Rambo III Scale Models – Behind The Scenes

I hadn’t seen this picture before, so maybe you haven’t either.

This is behind the scenes on the finale of Rambo III.  If you’re wondering how they crashed a tank into a helicopter, then wonder no more.  Well, the actual collision wasn’t the best, the editing was quite harsh.  These are what I’m guessing to be 1/6 scale models of the larger replicas used in the movie.

If I’m not good at movie coverage, one thing I do know is AFV appearance and spotting.  Now here is some boring trivia – are you paying attention?  That unit above is a mockup of a mockup.  The full sized tank that Rambo commandeers is a fake T-72, which is inaccurate to begin with because the Soviets did not deploy T-72s in Afghanistan (they kept those for bigger worries).  Production did not have access to a weapons system like that, so instead they turned an M8A1 backwards and stuck a turret on it.  In order to stay consistent, the smaller model also had to look like an M8A1 wearing clothes.

In the movie Stallone also drives and fires the gun from a single position, which isn’t possible in the time seen on screen.  Although we’re getting pedantic here, it’s still a cool scene.

This full sized tank was used before in Red Dawn and again in Three Kings.  It is owned by  Veluzat Armored Vehicles out of Newhall, California.  See it below in a different movie.  As far as vismods go, it’s pretty damned good, if you consider normal operational engagement ranges.