Trucks | The Download Munkey

Military Tuesday : Shotgun One – Free Military Novel + Weapon Factsheets

October 06th, 2009

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A look at several booklets of weapon factsheets accompanying Kerry Plowright’s military novel Shotgun One. This rather engaging novel about a fictional conflict pitting Australia and the US against new military powerhouses China and Russia after the discovery of oil near Vostok Station in Antarctica, has yet to find a publisher but the 600+ pages PDF version of Shotgun One can be freely downloaded from the book’s official site at www.vostokstation.com.au.

These supporting booklets provide more in-depth information on the weapons and equipment featured in Shotgun One together with details on a few fictional near-future weapons like the highly capable F-111S flown by Squadron Leader Lance Hamilton in the book. Some information are taken directly from Wikipedia but at least it’s consolidated together for handy reference.

Nothing new in Australian Army Weapons and Systems since most of the Australian military equipment are similiar to that used by the US or her NATO Allies. The Long Range Patrol Vehicles (LRPVs) used by the Australian SASR (yes, the Aussies have their own equivalent of the famous British Special Air Service) are rather interesting modifications of the original Land Rovers though.

The RAAF Aircraft and Weapons and Systems follows in a similiar vein as the first booklet with details on the aircraft in service with the Royal Australian Air Force.

The next couple of booklets deal with the ships serving with Chinese PLAN (People’s Liberation Army Navy) and the Royal Australian Navy. There’s quite a few good-looking ships and boats in these two booklets, two of my favourites being the Australian Armidale class of patrol boats (above) and the Chinese Houbei class of missile boats (below).

The last booklet contains information on the TNI-AD, the Indonesian National Army which is equipped with an interesting mix of arms from both Western and Soviet/Russian suppliers. Not much information on the operational use of these weapons by the TNI-AD though.

Download Shotgun One and its accompanying resources from the official site @ www.vostokstation.com.au.

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Random Monday : Bucyrus International – We Make The Earth Move

June 08th, 2009

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My fascination with heavy vehicles and industrial equipment continues – this time it’s Bucyrus International’s heavy equipment from gigantic electric shovels and walking draglines to blasthole drills and even specialist subterranean mining equipment – shearers, loaders, haulers and the like.

Bucyrus International has a nice PDF library where you can read up on their history and earthmoving products. Here’s a photo of Bucyrus’ Big Muskie from their History Brochure showcasing the world’s largest mobile earth-moving machine of truly epic proportions …

Nearly 22 stories high, with a length of about 140 meters (459 feet) and with a bucket large as a 12-car garage …

Now the burning question in my mind is how do they get these machines onsite? – I have seen loads of heavy stuff being trucked around at BigLorryBlog but never one of these behemoths.

On a related note, there’s a book Bucyrus Heavy Equipment: Construction and Mining Machines 1880-2007 by Keith Haddock listed in the January 2009 Motorbooks catalog if you’re into this kind of stuff.

Download Bucyrus International’s PDF brochures.

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Tags: Trucks

Games Thursday : Fun With Cursor Keys

April 16th, 2009

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Two rather obscure freeware games from MyPlayCity which can be played with just the fingers on one hand. Excellent for those times when you’re having the itch and need one hand free for scratching

Anyway, both games involve manuevering your vehicle – a scrambler bike in Trial Bike Ultra and a monster truck in Mountain Car around an obstacle course. Can’t really say that the physics models in both games are that realistic but they’re still entertaining enough for the ocassional short gaming break.

Although the objectives in Trial Bike Ultra and Mountain Car are similiar, each vehicle has its own peculiar handling characteristics to make the gaming experience significantly different. Shifting the scrambler bike’s centre of gravity by leaning your rider back and forth allows you to navigate the obstacle course quite easily without flipping over and crushing your rider’s head. On the other hand, the heavy and slow monster truck requires a beter appreciation of momentum together with timely applications of nitro to traverse the tracks.

Download Trial Bike Ultra and Mountain Car from MyPlayCity.com.

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Tags: Games Games Downloads Trucks

Random Monday : In Search of Old Mercedes-Benz Trucks

February 16th, 2009

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After encountering a classic Bedford truck at BigLorryBlog quite a while back, I went in search of another truck common on our roads a decade (or two) back – a Mercedes truck with a locally-improvised wooden cab.

It’s an extinct species in Singapore nowadays although I still see a Malaysian registered truck of this type once in a (very long) while. Over at the Flickr group Trucks and Buses Malaysia, there’re loads of photos of these antiquated trucks still plying the roads. I’m not exactly sure if these trucks are Mercedes-Benz LA911s since there’s appallingly little information in English on old Mercedes trucks. I do know that these trucks came out in the 1970s and it says a lot about the excellent quality of German engineering when seeing these trucks still soldiering on 20, 30 years later.

The only unanswered question I have is the apparent proliferation of German Mercedes-Benz trucks in ex-British colonies like Singapore and Malaysia – I would have thought that British trucks by Bedford or Leyland were more common back in those days.

Other classic trucks from the Trucks and Buses Malaysia gallery. All photos are the copyright of their respective photographers.

UPDATE (17 FEB 2009) : Above is an Indian Tata 1210 SE identified by Malay Tripathi. Thanks!

Some weird looking trucks from the the same gallery, ~~no idea about the manufacturer or model of these vehicles.~~

UPDATE (17 FEB 2009) : The first two are WWII-era CMP (Canadian Military Pattern) trucks (Ford and Chevrolet being the major manufacturers) identified by Malay Tripathi. Some excellent profile pics at the fantastic Engines of the Red Army in WW2. Couldn’t find any WWII truck that resembles the last one though.

More photos at Trucks and Buses Malaysia.

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Tags: Trucks

Random Monday : Corgi Diecast Catalogues

December 08th, 2008

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I enjoy browsing through Corgi’s catalogues of die-cast models particularly the trucks, armoured vehicles, warplanes and cars (in that order). The PDF versions of their downloadable catalogues may be on the low-res side but it’s the only place I get to see British trailer trucks painted in colourful livery of their respective companies – brightly-painted trucks are something that we don’t get to see here in Singapore.

A Scania R of Eddie Stobart Ltd. (January – June 2008 Catalogue)

A Limited Edition model of a Coles & Sons Scania T Topline (Oct 2007 Catalog)

A collection of Mini Coopers in their racing livery. (Dec 2007 Catalogue)

A Mercedes Actros with a Volvo Excavator (2007 Catalogue).

Corgi doesn’t only do diecast vehicles – the 1:32 scale Forward March series includes metal miniature soldiers like this Gurkha (above) in WWI kit wielding the famous kukri.

There’s also some curios in the pages of these catalogues too. A couple of them below.

A experimental camouflage scheme for the A-10 Thunderbolt II (aka “Warthog”) trialled by the 57th Tactical Training Wing in the late 1970s. (January – June 2008 Catalogue)