I am just about finished with my latest army train flatcar. I did the gunjeep last year and have been working on the gun truck Snoopy II this year. It is from a Revell re-issue of an old Renwal 5 ton wrecker kit. It is in 1/32nd scale, which looks better with our trains. Usual military scale is 1/35.
Here are some closeups of the gun truck. Both vehicles were in my company, the 444 Trans near Qui Nhon, Vietnam.
The lettering is printed on Paplio ink jet vinyl from files I made on my computer.
Hey Jerry what happened to Army green, why Black?
Tom H
Wow that is really great.
Nice job on the trucks. I like the graphics.
The gun truck looks like it’s based on an M35 chassis. Or maybe the larger M54. I have lots of M35s on my HO Army train. Although I had to backdate them a bit to fit the late 1950s.
Ol’ Snoopy looks familiar…
Jerry, wonderful addition… 
Thanks guys. It is a five ton, there were some deuce gun trucks also. Most were painted black with graphics depicting the name. Names were based on popular songs/movies/bands of the time. The 444 also had Red Baron, you might remember that song of the Red Baron and Snoopy. You can read more about gun trucks on my web site, scroll down to the bottom of the railroad page and you will see links to Vietnam pages. James Lyles has written 3 books about the gun trucks of Vietnam, there were over 500 gun trucks for convoy security.
What about a five-ton with an APC mounted in the bed? There were a couple running the roads in I Corp around DaNang.
The other oddity I still tell stories about was the mine-sweepers-by-proactive activity. (I just made that up) The five toners with a bed full of boulders that would drive the roads in reverse, clearing the previous evening’s mines. The driver sat on the cowl with the steering wheel between his knees, hand throttle out, windshield folded down. No Way Jose’!!!
King Cobra was the first gun truck model I made. It shared our motor pool and I always liked it’s graphics. I had to modify a deuce cab and use a Italeri model of the M-925 for the bed/frame. This web page about my Snoopy II build in 1/35th scale gives you and idea of how I did it. http://thescrr.com/Snoopy/
(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/jerrybarnes/Gun%20Truck%20Models/KCfrontAng.jpg)
(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/jerrybarnes/Gun%20Truck%20Models/KCback.jpg)
Very nice work!
Why were the gun trucks black?
Terry
I remember seeing one of those that used an APC body in the bed, but I don’t remember the name.
There were quite a few APC bodied gun trucks. Big Bad John, TheBig Kahuna, Budah, and about a dozen more. James has a book devoted to them in one of his books.
http://vietnamguntruck.tripod.com/HaveGunsWillTravel.html
My web guy put this article on a web page for me, scroll down towards the bottom to read the article that was in Stars and Stripes in Vietnam, about gun trucks.
Terry Burr said:
Very nice work!
Why were the gun trucks black?
Terry
I would like to know myself Terry? Unless they are a very dark green?
Jerry
Ken
David
?
David Russell said:
Terry Burr said:
Very nice work!
Why were the gun trucks black?
Terry
I would like to know myself Terry? Unless they are a very dark green?
Jerry
Ken
David
?
I remember them being dark green and black but I don’t know why they were black. Probably just a popular color, or it made the graphics stand out…
Black was so they would stand out. VC could see the convoys had them, some gun trucks were really scary to them, like the ones with mini-guns on them. Crews had great esprit de corps and were proud of their trucks and what they were doing. After a convoy, they had to pull maintenance on their trucks, clean up the brass and clean the guns. LOTS of extra work to be on a gun truck.
Thanks…BTW the models look great!
Maybe black was chosen because that was the paint they had around the motor pool. ???
Sometimes it was as simple as that.
I love it Jerry. BTW, Thanks for the links.
Nice work!
I got the vehicles tied down good, so declaring this done and ready for shipping.
(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/gunjeep444/_forumfiles/may2013/GtgjFlatDone.JPG)
Might have to keep it inside though.
Yessir! that looks the part!
Chains seem a little loose there, Jerry…
