2013-2014 season East Wind project updates.

[aswayze]

Summary of 2013-2014 season East Wind projects to date:  

 

NATO continues to focus on getting more smaller trucks and has continued the charge picking up yet more M151 family vehicles.   

 

 

6001 continues it’s rehab and is now fully licensed for use on the roads giving us a little military truck to make the run down to D-Day with AND run around and do map updates with.   We are just finishing up the rebuilding of the steering gear on this one and installing all the vacuum gear needed to run the windshield wiper system.  

 

You can read about the entire refurb of 6001 here: http://www.operationeastwind.com/forum/index.php?topic=2236.0

 

 

L20606 (Dewaynes Mutt) finally received some much needed body repairs and a MERDC paint job about late spring.  HUGE leaps forward on this one, it used to be a pretty rough looking little critter.

 

You can read about the painting of L20606 here:

http://www.operationeastwind.com/forum/index.php?topic=3180.0

 

 

M151A1 6008 has now joined the family.  It is remarkably intact and just needs about a weekends worth of welding and a wiring harness installed before polishing up the usual maintenance tasks and donning it’s paint job.  

 

You can watch the progress of 6008 here: 

http://www.operationeastwind.com/forum/index.php?topic=3186.15

 

 

 

M718 (M151 series front line ambulance) number 6037 joins the family as well.  

This one was a cut and reweld that ended up coming unwelded on the previous owner.  No surprise since it was VERY badly welded together utilizing no less than a used lawn mower blade to provide the needed structure to hold it together.   It is now welded back together straight, solid and true but still needs a good bit of welding to get it back where it’s ready to go as well as a LOT more of the ambulance stuff.  Let us know if you know of any secret M718 ambulance parts stashes!  

 

You can follow the progress of 6037 here: 

 

http://www.operationeastwind.com/forum/index.php?topic=3056.0

 

 

Mutt 6021, here seen at East Wind 6 is basically as done as it is going to get for now.  It’s owner is now off being a Lt. in the Marines and is unable to make serious progress on it.  That said,  he is going to try to get all the gauges and lights running on it on one of his trips back to KC so that he can get plates for it and drive it around on post to show people who are excited about the Marines “new” Growler.  

 

You can read about the refurb of 6021 from a crushed hulk last winter here:  

 

http://www.operationeastwind.com/forum/index.php?topic=3046.0

 

 

Mutt 6007 originally came to us as a parts vehicle but was determined to be too nice to part out and has instead been slated for rehab.   We made some progress on it prior to East Wind 6 but did not finish it in time to deploy it.  It now has a new owner (Gallion) and should begin rehab soon.  This one will be fast and easy, we look forward to getting it knocked out!   

 

You can follow 6008s progress here:

 

http://www.operationeastwind.com/forum/index.php?topic=3048.0

 

M151A2 6033 is nearing completion.  Here you can see it after getting it’s MERDC Temperate Europe  pattern painted on.  After that, we just need to do some maintenance work and it is off to live at Ft. Riley where Stagg can roar around being the terror of the tank trails in it.  

 

You can read about the work we are doing to 6033 here:  

 

http://www.operationeastwind.com/forum/index.php?topic=3069.0 

 

 

 

M151A2 6029 has been on the back burner since last year but recent purchases of parts and the sudden availability of replacement cowl panels make it’s return to service imminent.   Once 6033 leaves the shop, that should open up the space we need to get 6033 moved into place so work can resume.  Like 6021, 6029 is a crushed Mutt so refurbing this one will require a good bit of jacking, prying, stretching and banging but it will get done and it will be a good machine once we are done.  

 

 

Each side now has an M3A4 pulse jet smoke generator giving us an unheard of smoke generating capacity.   We have yet to employ one AT East Wind but have been working on getting them refurbed and gathering the needed resources to operate them at other events until we have the entire system down and crews properly trained.  Operated correctly in ideal conditions these can lay a smoke streamer 3-5 kilometers long.    This is some SERIOUS gear.   

 

 

Originally purchased as a parts truck.  M37 number 5804 is now being refurbed and returned to service.  It’s engine is now out, stripped and will be off to the machine shop soon.  Once that’s done, it’ll be back together and driving and will just need paint, some electrical work and a few parts before it too is tearing up the trails.  

 

 

Lest you think that the Warsaw Pact is being left out…  

 

 

The BTR-152 finally has an engine stuffed under the hood.  This coming weekend, Curfman and Dave are going to work on getting it all integrated and see what all is needed to get it back on the road again.   We managed to determine that we can substitute radial tires off of a 5 ton truck mounted on Deuce rims for the hard to find and wildly expensive original tires so we are on a good path with this one!  

