FOV AAV's on EBAY

[chesy]

Has anyone spotted the recently released AAV kit from FOV anyplace other than EBAY? There are several new pics on the ebay site of the kit close up 3/4 views and it looks great. I served in Iraq with 7th Marine Regt in an AAV unit and can vouch for the accuracy of the markings... "I/3/4" on the shroud stands for India Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regt which provided 7th Marines with it's 3rd infantry battlion for the assault, the upward chevron a tactical marking.... the tractor itself belonged to Alpha Company, 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion which provided the lift for 3/4 and it's Bn logo is the diamond with a "3" over a wavy line and an "A" for Alpha Company underneath. Finally, the Bull's Head marking forward of the diamond is 3/4's distinct logo and was put on all it's vehicle assets before the war. Kit looks very accurate and depicts what we called a "straight-leg" with the older suspension and exhaust and sports EAK Armor, an applique' kit mounted on the sides to increase survivability (sometimes it did'nt work and we lost about 50 overall in the assault-not all due to enemy action). Alpha was a mixed unit and also had "Rammer's", the newer version amtrac with the Bradley suspension (yep, the same exact road wheels and return rollers, etc, as seen on the M 2 Bradley) with about 75 more HP and a muffler on top of the vehicle. I have yet to see even a conversion of an older straight leg kit to a newer Rammer though by now the Corps has upgraded it's entire inventory of Tractors to RAM/RS standard... for the record, we sported all vehicles, Abrams, Tracs, Hummers, etc, in both the desert and woodland green patterns and just kept them as they came off the ships since we had little time to prepare for the attack.

[aferguson]

i wonder if there are any statistics kept of vehicles lost that were in desert camo vs. vehicles lost that were in woodlands camo. i.e. did the camouflage paint make any difference at all to the survivability of a vehicle? My guess is that it has not in the Iraqi conflict but it would be interesting to know for sure.

[krieglok]

I remember seeing the newscasts showing the AAVs being driven inland over 100 miles. Pretty tough machines. The paint question is interesting. They probably all started to look a similar color from all the dust and grime after a while. The solid desert color was probably helpful in the desert but that is about it. Once a vehicle moves, casts a shadow or a glint of relection, the camo isnt much help. If there was a serious air or gunnery threat, parking in a shadow, along a ditch or near vegetation and using netting comes into play. Since most of the action in Iraq was fairly close quarter or urban, the camo question probably wasnt a problem, IMHO.

TJ

[chesy]

Good question about the paint job on vehicles lost... I can't recall with any certainty other than both were surely victims. I know for sure my crew and I saw a gutted desert tan painted USMC Abrams near Baghdad and we just looked at eachother stunned, we had previously thought them indestructable. We had to go around it and kept moving but I later heard all the damage was to the outside and no penetrations were achieved... molotov cocktails were mentioned as well and it was in an urban area. The crew was said to have survived, thankfully. A fw Amtracks hit became catastrophic loses, seeming to come apart at the weld seams from the lower hull upward after exploding internally. It was pretty disturbing... we lost a few to mines the closer we got to Baghdad which often showed only lower hull damage to the suspension. Lots of burned and damaged Hummers and even a few trucks. Don't get me wrong, it would almost sound as if it was an even fight and that was not the case, I am just trying to provide a glimpse of some of the damage incurred by our side. For every destroyed American vehicle I saw there were 20 Iraqi, often done by our Helicopters just prior to our arriving on the seen.

[chesy]

...one last final detail on the AAV's, camo retained it's appearance for the most part until the big sandstorm about a week into the war when everything took on a reddish-hue. This gradually wore off as we went further north. As for maintanance I was really pleased overall and my section of 4 had only one breakdown (my own) during the push to Baghdad (a sheared fan-shaft) but overall it was due to the efforts of the crews and maint. guys hard work. This was great as the applique' kits added 6,000 lbs to the vehicle weight and would strain suspension parts to the limit. Iraqi equipment was often in a state of disrepair and we encountered a lot of abandoned vehicles early on. They got better as we got closer to Baghdad with more T 72's and BMP-2's. I was suprised to see a few abandoned & destroyed Iraqi M 113 personnel carriers. I saw them up close and there was no mistake, they were'nt the Chi-com made APC's that look similar from a distance. The biggest suprise to me was a Sherman tank in Iraqi colors, reported to me by a friend who shared my interest in model tanks, etc. I did not see it myself but consider him very reliable and believe him. We were astounded but most guys did'nt seem to care, lol... He did not notice the particulars such as HVSS or older, standard suspension so I have no real details to give... would be an interesting subject for a model however. Well, I'll stop writing these novels and do some more searching for the AAV kit online. Hope these posts helped some of you guys with a nack for detail... any questions feel free to write my email and I will try to help with any detail questions or pictures, etc.

[Jagdplastic]

I'm not into moderm armor myself, but I did find Chesy's accounts extremely interesting. Thank you for sharing them with us and thanks, also, for your efforts over there.

[aferguson]

interesting stuff is right!..

[krieglok]

The Sherman tank story is true. It showed up in an article in the Army`s internet version of "Stars and Stripes". I believe it was a US Marine unit that took the tank and "restored" it into a US Army scheme. It is on display over in Iraq and there may be plans to bring it back to the States.

TJ

[chesy]

...Hey again, guys. I thought I'd share a few afterthoughts after thinking about some of the questions I saw posted in this thread. On the subject of green camo vs desert tan I don't really recall thinking the difference helped all that much as it was mostly a war of movement. I remember tests conducted at 29 Palms (desert training center) a year prior to the war with a green AAAV and a tan AAAV (AAAV=Avanced Assault Amphibian Vehicle) and it was said the tan vehicles' inside temp was 4-5 degrees cooler in the crew compts. Much of the Marine's advance was up the Euphrates river valley and a reasonable amount of vegetation and trees were present to help blend in with when halted. Iraqi vehicles were uniformly painted a duller tan than that of the US forces... They would also configure a fair amount of civilian pick up trucks to "technical" standards by installing crew serves in the beds. I hardly remember any Iraqi soldiers still in uniform when engaged/captured or killed as they all seemed to have donned "civvies" or robes to disguise themselves... of course many were fedayeen and insurgants and not regular Army of whom many simply went home after disgarding their weapons. One last curious episode stands out in my memory, near Babylon as we retrograded I saw a row of flatbed rail cars with armor and APC's loaded for transport TOWARD the fighting judging from the locomotive... all were shot up from the air and left on the tracks. I was suprised that they would attempt such a move in the face of total coalition air control, shades of Normandy... Thanks for the props and I hope this gives some insight into the different facets of the action over there. I should mention I was as scared as anyone else, too...