Semper Fi War in the Pacific

Thanks Bill !

Jeeps got a name . Suggested by Andy . Now i owe you anotherone Andy ............

Carl,,,  the tarps look great (as does the rest of the stowage)....   was glad I could also lend a hand with the information.     I also like the fender / filter / can,,,   nice touch!

Thaks Andy and Rob .

Andy , those were made using facial tissue soaked in diluted white glue . I got the info from Rob and Andy here . I think their instructions are on the previouse page . It worked really well .

Rob , yes i like the technique and it went well . I folded over the sides of the tissue after it was cut to size to give it a more scale thickness . Maybe you do that ?I have enough sheet left to do many more .

YAT YAS is the AmTrac’s motto and stands for "You Ain’t Tracs, You Ain’t S*!#" and is even painted across the LVT Museum.  You can typically find YAT YAS plastered anywhere and on anything AmTrac’rs have tracked through.  From what I have been able to research the motto comes from WWII when AmTrac’rs were referred to as S*!# heads by infantry and seaman which evolved into a sarcastic adaptation as a prideful proclamation.

CARL - Thats a nice walk-around.  Not going to say myself what those rollers are made of?  Next time I get around any of these vehicles going to make a point of it to really check out the construction of the rollers.

Love the gear  Nice work with the bedrolls / tarps.  How did you like doing them?  Are you going to continue to make them for other builds?  Think you should.  The oil filter makes an excellent detail!  It looks great and gives reason to be in the shop.  NICE.

DEATTILIO - You have a lot going on.  Those will make nice plaques, more personnel then the normal run of the mill.  What does Yat Yas stand for?  Nice work moving the a-drivers hatch.  I commend you doing this in 1/72 scale.  Same for the glacis.  Looks like you will soon have your own Amphibian Battalion to command.  Do you build dio's?  I have been wanting to build one with several amtracks in the surf and landing the beach.  Will have to wait until permanent settlement.

WW2PSYCHO - Hello Ben

ANDY - Sleeping and resting!  You should be drinking your with Alka-Seltzer.  Hope ya get better soon.

Work continues on the LVT 4.  Nothing exciting just filling and sanding the gaps.

We had sever thunderstorms here and have had a few tornadoes, again.  Was standing outside the office at work watching a small tornado.  Very wet here but no real damage anywhere.

I have Modern Warfare 3 but Im not crazy about it, a lot like Modern Warfare 2, and I got sick of that. Zombies is interesting with friends though.

Ben- My boys are crazy aboyt CTD Zombies game... they played alot but now they have been playing MW3 since Christmas when they got it.  Not me... I used to play alot but not anymore I am afraid I'd get hooked again and see less bench time.

Carl- The stowage on jeep just looks great.  Dig the texture of tarps... you used masking tape?  I must have missed that part while I was too sick.  Unfortunately I had to call in sick again today and spent alot of time sleeping & resting... it helped.  I shouldn't have returned to work too soon but there was a deadline I had to do yesterday. 

Dealitto- Great process on all four LVTs... you are sick!  Four WIPs... that will kill me easily.  I barely can handle two right now.  LOL

No doubt its a fun game Ben . I just havent played any computer games since Atari first came out .......1980's .............one dimensional ..........i'd guess there is a vast improvement since then .

Shellback

WW2 ...........i mean Ben . Sounds good on the tracks . The rest of your post i have no idea .........what ?

Its a game for Playstation 3, Black Ops is the main game that takes place during the cold war. Zombies is an extra game included where you have to survive rounds of zombies coming after you. First round has like 7 of them and then they multiply each round.

Detail , good progress .

Rob and Bill , here's what i did wuth the info you 2 gave me on making tarps .

No radio equipment so i removed the radio antenna .

Also added a little interest on the fender . A oil filter canister .

I finally have a little progress to report, albeit I have several projects to divvy my time across.  I am working on plaques for several Marines departing the command and figured they deserved something a bit different than the customary plaque.  At the top is an AAV track block with quill in front to reflect our billets in the academics section and an LVT3 below to reflect the work we do at the LVT Museum.  Both are cut from 1/8” aluminum.  There are bits to add such as nameplate and EGA but is nearing completion.

My LVT4 is coming along.  I moved the a-driver’s hatch forward and now must fill and clean the cuts.  The first couple pics see MARDI GRAS in company with the LVTA4s I am working on, all of which being subjected to modification.  I have cut, sanded and test fitted the forward cab glacis that was cut from an LVTA4 kit.  I will fill and sand the machinegun port before affixing it to the cab.

WW2 ...........i mean Ben . Sounds good on the tracks . The rest of your post i have no idea .........what ?

I got the tracks painted black in I think 4 sections for each side, will have to do touch ups after putting them on. Took a break from modeling yesterday and today to play Zombies on Call of Duty Black Ops with some friends from work, havent done that in awhile.

Rob , i found these pics of a M5A1 suspension .I aint sayin what the return rollers are , rubber or steel ..................

Here's the best pic .

I blew up this one .

Here's the site .

http://svsm.org/gallery/m5a1?page=1

Andy , didnt know you was sicky poo ..................now ............GET TOO WORK !!!

