SCR-300 Replica???

[scarfy]

I'm considering building a Replica SCR-300, which was the standard issue backpack radio for US Infantry Radio Operators in WW2 for those of you who don't know.

I saw a guy selling an original on eBay for $1,300 and i thought maybe i could just build my own replica for looks. I haven't seen it done before and thought it might be a nice addition to my Kit. So how could i go about doing this?

[ssgjoe]

I believe I have heard of fiberglass replicas being made. But that was a while ago

[feldwebelheidrich]

If it's dead on you could sell plenty of them for a coupe, hundred each.

I'd buy one

[scarfy]

May 27, 2015 0:17:12 GMT -5 feldwebelheidrich said:

If it's dead on you could sell plenty of them for a coupe, hundred each.

I'd buy one

I'd be into making replicas for sale, I'd much rather they work though. Games that require Platoon to Platoon Communication would be alot more fun if we had a SCR-300 for each Platoon.

[daehahn]

Here's an idea: you could put a modern radio inside of the src-300 body, because if I am correct, the src-300 body looks like a rectangular box. Just an idea.

[ssgjoe]

That's what some people do.

[2nd Bat]

There was a fellow who created BC1000. SCR300 radio shells. He made a mold and produced perhaps a dozen of them. I bought two from him and rigged them with modern GMRS radios. They look and work great. When he failed to market them effectively, I offered to buy his molds. Initially he wanted more than I was able to justify. Later he came down to a price where I thought it might make sense but by that time his molds had been improperly stored and they warped and were unusable.

They are a large radio. (back portable) and required quite a bit of resin to make so with materials costs at around $200.00 He sold them for $295.00 and just wasn't covering his costs and time. I am thrilled that I got a couple of them while I could. There is an excellent handie talkie BC 611 replica commercially available.

[Dracul]

From 2ndBat:

---

The BC1000 (also known as the SRC300 radio) was nicknamed the "walkie talkie" as it could be carried attached to a packboard and later came with its own strap system. It used a field phone like handset.








I mount a modern GMRS radio under the hinged upper flap with easy access to change channels, volume or batteries and route an external handset with push to talk.







They work great and look almost spot on. They would be expensive to reproduce and I'm not sure there is a large enough market to justify pursuing at a price that would reward the risk, costs and time required.





2nd Bat

[2nd Bat]

Thanks as always Dracul for posting those pictures. The fellow who made these built in quite a bit of weight which is nice for authenticity but kind of a pain (frankly). They are 100% correct in demensions and weight although I would have been fine with them being lighter. Brownian did up a decent looking SRC radio using a wood box shrouded in properly shaped foam board. Though not ideal you could certainly tell what it depicted.

[stuka]

Is this what you were referencing?

onlinemilitaria.com/products/4624-US-BC-611-SCR-536-Handie-Talkie-Radio/

[2nd Bat]

Yes I didn't know who carried them but the BC 611 is a very well done replica and though often misidentified as a "walkie talkie" was infact called the "handy talkie.". while the SRC 300 was issued down the Company level the Handy Talkie was issued down the the platoon level. In WW2 wire communication was still the most common form of distant communication but as you can imagine with artillery strikes, (especially prior to assaults) reliability at the very times you needed it was problematic. The US radios were FM where German radios were AM. Because English speaking Germans were relatively common radio communications by allied soldiers was far from secure.

Germany employed listening stations and direction locator stations with great success. The BC 611 makes more sense for our purposes given the scale of most of our events.

[stuka]

Where would one hold that handy talkie anyways? It's easy to find pictures with the scr-300 and other pack radios but I don't think i have seen the bc6111 in use.

[2nd Bat]

There was a shoulder strap and it was slung very much like a weapon. It was heavy and somewhat awkward to field but obviously less obtrusive than the heavy and bulky BC1000 / SCR 300 Radio.

[feldwebelheidrich]

There are replica battery boxes available all over for $100 you would just need to cast the top half and run controls,through to the bottom where you could have a modern radio.

That's what I'm going to try

[feldwebelheidrich]

Any idea if the guy that used to make them has the molds anymore ?

[2nd Bat]

I tried for years to buy them. I visited the fellow in New Hampshire several years ago when I was there on business and he was open to the idea but unfortunately the latex molds were stored improperly and were ruined! I think he only managed to make a half dozen of them and I have two of them.

[usatactics]

Hey guys, I'd like to know where I can get a replica of this SCR300 also, I need one for reenactments to show off to people lol. Thanks

[2nd Bat]

I would splash a mold off one of mine but i am simply not confident enough that I would ever recoup the time and expense. Once molds were set if they would sell at $300.00 they would be profitable but I would need to sell enough of them to pay off the initial set up costs. They would require several component molds and obviously production time.

Perhaps by carefully examining the pictures I posted you could fabricate something.

[droopaille]

I'm interested by this thread. I want to make a BC611.
Is anybody have dimensions ?

I'd like to buy only the shell but it's OOS everywhere, so I will make it with modern PMR inside