 

 

The BTR-40 suffered from a spun connecting rod at the last East Wind but is now transported back to the shop where it will be getting it’s engine refurbed as soon as Trucker gets 5804s engine done and off the engine stand.

 

From this

 

To this

 

The Warsaw Pact guys now have their very own commo shelter which should really take a bite out of set up time and provide much better commo for everyone in the field. 

 

You can read the blow by blow of the entire process from forklift damaged scrap container to what we have now here: http://www.operationeastwind.com/forum/index.php?topic=2997.0

 

 

The East German guys finally have their very own Robur truck.  Not a common truck by any account, this one was a real coup to find particularly in the shape it is in (actually pretty good).  It’s a really weird machine with a air cooled engine and lots of neato Germanic gadgetry, it should be a really cool project to do!  

 

You can track the progress of this very interesting and unusual vehicle here: 

http://www.operationeastwind.com/forum/index.php?topic=3276.0

  

 

 

Another very nice Gaz-69M has been scooped up.  This one is in really decent shape and has been repowered with a peppy little Zuk delivery truck engine making it a real good performer off road.  The Gaz trucks have long been a staple of East Wind and this one is sure to add to the mobility of the Warsaw Pact troops at East Winds to come.  

 

Hoober is working on the AO map updates.  Need to do another weekend worth of scouting down there to gather some more data points and we'll start piecing it together.  This go around, we'll be making specific maps for external use as well so that those of you who use D-Day will be able to download and print maps that do not have East Wind specific information on them.

 

 

[Azubi]

Such a beautiful sight to see! And those mutts are amazing! These aren't just vehicles to trundle round fields or support game staff, these get used hard and put through their paces out supporting the guys on the ground in the extremely horrible hills and valleys of D-Day Adventure Park.

 

If you are reading this and haven't seen the progress on the restoration of these mutts, you might be surprised to find out that some of them were bought crushed. They looked like twisted wrecks of rusted scrap and through lots of hard work by dedicated guys out there they have been turned, or are currently in the process of being turned into, wonderful examples like you see at the top of the page.

[aswayze]

MOST of the mutts we get are either crushed or torch cut.  We have even looked at ones that were crushed and taco folded but decided that might be a bridge to far for us.   Here in the states, the DOD was supposed to dispose of all of the M151 family of vehicles only in destroyed form so complete and operable M151s are rare and quite expensive here in the states.  Since none of us actually have much money, the best we can do is seek out the projects that others deem impractical and put in a lot of sweat equity instead of upfront cash. 

 

Azubi is also correct in that we do USE these things a lot in the field.   The 151s make screaming good support vehicles. 

 

 

Here’s 6021 loaded with Bergens, water cans, radio batteries and rations moving out at tail end Charlie with a section of UK infantry as they move out on a long duration patrol.   When you have a long walk to get to your patrol base, it is nice to get to make it on foot without 90 pound of kit on your back.  That kind of load is nothing to a Mutt and means that the unit arrives near the border ready to patrol the border instead of ready to collapse. 

 

Mutts also serves medevac roles (in game and out), chow delivery vehicles, in mechanized scout roles, as armored vehicle hunters, and a myriad of other roles out there.  We use the hell out of these things and in some seriously adverse conditions.  Azubi was riding in the back of 6001 when we were making our way back home after scrounging parts needing to avoid what was looking like an imminent threat of Warpac ambush and ended up detouring through the canopy of a downed tree then directly down a steep slope and into a creek before skittering upstream a bit and popping back out having made a clean escape.    

[bobtuskins]

Wow, that looks great. Quite jealous, not very many cold war milsims going on around my parts, I'd love to join in one day.

 

How hard is it to track down Warsaw Pact vehicles? I imagine finding stuff like BTRs in the States of all places must be a right pain.

[PureSilver]

This stuff is absolutely awesome, I'm reading all the threads linked! A fleet of vehicles sounds absolutely awesome - especially MUTTs!

[Azubi]

A fleet is about right mate! This thread is just highlighting current projects but they also have M35 deuces, ELMO the huge truck, a Ferret MK2, occasional access to FV432s, and a CUCV on NATO. Fairly confident WARPAC have a couple of UAZs and a Romur truck aswell.

