I was just watching "The Dark Side Of The Sun" and was wondering if
anyone knows anything about the rocket launcher used in this episode ?

Pics replaced below.

Karl...

Well that was easy to find, it seems it is the LAWS M72 rocket launcher
with a custom flash hider.





Karl...

Brighter pictures! The M72 LAW was modified with a vented muzzle piece and pistol grip too.

Adding a grip and muzzle brake doesn't stop it from looking dumb though.

Russ

Noticed how the warhead is leaning off to the side, wouldn`t want to aim that sucker LOL
So what type of pistol grip did they afix to it then?

Jason

The tip of the rocket sticking out of the muzzle does, though. The whole point of an enclosed tube to fire a rocket from is generally to protect the warhead itself. I know that the show basically used Vietnam-era stuff when they could, but a LAW rocket? They could have built their own launcher much easier, it’d seem. Good luck making one of these. It’s a easy modification, but collectors have been snatching up spent LAW tubes for years now. You won’t likely find one under three digits.

Ack! Seems like a lot of cash for a spent item. Of course, some company sold an airsoft LAW a few years back. You might be able
to modify one of those.

EDIT: Ack x2! Seems the airsoft version is like $300! Looks like original (empty) rocket tubes are selling for at least $250 these days.
Damn, I remember when these were less than $50!

Russ

With a little time and effort you might be able to make your own with a couple of large PVC pipes and some sheet styrene for the base and then whatever else is needed for the additional mods.

Always police up your spent LAW, here's why...oh and if you can't take gory war storys, don't read this!

My Uncle told me this story about his time in Viet Nam, he was a Captian of a river boat squadron.

His and several other boats droped a Company of Marines up this river where there was suposed to be a lot of enemy activity. They we're to be picked up after a few days on the same river at another point. Well, the Major who was in charge decided he wanted to get picked back up in the same spot they had been droped off of because it was deep right up to shore and they could just hop on the boats, not getting wet.
My Uncle told him over the radio that was a really bad idea but the Major was rather...loud about it (to put it nicly). So the boats came up the the same point and waited for the Marines, who were about 200 yards inland, to come to them. Just a few minutes later they heard a string of explosions that went on for some time. At first everyone thought it was arty or mortors, but there was no sound from incomming, just explosions. After the shooting stopped, because every person on every boat had opened up on full Rock'n Roll hosing down everything except the direction the marines were at, there was no incomming fire eather.
After about 5 minutes with no radio contact, and my Uncle deciding it was about time to tear arse outa there, 18 Marines came out of the bush carrying 16 other badly wounded. Leading the Marines and a group of 12 other Sailors, they went back to the ambush site and brought back, durring many trips, 42 other wounded Marines. They brought the dead out last having to use tarps from the boats to collect the pieces.
A LT of one of the Platoons figured out what had happend. The Viet Cong had hung spent LAWs about 30 ft up in the trees with a trip wire that pulled out a stick from the open end hanging down. Inside the LAW were from 5 to 10 grenades with the pins pulled but the tube of the LAW holding the "spoon" from opening. They had been conected in what we call a "Daisy Chain", so when one was pulled, all were pulled. When the first guy triped it, the grenades just rained down on them, bounced all over and then went off.

I once asked my LT why we left our spent tubes all over the place, he said "Why not?" and then I told him the story. We never left a one ever again.

That is an old trick the VC prefected. They were very good at recycling our unexploded ordinates and discarded LAW rocket tubes.

So, i was looking through some props and came accross this:



It's not listed as "space above and beyond" but it does look like the one from SAAB,
with the black muzzle break and the folded handle underneath.

What do you guys think ?

Karl...

Did the SAAB one have a folding handle? I thought it was a solid handle with trigger guard.
You get a good look at it when they rush back to the ISSCV container and Hawkes basically says
they can go back in guns blazing (I'm paraphrasing mind you...) and he raises the rocket launcher.

Where was that from Karl?

Russ

It's listed on icollector.com 20thcenturyprops is selling it, which is partly
what make me think it is SAAB. They have or have had a ton of SAAB items.
I've never seen a laws launcher in anything else with the handle or muzzle break.

I could be wrong, i wish i could bid but customs would have a fit if i brought that
into the country.

You could be right about the handle, if you look at the bit where Vansen is walking
away from West near the end just before she uses the launcher you don't see the
handle sticking out, you see a flat box shape on the top and bottom, but no handle
It also doesn't seem to have the slots in the muzzle break either, it could be a
background or stunt launcher, Maybe ?

Karl...

I really don’t think it’s the same one. Compare the front ends:



Note the “flash hider” look to the muzzle break. That’s lacking from the one below, and the black part comes back way too far:



Not to say it wasn’t also used on SAAB, but I wouldn’t count on it being from the show. I’ve seen all kinds of wacky things done with LAW tubes in movies.

Has anyone stumbled across any new info on the rocket launcher ? I just picked up a Law's
launcher tube in the U.K. I was trying to remember what SAAB episodes they used rocket
launchers.

I remember it was used by Vansen in Dark side of the sun and Wang uses an unmodified launcher
at the end of Pearly.

Anyone remember any other episodes ?

Also, i noticed that in the pic below that you can't see any of the flash through the extended add on piece
when the lanucher is fired. Which makes me think they had 2 types , "dummy" and "FX".



The "dummy" one with the slots in the add on extention and the "FX" one with no slots.

Does this make sense ?

Another pic.

The more i look at this launcher the more i think it was used in SAAB. If you look at the Screen caps below you can clearly see the handle is
folded, you can even see the recessed area on the sides of the handle.

Yeah, but it can't be the one Vansen used at that point, you still see the flash hider style slots that clearly aren't on the propr noted. Not saying it wasn't ever used in SaaB but it isn't the same laucnher from that sequence, or if it was, it was modified afterward.

Clearly there are several M72's with different modifications. Several seconds after you see Vansen carrying the launcher with the flash hider slots
you see he firing a launcher without the slots.

I'm just trying to work out what modifications i want to make on my M72. I like the flash hider with the slots and the folding handle.

heh, somebody was snoozing in the FX department, she's shooting under the ship.

I imagine the vent hole muzzle wouldn't withstand the blast from the rocket engines, which is why that version is solid.

Anyone wanna take a guess on how many vents the muzzle has ? looks like 7 or 8 to me. Anyone ?

Looks like 8 to me.