AFV Club M42A1 Duster WIP - Done with pictures!!

Hello everybody!

I hope you're having a very merry Christmas, or if you're celebrating some other holiday, lots of joy with that. I personally found some time to work on my model, and here's another update for you:

I moved on with the crew. I'd say those three dudes are done for now:

I also managed to finish some minor work on the mount and was able to glue the upper mount armour, plus the left armoured "wing" of the mount. The right "wing" was test-fitted for the photo:

While fitting the upper armour, I noticed that the traverse crank would conflict with the first aid kit and it's bracket - so I checked my references and I noticed, that the kit has an error here - the first aid kit box is too wide and mounted too low. I corrected it somewhat and now it looks like this:

I used Archer Dry Transfers product for the inscription on the box.

I hope you like it so far, thanks a lot for reading and have a nice holiday!

Paweł

Hello again!

I try to move towards wrapping up the gun mount. I tackled the ammo carriers' jump seats. On the photo below, you can see (top to bottom) the Tamiya part, my seat supports I scratchbuilt, then my seat cushions, made using some wood veneer that was just laying around, to simulate the seats' plywood bottoms, and finally the AFV Club kit part:

After painting, the seats looked like this:

And after installation in the mount:

I also put the ammo ready racks and other details on the back of the mount. I detailed the ready racks a little bit with some copper wire:

I'm also still working on the right "wing" of the mount - I put a bino holder on it, that came drom the Eduard PE detail set. The binoculars themselves were scratchbuilt:

And that would be it for now - thanks for reading, and have a nice day

Paweł

And a last update before painting - a bino bin (huh?):

And a stowed drive controller:

It's shown stowed, because in Vietnam the power mode wasn't used, for fear of malfunction - it was always in hand mode, where you had to turn the cranks to traverse and elevate the guns. So now the next step - painting! Thanks for reading, have a nice day

Paweł

And here we go - the painting begins!

First - to mask off the parts not to be painted:

Then I sprayed the whole model with Humbrol 113 (red-brown) and picked up the panel centers with Humbrol 66 (OD). Now the model looks like this:

So now I've got a base for further operations. Thanks for reading, have a nice day

Paweł

This is a kick ass build

Talk about impressive - this is excellent!

I liked the look of this kit but I think it will be a tad too 'excessive' for me yet. Give me another 12 months to gain some more experience! I need to start doing more 'open-topped builds.

This is looking sweeeeeeeet! Great figures! too

Ben

You've been doing an excellent job with the details on this one Pawel! I'm sure it's a relief to finally be on to painting the exterior, getting close to the finish line with this one!

Hinksy

Talk about impressive - this is excellent!

I liked the look of this kit but I think it will be a tad too 'excessive' for me yet. Give me another 12 months to gain some more experience! I need to start doing more 'open-topped builds.

This is looking sweeeeeeeet! Great figures! too

Ben

I'm with you on that one Ben!  Open topped vehicles seem to take so much more work!  The two I've done have taken way longer than the usual closed up tanks and such!  Gotta give props to Pawel and wbill76 who seem to make it so easy! 

Great looking Duster Pawel!  You've really done an outstanding job with all the detailing. 

Thanks a lot gentlemen! I'm glad to have some comments on this one at last!

Joe - thank you for your kind words!

Ben - thanks a lot! The "guts" make it interesting, don't they? I'd say some softskins would be a good practice for that (like a jeep with open hood or something like that).

Bill - you've got that exactly right! It was a great feeling to realise it's downhill now! It's like five years since I started messing with that old Tamiya and I started the AFV kit in May!

Ernest - thanks a lot! I'm just taking my time with this one. My work only lets me tackle this one on weekends and holidays, that's why it's taking so long. Then again - lots of time to think about what to do next!

Thanks again, have a nice day

Paweł

Hello!

A little update on painting today: I needed to do a "chipped" national star on my duster - I guess the boys didn't repaint it because it makes too good a target for the enemy to aim at? At first I thought to do it by applying the kit supplied decal, and scraping it away later, but I didn't, because I was afraid I won't get the desired effect anyway and I would be running a risk of damaging the underlying paint. So I took the dimensions of the decal and cut an according template out of masking tape. Then, through this template I applied a little gloss white from Gunze using a piece of sponge, then touched it up with a brush. After that was dry, I went on painting the not-so-neat bridging plate, where OD is looking from under the uneven coat of yellow. I cut another template and applied Humbrol 69 (gloss yellow). On top of that went black digits taken out of the spares book (where I keep unused decals). I also applied the remainder of the kit supplied decals - it's worth noting, that the decal solution that works best with them is Mr. Mark Softer from Gunze. Anyhow, now my model looks like this:

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

Paweł

Pawel,

WOW! Somehow I must have missed this whole thread, but I spent a good 30 minutes reading through this inspiring build here, and have to complement you on the thoroughness and skill with which you've detailed this build! It's REALLY impressive! Now "THAT'S modeling"!

The comparison of the two kits has also been genuinely eye-opening!

