AFV Club M42A1 Duster WIP - Done with pictures!!

Really love all the little details you've added to this one Pawel, those rags are a case in point for sure.

Hello Steve, thanks a lot for your comment and your kind words.

Believe me, I'm looking forward to my next project, too. Thing is I travel a lot and have set up two or three workbenches. Switching between them helps me. But I sure would like to concentrate and just build faster - no such luck yet. Hopefully, one quiet day at my Duster workbench and it will be done!

Thanks again, have a nice day

Paweł

 I've been watching you come along on this project and I have to tell you that the last picture is as close to the real thing as you can get.

Every detail on this is right, right and right!

   This showpiece is WAY up there in workmanship, quality and improvisation.

ENORMOUS talent.

 How in the world do you keep from getting burnt out? I'm already looking forward to your next project.

OK, I finished that tarp - here's what it looks like:

I also put some stuff (gas can, ammo boxes) around the spre barrels. Please note how the barrel muzzles are stuffed with rags to protect them:

I hope to proceed with the final assembly soon!

Thanks for reading, have a nice day

Paweł

Bill, Mike - thanks a lot for your comments and for your kind words, they mean a lot to me. Thanks again and have a nice day

Paweł

Pawel - The details just keep on coming. Outstanding.

Rounds Complete!!

The added details are a nice touch to this one Pawel, very nice indeed!

Karl - thanks a lot! I got a tip from a Vietnam vet that they carried a stretcher on ther track - I thought it made a lot of sense and you don't see that too often on a model so I had to use the opportunity

As for the tarps - please try it yourself and write me how it works for you!

Thanks for your comment and have a nice day

Paweł

Amazing work, Pawel! That stretcher, in particular, made me think you had some relic of the war! Wow, does that lok real!

That method for making tarps looks fantastic too!

Hello!

It's been a long time. I finally got to take some pictures of the bits that will wrap up my model. So on the first photo we've got a few 7,62 ammo boxes made from AFV Club's amo box kit, a USMC gas can and those funny things in the middle of the top row are so called autoloader lifters - tools specific to the 40mm Bofors cannon. I soldered themout of copper wire about 0.5mm in diameter. In the bottom of the photo there's the folding stretcher that I scratchbuilt - I started out with two thin wooden poles - cut the handles on them, then made some fabric out of a gutted teabag and finished it off with the hinges and feet made out of copper sheet metal:

Next, I also needed a belt with some equipment on it, and a M60 machine gun. The belt was made out of the same teabag that I mentioned earlier. The canteen and the ammo pouches came from a Dragon figure kit. As for the MG, I wanted to have it under a tarp, so I didn't want to "waste" the excellent AFV Club part. I just cut off the mount, and took an old Tamiya M60, shortened a bit to be dimensionally correct. I also had a spare Dragon bipod for it. The result is shown over the AFV Club M60:

I painted the belt, the MG and the time came to do the tarp. I made it out of Pawelite - it's a material that I developed especially for making tarps. It consists of aluminium foil sandwiched between two layers of tisue. Holds the shape and creases very well, takes paint nicely and has this "fabric" texture. The tarp is painted on the insides for now:

Then I put the tarp on the MG, still have to paint it on the outsides. The MG is on a temporary holder:

And that's what I have so far - hope you like it, thanks for reading and have a nice day!

Paweł

Terry, Bill - thanks a lot for your comments and for your kind words! You motivate me to work on the last bits even harder. Thanks again and have a nice day

Paweł

Devil's always in the details Pawel and they can 'steal' away your time before you know it! Still your attention to those details is paying off very much, those rounds look 'live'!

Looking great from here!

Terry

Hello again!