 

Bobtuskins, it is an attainable goal to attend East Wind from the UK. It takes a bit of planning and has additional costs but it was much easier than I originally thought. I've been twice now and if there was only one game I could play a year, it would be this. If we weren't separated by a few thousand miles of water, we'd also have a Land Rover by now too!

 

If anyone does have any questions about EW from a player's perspective, especially with regards to travelling from the UK, then feel free to PM me. I will be entirely honest about the experience and the costs involved and from there you'll have a better idea if it is something for you. Alternately, bossman aswayze is the man to speak to if you have any questions of an admin nature, he is NATO admin and can give you an official answer on any questions you might possibly have.

[aswayze]

Oh the Mutts are absurdly good fun.  We are finally really starting to gaining ground on them too so we get to do more than just grind and weld, weld and grind then weld some more.  I actually drove 6001 to work this morning in fact.   Curfman, our resident birdfeeder raiding squirrel-boy, is almost to the point of sticking the floors into 6037 which means we are really over the hump on that one.    Gallion is coming up to my place this weekend and next to make the big push needed to get 6007 finished up, driving, and painted as well.   The Mutts are generally our hardest projects simply because they are so damned expensive if you get them in anything but horrendous condition.  None of us have the jack to spend on a “nice” mutt so we always have to start from the bottom and work our way up with sweat equity.

 

Mutts have flat sides so if you pull the power pack out they can be flipped up on edge and worked on with relative ease. 

 

Center frame portion of 6037’s unibody cut out and replaced with a new piece of tubing.  This is where the original cut was, the previous reweld down here was a mess and being a low down portion of the truck anyway, this spot tended to collect moisture causing extensive rust.   Next part from here is to add in the drivers floor, then add in the structural beam that goes underneath that up to the rocker panel.  Once all of that is done, the drivers side’s pretty much all tied up and we flip it over the other way and start in on the passenger side.    I’d estimate this one will be done, painted, and driving by the end of August.

 

Warpac vehicles in the states are darn near unheard of.   Back when the really good deals were to be had on them, just after the wall fell, most of the trucks were not really importable due to age and emissions restrictions.  Now that they are old enough to come in unrestricted, the prices overseas are up, as is the scrap price and of course the shipping prices so it’s generally cost prohibitive to ship anything over.   We’ve got one guy who’s father in law restores military vehicles in Russia that has been doing some bird dogging for us and has got and restored one UAZ that’s ready to come over as well as one of the UAZ Scooby Doo vans as well.    Aside from that, we find them onsey twosey here and there and scoop them up as we can here in the US.   The Robur there was the most recent one we found in a completely illogical place.  It was on a cattle ranch in very rural Oklahoma.  Nobody there seemed to know anything what so ever about it and they had no idea what to do with it other than the fact it made a lousy feed truck.   I have no earthly idea how an East German commo truck would have made it’s way to a cattle ranch in Oklahoma…  

 

Azubi is correct in that coming to East Wind from overseas is not as crazy as it may initially seem. 

 

Keep in mind that on most overseas trips, air fare is only part of the expense.  After you arrive, you then need to spend a red headed fortune on hotels, rental cars, gas, entertainment, food, etc etc etc. 

 

Going to East Wind, you really do not incur all that many “over there” expenses.   We’ll grab you from the airport and get you to the event (sometimes we’ll even have you drive one of the trucks in convoy), you really cannot spend any money AT the event itself, you get a ride back to the airport, likely spending a day or two sight seeing and staying with someone from the event then catch a ride to the airport and on home. 

 

I would say that aside from airfare, you could get by comfortably in the states with an extra $150 folding money if you figured to spend 2 days before and two days after the event touristing around.  

[PureSilver]

The M151s have a certain allure as 'deemed too dangerous for the road - by the US military' but if I was going to get one it'd have to be an A2 - I'm not going to buy something that light to load it down just to prevent Unsafe at any Speed swing-axle-oversteer from killing me! The semi-trailing arms look a lot safer.

 

To be honest, I'd be happier with a HMMWV/A1/A2 variant (enclosed for horrible British weather, remember) if it weren't for their catastrophic fuel consumption and near-total impracticality for British roads. Something like an M1025/6, or M1043/4 minus the up-armour kit, would be pretty awesome.

[aswayze]

Oh I assure you that on road the M151A1 is not for the faint of heart.  What gets you with those things is the fact that they FEEL like a sports car since when that arm starts to tuck, it raises the outside edge and gets rid of any “seat of the pants” feeling that you might be getting in over your head. 

 

On road!  Bad mombutu. 

