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Latest work, M577A2 w/interior

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  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Valrico, FL
Latest work, M577A2 w/interior
Posted by HeavyArty on Friday, September 26, 2008 5:50 AM

This is my latest project for a customer.  It is the old Tamiya M577 kit updated to an M577A2 from the mid-'80s.

I took the tamiya hull and added the second shock and moved the rear idler wheel up about 3mm to bring it to A2 standards.  I also switched out the engine deck for an A2 version left over from Academy's A3 kit.  I added smaller fittings like the lifting loop, second exhaust for the crew heater, handle for the trim vane, and A2 exhaust stack and guard.  I also added the fuel can rack for the generator fuel cans.


On the inside, I took the interior from a Tamiya M113 kit and modified it.  I added the fuel tanks and tables along the hull, fuel transfer pipes, ramp pulley, radio racks, and other small fittings.

Here it is with the interior painted and outfitted with paperwork, maps, and gear.

 

Ceiling too.

Next up is exterior painting.  It will be in 3-color NATO camo.

Gino P. Quintiliani - Field Artillery - The KING of BATTLE!!!

Check out my Gallery: https://app.photobucket.com/u/HeavyArty

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: New Jersey
Posted by redleg12 on Friday, September 26, 2008 6:46 AM

Gino

Very nice work. I especially love the map board and the papers on the table. Nice touch with the map rolls.

Work on the outside to upgrade looks good. Are you extending the hooch off the rear or will it stay rolled up??

Can't wait to see it finished!!

Rounds Complete!!

"The Moral High Ground....A Great Place to Emplace Artillery."

  • Member since
    December 2007
  • From: Southern NJ
Posted by Jeordicat on Friday, September 26, 2008 9:09 AM
Wow, Heavy!  Seeing your work on the interior takes me back to my enlisted days as a 31C, Single Frequency Radio Operator, in the PA Guard.  Really great work!  I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product.  How were you able to modify the M113 interior to look just like a 577?  I have both kits in my stash.
  • Member since
    June 2008
  • From: Iowa
Posted by Hans von Hammer on Friday, September 26, 2008 9:10 AM

Sheesh... I'm gonna use yours for the references for mine in the Guf War GB...  What'd you use for the roof lights?  I was trying to model the square green/white ones without much luck...

 

 

  • Member since
    October 2004
  • From: Katy, TX
Posted by jthurston on Friday, September 26, 2008 9:48 AM

Freaky sweet, bro! Takes ya back, doesn't it?

I might suggest that one piece of gear missing from the interior is a helmet or two. First thing you did with you got inside was take that thing off and stash it somewhere...

 

~J

  • Member since
    January 2007
Posted by the doog on Friday, September 26, 2008 10:12 AM

Pretty incredibe looking work, Gino!

It's amazing whatyou can add to these things when you've spent some time in them!

Amazing looking model!

  • Member since
    December 2007
  • From: Southern NJ
Posted by Jeordicat on Friday, September 26, 2008 10:18 AM
 jthurston wrote:

Freaky sweet, bro! Takes ya back, doesn't it?

I might suggest that one piece of gear missing from the interior is a helmet or two. First thing you did with you got inside was take that thing off and stash it somewhere...

 

~J

 

LOL!  As well as pulling off your "web gear," hanging it somewhere/anywhere, and slamming the ole M-16 into the rack above the ramp, if a rack was available, or stacking your rifle on the very top of someone else's weapon already in the rack.  Not too mention how cold that aluminum floor is when it's cold outside, you're in your fart sack and you had late night/early morning radio watch!

  • Member since
    June 2008
  • From: Iowa
Posted by Hans von Hammer on Friday, September 26, 2008 10:57 AM
 Jeordicat wrote:
 jthurston wrote:

Freaky sweet, bro! Takes ya back, doesn't it?

I might suggest that one piece of gear missing from the interior is a helmet or two. First thing you did with you got inside was take that thing off and stash it somewhere...

 

~J

 

LOL!  As well as pulling off your "web gear," hanging it somewhere/anywhere, and slamming the ole M-16 into the rack above the ramp, if a rack was available, or stacking your rifle on the very top of someone else's weapon already in the rack.  Not too mention how cold that aluminum floor is when it's cold outside, you're in your fart sack and you had late night/early morning radio watch!

On radio watch, the only way to find me was by following the mic chord into the fartsack...

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: New Jersey
Posted by redleg12 on Friday, September 26, 2008 11:20 AM

Nothing like pork chops (the mic) in the fart sac!!

Rounds Complete!!

"The Moral High Ground....A Great Place to Emplace Artillery."

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Valrico, FL
Posted by HeavyArty on Friday, September 26, 2008 12:59 PM

Thanks guys.  It has been fun so far. 

 The lights are just left over lights from the parts bin w/hangers added. Then painted w/chrome silver for the clear ones and clear red for the red ones.

 I've added a helmet in there too.