There , that feels better .......................

Just kidding Andy . Mostly .

Ben , well thats easier than WW2.etc .

I might be wrong Andy but i remember that when the Japanese took over the western pacific that caused somewhat of a rubber shortage due to the the stuff being made mostly from the latex from rubber trees over in Indinesia , Malaysia .....etc .So the initial shortage was slowly alleviated by the  increased production of synthetic rubber in the USA  .

Ben- Awesome!  Now we have two Bens here... Hinksy and you.  Sounds like we have same disease... obsessed about WWII armor.  I have no interest to build anything outside WWII except for Korea War because they used same armor pretty much.  

Guys- I always thought return rollers had rubber on all American armor since we didn't really experience rubber storage like the Germans, did we?   Boy, I have so much to learn about those... that's why I need to build more American armors because it is really the best way for me to learn.  I like to do a lot of research on my builds...

Starting to feel better that I have returned to work today just for half day...   

My user name is ww2psycho becuase I usually like anything World War II, though 99% of the other members know more than I do. But if you REALLY need to know my real name is Ben.

I'm with you on the confusion Rob. By yhe way it looks like the idler at the back of the M4 is also steel with no rubber . I'll see what can find on the Stuart . Better to find out now , thats why i kept looking .

Thats the right video Carl, defiantly steel.  Now I am almost afraid to ask but the pic of the Stuart at the top of the page could that be steel?  the color that looks like the rubber could just be from the track wear...  This could change everything I thought about the US vehicles. 

agentg

No rubber return rollers until the HVSS suspension system made it's debut. Even then only two of the five each side had rubber tires.

Oh and Shell, M4A3's were built with small hatches, dry ammo stowage and the 47 degree hull. They were the first few built of that variant. They never left the states, all were retained for training.  

G

 

Thanks "G" for the roller and M4A3 info .

Rob i couldnt seem to get the correct video to post ....................i checked this one below and its the corresct one that shows a close up of the return rollers. I painted mine as rubber and glued them in place but i'm going back and redoing them in o.d.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WB96j4erSw

I like the corrections and details you putting into your LVT .

It makes me wonder if you are really a psycho or joking.  Only kidding... I like to call everybody by name. Carl, Rob, Bill... Oh I don't think I will ever know Agent G's real name or he will flash us with the pen thing to erase our memory.  

deafpanzer

Pyscho- We need to work on your name!  Great process on your Sherman!   Please do not hesitate to post more pictures... they get us all excited up!

Whats with my name?

Andy, you may be right with using rod to fill.  May do that with some of the larger gaps   Thanks and happy you like the tracks.  It's OK to drool because the LVT does not mind the water

Bill- THANK YOU for the toots how to make those rolls.  Wondering if they will work for tarps too?  I may have missed something so I need to read back when I am feeling 100% better.

Carl- Wish I can answer your questions about the track... I am not there yet.  Still learning about those small things...

Pyscho- We need to work on your name!  Great process on your Sherman!   Please do not hesitate to post more pictures... they get us all excited up!

Rob- Your LVT is looking great!  Alot of scratch building I see.  For the gaps, a thin rod of styrene may be easier and less messy than putty?   I am being serious here... I drool every time I look at your LVT tracks.  The best out there...

G - Thanks for the answer

WW2 - Sweet, sounds good.

Attached the upper side plates onto the LVT.  Was not the best fit onto the upper hull top nor is the upper a good fit onto the lower hull.  Looks like Squadron putty will need to be called in to the rescue.  In these pics the side plate is glued but the top is only dry fit to the lower hull.

Loose dry fit

Here on the bow is a nice gap that will need to be filled.  Much of this will be covered with the additional armor plate that will be put on.

This is the side of the cab where the two plates meet.  Will require small amount of putty but will be covered with an added weld bead luckily right where the seam is.

The worst of the gaps are located in the cargo area.  The front bulkhead of the cargo bay will require some extensive fill and sanding.

Along both sides you can see the gaps both on the aft top sections where the side plate joins and in the middle recessed area.

Well my tank is going with steel rollers either way, already glued them on to the tank

OK, now I'm confused.  Carl that last video was the same as you posted before.  It looks like rubber in the video.  Have went back through my pics here but do not have a good close up of the rollers on the Shermans so dont know.  Looking at pics and some books, there are different types of rollers on the shermans, wonder if some are rubber and some are steel?  I know on most other tanks even heavy tanks the rollers have rubber on them.  I know this for sure on modern tanks, have worked around them.  Have worked around WWII tanks also and I could be wrong but it seems to me that I remember rubber rollers?  I'm not a tanker though????

This is not a Sherman but the rollers here clearly show the rubber

WW2 - The rubber was used both on the wheels and rollers on a lot of vehicles because the steel on steel would eat each other up.  The rubber of course would break down but it could be changed out and repaired.

Maybe "G" will know the answer? 

Ok , now i had nmy mind made up for sure , its steel , further research brought me to this video . Listen to the pry bar when the guy pries the return roller loose ..............clank clank ,,,,,,,,not the sound of rubber .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GZX42HybN0