My MKT refurb project

[Aswayze]

As I have mentioned a few time around here, once a year my airsoft club runs a 9 day long continuous immersive airsoft event called East Wind. For 9 days, participants live the life of a field deployed unit choosing either US/NATO or Warsaw Pact/Soviet. The scenario is set in the ending phases of the Cold War and we try very hard to provide an historically accurate environment for our players.

A big part of maintaining troops in the field is obviously field feeding. Last year we managed ok setting up our field kitchen in a GP Small with another networked to it as a serving area. We cooked on a single M59 field range and used an M2 gasoline burner. While this worked ok, it was a lot of work and we were not super happy with the inefficient and hard to keep clean work space the tent provided. Thus the road was paved towards seeking an MKT-85.

Fast forward 6 months and now I have an MKT sitting in my driveway. I picked this guy up from GL at Ft. Riley for around $1K after fees. More than I wanted to spend and certainly more than I have seen them go for elsewhere but certainly fair enough for what I need it for.

Mine was not in super good shape. Travel covers were all pretty much trashed, all of the top canvas had dry rotted and would rip at the slightest provoking. I am missing 1 pole and 1 jack and mine did not come with much in the way of cooking gear aboard (no burners at all). Good news is I already had a lot of that stuff and I was able to procure MBUs from a local surplus store for $35 ea. After a few weekends of cleaning, stripping and scrubbing it’s starting to look pretty decent now. I figured I’d share some pics with everyone and pass along my repair upgrade plans and see if any of you guys have suggestions that might allow me to do a better job.

The plan:

• 
  Replace top canvas with NOS canvas from Chip in New Mexico. That’s obviously a slam dunk. Tops come on and off fairly easy so this should be a snap.
  
  Make travel covers. We have a decent little industrial sewing machine that we bought to repair tents with and I have several new/unissued latrine screen sets I can cut up for material. This will be plenty of work but seems like the only option.
  
  Make a wiring harness to support MBU burners. I do not have all the neato cables, transformers and inverters to do it the “correct” way but I do work on robots for a living and cooking up a decent looking and functional 24 volt system to drive my MBUs shouldn’t be too tough. I’d rather have the “right” stuff but in lieu of that what I have drawn up will certainly work. M2 burners are not an option. Too many safety issues with those and they are a lot more effort to use. I have a very competent but small cook staff, I prefer to make their lives as easy as possible.
  
  Make lighting system. When we deploy this thing it will never be near a source of 110V power. I do not care to run a generator 24/7 to support our rear area so we have been recently converting/vismodding our military light fixtures over to 12/24 volt LED lights. I can light the MKT very well with only 240 MAH of power draw using LEDs. I use these in many of my HQ tents already and they have proven very popular. I do have a lantern for it but frankly have never been very impressed with the GI lanterns.
  
  Replace air brake hoses. My brake hoses were rotted. I had a buddy in the trucking business make some more up for me, I just need to install them.
  
  Replace electrical plug. The rubber covers to my plug are also rotted. I have an M105 trailer I plan on parting out anyhow, I’ll trade plugs with it.
  
  Hunt down more pots and pans. I need another 10 gallon pot, a 15 gallon pot, at least 6 sheet pans, some larger measuring gear and of course some odd and end cooking/serving stuff. I figure probably the most economical way to get it is to bid on some of the field range lots at GL and get what I need from there. Several of the guys up here at my work are quite envious of my M59 field ranges so I am sure I can find homes for the stuff that is left over.
  
  Make grease trap funnel. Mine is missing. I have a guy who does sheet metal who can make one up out of stainless for me. The grill is very nice on the MKT but would make an unholy mess without a decent grease trap.
  
  Hunt down or make an ice box. I really want an original one of these… Several were up at GL before I got the MKT and I didn’t bid on them. I am obviously kicking myself now that I have an MKT that is missing its ice box. If any of you guys have some leads let me know.
  
  Make 1 pole assembly. I am missing one pole. I can make something up that is usable with my lathe and the welder. Original would be better but I have not seen any around. Again, any leads would be appreciated. Many of the guardrail mounts (little zinc things) are broken as well but I think if I carefully space the broken ones out I can get all of my guardrails up.
  
  Always make sure there is a slightly taller/stronger person around when erecting or collapsing the roof. With only 1 jack, someone has to be Mr. Strong and lift ½ of the roof by hand. A lead on another jack would be even better obviously.
  
  Track down problems with trailer lights. I think this is most likely an issue in my Deuce rather than the trailer since the M105 also had lighting problems. I am not 100% happy with how my trailer electrical socket looks on the deuce so I’ll probably try to hunt down a good looking replacement.
  
  Put a pintle hitch on the front bumper of the deuce so I can get this short little monster up my driveway. Holy cow that thing was hard to back up! I have a fairly narrow driveway and live on a narrow street. I’ll need to do something and I think the front mounted pintle idea seems ideal. I seem to recall a PS mag article talking about this mod for the arty guys, I just need to fab something up.
  
  
  

That’s about what I have planned for now. Obviously this thread needs pics so here you go:

 

[SCSG-G4]

Looks like a good unit, and a good use when not on disaster releif duty!

 

[littlebob]

Nice kitchen! I want one too but, wouldn't use it enough to justify the upkeep.

littlebob

 

[neilhendrix]

Thats pretty cool.

 

[MWMULES]

Kool another cookie trailer! Are all your top vent covers there? I have a few extra if you need them. I ended up using propane burners from cheapo Aldi's turkey fryers, took the legs off and put a piece of sheet Al in side of the field range to hold it, I also use them where you have your MBU's. I have the same problems with no roof jacks and use 4 folks to raise it. Also don't bid blind on GL ranges, the ones I got once were stripped clean. I am just over the line here in J hawk country in the same town as gbooth. I also may have a few extra sheet pans.

 

[Aswayze]

@MWMULES:
Sweet, you are just over the hill from me, we can have an MKT club!

We used 1 double burner propane stove last East Wind and that little monster about ran us into the poor house. Propane is very convenient, and I think if I was not having to cook every meal for 60+ people I would probably do that too but circumstances being what they are the MBU is a lot more practical/cheap to operate.

I know about GL and ranges, I have a buddy in Manhattan who scopes stuff out for me so as to avoid annoying surprises.

Let me know what you have for sheet pans and PM me a list of anything you are looking for on yours since I will be on the hunt anyhow, perhaps I’ll find something you need as well.

What do you use your MKT for?

@ Littlebob. This thing does seem fairly labor intensive to make clean/keep clean as well as obviously keep up with all the fiddly bits and canvas. Very cool item to have around but you are correct to say that it’s probably not worth the effort unless you plan to cook for a lot of people.

 

[SCSG-G4]

Mine's for use with the SC State Guard in disasters, emergencies, and for training exercises. I'm plum full up on M-59 ranges at the moment, after picking up five at Eglin. Just need a few small parts, like the long grease guard, a fueling hose, and a set of the cambro food containers. Now I want to build another trailer as a sanitation center to complete the set as the State Guard already has a water buffalo and generator trailers.