Semper Fi War in the Pacific

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 - 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?

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 .

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

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

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! 

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

/forums/t/125224.aspx

Some more Jeep pics .

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

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 .  ...................

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.

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 - 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.

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,,,    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!

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 .

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?

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 .

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?

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!

Hey Ski thanks my friend , much appreciated .    

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

Here's what i found missing . The hood is held closed with a spring loaded device and it was missing . I made mine from a strand of picture frame wire .

After folding the wire i filled in the gaps and made contours with super glue .

So far i have themmounted on the fenders and i globbed on some paint tonight .

I made the brsckets that these get hooked into on the hood .

And here's the windshield cleaned up a little so that the finger (hand) marks and wipper cleaned area show up better.

Rob , wow that must of been tediouse !

CARL - OOH Ya.  I too look forward to the jeep completion pics  Still playing games with the little one, Nice.

G - Looking forward to your start

LVT tracks are going to take some time.  2 hours and this is what I have to show for it.

Friul tracks can be tedious at times but this set takes the cake!  There are two different types of links and fit rather funny.  Normal tracks take one long pin to hold them together but with this one there are two small pins each 3/32 long and they are a pain to get in from the middle of the link.

The plus side is that there is a guide that comes with the set.  Can see it in the above picture on the right.  You place the links into the guide to hold them and then say many bad words and the pin goes in.  Only 277 more links to go.

This is what was done last night.

BaBill212

WW2,,,,,,,,,,,    glad you're on the mend....        hopefully back at your bench soon     (no offense with the TMI of course)

Carl,,,  will certainly be looking for the finished jeep pics...    gotta say, if you put that kind of effort into the M4 (which I know you will).... it will also be stellar!          Nice that you had time to spend with the grandaugher too.            Things like that let you know what life is all about....   very nice indeed.     I will be posting some of my build  pics soon,,,  probably over the weekend.....

Bill , thanks again !

I took some pics of the Sherm to post and found some things to correct .............as usual . I'm looking forward to getting started on the Sherm . I still have a lot of research to do on it first . The grand daughter sure has brought new meaning into my wifes and mine lives ! Like my wife said yesterday the little gal is a breath of fresh air ..............................................

agentg

I love the Jeep!

I promise to start my Sherman this weekend. It's been a busy busy beginning to the new year here in sin city.

G

agentg

I love the Jeep!

I promise to start my Sherman this weekend. It's been a busy busy beginning to the new year here in sin city.

G

Thanks G     Have you been up towards Rachel lately ? Looks like i'm not going to be down that way again for a while . All of the relatives in Arizona and California are all gone except one.

BaBill212

WW2,,,,,,,,,,,    glad you're on the mend....        hopefully back at your bench soon     (no offense with the TMI of course)

No offense taken. I dont get much done when working 3rd shift anyway, But I have a bit more of a weekend than usual so I will be sure to get something done.

WW2,,,,,,,,,,,    glad you're on the mend....        hopefully back at your bench soon     (no offense with the TMI of course)

Carl,,,  will certainly be looking for the finished jeep pics...    gotta say, if you put that kind of effort into the M4 (which I know you will).... it will also be stellar!          Nice that you had time to spend with the grandaugher too.            Things like that let you know what life is all about....   very nice indeed.     I will be posting some of my build  pics soon,,,  probably over the weekend.....

Well at least your healthy enough to make to work .

Ha I thought of what it meant at work last night.

Yea Im better, probably wont get any painting done until this weekend though.

PANZERWAFFE

WW2 - Good to hear your feeling better.  Sitting around watching movies all day doesn't sound that bad of a deal.

CARL - Thats a nice haul from the store  Thats a lot of half-tracks.  Sounds like a nice little shop to go to.

 

LVT- filled in the front plate of the cab....all visor block locations holes and the MG mounting hole.  Should have been quick and easy but....the MG filling did not go well.  Had cut some styrene flat stock and glued in place, must have used to much glue because the piece of styrene and the surrounding area that it was glued to was turning to goo / melt.  Had to cut the styrene and surrounding area back out, cut new thicker flat stock and stuck it back into the already gooey hole, let dry completely.  After dry wiped some Squadron putty on and sanded all smooth.  All is well now.  Now cleaning track links.

Rob , yes , a lot of them are half tracks ...................i have been looking at those for a while and when i saw them on the shelf at his prices , well , you know how it goes . Sounds like youi have been busy with the modifications .

Bill i finished the jeep tonight , well except for some stowage . I'll add that later . right now i want to start on the M4 dozer . Pictures of the jeep tomorrow . I just put in a day of entertaining the grand daughter ............she had me pulling her sled on the snow  ..............a whole 1/2 inch of it ! Not much sliding but she had fun .