Hello Rob!

Thanks a lot for your comment!

From what I've seen in the photos and the TMs, the M548 got the small lower part that's called a tailgate, and it moves down when opened. And the larger, upper part is called cargo door by the TM and opens to the left or to the right - depending on which lock you open and folds along the side. Both look very heavy...

After scratchbuilding the tailgate latches I discovered they are included as kit parts - too bad instructions doesn't mention them in any way (they are shown in the instructions for the cargo carrier variant of this kit).

Have a nice day!

Paweł

Hello!

Another small update! I'm still working on the cargo door and while the putty is drying I made some drain plugs and access panels on the underside of the carrier:

I'll try to show you the detailed front and back of the carrier soon! Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

Looks good Pawel! 

I'm horrible, I don't detail anything that generally won't be seen. 

Thanks a lot, Gamera!

I hear you, the thing is I've got glass shelves in my display case :-)

Plus I like to handle my models from time to time and look at them from the underside, too.

And in the meantime I managed to do some work. I tried to recreate the dented sheet metal seen on the 1:1 photo:

I've also made some welds - I basically stretched some sprue, melted it a little with some lacquer thinner and then shaped them with a tip of my surgical blade:

I've also populated the light clusters. The hull cavities are painted with black Gunze paint to help with painting later:

The large opening is for the winch. I worked on the winch itself, too. The winch drum comes in two halves with fake line - instead of cleaning that up I decided to scratchbuild a new drum and wrap some fitting line around it - I think I got something good looking in a comparable time this way:

I'm also done detailing the tail gate and cargo door. Lots of goodies here:

Now I got some more detailing in the front to do - mainly the tool clamps - and the engine grills, then I can think about painting the machine and moving over to it's deadly cargo.

Thanks for looking and have a nice day!

Paweł

She looks great Pawel! 

I can never get line on winches and stuff like that to look right either. Wrapping some cord around it looks way better as well as being easier to work with. 

Thanks Gamera!

Sometimes it really pays off to scratchbuild a part instead of trying to save the kit part. It can be a win-win - easier to do and looks better, too.

And I managed to install the winch and detail the front to show empty tool racks. Lots of tiny PE involved, and macro ruthlessly shows all minor problems. I got so close the lens distortion is even visible (the top edges got bent on the photo). The ending of the winch line is scratchbuilt:

Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

Oh wow that looks good to me Pawel. 

The camera always shows more than my tired old eyes can pick up... 

Pawel, I really enjoy your builds, great work!

Gamera, Russ - thanks a lot for your comments and please excuse me for taking so long to reply - this build is taking a lot longer than I thought... Thanks a lot for your kind words, your encouragement is important to me.

But I do have an update this time - I started painting the carrier.

First I put on some sand coloured preshading. It's Humbrol 121:

On top of that I put on some OD - Humbrol 66 mixed with some gloss clear:

I put some pigment on the tracks and on the hull sides.

I started applying the decals, but noticed some of the registration numbers and bumper codes are too big, so I had to redesign them and order them printed again...

I still have some weathering to do to match my photos better...

Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

She's coming along nicely! 

Thanks a lot Gamera, I'm glad you like it!

Hello everybody!

I didn't update this one for quite some time... But in the meantime I started working on the "quad" and the first thing I need to do is to "frankenstein" a gunner for it. Lot's of hacking, filling, fitting and filing - and still more to come - here's where I am right now:

That white thing is "Patafix" - sticky stuff that I used to hold the parts together for fitting.

Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

Gee, I'd forgotten about this one! Nice work on the conversion Pawel, looking forward to seeing how he looks when he comes out of plastic surgery. 

Hello Gamera!

Thanks a lot fo your comment! Yeah, this one got stuck a little, but let's hope to get it movin' again!

So this guy still isn't out of surgery, but now a few operations less to go:

The photos show him still with a "dry fit" but I hope to glue everything together and start painting soon!

Thanks for lookin' and have a nice day

Paweł

That looks damn good Pawel. A little primer and paint to cover up the different colours of plastic and he'll look like he was molded that way. 

Hello Gamera and merry Christmas everybody!

So I've got an update on the gunner. I have painted him with acrylic paints and here's what I got now:

Hope you like it - thanks for lookin' and have a nice day

Paweł

Oh wow Pawel he looks like he's ready to kick some butt!!! 

Merry Christmas to you too Pawel!

That figure turned out really good, Pawel! I really like the camo on his helmet, that is my favorite part. Nicely done with such a modified bunch of misfit pieces. 

Like Cliff said, he looks ready to kick some butt!

Cliff, Mike - thanks a lot for your comments! I'm glad you like what I have so far.

One of the vets I'm in contact with told me all the Quads he had seen in Vietnam had the "plate" behind the gunner's seat, and not the "cross" as depicted in the AFV Club model. So I added the appropriate part - in white in the photo below:

I have also been looking at the resin trailer AFV Club supplied in the kit. While it's not bad, I would have to remove the tow bar (this was done a lot to save space and keep it from getting in the way) and work hard on the two rear jacks (shown in the wrong position by AFV Club). So I decided to go for something completely different - I drew up a 3D model and a friend printed it out for me. This way I won't have to do much more here, and everybody needing a part for a gun truck (it's missing in the "Nancy" kit for example) can also easuly get one. Here's what I've got:

More details can be seen here: https://www.shapeways.com/product/2XCT87TWN/1-35-trailer-base-for-the-m55-quad-50?optionId=335442207&li=shops

Ok, I'll get back to work - thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

Whoops, double post.

Looking good.  The base is nice as well, and a good option.  As you know, the AFV Club Quad .50 isn't correct for a Vietnam version though.  It is a WWII M16 Halftrack version that they added to the M35 kit.  To get a correct Vietnam version, go with the Dynamo Models kit.  It is really nice.

It is the Dragon M55 kit with Vietnam era 3D printed parts that include an updated generator, new .50 cals, ammo cans, commo box, etc...  It can be built in the towed or ground-mount positions as well.

3D printed parts are in the darker grey.

Hello Gino!

Thanks a lot for your comment!

I'm aware of the new Dynamo Quad, I'm even working on one for a review. I have also posted in this thread:

https://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/3/t/191830.aspx?page=2#2223462

Now here the idea is to use some of the AFV Club parts and supplement them with some of the Dynamo parts to get an accurate, Vietnam-Era quad 50.

In the moment I'm painting the gunner for the Dynamo quad, let's see how he will turn out.

Thanks for reading and have a nice day!

Paweł

I know you were aware of the Dynamo kit and what needed to be done for a Vietnam M55.  I posted so others would know and could follow along.  Yours is coming out great.

Pawel

...here the idea is to use some of the AFV Club parts and supplement them with some of the Dynamo parts to get an accurate, Vietnam-Era quad 50.

I plan to do the same.  I bought an extra set of just the Dynamo 3D printed parts to update the AFV Club M55 parts as well, along w/the resin base from the M548 set.  Sounds like we had/have the same idea. I bought another full Dynamo kit for an M54 Quad guntruck too.  

Excellent job on a less well-known Vietnam lead slinger!

Gary