 

Off road?   Godlike.   You would not believe what one of these can do.

 

A2 is basically the best of both worlds.   Handles roads well and is just as good off road as long as you don’t get one with a ROPS cage.    

 

We have looked at Humvees and cannot justify the hassle of dealing with them.  Sort of a craptastic drive train, VERY expensive, not much use on road and frankly not that much use off road in the areas we run around at.   Trees are the biggest issue we deal with off roading out here is trees.    The little trucks are nimble enough to get around everything where as the much larger Humvee has to constantly jockey back and forth to get through.  Since they are made fairly dainty you cannot just bust *albatross* through trees like you can with the much more substantial deuces and 5 tons so the Humvee ends up being more of a prop than a useful truck in the field.   You could drive it around on the “main” roads of course but that’s basically a death sentence at East Wind. 

 

Much like with the M151, they are generally not released in complete form so what you usually end up doing is getting a big pile of random bits together and start piecing it together one bit at a time till one merry day you end up with a Humvee.    

[PureSilver]

How's the ROPS a big downside? I thought it looked OK (makes the MUTT a little more Wrangler than Mini Moke) and obviously if it's correctly fitted it should be a safety asset. Is it heavy, or does it get caught on things or something?

 

As to the Humvees, I should think you're probably right about the downsides - particularly the cost. The MUTTs are probably the last really simple/serviceable American combat vehicles - I can't see future airsofters buying MRAPs on Craigslist for <$2,500. As armies shift from overwhelming force to 'small and smart'* they seem to use fewer and fewer examples of increasingly specialised equipment (e.g., just 100k M151s replaced 650k Willys MBs) and the more specialised/advanced the equipment is, the harder it is for civilians to maintain, and the harder it is to adapt to civilian use, which means fewer of them enter the market. To turn a Willys MB into a phenomenally successful civilian Jeep required some basic refinements, and the finished product brought useful features (offroad ability, toughness, simplicity) from its military background to the civilian market. You just can't see that happening with HMMWVs, MRAPs or JLTVs - they're too heavy, too expensive, too big - too specialised.

 

*Incidentally, Eastwind would ideally epitomise that clash of ethos, with thousands of Soviet-allied troops and tanks fighting pitched battles against an outnumbered but superiorly-equipped West - all you need to do now is convince more people to play as USSR and GDR troops!

[aswayze]

The M151 is extremely light, agile, and low to the ground.  Adding ROPS makes it a bit more top heavy, much less easy to drive through the forest with since you can no longer drive under low branches by just ducking behind the dash and the absolute worst part is they are the damn head bonkinest things ever when you stick ROPS on them.   I hate even working on an M151 with ROPS… 

 

You are quite right, as time has worn on, fewer and fewer military vehicles really have a place in the civilian world aside from the civilian ones that get militarized.  

[aswayze]

I figured I would take a moment to show how things are progressing this summer and update everyone. 

 

Over Labor Day weekend we had a work party and thanks to the efforts of all involved, we managed to really push the ball down the field a bit on some of our tougher projects. 

 

I’ll spare you guys the text and mostly show with pictures: 

 

 

M718 front line ambulance number 6037 less than 5 months ago. 

 

6037 as it sits right now.   New floors, new underbody framing, tons of welding, tons of fab work.   Cannot even count the man hours put into this one but here it sits.   Just waiting on a wiring harness to show up for it and we’ll have it running and on the road.

 

 

Picture from the work party.  Steve is working on the lathe on the foreground (he drove down from Canada to help out), I am helping  steady the pipe he’s cutting on so it doesn’t make clangy noises, in the background Gallion is greasing a hub assembly up and DirtPro is working on axle u-joints. 

 

M151A1 6007 has its floors done enough to get truck bed liner!  That’s a huge step forward since it means that all the damaged floors are fixed and the underbody is repaired and ready to go. 

 

M151a1 6001 has been piling up the miles scooting around town taking advantage of it’s new antique vehicle plates.  6033 is not far behind, it should have plates in a week or so.  

 

 

 

[PureSilver]

Sweet.

[Azubi]

 

How awesome does it look with the cover on!

[aswayze]

We're sure getting there now!  

 

Curfman is over today basically melting in the heat getting all of the drive train stuff installed.  He seems to have just figured out that we really can be driving it around soon and is all worked up over the possibilities.  

 

 

Curfman approved!  

 

 

I have been spending much of the weekend driving in all of these lovely rivets and getting the cab of M35A2 6025 all prepped up for mounting the M66 machine gun ring on it.