Semper Fi War in the Pacific

ROB,

That LVT is looking sharp, I'll be watching this one!    Which kit is it?  Judging by the fact that you went with the Fruil tracks, I assume it's Italeri?  I have the AFV Club LVT4 inbound, so I can't wait to see how yours turns out!

Carl,

Great details on that jeep, my friend, your attention to detail is really making the difference!

Semper,

Ski

Hey Ski thanks my friend , much appreciated .    

Rob,,,   I agree,, those Friuls have got to be murder,,  wow!    Just think how great they will look when you finish.    Let's see,,  2 hours to assemble 7 links {{scribble scribble}}, 277 more to go {{scribble scribble scribble}},,,    only another 79 hours to complete.      I would be zombified.       The LVT is looking good!

Carl,,   you keep amazing me with that jeep.  Excellent!

CARL - Another great detail   Thats just what the hood needed.

SKI - Thanks man.  This is the Cyber Hobby kit, its a re box of the Italeri kit.  The tracks that came with it actually looked not half bad for rubber band style tracks but believe they would have been a different story trying to get them on the LVT.  They are in two parts for each side and they are very stiff.  Have read many for people after getting them on they would keep breaking apart and could not get them to stay together.  This is one reason I went with the Friuls and they just look better.

I'm interested in seeing what differences there are with the AFV kit.  Look forward to you receiving it, I'm sure you are to.

BILL - 79 more hours.......thats not bad........  They do look good though.  Will see if it is worth the effort to say maybe get more sets for the other LVT kits I have?  Will see?

Andy thanks for the comment my friend !   I agree with what you said about Rob Fruil tracks, i would be zombified also ! . Its going to look great when finished .

Rob , looking froward to more .

It may take some time before can get some pis up, will when complete at least one track.  Will work on these tracks until my casting set arrives.  The casting set has to go by ground the whole way so it is not due in until the 17th, still aways off.  If I'm lucky will have the tracks done by then.

BILL - question for you.  You do a lot of Friuls right?  I have only done a few sets and have always used Blacken-it to achieve the base of the finish, have you or can you paint them instead?  My concern with painting them would be gumming up the tracks making them not workable.  Is this a real concern to worry with?

Rob , we'll be here when you get those tracks done ! Good luck !

I took some new pics of the jeep today , after the corrections i made last night . If you look close there are some stray pieces of fuzz and what ever else is in the universe thats smaller than a grain of salt ........my models are magnets for that stuff it seems .Oh well . Here's about half of the picsfor now . Dont want to bore anyone with all of them at once . More later on .

Carl,,,    jeeeeze,,  that jeeeeep is wonderful, seriously.        You really have built something for me to shoot for with mine....   I hope mine is half as good.           Superb my friend!

Rob,,,   I've done about half dozen Friul projects (not really enough to make me an expert)...  but yes, you can paint them.    My advice if painting - - thin coats. After each coat dries, move / flex them around a bit just to make sure they dont bind. I would think you'd really have to slop the paint on to actually have them sieze.    The last set I made, the Blacken-it didn't work as well as I would have liked,,,  even though I soaked them in white vinegar and a wash of thinned bleach.         I have used a combination of Blacken-it and paint on a few sets with no problems.           I know yours will turn out fine!

Sorry about back-to-back posts.........  but,,,

I've been promising to post some update pics.....      now, I don't want anyone to get too excited with this .......

I've been tinkering in the engine area (Carl has paved the way, plus it has just been fun).....  I doubt that I will even open the hood, but I couldn't pass up adding some detail.

Anyhow,, I wanted to add a horn               remember, hold back the excitement

I short-stretched some sprue to give me the cone shape.

Which I then started to hollow out  (crappy pic, sorry)

I estimated the length of the horn itself and cut the other end off of the sprue. I then needed a mount for the firewall.     I came up with this idea.... I figured out the diameter of the back end of the horn and then I took two plastic tubes, one size a bit smaller than the other. I made sure the smaller diameter tube would fit the butt end of the horn.

I jammed the smaller into the larger [tube] and cut the set off accordingly...

I then pushed the butt horn end into the smaller tube...     (sorry again for these crappy pics)

I then secured that finely crafted piece (ha) onto the firewall.....

And,,  viola           a horn!!               I warned you about the excitement         ha!

I'll get some other pics up this weekend...   and hopefully figure out what the heck is going on with my camera.

Bill

CARL - Bore us.....are you kidding!!  I could go for seeing them all!  Beautiful  Are you calling her done, with exception of gear?  It looks great as is or if you incorporate it into a dio.  Looks really cool with the hood open

BILL - Nice scratch work   Are you going to detail the whole compartment?  It's funny how modelers build stuff then cover it up, hood closed.  I cover details all the time after spending days adding the detail.  Suppose it's just fun putting it in there  Look forward to your next update.

