A strange looking contraption is
the 1:32 scale “M50 Ontos” by
“Revell” assembled from a “kit” it belongs to the few land military vehicles
models in my vintage model heap. I Believe the kit was given by an uncle primarily to my younger brother who passed-away more than three decades ago, he let me do my
way with this kit either because he have some “Lego” sets to deal with; or adhesives, paints and tools are inappropriate for somebody who have to stay in sick bay most of the time, he usually request that I work inside his room for such builds so he can do minor assisting or just simply watch.
"Unpainted" the Ontos
kit is completed in less than one hour, eventually it was displayed with a
few other military vehicle models along with my “aircraft model”,
later on it was included in my mother’s “milkbox of oblivion” when I entered college.
By the time I decided to resurrect my old models for a much earlier experimental
website during the early years of this century I found the
“Ontos” already missing two of its three "soldier" figures and its original six “canon” barrels
so I fabricated new barrels from balloon pipe sticks and expired prepaid internet
“dial-up” cards. This model was believed to have been lost during the severe 2009 typhoon flooding in my city of residence but was rediscovered inside a box with some old shoes a few years after. For its latest “Blog” posting I did
some miniscule “rejuvenation” painting
on the model.
The M50 Ontos was an American
made “three crew” Military “tracked” vehicle, its original design purpose was
to be a light, air transportable and
cheap “anti-tank” weapon for America’s brewing “proxy wars” during its “Cold War”
with Communist countries primarily the “Soviet Union” that started right after
World War Two (WWII). The “Ontos” which means “The Thing” in Greek; looks like a “tank” but its actually more of a self propelled “gun platform” for
six-106mm recoilless rifles (or cannons) it is meant to be an ambush weapon
as against to moving offensive actions, many senior field combatant have
questioned the applicability of the Ontos configuration as
America's involvement in “guerilla” type warfare escalates in Indochina; the
crew have to get out of the vehicle to reload its six cannons, despite this
unpopular operational feature the Ontos was extensively used in the Vietnam conflict
by the US Marine Corps. as a defensive weapon, Infantry fire support vehicle and
some claim as “terror weapon”, hearsay tell stories of attacking “enemy” forces demoralized and retreating upon the sight of the six
armed “thing” coming or guarding their path.
The Ontos can be easily airlifted by cargo planes or helicopters to
remote battle zones of the conflict,
“Allis Chalmer” is the company that manufactured the "M50" a company more widely known for its farm implements,
construction vehicles and manufacturing machines.