I'm still taking my time - working mostly on the stowage. I finished working on the 40mm ammo, here's what it looks like:

I also added the microphone booms for the crewmen wearing CVCs. I used a kit from Royal Models RM018:

Also did the gas mask carrier hanging on the antenna base. I made the shoulder strap out of tea bag tissue - it's a good material for this, durable and doesn't get weak when wet:

I installed the water can in it's holder on the front of the right fender:

This stowage sure takes a lot of time! Still some more to do. Hope you like 'em, thanks for reqading and have a nice day

Paweł

Steve - thanks a lot for your kind words, I really like to take my time modelling. Have a nice day!

Paweł

Pawel as I tell my Hausfrau, " it is not the amount of time, it is the quality of the time and the results that matter"

Of course, I rush through my builds, get lously results and then rush to  read your posts to make me feel all better 

Seriously Great job so far, well worth the time spent 

Lee - thanks a lot!

Bill - yes, time flies when you're havin' fun! Thanks a lot for your comments!

Gino - thanks a lot, it's especially nice to hear from a man who knows a lot about rounds!

Terry - thanks, when do we see pictures? Please be sure to get me a link to them.

Thanks again for your comments, have a nice day

Paweł

Really great work Pawel!!  You have inspired me to start mine.

Terry

The rounds look awesome.  Very nice.

Hard to believe you've been working on this for the past year Pawel but all your attention to the details have paid off for sure. Got to love the look of those ammo clips.

Great stuff there, Pawel.

Lee

Hello again!

This time I put the knive and the antennae on the mount, this is how it looks like now:

I'm also working on the ammo for the forties. I'm using a kit from a company called Orange Hobby - it gives you turned brass shells and cases, and PE shell bases and four round clips. Those are quite fiddly bits, but the extra work gives you good looking results. First I did the painting by gripping every shell with a motor tool and painting the individual bands with a fine-tipped brush. Now I'm assemblying the individual clips:

I put the first three clips in the ready racks on the mount, I'll try to hang the rest of them on the mount wall, let's see how many I can stow this way.

I hope you like it so far, thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

Hello!

Almost exactly a year ago I started this WIP post, so this is kinda an anniversary update .

First, for kicks and maybe to attract Hans to this thread again, here's a side by side comparisom of the speed rings from Tamiya and AFV Club:

Noticeable difference, isn't it?

Next, there's the bolo knife with sheath I scratchbuilt from 1mm styrene sheet:

Finally - I installed the computing sights in the mount. Now the guns look like this:

The good news is I managed to keep the guns moveable, so you can watch all the gear working while elevating the guns.

Thanks for reading, hope you like it and have a nice day

Paweł

Guess I missed that, will have to try that technique sometime.

Bill -thanks a lot! I'm out on a business trip again, but just for kicks, I'll post a photo of the Tamiya cast plastic speed rings for some laughs and contrast... Glad you like'em!

RX7850 - thanks a lot. As I already wrote, rather than using a brush, I used a small bit of a sponge for that effect. And it seemed to pay off You might want to look a few pages back for a detailed descrition of how it was done.

Thanks again for your comments, have a nice day

Paweł

Nice job so far. The worn look of the  star came out really good. Did you use a cut down brush for that ?

Nice to see this one moving along again Pawel. Got to love the look of this sight rings.

Eric, Steve - thanks for your comments, and your kind words - I'm glad you like my model!

Sorry for replying so late, I was a little busy recently - but at last I've got a small update for you on this one. I finally managed to build the correct antennae for my model:

Those are made using a guitar string as the main material. The antenna on the left is an AT-912/VRC with a MX-2799 matching unit, as opposed to AT-1729/VRC which comes out of the box. Almost all pictures from Vietnam show the AT-912/VRC/MX-2799 combination, so I wanted to have it on my model.

By the way a question: What colour should the antenna "whips" be? Thanks in advance for the help.

I also put together the computing sight with the speed rings. Of course I couldn't resist showing the reflex sight removed and adding some lighting devices with cables. The speed rings come from the Eduard PE set. One speed ring shows light damage - as can be seen in my references:

Now I'm going to paint and install those details. Thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

Pawel!

Spectacular job  looks very fine.

Just gets better and better Pawel!