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| Version | User | Scope of changes |
|---|---|---|
| Jul 23 2008, 6:44 AM EDT (current) | Andering_J_REDDSON | 2 photos added, 2 photos deleted |
| Jul 9 2008, 9:09 PM EDT | Legion12 | 4 words added, 4 words deleted |
Changes
Key: Additions Deletions
“Guntrucks” (one word) are normal trucks, usually large ones (such as a 2½ ton) that have been up-armed and up-armed, under careful supervision (with proper materials and specifications).
Technicals, like guntrucks, are normal ground vehicles (though not ‘just’ trucks) that have been up-armed and up-armed. Unlike guntrucks, however, careful supervision and proper materials are not always (very rarely) part of the equation.
“Gunboats” are any up-armed (and often up-armored) watercraft used to put guns in range of enemies.
“Guntruck” and “Technical” are generally interchangeable terms, but should not be here due to the necessity to ensure proper historical understanding.
Dead Reckoning as an example of a Guntruck, a nominally civilian vehicle rebuilt specifically as a weapons platform; Although this particular example is fictional, the basic concept remains never the less intact. D/R was armed with twin rotary cannons (though a specific caliber and number of barrels is never specified, it is safe to surmise based on the very short of footage of them in action that they were 7-barrel, 7.62MM M-134’s), a single multi-round fireworks type-mortar, a rocket launcher, and internal crew-served weapons (exact number unknown).
Attainability:The basic platform (a big rig) should be easily obtainable; The rest you will be obliged to build yourself.
Maintenance: Unknown; Probably very High
Gas Mileage: Unknown; Probably very Low
Toughness: Unknown; Probably very High
Fuel Type: Diesel
Viet Nam-Era Gun Trucks:
Essentially the M-35 (2½ ton) trucks (but not including the M-3 Halftrack variant and sub-variants) that were significantly up-armed, with weapons ranging from the M-45 Quadmount (rare) to the M-134 (moderately common) to the M-2 (fairly common) to the M-60 (usually at least 2). There were even a few on record armed with mortars. Sub variants ran a wide gamut; There are at least two on recond, “Eve Of Destruction” (named for a line from a song) and “Widowmaker” which were armored with the shell of US Army M-113 APC’s.
The Gun Trucks were generally used as “mobile pillboxes” to defend supply columns racing up and down Highway 1 (commonly called “Ambush Ally”). Today, the US Army has largely done away with the old fashioned gun trucks as a name, only to re-create them with ‘up-armored/up-armed’ HMMWV’s.
However, the M-35’s off-road capabilities are not exactly ‘dramatic’, and can not handle unimproved roads well (even simple gravel roads are a relief). More than one gun truck was lost when she got stuck in a hole of her own making.
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TECHNICALS
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Technicals are built with far less precision, with whatever scraps are still available, and often under direct fire. This does not make them any less useful, however, and some are in fact superior to the guntruck cousins.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Battletruck:

Battletruck was a fictional technical from the movie “Warlords Of The 21st Century.” Armed with 4 aft crew served weapons, it was essentially a terror weapons platform used to intimidate villagers from here to there, as the owners scrounged for fuel to maintain the vehicle.
Battletruck was eventually destroyed and her owners killed when she was run off a cliff, wasting precious fuel, armor, metal, and electronics, but she can serve as an example of what even the most down-and-out survivors ‘could’ do.
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GUNBOATS ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This section applies only to up-armed and up-armored vsl, not to those who's design is combat of nature; For example the WWII Higgens Boats, while armed with twin aft Lewis Guns, were converted to Monitors during the Viet Nam War; For WWII purposes, therefore, they would not be considered gunboats, but for Viet Nam purposes they would.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Monitors:
Combat vsls used in inland waterways, Monitors are in fact older vsls, usually modified Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel (LCVP also called “Higgins boats”).
Displacement: 18,000 lb (8,000 kg) light
Length: 36 ft 3 in (11.0 m)
Beam: 10 ft 10 in (3.3 m)
Draft: 3 ft aft, 2 ft 2 in forward (0.9, 0.7 m)
Speed: 9 knots (17 km/h)
Armament: Unknown; Currently under research/
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RELATED CONTENT:
Technicals, like guntrucks, are normal ground vehicles (though not ‘just’ trucks) that have been up-armed and up-armed. Unlike guntrucks, however, careful supervision and proper materials are not always (very rarely) part of the equation.
“Gunboats” are any up-armed (and often up-armored) watercraft used to put guns in range of enemies.
“Guntruck” and “Technical” are generally interchangeable terms, but should not be here due to the necessity to ensure proper historical understanding.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GUNTRUCKS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dead Reckoning:
Dead Reckoning as an example of a Guntruck, a nominally civilian vehicle rebuilt specifically as a weapons platform; Although this particular example is fictional, the basic concept remains never the less intact. D/R was armed with twin rotary cannons (though a specific caliber and number of barrels is never specified, it is safe to surmise based on the very short of footage of them in action that they were 7-barrel, 7.62MM M-134’s), a single multi-round fireworks type-mortar, a rocket launcher, and internal crew-served weapons (exact number unknown).
Attainability:The basic platform (a big rig) should be easily obtainable; The rest you will be obliged to build yourself.
Maintenance: Unknown; Probably very High
Gas Mileage: Unknown; Probably very Low
Toughness: Unknown; Probably very High
Fuel Type: Diesel
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Viet Nam-Era Gun Trucks:
The Gun Trucks were generally used as “mobile pillboxes” to defend supply columns racing up and down Highway 1 (commonly called “Ambush Ally”). Today, the US Army has largely done away with the old fashioned gun trucks as a name, only to re-create them with ‘up-armored/up-armed’ HMMWV’s.
However, the M-35’s off-road capabilities are not exactly ‘dramatic’, and can not handle unimproved roads well (even simple gravel roads are a relief). More than one gun truck was lost when she got stuck in a hole of her own making.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technicals are built with far less precision, with whatever scraps are still available, and often under direct fire. This does not make them any less useful, however, and some are in fact superior to the guntruck cousins.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Battletruck:
Battletruck was a fictional technical from the movie “Warlords Of The 21st Century.” Armed with 4 aft crew served weapons, it was essentially a terror weapons platform used to intimidate villagers from here to there, as the owners scrounged for fuel to maintain the vehicle.
Battletruck was eventually destroyed and her owners killed when she was run off a cliff, wasting precious fuel, armor, metal, and electronics, but she can serve as an example of what even the most down-and-out survivors ‘could’ do.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This section applies only to up-armed and up-armored vsl, not to those who's design is combat of nature; For example the WWII Higgens Boats, while armed with twin aft Lewis Guns, were converted to Monitors during the Viet Nam War; For WWII purposes, therefore, they would not be considered gunboats, but for Viet Nam purposes they would.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Monitors:
Displacement: 18,000 lb (8,000 kg) light
Length: 36 ft 3 in (11.0 m)
Beam: 10 ft 10 in (3.3 m)
Draft: 3 ft aft, 2 ft 2 in forward (0.9, 0.7 m)
Speed: 9 knots (17 km/h)
Armament: Unknown; Currently under research/
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RELATED CONTENT:
Auxiliary Components
