My trip to the lab.

[Esko 270]

That's my Dad, we got to go work on the labs filter and pump I thought this was pretty cool looking stuff.

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[Esko 270]

I'm not sure who the guy in the Hat is, all these models are functional they were teaching tools from back in the day.

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[10-Ring]

Looks fascinating, please elaborate more!

[Esko 270]

Aegis is the name of the lab,they do drug analysis ,drug testing and a lot of stuff I can't spell. They are just getting in to ballistics and needed a little help getting there tank going. Super nice guy running this part he showed us around and invited me back to try out the tank! He's restoring the models, he said they were teaching tools for soldiers back when they were still being used.

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[10-Ring]

Oh, that's walking distance from my office.  I think I may need to make friends over there.

[Grand Torino]

Those large models are getting rarer all the time. Cool stuff.

[hipower]

I am soooo envious right now.

[Just2Honor]

Aegis Sciences Corp was founded and still headed by Dr. David Black, PhD.   Well respected forensic scientist in both the US and internationally.   He is a Marine Vietnam Vet so it doesn't surprise me he has collected these items.    www.aegislabs.com    Married for 20+ years to Congressman Diane Black   (She prefers this title as she says we don't call first year students "Freshwomen")

[shotgunshooter]

That is extremely cool. I would jump at the chance to get to tour that lab and see the ballistic side of things. 

[monkeylizard]

Yep. Those oversized ones were used to demonstrate to trainees how the firearms worked. They started in WW2 and AFAIK were phased out of training during Vietnam. The cutaways allowed visibility, and the size allowed an instructor to teach multiple trainees at a time and made the finer parts easier to see. They're "functional" in that all of the parts move including the detachable magazines, but they don't actually fire ammunition. They're quite collectible and getting harder to find every year. I think some had plastic rounds so the trainee could see how the action cycled and stripped the next one off the top, but those may have been a later development like around the Vietnam era.

IIRC, the metal parts are mostly (all?) aluminum. I have read that there was a huge wood and aluminum bayonet for the Garand training model, but I've never seen one.

Edited September 6, 2016 by monkeylizard