USMC M4A3 Dozer Riff Raff . Camera broke . No updates . 6/3

I completed this stowage today . It rained  all morning so spent some time at the bench in the dungeon  .

Stowage looking , Shell :  )    The crates are especially well done buddy !

tread

the lay out is nice and not only the crates but the bedroll  / tarp is also very nice   You have to spill the beans here though......how did you get the lettering onto the crates? Thats VERY NICE

Rain is always a perfect excuse for staying inside and getting some bench time in Carl! Nice work on stocking the rear end of the Sherman.

Very nice...love the stowage...and everything in my favorite color!!

Rounds Complete!!

Aside from a few minor weld details......

    ....there is some very nice micro-meticulism going on here Carl!  

High guys ! Its a pleasure reading all of your responses ...much appreciate all of you taking the time to stop in .

Tread , glad you like the crates man .

Rob , the lettering on the crates is decales my friend .

Bill , i spent all day at the bench today ...rain , lightning , thunder ....woo hoo !

Redleg , yes , i would think o.d. is your favorite green .........artillery green ?

Steve , micro meticulism  ................thats good right ? LOL .

Shellback

.........thats good right ? LOL .

.........that's right, good.

I forgot to add the tow cable , here it is . Its made from a piece of stranded aluminum wire with the kit cable eyes attached . Man it was a pain to get it bent just right so it would lay correctly . Then the paint kept chipping off ,exposing the shiny bare wire . I finally got some flat black and chalk powder to adhere to it . I didnt want the rusty look to begin with ..............but this where it ended up ......after a couple of hours longer than i expected .

Steve , good . About the welds , i'm missing some of them ?

looking sweet.. I do have to say,, your rope tying down the stowage, really looks sharp.. it looks like its tight, and tied right.. I've seen some other tie downs before ,and they look loose.. yours are sweet !

P38j ,Thanks for stopping by and fot the comment

I'm with you about not liking to see loose ropes on the tie downs . I pulled the "rope" tight and then used c.a. to hold it were ever it passed around the light guards . Also c.a.'d it at the knots .

I dont if anyone noticed but thats a " truckers hitch " behind the crates .

Shellback

Steve , good . About the welds , i'm missing some of them ?

☝There 'ya go Carl.

check on the hull behind & below - around the turret.

 You already got the paint on so you really might not want to mess with it any more.

  Click 'ol smiley there to see the rerun again.

Shellback

.......Fried Russian peeps ....................its whats for dinner

LOL

Steve , thanks for the help . Your right , too late on this one . Next Sherm i'll add those welds .

What decal set is that?  They look really good and think I may have to get some.  They look great on your crates.  I like those small details like that.  The wire rope has a perfect color on it IMO.  Doesn't take long for the color to change over there in the Pacific.  Glad you added the wire rope and believe it was well worth the time.

I was checking out your knots by the way there you scallywag.  Agree they look great

Rob , the decals came with the Tamiya kit . .I didnt notice them being on the kit decal sheet . I wasnt using any of the kit supplied decals as they are all Army . These decals are the menu 2 and 3 . I'm into the little details also . this is the first time i tried making the cable look dirty / rusted . It was more of an "oh well what the hell " thing . i think sometimes these models kit a mind of their own and go in a direction that we never thought of to begin with ...................Thanks again my friend .

Small update . A few more pics .

Hey buddy :   )    ....fuel spills and tow cable lookin' right at home....I never knew the Marines and Army had slightly different shades of green..that is interesting...

looking good  man

tread

Hey Tread , as far as i know the USMC is a little greener than the Army o.d. There's more green in my pics than i actually see on the model here ..............i like the green shade that comes out in the pics though . Thanks William

I'm getting closer to attaching the blade .

Thanks for the decal info.  Surprised those were on the Tamiya sheet, sweet.  Those last pics are very nice and show the stowage much better.  Looks fantastic   Those beat up wheels look really good also.

Thanks Rob I was surprised about the decals also . I was ready to throw them in the spare decals box and forget about using that sheet until i looked closer .

Looking GREAT!!!!  The rope looks just perfect for the stowage.  What did you use for the rope?  Catching up here... on a nice break at some conference now.  Where is our friend Gunny?   Hope the Japs didn't get him? 

Andy thanks man .

The rope is from my ship building supplies .Stay awake at the conference .

Gunnies been in charge of getting the dozer blade ready ............he's still in a bad mood ...........no coffee yet .

Gunny sure is one mean SOB but he is sure good at getting a job done.

Fond this picture to be interesting even if it is not a USMC Dozer.  Used as a lead tank and it is using it's blade as additional spaced armor.  Pretty neat, thought you might want to see.

Found this picture in a new book I picked up last night.  The book is "Armored Victory 1945"  by Steven Zaloga.  It is a fabulous book PACKED FULL of photos and information on American tanks.  A must have for any American tank lover.

Rob , lol my friend . You know how easily some of them Gunny's get p.o.'d dony you ! He's about the got the blade ready to be attached .

Cool pic. of that shot up blade ! It must of been in the raised position , i dont see any hits on the turret .

Books sounds like a must have . where'd you find it ?

Take care .

Agree with him... the book is a must for American armor fans to have!  I got mine from Military Club site.  Hope Gunny had some coffee today... he didn't look too happy yesterday!

Here's my planned crew . I'll have them wearing standard M1 helmets with camo . Figures are from the old Italeri USMC set # 310 and i modified the hands /arms with parts from my spare figures box .

Figure surgery still scares me.  Looks as if your surgical skills are well tuned, look forward to there progression and completion.  Are you still planning the dio with this build?

Picked that book up at Barns & Nobles

ANDY - Coffee alone just makes Gunny more wired and on edge the only thing that will calm him is a big cup of blood or a few

Gunny is hasnt been in a good mood since Pearl Harbor .

Andy , coffee is good but like Rob said it only makes Gunny more edgy .

Rob , we'll see how good my figure surgery turns out .