Well, Karl, thanks for reading! Welcome aboard and thanks for your kind words.

Writing this thread, I wanted to show people planning to build a duster in the future what their options (Tamiya/AFV Club) really are, and give tips as to the small mistakes the AFV Club kit has.

Thanks again, please stay tuned a nd have a nice day!

Paweł

This is a great build, especially the subtle cammo'. Looking forward to the finish line...cheers....Kenny

Kenny - thanks a lot for your comment, and for your kind words. Sorry for replying so late, but I wanted to show an update on the way - and here it is:

In order to install the driver's hatch, I had to first install the spare barels and their holders. The front holder/bracket has relatively poor detail for this kit, so I decided to detail it some, to show how complicated it was in reality - with two locking screws, and chain holding various pins. I assembled the barrels before, and already managed to paint them. Locking the compressed spring inside drying polystyrene assembly isn't too easy neither. I'd recommend building some simple spring compressor in order to make this operation possible. Anyhow, here are the barrels and their brackets:

After installing them, I put on a piece of chain made by twisting thin copper wire and then flattening it. Now it looks like below:

Of course the chain has to be painted, and everything weathered to match, but I'm getting there. By the way, I'm really not sure about what colour those barrels should actually be. I only heard they came covered in thick layer of cosmolene - I imagine they got dirty really soon. If anybody has any info on that, I'd be obliged. For now thanks for reading, and have a nice day

Paweł

Can't help you on the barrel question, it's an intriguing one for sure...I would imagine they would've come as stock OD? Nice job with the added details, the chains look the part scale-wise.

Hello Bill!

Thanks a lot for your comment! You see, lots of the surfaces of the barrel were precisely machined, so I don't think they could have been painted. I'd say maybe blackened somehow - I don't know, the thing is on all museum exhibits you see some old scrap, painted over many times - no way of saying how it looked like out of the crate. Glad you like the chain - thanks again and have a nice day

Paweł

Hello again!

This time I put on the hatches, and also added those tiny latches holding them open. Now that felt like the final exam in gynecology, but I made it. I shaded the insides of the hatches with pigment fixed with future, with small amount of acrylic black added. It matched the surrounding surfaces nicely. The orange arrows point to the latches:

Here's another, showing the driver's hatch, the latch is also visible under/left to the hull lift ring:

I also added another coat of black doped future over the decals to fix them. Thanks for reading, please stay tuned and have a nice day

Paweł

Looks very cool Pawel. The shading on the hatches and the rest of the vehicle looks awesome.

You are having way too much fun with this one. I know you have been waiting and researching this build for a long time. It shows.....fantastic stuff

Rounds Complete!!

Eric - thanks for your kind words!

Mike - so it shows.. You're right, somehow I researched this one really good - mainly because the Tamiya kit had so little detail it was apparent something's missing - and I went to chack what it was. Thanks a lot for your comment!

Have a nice day

Paweł

Attention to the details continues to pay off on this one Pawel. Sharp work for sure.

WOW nice Work!

say, do the springs creak when you close the hatch? .....sorry I'll go be good now.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Just superb work, Pawel! Your shading and painting keeps making "art" out of mere plastic!

Bill - thanks a lot!

Steve - No, that was a god one! Don't restrain yourself

Karl - thanks for your kind words!

I'm painting the tracks right now - I'll post another update when I have the photos. Thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

Hello again!

Like I wrote, I was painting the tracks. I've already shown this photo before but let me post it again, so you don't have to scroll 12 pages back:

On the left we have the individual link tracks from AFV Club bought as an extra, on the right are the kit suplied tracks. I'm using the individual links - they drape better over the wheels

First thing I did, was to paint the tracks with a mix of Humbrol 113 (red-brown) and Humbrol 53 (gun-metal) using an airbrush. This is what I got:

Then I carefully sanded the rubber pads on the outside of the tracks. The vinyl they (the pads) are made of shown through the paint nicely, giving a rough, weathered appearance. Then I moved on to the insides of the tracks - the road wheels leave two "trails" of shiny metal and worn rubber on the inside of the track. To show this, I masked two stripes with masking tape, drybrushed on some gun-metal and then picked up the inner rubber pads with Humbrol 32 (dark grey):

I also painted gun-metal traces on the guide-teeth of the track, and on the outside of the track, on the high-spots taouching the ground directly. I also brushed on some pigment. Now the tracks look like this:

I hope you like them - thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

Now that's some nice track work Pawel, recreates the look on this track type very accurately IMHO.

Thanks a lot Bill! And I have to say this forum gave me a lot of tips on how to tackle that. Thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

Hello again!

I added some mud splatters, flat-coated everything and most importantly, put the tracks on! Before that I also picked up the rubber on the road wheels with Humbrol 32 (dark grey) and dusted them with Vietnam Earth pigment. Here's what it looks like now:

Hope you like it, thanks for reading, and have a nice day!

Paweł

Nice Pawel, the dusting effects look really good!

Looking good from here Pawel, almost done with this one!