Semper Fi War in the Pacific

Its Grandt Line

http://www.grandtline.com/

Yes i would scratch build both periscopes . Thats way the would match for sure .

Rob ,where the heck did you get those little screws ????  Theres an outfit that makes nuts and bots for model railroading ...........cant think of the name now ............their stuff is real small .Grant Line maybe ? Super details I would say you could use plastic rod and maybe even put a notch acroos the top .

Nice ! I try to make my order over a $100 with sprue bros . Andy . That way i figure i can break even with half off on the shipping . My shipping charge is a lot higher way out here in the wild northwest .................. I ordered those M4 tracks (T49's) today ....along with that DML 7.5 cm pak 40 on an RSO chasis today ............looks like a cool little German WW 2 cobbled up self propelled gun . Reviews on it arent to bad . DML put seats in it from a M113 though ?I guess thtw what the museum piece had on it . There were a couple of other kits ordered also ............just to get over a hundred bucks !

Heres some of what ive been doing .

The M4 bogey trucks , drive sprockets .

Some of the stowage i found for the jeep , from my spares junk pile .

I found these in that pile also , M3 "grease gun ", M19928a Thompson , M1 carbine and a M1 Garand . Rob will correct me if i'm wrong . I'm going to use them around the jeep and dio .

Nice figures Andy  What weapons does the USMC figures have on them?  Cant see them, too small.  Are they pistols?  Most armored crew carried pistols are carbines because of there stowage limitations and lack of space to move them around.   The other figure sets look real nice.  Do you already have a plan for them?

Been adding some more detail to the cab area.  Drilled holes and screwed in the cab deck screws.  Hatch, periscope assembly, lift eye and handle added permanently now.  Two questions for yall, the screws should go down the sides of the cab plate also but have run out of screws.  Have not been able to find anyone who sells anything near this size either.  So do I just not put the screws down the sides or do I drill out the holes and put in the same diameter rod to give the impression of screws?  Not sure if the screws will even show after paint and finish?  Second question:  The periscope assemblies on the hatches are different.  Making a new one is not to difficult so should I make another one and replace the kit molded one, the one on the starboard hatch?  Also going to try to make the Plexiglas domes that go over the periscope assemblies.  Was thinking if these could be made successfully it would hide the differences in the two periscope assemblies.

Here is now what things look like.

Close up of the added cab deck screws.

Hey guys!  I have been lurking for last few days.  Busy building a Huey which I hope to finish it ASAP so I can finish my StuG and start M8 Howitzer sooner!!!

Guess what arrived today via mail... figures for my M8.

Of course I had to order other sets... I'd be stupid to spend a fortune on shipping for one set.  That what I always tell my wife... heh!  I think I will not use those guns.  They are in the artillery so they don't carry big guns around...

Same thing,,   I looked,,  checked back a few pages,,,,  looked again - - - - a mystery I guess,,,    not sure (?)

After i read your reply i saw what you mentioned so i went back to the next page and it had the crazy RE:  blah blah blah there also . Then i came back to this page and its correct now .............................????? The moderstors must be restless .

You didn't notice the title?  Look at the post at the top of this page and at the last few on the page before??

Have not had much time to do much with the casting today or yesterday.  With the weekend here now, will try making some new molds but this time will try making them with the RTV.

Whats up with the subject / title change??".......................What ?

Modifications all over the place Rob . Looks good . Did you solve the bubbles in the resin ?

Whats up with the subject / title change??

WW2 - Could not tell you what the real color on that M4 was?  Brown or a brownish red was a common color in the Pacific.  The only black / green camo pattern I know of for sure was for Operation Cobra in Normandy.

Little bit done on the cab area.  First scribed the fender lines into the upper deck.  In this picture can see the original with no line on the left and on the right scribed lines.

Was able to cut out the a-drivers hatch and move forward.  Put on a periscope assembly on the drivers hatch.  Not happy with it so will try something else to replace the cast one.  Made a simple drivers vision flap.  Finally had re puttied the original vision block location holes and re sanded to get things smoother.  All parts are dry fit at the moment and more work is to come on the cab area before any parts are permanently attached.

Green and black or green and very dark green,,,    I agree

WW2 as far as the color here's a link . Looks like green and black to me .

http://sm87.carbonmade.com/projects/2469608

The tracks , if your protraying the tank in dry / dusty conditions i paint mine flat black over all first then go over that with a dry brushing of an earth color then if your tracks have steel tread i dry brush them with a steel color , if rubber tread i lightly dry brush them with a dark dark gray .

I will post a picture today of where im at. I have two questions though.

1. What color would everyone agree the camo being? I dont think its black, never seen a black/OD camo on a sherman (yet). Im thinking of going with a brown.

2. How do you paint your tracks? Ive always followed the instructions and used flat black or metalic grey, but I know this really isnt realistic.

Interested in seeing your surgery.  I may yet be doing the same by just cutting the hatch and moving it forward also.  1/72 scale should be a little more challenging then my 1/35.  The weld beads are more prominent on that kit, I'm surprised.  Nice that you have the donor kit for the drivers visor..

Rob........i didnt realize you were using clay as the mold . doesnt make any difference in what i know aboutit though . I tried using the search for how to here but it seem to understand anything i ask it .Anyway i googled and there are lots of tutorials but so far none answered the question . Still loooking .

Here is the start on what I imagine will be an eye-crossing headache.  I am cutting the a-driver’s hatch from the cab and moving it forward.  This will give me an opportunity to sand away the over-emphasized welds running along all the edges.  I am also removing the cab glacis and replacing it with the similar part from an LVTA4 part, after some more scribing and sanding anyway.

