Fire Support Vehicles

Last week, I attended the annual Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting. It was a great time, especially since I didn't present anything. The down side was that my baby boy sent me off with a bad head cold! I'm sure my poor roommate now has it.  So, nothing hobby-wise got done. However, I had some recent pictures that I decided to post.

In addition to taking the pictures seen in the previous post, my daughter and I used her iPad to try some closeup shots of microarmor. I was pretty impressed. I focused on some of the fire support vehicles that Southern Chalupastan has in its arsenal.

M36B1

First up is an old M36B1 tank destroyer. It is armed with a 90mm gun. GHQ has both versions. I decided to get the B1 version with the Sherman hull just because it looks distinct. The M36 was used well past WWII, into even the 90s, so I felt justified in including it as a holdover from the First Chalupastan War.

The next two are also by GHQ. They are the M56 Scorpion and the M50 Ontos. 

M56 Scorpion

The M56 was an open, air-portable, self-propelled anti-tank gun. It served in Vietnam, but was replace with the more effective M551 Sheridan. These, too, are holdovers from the First Chalupastan War.

Ontos

Last but certainly not least, is the M50 Ontos. Its armed with six 106mm recoilless rifles. I seem to have a soft spot for oddball AFVs. Also, it seems like they are on display all over the place. I've seen more than one. They were supposed to be anti-tank weapons, but they were used more for  anti-infantry fire support in Vietnam, where they were well liked. As much as I like them, putting them together was a major pain! Fortunately, GHQ provided a few extra RRs in case you mess up. I didn't need them, but I could see them being needed.

The backstory on both the M50 and M56 is that they were rushed from the U. S. A. to Southern Chalupastan as stopgaps. The South was taking a beating and there was enough holdovers from the Vietnam War to quickly ship over. Both being airportable didn't hurt either.  Not included in their arsenal of FSVs is the M551 and the Ratel 90 FSV,  I'll get around to taking pictures of them sometime.