Thanks for the info about painting the tracks.  Believe I'm going to try painting this set when the time comes.

By the way, I'm excited.

Bill , really nice looking scratch work on the horn ! I saw that type of horn in the video...........reminded me of the OOGAH horn i had on my "56 truck . I'm excited also .................." OOGAH OOGAH OOGAH !!!! ..........Hee hee 

Glad uou guys have followed my jeep build along . Rob , its done except for adding some gear .

Carl,,,    I will echo Rob      Will be looking for the rest of the (finale Jeep) pics......

Rob,,     thanks Pal,,,  I have the engine detailed and some other "under the hood" stuff too...    just need to fit into place.                Also, I agree, the things we do that will, sometimes, never be seen.     I sort of equate it to the fun of the build and the fact that we, the builders, know that we've added the details.    Glad to be of help with the tracks.....   you will be fine with painting them...  no worries.          Good to know you are psyched to build them too.

agentg

Carl the Jeep is superb!

I haven't been up around Rachel in about a year now. MrsG and I have taken a fancy to the Mesa/Phoenix area and spend time visiting new friends there.

G

 

G , i was watching a program the other night and there were these UFO watchers up there where the "black mail box " is . After dark they were searching the skies and all of a sudden off in the distance the sky lights up . The crowd "OOOHS and AAAHS "!! The women scream !!! Good griefe , i've been up there and what they saw was the fighter jets practicing ejecting those flares for  heat seaking missiles .  ...................

Some more Jeep pics .

Ok , thats it on the jeep until i add some stowage to it . Unto the Sheman dozer.

Rob , i found this FSM article about blackening Friul tracks ...................

/forums/t/125224.aspx

What a busy day!  Had to catch up here...

Rob- Wow!  Two hours for small part of the tracks?  Am sure it is worth it because the details are far superior.  You will be one rel happy man when it is done.

Carl- I want to marry your jeep!  One of nicest jeep I have seen here so far... Looking forward to follow your next build! 

Andy thanks again . You cant marry it , its name is Joe ! Just sayin .....................

Oh not Willie Jo?  You see it can be so misleading.  Again beautiful work and I have to keep up with you. Jeez... 

deafpanzer

Oh not Willie Jo?  You see it can be so misleading.  Again beautiful work and I have to keep up with you. Jeez... 

HA HA !!! Willie Jo ...............your good ! Thanks again my friend .

CARL - Thats another great set of pics of the Jeep  Cant make up my mind witch I like best, likem all.  Just let me know which one you want on the finished builds on page one, was not sure if you wanted me to wait for stowage to go on?  Could be up to claim a badge already.  Did you score the tecture on the seats or is it just paint?  Think they look good which ever way you did it.  I'm really looking forward to see what you do with your Sherman now

Thanks for that link about the tracks.  Tony had sent me that a little while back and I've had pretty good success with his method.  Was looking more at trying to go just paint with this set.  Have not painted a set of Friuls yet.  Thanks for looking

Joe is a great name for that old trusty fella.

ANDY - These tracks have been really eaten up some time, that's for sure.  Have been working on them all day today straight and have made much better progress than last night.  Only have 20 more links to go and will have one track complete   Think these tracks are very cool looking.  Might be able to get a pic up tomorrow with the one completed track fitted on the LVT?

I must apologize in advance, I snapped some photos of the LVT-4 in the WWII/Korea LVT Museum today to capture some details…and at the end of the day I realized the CD was still on my work desk when I arrived home.  I found some more corrections to make on my kit.  Italeri and Dragon must have used a museum piece to model their kit from.  The cab appears to be welded to the foredeck on the kit which is very wrong.  It should be a straight edge, just as found on the upper/aft part of the cab.  There should be screws that are flush with the cab.  The same can be found on the LVTA2 and LVTA1 in the museum.  I scanned an image from the TM showing the cab being removed, along with approximate locations of the screws.  Below that are photographs of the cab from the LVTA5 Modified we removed for restoration — an ongoing project.  I can load the photos I took today next Tuesday, they show the cab and it’s screws better.  I also looked at my AFV Club kit, they got the straight edge of the cab correct but, molded raised screws/bolts rather than flush screws.  Work on the horizon.

That LVT is coming along swell.  Although I am not looking forward to the days it will take me to assemble those Fruil tracks.

That Jeep looks super impressive as well, grand work!

