RAM's M41AS Vietnam 1968

[PR19_Kit]

OK, let's see if anyone (especially Aussies, Brit's, Kiwis, South Africans, Indians, West Indians or Pakistanis) can guess what this is!

A cricket kit bag?

Did they come in camo material for use in VietNam, or did the crew dye the WHITE bag? 

[Dizzyfugu]

Very nice! 

[Old Wombat]

Thanks, guys!

A cricket kit bag?

Did they come in camo material for use in VietNam, or did the crew dye the WHITE bag? 

And the winner is Kit!

No, not camo, Kit,  I wanted something a US/Vietnamese tank wouldn't be carrying & found a couple of images of 1960's leather cricket bags on the interweb, which I scratch built from Aves Apoxy Sculpt & 1mm Tamiya tape.

[PR19_Kit]

Thanks, guys!

A cricket kit bag?

Did they come in camo material for use in VietNam, or did the crew dye the WHITE bag? 

And the winner is Kit!

No, not camo, Kit,  I wanted something a US/Vietnamese tank wouldn't be carrying & found a couple of images of 1960's leather cricket bags on the interweb, which I scratch built from Aves Apoxy Sculpt & 1mm Tamiya tape.

Great, I thought it looked familiar. I had a white one, of course, back in my school days and it was exactly the same shape. REALLY good work scratchbuilding it! 

Did they have time or the space to play in VietNam? I can just imagine the looks that the US guys gave them knocking the wickets into a convenient field alongside their tank! 

[zenrat]

OK, let's see if anyone (especially Aussies, Brit's, Kiwis, South Africans, Indians, West Indians or Pakistanis) can guess what this is!

A cricket kit bag?

Did they come in camo material for use in VietNam, or did the crew dye the WHITE bag? 

Beat me to it.

Looking good Womby.

[Old Wombat]

Thanks, Fred!

Did they have time or the space to play in VietNam? I can just imagine the looks that the US guys gave them knocking the wickets into a convenient field alongside their tank! 

They're Australians, Kit, of course they had the time & place to have a hit out, just as English troops would: Now is the time! Here is the place!

The other option, still on the table, is an Australian Rules Sherrin football.

[zenrat]

...The other option, still on the table, is an Australian Rules Sherrin football.

With team scarves?

[kitnut617]

That does look really sharp Guy   

[NARSES2]

That does look good mate 

Haven't played cricket "properly" for 20 years or so, but my clubs big kit bag was mostly brown leather. Flippin' heavy to when it was full.

Just wondering if it would have carried a name ? The "Sir Donald" ? 

[PR19_Kit]

Just wondering if it would have carried a name ? The "Sir Donald" ? 

The Viet Cong would retaliate with a T-34 named 'Larwood'.............. 

[Old Wombat]

Thanks Chris &, again, Robert!

...The other option, still on the table, is an Australian Rules Sherrin football.

With team scarves?

Could combine SANFL, VFL & WANFL teams: Sturt Double Blues, Footscray Bulldogs, Subiaco Maroons & the NSWRL ring-in Parramatta Eels?

(I would have gone with the Geelong Cats but I thought you'd prefer the option provided, Fred. )

Never Port Adelaide/Collingwood Magpies, though! Oh, NO!

Just wondering if it would have carried a name ? The "Sir Donald" ? 

The Viet Cong would retaliate with a T-34 named 'Larwood'.............. 

I don't think so. Besides, the Aussies would have called it "The Don".

[nighthunter]

We Yanks would just tease them for using the Cricket set as a low tech way to sweep for landmines

[rickshaw]

We Yanks would just tease them for using the Cricket set as a low tech way to sweep for landmines

If you ever get the chance, watch the Aussie movie, 'The Dish" which is about the Parkes Radio Telescope and the part it played in Apollo 11.  In one scene, they show how they use a cricket bat and a tennis ball to "zero" the telescope's dish.   Aussies use Cricket in inventive ways!   

[rickshaw]

OK, let's see if anyone (especially Aussies, Brit's, Kiwis, South Africans, Indians, West Indians or Pakistanis) can guess what this is!



As usual, I'm open to all constructive criticism.

You need some means of securing the bag to your vehicle, otherwise it will be shaken off when it moves along.  I'd also question the placing of tools on the glacis and other areas of the vehicle in racks.  The Australian experience in Vietnam was that travelling through the jungle and bush in Vietnam, was that tools and other protruding bits and pieces would get ripped off.  It's why the Leopard AS1 had tool lockers, which protected them.  It's a tradition that has carried on the M1a1 Abrams.

Your dirt and mud looks quite good.  Well done.   

[Old Wombat]

You need some means of securing the bag to your vehicle, otherwise it will be shaken off when it moves along.

Brian (buzzbomb, not you) raised exactly this issue over on BtS.

It's actually a mood issue. Having made straps to secure the cots & the spare tracks I wasn't in the mood to do any more rope work, so I let it slide with the intention of finishing it off later as it's only a minor detail.

Then the Two Brians pick up on it.

I'd also question the placing of tools on the glacis and other areas of the vehicle in racks.  The Australian experience in Vietnam was that travelling through the jungle and bush in Vietnam, was that tools and other protruding bits and pieces would get ripped off.  It's why the Leopard AS1 had tool lockers, which protected them.  It's a tradition that has carried on the M1a1 Abrams.

The RAM tankers haven't figured that out yet.

This is set in 1968 Vietnam. Post-WW2 budget cuts saw the RAMAR reduced to barely more than enough tanks to maintain training, although events in Korea did see the Government allowing them to upgrade to Centurions from Shermans. At this time the RAMAR has only just built up its numbers, with (mostly) leased ex-US Army/USMC M41s, to a point where they can use them with any operational effectiveness. It'll be 1973 before they've built up the numbers of their Centurions sufficiently to cycle them into Vietnam.

(Note: This is not the Vietnam War in our time-line's history books.)