Huey M60 Door Gunner

Razor17019 · Post by **Razor17019** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 3:19 pm

Hi-
I have been wanting to make a Vietnam dio of a Huey with door gunners.
Any ideals on what I should use to mount the M60 in the door of the Huey?
What was used in real life?
Thanks!

Post by **aferguson** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 4:12 pm

On gunships, like the 21c Huey model, m60's were almost always hung from the ceiling of the cabin with a bungee cord. Ammo boxes were kept on the floor. The gunners often wore a 'monkey harness' which was a five point harness with about 10 feet of strap running from the back of it and attatched to the floor of the cabin. This way the gunners would only drop a few feet if they fell out while using the gun but it gave them plenty of freedom of movement. Gunners would often put one foot on the skid and fire underneath the Huey at enemy troops below.

On troop carrying slicks (which the 21c is not, despite what they call it) the m60 was usually pintle mounted (that means mounted on a post basically) and the gunner had a seat and a giant ammo bin full of belt ammo and usually, different coloured smoke grenades as well. The pintle mount did not offer the same degree of movement for the gun as the bungee mount but was a more stable platform from which to fire.

If you look on the web you should be able to find plenty of pictures of both kinds of mounts. Gunners usually wore flak jackets or sometimes the same chicken armour the pilots wore.

Dusty Trails is coming out with a beautiful 6 inch figure of a Huey door gunner and if you look at pics of it on the net it should be very useful as research..

tderespino · Post by **tderespino** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 3:39 am

here is some good referance material I used to convert 2 hogheads to a HU-1D long cab..

http://www.cavhooah.com/m-60_gun.htm

tderespino · Post by **tderespino** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 5:25 am

here is a pic of the Huey, it still needs work...tom

http://community.webshots.com/photo/192 ... 3958aJGsra

digger · Post by **digger** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 10:08 am

Tom - Very cool as usual.
Razor - there are pics of gunships with door gunners who are seated with the gun stationary. You could do one like that without losing accuracy. Indeed, it seems the gunner better have been inside on some ships when the rockets were firing

Razor17019 · Post by **Razor17019** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 12:16 pm

Thanks everybody for your comments and links.
Gives me something to go on.
Anyone of our board members serve as a door gunner?
Thanks!

macvsog · Post by **macvsog** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 1:17 pm

A lot of the slicks that i was on had a similar set up to that you see in toms pictures, where the gunners are sitting towards the back etc.

Except, what i experienced was that the pivot mounts Aferg spoke of were replaced. I never asked anyone about it, but they were usually cords, typically that yellow "hospitol" tubing. I don't know if you know what I'm talking about, but there were also more traditional black bungee cords.

I think the reason for this is exactly what aferg pointed out, that it allowed better freedom of movement.

-mike-

DocTodd · Post by **DocTodd** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 5:57 pm

Nice job Tom. Did you pirate from a Blackhawk to extend the fuselage or another Huey? Or did you do some other method?
Thanks,
Todd

tderespino · Post by **tderespino** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 4:22 am

I cut up 2 of the first release 21st century Huey's, one back towards the engine and one just behind the pilot seats..

I made the double door from 2 doors.

I cut back around the engine to put in the Gunners seat..

It was a big job and I would like to do another, I might this time just take one huey apart and add some plastic styrene to rebuild it..

I wish BBI or century 21 would make one properly. I really think it would be a big seller.. every 21st huey release has been the same bird with different paint.

Ta-152 · Post by **Ta-152** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 12:37 pm

Here's what i did. Not accurate or great, but it works for me at the moment. I may make a bungee attachment later if i get motivated.

http://images.snapfish.com/343777432323 ... %3B9ot1lsi

digger · Post by **digger** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 1:35 pm

Cool Enough

Welcome to the Board! I guess I'm OK with those snakes in the US Gunship...

Morian Miner · Post by **Morian Miner** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 1:50 pm

Hey, COBRA got smart and realized its better to buy surplus equipment rather than develop their own vehicles.

INTREPER · Post by **INTREPER** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 2:06 pm

COBRA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA!!!

Ta-152 · Post by **Ta-152** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 2:20 pm

Morian Miner wrote:Hey, COBRA got smart and realized its better to buy surplus equipment rather than develop their own vehicles.

You ever seen a Cobra design that looked like it would actually fly?

Have no doubts, if i had the money and could find another one, i'd make a Huey in Cobra colors and armament.

momaw nadon · Post by **momaw nadon** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 5:36 pm

Didn't the D models have the bungee cords too? Maybe the earlier versions? I am doing a UH-1D also, but I didn't want to make mounts. I might in the future, but the bungee cord I think looks cooler. Might have to do that on my gunship, if it was never done on the troop transports. Thanks
momaw nadon

Post by **aferguson** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 5:51 pm

bungees were definitely used on troop transports too. The pintle mount was what was intended to be used but as noted above they used bungee mounts instead sometimes.