M48A5 AVLB
Comentários
Awesome project and nice build, mate. 👍 Where did you get the detailed info for the inside parts of the Bridge from?
I found some walk around photographs as a starting point, then I went the technical manual for both the bridge and the launcher & chassis. Very good resources. I also have some first hand experience with combat engineer vehicles that helped to know what wasn't correct. Research gave me the missing details.
TM 5-5420-202-10 LAUNCHER, M48A5 TANK CHASSIS
NSN 5420-01-076-6096 (EIC: ARE)
TM 5-5420-203-14 BRIDGE, ARMORED-VEHICLE LAUNCHED:
SCISSORING TYPE CLASS 60 & CLASS 70, ALUMINUM, 60 FOOT SPAN
Prime Portal has been a great resource for many of my builds. There are multiple AVLB walk-around photo essays of AVLBs and many other vehicles found here. primeportal.net/the_battlefield_armor.htm
70 is the military load class (MLC) of the bridge. How much weight it can support. Measured in short tons (2,000lbs per ton). 140,000lbs. This bridge was recently upgraded (reinforced bracing) from MLC 60 - thus the newer color on the 70.
The latest set of pictures are now up. Finished the figures and stowage. A few final items to do and then a little light dusting. Building a custom acrylic case top for this. An unusual set of dimensions. The figures were challenging - faces in 1/35 scale is not a strength of mine. Scratchbuilt the camouflage system net and pole bags. After market lifts don't make these correctly.
There are too little bridge layers around here! Great to see yours. Good tank, great bridge.
That's Sgt. Hynemann telling Pvt. Savage, "Well, there's your problem". Nice!
Album info
This build is an M48A5 chassis AVLB during the 1991 Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm) with the M48A5 chassis painted in U.S. Army San, and the bridge painted in Woodland camouflage (or an earlier green camouflage pattern).
Update- the bridge and launcher are done. Moving forward on the M48A5 chassis.
The build starts with the launcher and then the bridge sections. Each of these sections is almost a kit in itself. Since I want to display the bridge in the "A" position (almost vertical), I am spending significant time working on scratch building the hydraulics for launcher and the bridge sub structure, plus correcting the solid support panels under the bridge. The kits part are solid sheets of styrene whereas the real thing has either triangular cut outs or "L" shaped cross plating to reduce weight and retain strength.