 Yup, all the above are great memories of living in the hotel on tracks.  Gotta love it.

I'll keep you posted.

Gino P. Quintiliani - Field Artillery - The KING of BATTLE!!!

Check out my Gallery: https://app.photobucket.com/u/HeavyArty

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell

  • Member since
    June 2008
  • From: Iowa
Posted by Hans von Hammer on Friday, September 26, 2008 1:28 PM

Thanks for the tip (betcha didn't know you gave one) on the idler wheel as well... For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why the Tamiya track wouldn't do the "right sag" on top I remembered on the 113/577... Never thought it was that the idler arm was too low... DOH!

To quote "Ernst Kessler" from The Great Waldo Pepper, "Efferytink vas in order...".

 

  • Member since
    September 2004
  • From: Burke, Virginia
Posted by tellis on Friday, September 26, 2008 2:04 PM
Wow!, takes me back when I was an A/S3 in the Brigade TAC. Looks awesome, how did you produce the map? Scan a real one and reduce? Did any of you guys ever hear of units welding seats out of a deuce and a half or 5 ton in the 577s for the TOC rats to ride in while the TOC was jumping?

T Ellis  Springfield, VA  http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t104/cycledupes/WWIIArmorBadge.jpg

  • Member since
    April 2005
  • From: Piscataway, NJ!
Posted by wing_nut on Friday, September 26, 2008 2:54 PM
WOWSER HA... sweet.   I love the way all the paperwork and maps look.  Funny how paper makes it look so cool.  I put a folded up map in an FW 190 cockpit once and it was my favortie detail.

Marc  

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Valrico, FL
Posted by HeavyArty on Friday, September 26, 2008 11:40 PM
Thanks for the compliments.  The map is an actaul map (Tenino I think), that was reduced on a black and white copier, then I used pastels, pens, and paints to color it in.  All the paper items were copied off the web, reduced, and printed out.  If you take a magnifying glass, you will see they are actual DA 1594s, 2404, range cards, and FM/-10 covers.  There is an M577A2 -10 in there.

Gino P. Quintiliani - Field Artillery - The KING of BATTLE!!!

Check out my Gallery: https://app.photobucket.com/u/HeavyArty

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell

  • Member since
    December 2006
  • From: N. Georgia
Posted by Jester75 on Saturday, September 27, 2008 1:53 PM
YIKES!! Awesome looking interior Gino!!!!! Love all the details and items and especially the map!

Eric

 

  • Member since
    June 2008
  • From: Iowa
Posted by Hans von Hammer on Saturday, September 27, 2008 9:17 PM

 HeavyArty wrote:
...  The map is an actaul map (Tenino I think)..

Heh, Tenino... Who hasn't used THAT mapsheet?  Think I still have a couple around here from the Land Nav Correspondence Course I took...

  • Member since
    October 2004
  • From: League City, Texas
Posted by sfcmac on Saturday, September 27, 2008 10:06 PM

 I like it!!! Hmmm haven't spent much time in those have you? Can't see much with the orderly room clerk in the way.

Hey do you recognze this scenery?

 I may be getting old but don't they have  a  new designation for them now? Not 577 but 1068 or something? Maybe thats a Hummer hard to keep up.

  • Member since
    December 2007
  • From: Southern NJ
Posted by Jeordicat on Sunday, September 28, 2008 2:31 AM
 Hans von Hammer wrote:

 HeavyArty wrote:
...  The map is an actaul map (Tenino I think)..

Heh, Tenino... Who hasn't used THAT mapsheet?  Think I still have a couple around here from the Land Nav Correspondence Course I took...

 

Ah!  The classic and favored" scenario map."  I wish I could remember some of the notional towns that were depicted on that map, and their corresponding scenarios.

  • Member since
    June 2008
  • From: Iowa
Posted by Hans von Hammer on Sunday, September 28, 2008 1:25 PM
 sfcmac wrote:

Hey do you recognze this scenery?

 

Not sure... It reminds me of the bridge over Cowhouse Creek on East Range Road in Ft Hood...

  • Member since
    October 2004
  • From: League City, Texas
Posted by sfcmac on Sunday, September 28, 2008 5:02 PM
 Bingo! Right on the Money Hans as usual. !
  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Texas
Posted by wbill76 on Sunday, September 28, 2008 10:57 PM
Got to love the level of detail included there Gino, very sharp work so far. Thumbs Up [tup]
  • Member since
    July 2003
  • From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Posted by zokissima on Monday, September 29, 2008 1:46 PM
Been a while since we've seen anything from you Gino. Nice clean work, as usual.
  • Member since
    September 2006
  • From: Dripping Springs, TX, USA
Posted by RBaer on Monday, September 29, 2008 3:14 PM
Rael nice work, H.A. Looks like "Honey, I shrunk the kids" stuff......

Apprentice rivet counter.

