FT-505 Pack Mount for the SCR-619

 Radio Room
Dec 172011
 

The SCR-619 radio set could be deployed in several different configurations, including vehicular and man-portable. In a man-portable configuration, the BC-1335 transceiver and CH-191 battery box would be installed on a common pack frame with an FT-505 mount. These mounts seem to be quite rare, as I’ve only found about two or three collectors who have them or have ever seen one for sale. A few months before the 2010 West Coast Military Radio Collector’s Group annual meeting, Paul Thekan kindly loaned me his FT-505 so that I could photograph it, measure it, and display it with my SCR-619 set at the meeting. I didn’t just photograph it, though… I also created a 3D CAD model of it, with thoughts of someday fabricating a reproduction.

Here’s the mount as I received it from Paul, screwed to a piece of wood for shipping.

Here are some detailed pictures that I took while measuring its dimensions. It’s made from cast aluminum rails which are riveted to a stamped aluminum base with solid aluminum rivets. Based on a verbal description from another FT-505 owner, I believe that there was at least one other FT-505 variant which was manufactured differently.

 

Here’s my SCR-619 mounted on the FT-505.

I bought an original WW2 pack frame through eBay, and then mounted the FT-505 onto it as specified in the SCR-619 manual.

I displayed the set at the 2010 MRCG event, and then handed the mount back to Paul at the conclusion. I also gave him the pack frame as a thank-you gift. I have another pack frame, which is waiting for me to either find an FT-505 for myself or construct a reproduction.

While I had the mount, I created a 3D model using the Cobalt modeling software from Ashlar-Vellum. Here are some renderings of my model.

  2 Responses to “FT-505 Pack Mount for the SCR-619”

  1. Mark Byrd says:
    2014/02/26 at 17:03

    I am creating a miniature sculpture of a Marine Corps radioman, Herbert Littleton, who was KIA in Korea and earned the Medal of Honor by putting himself on a grenade that would have taken out his forward observer team. He reportedly wore a SCR-619 which he quickly slipped out of before leaping onto the grenade thus saving the radio as well as his team.

    I see a posting here titled FT-505 Packmount for SCR 619. I will be sculpting him with the radio still on his back a few moments before the incident. I see that the author of the posting created a 3D model of the back pack frame. Ca n you put me in touch with the author.

    I am a historical military sculptor, a Marine veteran of the Vietnam war where I flew Huey and Cobra gunships. I do several sculptures for the Marine Corps each year and also have several large commissions for full size statues where I will be needing details of radios. I enjoy help from the Marine Corps Historic Division and the National Museum of the Marine Corps but am looking for additional sources of good, accurate info and actual hardware to study for my sculpture projects. I hope that you might assist in my research.

    You may see my work at markbyrd.com.

    Thanks much,

    Mark Byrd

    • Mark J. Blair, NF6X says:
      2014/02/26 at 17:23

      Hi. I am the author. I created the model by measuring an original WW2-era mounting base that I borrowed from another collector. It’s my understanding that the MT-702 mount was used instead of (or in addition to?) the FT-505 mount during the Korean War:

      MT-702/U Radio Mount