Carl,, thanks for the kind words. I think our posts cross-posted. I didn't see your reply until just now. And true, OOGAH is what I was thought as well.      You've done a great job on that little jeep. I am thinking I may have to bang up a fender or something on mine,, just so it compliments yours so to speak.      You really did pave the way for me Pal,,, awesome work.

Rob,, you must have really assembly-lined those tracks.... almost finished with one side?,,, that's great.    We can forget about that 79 hour estimate (which is very nice for you).     Can't wait to see the finished set!      I think you will be fine with painting your tracks too.    If I remember correctly Doogs switched over to painting them for good. I believe he had a bad experience with Blacken-it and swore off it.,,,  only paints now.

Deallito-  thanks for the great pictures!   I didn't really have any interest to build one of those but now I am... You guts are such a bad influence.  One day I will along with maybe ten figures... No way I will do 30!  I know there are few LVT kits out there.  Which kit is the latest and better?  So I can keep eyes for it at upcoming shows this spring.  

I have a question reguarding the type of OD paint. I accidently bought an OD (ANA 613) which is more of a grey green and an OD FS34087. Looking at the book about modeling shermans it does show a bottle of the ANA 613 in a picture but Im not sure if this is correct for a pacific sherman.

Im going to do some looking around of my own too but I thought I could get a faster reply here since Im ready to paint.

DEATTILIO - Great pics, the 3rd one  (cab suspended) you can see all of the bolt holes all the way around the cab  Like that TM picture also.  I too had planed on adding bolts around the cab my question is are there welds on the cab plate?  Talking about, once the cab is removed you still have the vertical areas and then back flat, the step, should those areas have welds or smooth?  The picture I had found had bolt heads for around the cab you say all of those LVT there have flush screw heads.  Wonder if those three were correct for original, wonder if the 1 pic I saw was done incorrectly (it was a restoration).  I really do look forward to your other pictures.  Did you decide if you were going to move the hatch forward?  One other thing is if you move the hatch you should also move the handle down that is next to it.  On the forward, middle section of the lower plate of the cab the kit supplied bollard / cleat should not be put on and in its place a handle added.  These 3 handles are not actually handles, they are the lifting points for the cab.

I'm pretty sure these kits were modeled after the LVT 4 at Musee des Blindes, Saumur.  It looks exactly like that one there.  It was a French variant built after WWII and used by the French in the early 50's in Indochina.

Off topic here, meant to ask you........have you worked around or with the new EFV?  I remember when they first started talking and trying them out but that was a long time ago.  I watched a show about them last night and they look awesome.  Said they should be in service in 2011.  Surprised how fast they go in the water, 29 knots.  Thats faster then most patrol boats and fast ships, thats impressive.

Dont worry about those Friul tracks.  They were very intimidating when first started and they do take longer then a normal set of Friuls but once you get the hang of them things speed up ....a little bit anyway.  Just finishing the last few links for my first track.

I know I said it before but really look forward to you starting your LVT

WW2 - There were many shades of green, gray, and a mix of the two in the Pacific but that would be later on.  I think yours would be the normal olive drab being the first landings and use of the M4's.  The factories painted all with the same olive drab and Army depots.  The USMC would get all of there vehicles from the same factories or from the Army itself and they would be the same color.  Later, once beat up and / or repainted thats where you see all the different shades and colors with what ever the Marines could get their hands on or what the Navy could supply to them.  Short answer, If it was me I would go with an olive drab being an early M4.

WW2 , great question ................it will probably get as many answers as ther variations in the O.D. color . For me i use 34087 .Even sticking with just 34087 i can make a multitude of different shades on the finished model due to weathering with chalks or washes . Light sorce while taking the pic will change the colors also . Even after taking the pic there is always editing that will change the hue .In summary and IMO i say go with the ANA 613 since you have it . If you dont like the 613 i'd try 34087 as your base color and alter the shades from there . Just my opinion .

Thanks, I had a feeling it would be something like that. I have a Faded OD that will go over the base coat, but it almost looks exactly like the 613, Ive always pictured the Sherman in the pacific as a more green color, but Im thinking the faded OD will be too big of a contrast between the greener OD I have.

I went to Testors.com and here is a sample of the 2 colors .

FS 34087                                                                                                           ANA 613

The last build I finished I used ANA 613 and the faded shad on top to try to make some contrast.  The two colors looked very different in the bottle but when put on top of another they looked exactly the same.

The high lights you see are not from the two above shades in discussion.  the highlights I had to go back with Grau RLM 02.  I think either you go with would be fine and just get your highlights with a different paint (such as I did) or with chalks / pigments.

I agree ...................