Uranium mining defence force Stuart infantry support and suppressive fire vehicl

[chrisonord]

Yet another ww2 vehicle kept out of retirement and modified for purpose. This Stuart mk1 has been re engined, and had its 37mm gun removed and replaced with a pair of 7.62mm miniguns, for the infantry support role. It was and never will be the fastest vehicle, but it is still more than useful at moving with infantry and providing suppressive fire. Needless to say, when the insurgents see one of the four in service, they either make a swift retreat, or dig themselves in deep. I have yet to find something to use as a sighting system to stick on the turret roof, so that will be my last job before painting.
Cheers.

[Weaver]

That'd work - the biggest issue would be keeping it in ammo, but there was a V-150 variant with a minigun so it must be possible.

Another option would be a 7.62mm minigun plus a 40mm grenade launcher: same firepower as a Hueycobra but just a tad cheaper...

[chrisonord]

That'd work - the biggest issue would be keeping it in ammo, but there was a V-150 variant with a minigun so it must be possible.

Another option would be a 7.62mm minigun plus a 40mm grenade launcher: same firepower as a Hueycobra but just a tad cheaper...

That had also crossed my mind too H, I have most of a huey cobra somewhere in the stash, and thought about pilfering the minigun and grenade launcher from it. Ammo storage will be a problem, but in wiff world, it will suffice. 

[Wardukw]

A pint size tank with high speed pew pew's ..freakin love it   
That M3 would only need a crew of 2 or 3 to will make it a very useful little tool of the trade ,,just tell em to be careful with those triggers 

[chrisonord]

Cheers Phil, it all went together well apart from the dreaded tracks, as they need melting together, and carefully so.
I have enjoyed these three hasegawa tanks, even if the 3D printed ones are meant for a 1/76th sherman not 72nd scale, as I have measured them against the hull of a dead 76th sherman, and they fit perfectly. 

[Wardukw]

There's just some things about this which i really like ,,like the barrel ya used as the gun mantlet ,,that's a very cool trick mate and it looks good too ..i'm gonna have to remember that if i have a problem with a gun mantlet bud   

[Old Wombat]

The Cadillac-Gage 1 metre turret could be your Cal .50 / 40mm GL go-to for the Stuart.

[Weaver]

... and thought about pilfering the minigun and grenade launcher from it. Ammo storage will be a problem, but in wiff world, it will suffice. 

Not much point with the grenade launcher: the visible bit of the one on the Hueycobra was just a plain tube. In fact, if you were mounting it in a tank turret, you could usefully put a longer barrel on it to extract a bit more muzzle velocity.

[Weaver]

Cheers Phil, it all went together well apart from the dreaded tracks, as they need melting together, and carefully so.

When I was building a lot of tanks for wargaming, I got in the habit of stitching the tracks together with silver-grey cotton thread. Works a treat once you get the hang of how to knot it with the needle. These days I'd put the thread in, then hold the joint closed with locking tweezers while I knotted the thread.

[kerick]

The minigun plus 40mm appeals to me. Anything bigger than that just call for the Shermanish.
Ammo storage is always an issue. There is never enough. That's why some WW2 vehicles switched out .50 cal for .30 cal just to be able to carry more of the smaller ammo boxes. If nothing else, fix up a cargo half track for resupply of ammo and fuel. ⛽️ That would make a good next project!

[Weaver]

I mean, on a realistic, strictly practical level, ammo usage is precisely why ground vehicles don't generally use Gatling guns. Unlike an aircraft that might get no more than a dozen 50-round burst in between reloading, a ground vehicle might have to endure in constant combat for hours without resupply, and most of it's targets don't need a sky-high rate of fire to engage them successfully. The exception is anti-aircraft work, which is much like the air-to-air case, i.e. there's a need to put as many round on target as possible during a fleeting firing opportunity.

There are other reasons to use a Gatling gun on a ground vehicle apart from pure practicality though. Perhaps the greatest is psychological intimidation: miniguns are scary as hell when you're on the receiving end. If you're fighting irregular forces, who are possibly inexperienced, under-trained and under-equipped, then the sheer "how the f#@! are we supposed to even fight that thing?" factor may be very significant. If you're up against a chug-chugging GPMG then you can convince yourself that if you duck and weave well enough you've have a decent chance of not getting hit. It's a lot harder to tell yourself that when you're up against a ballistic sand-blaster...

One possible justification for having two miniguns might be that you can keep firing one while you change the ammo can on the other. Changing cans is likely not a five-second exercise...

[Wardukw]

With Chris's idea for this weapons system it of course got it's great points and it's bad points but every weapon system does ,,running twin M134's rock's my boat anyday that's for sure 
The amount of ammo this little monster could carry would be quite impressive ,,with the removal of the original 37mm gun the amount of room isn't bad at all but there's bugger all room in a M3 turret anyway ,,I had a look in one at Bovington yr ago and man i tell ya ,,no way my bulk would fit in one 
But i have used the M134 before and these take up not a lot of space at all so this is very feasible ,,as for ammo ,,well with a wee bit of mods you could get a 4400rd ammo box for each gun in the turret basket for this machine when you remember that Chris's tank mod department removed everything the original gun needed like its stabilizers and assorted gubbins ,,it's already got power traverse but that will need modding because that worked with the original setup with the gunners controls ,,so that'll need some work there but still 100% doable ,,spare ammo could be sorted inside the vehicle where the bow machine gunner sat or mounted the site of the hull inside behind the bow gunner and driver ,,with more reloads being in normal 30cal ammo cans mounted on the outside and inside if you can find the room .
With some thought and planning this entire machine is completely possible but don't even think of trying to build a real one these days with the price of a real M134 Minigun going upwards of $500K US apiece and an M3 light tank hitting 250K US plus 
Maybe think of using an M5 ,,there much cheaper   

[chrisonord]

What Phil said 
At the end of the day, it's just a bit of fun building. Whether it would work in real life or not is irrelevant really. It's a fictional vehicle from a fictional operation.

[Rick Lowe]

What Phil said 
At the end of the day, it's just a bit of fun building. Whether it would work in real life or not is irrelevant really. It's a fictional vehicle from a fictional operation.

But that's perfect for this here website. 

[Weaver]

What Phil said 
At the end of the day, it's just a bit of fun building. Whether it would work in real life or not is irrelevant really. It's a fictional vehicle from a fictional operation.

Oh absolutely: I wasn't having a go at it, rather I was starting from the real-world situation and then moving towards the what-if explanation. Another justification could be simple expediency: "we've got a 37mm gun but no ammo for it, and we've got these two miniguns that we bought for a helicopter that crashed before we could fit them. Hmmmm.... <scratches chin>".

Then you could also go for the movie prop angle. Maybe the whole uranium mining operation is the backstory for an action movie, and a certain Austrian (no, not that one!) said, "look, I didn't get to play with the minigun in Predator and I had a minigun in Terminator 2 so I'm only doing this movie if I get one here too!" so the director shrugged and told the prop dept, "look, just give him a minigun or two, okay?"