U.S.M.C Sheridan air defence vehicle.

[chrisonord]

This vehicle represents a project built by US Marine corps engineers as bit of fun. However this vehicle attracted interest from the powers that be and put the vehicle forward for evaluation. The Sheridan tank which was kept in storage along with 20 others at a Marine Corps vehicle repair and upgrade yard, and was due to be either sent to a museum or the firing range. A group of mechanical engineers decided to have a bit of fun with this particular vehicle and stripped its original gun armament off, and replaced it with a GAU-25 from an AV-8B, and made brackets to mount the 4 stinger boxes that originally were mounted on an OH-6.This was as far as it went as there were no electronics going spare to operate the gun and missiles, so it was an all show no go machine. Then the DoD stepped in and had the vehicle fitted out with all the needed electronics to power the weapons systems, these were a modified version used in the LAV-25 Piranah ADV. The initial tests were positive, and showed much potential, plus the cost of conversion would be a fraction of developing a whole new vehicle and system from scratch.
The vehicle illustrated is part of the USMC expeditionary task force sent to Honduras, where its agility and amphibious capability will make it an excellent defensive system.




Cheers,
Chris.         

[Captain Canada]

The rocks in behind look great...but it's kinda hard to tell what's going on with the model ! Neat concept, tho...and it's an amphib ? Cool ! Were the original Sheridans amphibs ?

[Doc Yo]

 I'm guessing this is the old Airfix kit? Nice looking build, and the background does make the cammo
effective! ( But some closer shots on a plain backdrop would be welcome! )

[chrisonord]

The rocks in behind look great...but it's kinda hard to tell what's going on with the model ! Neat concept, tho...and it's an amphib ? Cool ! Were the original Sheridans amphibs ?

Yes the Sheridans were amphibious, well thats what I have read anyhow, and yes again  it is the Airfix 1/72nd scale kit. I am glad my camo scheme is working on the pics but I should have done it on a different background, as the "rocks" is my house  I will dig out my other USMC ADV's, and photograph them together. Looks like its back to the blue recycling bin then 
Chris.

[ChernayaAkula]

Cool concept!
Where did you source the Gatling from?

<...> Looks like its back to the blue recycling bin then 

Don't think it's the background. Maybe just try talking the pics from farther out. In all your pics, the stones look perfectly sharp. That seems to be the optimum distance without macro. If the tank or plane then appear too small in your pics, crop them. I use Picasa to crop my pics. Pretty easy and fast with that. But even ye olde MS Paint will do the job (although it's less convenient to use).

[ysi_maniac]

^^^^^ Yeah! how did you make the gatling gun?

BTW, I love your Sheridan.

[chrisonord]

Thanks for the advice Moritz, I will give all those tips a go 
As for the gattling gun, it is a scratch built one, It is made from some small diameter brass tube, some styrene tube and the business end of an Airfix 1/72nd scale F-4 gun pod, cut down reshaped and bored out with a small drill bit. I glued the brass tubes into the muzzle end first, then added  the styrene tubing to the rear end. I made an identical gun for my over gunned boat I built last year.
Cheers,
Chris.

[Sauragnmon]

I gotta admit, I'd hate to be the poor fuzzy bunny on the receiving end of that...  Nice work.