Sometimes you might want some unusual military vehicle, and nobody makes it in HO scale. This is a television satellite van. Used to broadcast live television signals all over the world. Major news media outlets use them all the time. But governments use them two. Large police departments, and the military rely on television to provide them with real time data from the field.
This large fuel truck is typical of those that the US military used in the 1970s. Tanks get poor gas mileage and fuel trucks are what keep those tanks moving. Both of these vehicles, the TV satellite truck and the fuel taker are die cast models found in the toy department of stores everywhere.
When I wanted a television truck for my army, I got one at the local big box store. Drill out the rivets on the bottom and take the truck apart. Then paint it as any model, and put it back together. Usually I strip the original paint off so that when I repaint it I don't lose any detail. Sometimes I replace the wheels with more tactical looking wheels, but not in this case.
Sometimes the military buys commercial vehicles and uses them just as their civilian counterparts. They only change up the paint jobs. On this truck I also kept the original wheels, but changing them to Roco style wheels from the spares box would give it a much more tactical appearance. I figured these two vehicles would more likely be intended primarily for road use and so I did not change up the wheels.
When I find vehicles like this to convert into military vehicles I try to get a couple extras in case I want more in the future, or simply to use as civilian vehicles. Of course, these vehicles can also be super detailed by adding shovels, Jerry cans, packs and other army gear.
Mike Bunkermeister Creek