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Ferrets without wings as used in Aden ?? Will it upset the purists !!


Fugly

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Hi - Does anyone have any good photos of ferrets being used without wings or most of the stowage bins. I understand that they were removed to restrict mine damage. I have a photo of 3 ferrets on convoy duty , showing them without wings , and running on road tyres ( sand tyres?) . I am tempted to recreate this look on a ferret and would like some other pics , and also details of the tyres used . I assume that it could not be legally driven on the road without the wings.

 

The other modifications were a storage box attached to the n/s rear hull, behind the rear tyre, and a cable reel attached to the n/s of the hull beneath the turret. The front wings appear removed but the headlamps are still in position. I will post the picture of the 3 later this week, but here is a similar shot.

 

Any more pics - I have seen the oned on the ferret website, and would like some more reference material? :-D00DC27.jpg

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I think the angle effect is from the angle I held the camera at ( Its a photo of a photo) - I am getting a high res scan from the tank museum so it should appear better on there .

 

No ideas on the tyres then anyone ?? Definate that the wings were often removed to prevent nine damage after speaking to a friend who was in Aden, their reg't had ferrets mined 12 times , leading to one fatality. I really like the way the ferrets look minus wings and would save me restoration time........ ( or is that me being lazy) !!

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It's obviously a personal thing but I too like the Ferrets without bins! Also, as decent bins get harder and harder to find, perhaps we'll see a few more 'Aden Ferrets' being restored!

 

As a point of interest, the Ferrets used by the Queen's Dragoon Guards and 16th / 5th Lancers in Beirut in 1983 /84 did not have bins fitted so you don't have to go as far back as Aden to 'get the look'!

 

The photo below shows two QDG Ferrets (with no bins fitted) on patrol in Beirut

 

06CC65.jpg

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Great photos!..

I think the Ferretts look great with no wings.sort of..stripped down and more 'off road' looking !:-)

It's fascinating how a couple of slight alterations can radically alter your perspective of the vehicle too.....in one of the threads on here about a Centurion Tank being rebuilt there's a load of pictures of one without the turret bins or the track side plates in place...it really changed the whole look of the tank and (to me anyways) made the tank look way more purposeful and aggressive.....it also struck me how very similar to a M47/M48 tank the Centurion looked too (or..so as not to upset anyone..perhaps I should rather say ...how similar the M47/M48 looked to the Centurion! haha ! )

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Remember the wheels need to be covered for it to be road legal, and you'd need the lights etc too. Anyone wanting to do this could have the lights fitted with quick release plugs, and you can get thumb nuts which release after half a turn which could be used to quickly fit and remove the wings at a show etc.

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And losing all that weight (bins , wings ) may push the MPG up......... I need to lose a little weight too......... :-)

 

I have had the photo blown up . The tank museum kindly sent it on CD as a 9mb file ( apparantly thats a big file). When I blew it up it reveals more details . The rectangular box on the back looks like an ammo box, .. The front portion of the front wing is in place ( to hold the lights and the wing mirrors ) and the tyres dont look so balloonish, and appear to have a standard road tyre tread. There appears to be something like a water can attached to the rear panel on two of the vehicles.

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