickr I blame Meng for this: they did a very nice open/close mechanism for the rear hull door, and the interior of the door itself, so I thought I's model it in the open position. Cool, right? Well, open doors mean you can see inside, and there's nothing inside. So.....  IMG_1363 by Russel Baer, on Flickr Pure fiction of course, but not much is visible through the door anyway, and the driver's hatch will be closed (I may have some dumb ideas, but I'm not stupid). I think.  IMG_1362 by Russel Baer, on Flickr All I had to do was make sure the driver could exit the back with the turret straight ahead, then imagineer some sort of turret basket. And.... Meng did a lot of interior detail on the floor and inside walls of the turret, I wonder why they never went ahead and did a full interior? With all the doors, it would have been really neat. |
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Post by JCON on Jul 8, 2020 17:48:45 GMT -6
Very cool indeed!!!
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Post by dogfish7 (R.I.P.) on Jul 8, 2020 19:18:01 GMT -6
That will be Edward Extra kit for $50. |
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rustybaer
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Post by rustybaer on Jul 16, 2020 8:57:13 GMT -6
Funny, I now have a bunch of pics of the real thing, all exterior pics though.... I think I'll continue on as planned, as soon as I'm home. Yup, at the beach again, Galveston this time.
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Post by dogfish7 (R.I.P.) on Jul 16, 2020 9:28:26 GMT -6
Looking forward to it Russ.
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rustybaer
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Post by rustybaer on Jul 23, 2020 21:01:07 GMT -6
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rustybaer
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Post by rustybaer on Jul 23, 2020 21:11:58 GMT -6
I forgot to throw up a pic of the turret basket.....  IMG_1365 by Russel Baer, on Flickr When I peek in through the back hatch, it looks the part, which is all I needed. |
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Post by JCON on Jul 23, 2020 21:19:57 GMT -6
Looks really good!!!
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Post by BUCKY on Jul 23, 2020 21:38:56 GMT -6
Nice office!!
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Post by dogfish7 (R.I.P.) on Jul 24, 2020 7:25:58 GMT -6
Will there be enough light in there Russ?
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rustybaer
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Post by rustybaer on Jul 24, 2020 17:29:52 GMT -6
Good question Bruce. I'm actually thinking about that....
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I'd like to see a pic of this Hybrid Tank, Rusty.
