I have a strange problem with the Mk77 model posted above by Sundowner...   
 
  
and in the OUT file of the LOD notice an error: 
  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
  
Tube01 (216 polys, 648 verts) '1 - Default'
Tube_01 (8 polys, 24 verts) 'ERROR: No material is assigned!'
 
 
Num Nodes: 2
Total:    (224 polys, 672 verts)
Mesh Max: (216 polys, 648 verts)
 
1 Materials:
 (  1) 1 - Default:
       Specular=0.30, Glossiness=0.82, Color:<229,229,229>
       mk77.bmp
 
1 Textures:
mk77.bmp
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
may be correlated? maybe a corrupted file? (full merged install - JUN 2012)
 
Thanks in advance for any hints! 
 
PS and also compare a black MER..... only with this loadout.... another mistery...