Hey Carl, was busy making a LVT picture disk.  Bubbles are in the cast part.  I told you I made 3 of them.  Two of them I used the flat stir stick and poured the resign in having it run off the stick.  One of them I poured straight into the mold from the cup.  The one poured from the cup worked best but it still had bubbles.  Two problems I may be having is the mold and the size of the hatch I'm trying to make?  The mold is only a one part and is made out of the molding clay not the RTV.  Did not use the RTV because the hatch is small, and the pattern of it is still on the original hull of the model.  The instructions said that the clay could be used for stuff like this by just pushing the clay onto the part.  After doing this the clay mold does look smooth and has good detail in it but I'm sure it is not as good as the RTV mold?  The size may be a problem because there really isn't any slow pour.  About the time something comes out of the cup the mold is full.  Thats why when I poured the first one and it had bubbles I tried to pour off the stick for the other tries.  Off the stick I believe added even more air making more bubbles.  I had also poured some sandbags just to use up the resign and they are no top quality high dollar part but overall they are not to bad either and I am going to keep them and use them some time or another.  The sandbags were also made with the clay mold but they are a bit bigger and deeper molds which I believe may have accepted being able to handle the pouring process because of the size ?  They came out with no bubbles.   Will still try some more tomorrow, maybe even try a RTV mold of the hatches and see what happens.  Just did not want to use the RTV for such a small thin part but might have too? 

Rob , are you reffering to bubbles im the mold or the cast part ? What i found so far says to poor slowly ......i suppose your already doing that .

Rob , first thanks on the wheels . About casting , I remember that bubbles are the big problem . There must of been some how too article about that here at fsm . I'll look .

DEATTILIO -  NICE!!  Thanks for the pictures!  Those are great with some nice details.  They are already answering my questions and curiosity!  Glad you like the tracks.  I will be getting more sets of these myself.  When you work on these tracks just make sure you use some patiences.

Great news getting your papers submitted and I hope the best with your BA  Good to hear your getting some bench time in now.

CARL - The wheels look Great and thanks for the explanation of how.  Looks like your off to another masterpiece.

Well have been trying to cast the hatch ...........no luck  Have made three hatches and none pass quality control.  Not sure if I'm doing something wrong or what?  Not the only but the biggest problem seems to be many small air bubbles.  Cant get them not to appear and it leaves divets all over in the cast piece destroying the detail.  Will keep practicing  but may now just try to cut the existing hatch off and move it forward?

Detail . Glad to answer . After i got rid of the mold seam down the center of the wheel i used the "V" shaped file (all tools shown below) to cut the grooves , this left some ridges of plastic sticking up so i cross sanded (at a right angle to the wheel ) with a 220 grit sanding stick . This will leave some dust in the grooves so i cross brushed it with the small steel bristle wire brush . Both the sanding and wire brushing will ruff up the plastic surface .

PANZERWAFFE,  as promised I brought home the disc and uploaded the pictures to photobucket.  The top link is to the LVT Museum and the following two to the LVTA1 and LVT4 folders that are in the Museum folder.  Those Fruil tracks look awesome and are going to are sure to look stunning when complete.  I finally got some work started on MARDI GRAS, working on moving that hatch forward.  I submitted my capstone paper for my BA last night, immediately after I moved from my computer desk and over to my hobby desk and saif hello to all my paints and tools.  The girlfriend called my a dork but, I’m good with that.  No work homework to shackle me to the computer desk will allow me to put some hours in to completing some builds.

Shellback,  what method did you use to get the bogeuy wheels to look realistically worn?  That will go a long way to improving the looks of the AAV I am working on.

LVT Museum

http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a150/deattilio/LVT%20Museum/

LVTA1

http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a150/deattilio/LVT%20Museum/LVTA1/

LVT4

http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a150/deattilio/LVT%20Museum/LVT4/

Hey guys i did some work on the bogeuy wheel tires . I figured since this is a M4 dozer that the rubber would be cut and scraped up .

Thanks Bill ,Andy and Rob Thanks for the answer G . It sounds like every after market indy link track set has a draw back of some kind . I'm going to bite the bullet and order some .

Happy casting Rob .

I'm ready to make a big order from Sprue Bros .............if i do i'm ordering the Broco's .

Thanks guys

G - Thanks for the info on the Sherman's.  I'm taken notes for when I get to work on my M4A2.

CARL - The rope is a great touch and it looks great  I would like to know about the tracks also.  Have many times looked but have not touched. 

My casting material has arrived but have had no time today to try it out, hope to soon.

Carl- The rope looks pretty good!   WIsh I can answer your question... never tried indy tracks from Bronco but I always wanted to try since they cost half of Modelkasten or Friulmodel tracks.  If you get it, I will be very interested to know how they come out. 

Carl,, I hear ya pal,,,   if you do try the Broncos, be sure to give a grading....            the rope looks fine, , , will be looking for the storage         !!

G , i figured you had snow there ever so often . It must be a heck of a mess for the drivers down there . Question , would you know what tracks would be correct for a M4A3 dozer in a Pacific campaign ? The kit comes with what looks like T54 tracks with track extensions . The T49 tracks look interesting .

Bill , after reading about the fun Rob had with Friuls i figure i might have as difficult a time with the Bronco sets but for half the price .I'm satisfied with the rope , now to add some storage .

Never tried the Bronco tracks,,,,     throw the question out on the Armor forum and see if  you get any bites....   I would be interested in the consensus as well.      The rope on the bumper is a nice touch too,,,  very nice indeed.

Rob,,,  nice track work ...  !!!