  • Member since
    June 2008
  • From: Iowa
Posted by Hans von Hammer on Monday, September 29, 2008 7:13 PM

Get some more pics in here, Gino... I'm using you a s reference material and I've hit a stopping point... I raised the idler arm on mine yesterday and got lucky.  I was able to cut behind each one enough to bend the torsion bar up about a scale three inches, rather than cut the old ones out and install a new set cut from a "DRMO'd" 113...

While you're at it, you know how the frame goes together for the TOC extension?  I'm rolling mine out, but I can't really see how it goes together..

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Valrico, FL
Posted by HeavyArty on Monday, September 29, 2008 11:54 PM

Hi guys, thanks for the compliments.  No more pics yet.  I painted it Sun afternoon (our half-day off), but haven't had a chance to do any more on it since then. 

The extension poles extend out to make the horizontal frame.  The pieces that have two "L" shaped ends extend out so you have an "L" on each corner, and one set in the middle.  The short poles then extend to make the legs.  The bent poles go into the horizontal "L"s at the corners and in the middle to make the roof.  Lastly, the long poles w/the flattened ends are horizontal supports that run the length of the structure.  Hope that makes sense.  Good luck on it.

I was able to carefully cut the rear idler mounts off and reuse the same ones as well.

Gino P. Quintiliani - Field Artillery - The KING of BATTLE!!!

Check out my Gallery: https://app.photobucket.com/u/HeavyArty

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell

  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, October 1, 2008 4:48 PM

Wow...this is good stuff---sorry I missed it earlier---gonna be a stunner when complete!!! 

 "Fire for Effect !!!"

  • Member since
    November 2003
  • From: savannah ga.
Posted by GA.modelmaker on Wednesday, October 1, 2008 8:55 PM
great looking wor thier heavyarty. you make mine look like a derseted isand on my m577 i did last month.
  • Member since
    April 2005
  • From: I am at play in the fields of the Lord. (Texas)
Posted by m60a3 on Wednesday, October 1, 2008 11:57 PM

 "Range Control, this is Lone Star Multi-Use Range North, radio check, over?"

 "Lone Star Multi-Use Range North, This is Range Control, roger out."

  Ahhh, memories. Don't forget the 5 gallon water cooler on the right rear...

 And most of our gear we kept on the right interior side. When static, we seemed to keep the left side pretty clear of personal stuff except for santeen cups or styrofoam coffee cups.
 The TOC S/3 never sleeps. We always had coffee brewing nearby, even on the hottest Ft. Hood days. Didn't even charge the brass for a cup...

                        Laugh [(-D]  Great job!!              60

 

"I lay like a small idea in a vacant mind" - Wm. Least Heat Moon "I am at the center of the earth." - Black Elk My FSM friends are the best.
  • Member since
    June 2008
  • From: Iowa
Posted by Hans von Hammer on Thursday, October 2, 2008 12:24 AM
 m60a3 wrote:

 "Range Control, this is Lone Star Multi-Use Range North, radio check, over?"

 "Lone Star Multi-Use Range North, This is Range Control, roger out."

  Ahhh, memories. Don't forget the 5 gallon water cooler on the right rear...

 And most of our gear we kept on the right interior side. When static, we seemed to keep the left side pretty clear of personal stuff except for santeen cups or styrofoam coffee cups.
 The TOC S/3 never sleeps. We always had coffee brewing nearby, even on the hottest Ft. Hood days. Didn't even charge the brass for a cup...

                        Laugh [(-D]  Great job!!              60

 

How about, (Urgent voice) "Bravo Battery 3/3 FA, this is Range Control, CHECK FIRE, CHECK FIRE, CHECK FIRE!!! Your last round was unobserved. Have your people immediately stand to the rear of the piece and await our arrival at your position, OUT!"

That was a bad day in Ft Hood 1986...     

 

 

 

  • Member since
    April 2005
  • From: I am at play in the fields of the Lord. (Texas)
Posted by m60a3 on Thursday, October 2, 2008 12:46 AM

 I came in in '87. Missed that day. What did the round hit?

 I remember one late evening I was in the tower at Lone Star South and observed an "army type" jeep far downrange (the range was cold). I knew we had no vehicles authorized downrange, so I called Range Control (rc) on the FM and asked if they had personnell on our range. RC advised me to call them on the landline, which I did.
 They advised me not to call on fm for such things in the future because  what we had on the range was most likely illegal "pickers" loading up on expended munitions and they had fm radios set to the rc freq.  The pickers would supposedly take the munitions to Mexico to sell and then Mexican companies would sell it back to the U.S. after remanufacturing it. This seems odd, the part about Mexico, but it's what I was told at the time. But as soon as I had called rc on the fm and inquired if they had personnell on our range, the jeep did take off at a higher speed and was soon out of sight.

  Sorry,don't want to hi-jack the thread.                                60

"I lay like a small idea in a vacant mind" - Wm. Least Heat Moon "I am at the center of the earth." - Black Elk My FSM friends are the best.
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