Italeri M110A2 -- FINISHED PICS!

Thanks, Carlos!!!

ODS- Operation Desert Storm, AKA Gulf War I. 1991.

Mike, thanks a TON!!--that's great advice! I was just about to paint the camo tomorrow after a busy weekend. I'm relieved to know that I didn't have to do a hard-edge pattern---it would've been murder over all that PE and delicate detail!

Just one question---what's "ODS"?! You're talkin' to a civilian here, Mike!

Karl - Sorry I have not been here sooner to help out. You can beat me with a stick later. The M110A2 would have been in 3 color NATO camo or those that went to ODS, painted ODS Sand Color. If you paint 3 color NATO don't worry about the exact pattern....mostly green, then black and a touch of brown. NATO camo normally did not have a hard edge so a bit of over spray or fuzzy edge is fine.Keep all the road wheels green.

I will try to keep my eye out for you.... I am back on the OP, observing

Rounds Complete!!

Brain, lol----you're probably right about the museum owner putting it up there. He was quite the eccentric ol' man. Really quite a trip to talk to, honestly. Nice guy too!

I am betting the museum folks put it there just to see how many people would notice.....that or the squirrel is indeed real and the incarnate soul of George Patton.

Brian

Brian, I still haven't figured out if that squirrel is stuffed or real!

Thanks, Bill--you know PE is not my favorite thing to do, but on this kit at least it was a necessity with all the soft detail. I wish  they'd repop this line. It could really use it!

Oooh nice work on all the shiny bits there Karl! Looking forward to seeing it under paint.

OK, I had to go back and look at the picture you posted Karl, and while I am impressed that Stik noticed the barrel color difference I am surprised no one mentioned anything about the SQUIRREL sitting on the muzzle break!!!!!!!

Brian

*EDIT*  Never mind, I see now Gamera has sharp eyes!

Thanks, Tojo! I'm a'primering her right now!

Really impressive so far Karl,looking forward to your paint and weathering

Great "catch" on that color combo, Carlos; I can't believe it took me this long to see that!

It makes sense too, with what Rob has posted as well. Thanks for the info on the wheel color, too, Rob!

Thanks again for weighing in and giving me your knowledgeable opinions!!

LOL! Garzon I really enjoy looking at photos of equipment and looking for all the small things. Like all the other vets on here I pass on my 2 cents about something I have some personal knowledge of when it can help a fellow member here. I sure don't want to scare anyone not to ask for input though.

The barrel is definitely a different pattern than the rest of the vehicle. Many of the coded out barrels ended their lives as MOABs and the older barrel was probably added from a vehicle that was sent to the cann point but still had life left in the tube.

As far as road wheels went, other than the base color of green, we never bothered to paint them; we changed out road wheels so often it wouldn't matter anyway. Your battalion commander sounds like one of the paper tigers soldiers and the lieutenant mafia often ridiculed.

Stikpusher...WOW..you can see all that in a picture??

I'm afraid for asking feedback with a critical judge eye....ever!...

Ok, this is what my eyes see in that photo- the hull and up to the gun cradle are in NATO 3 Color, but the barrel itself is in a variation of MERDC winter verdent without the sand color. Look closely and it appears to be in faded versions of Forest Green 34079, Field Drab 30118, (both noticably different than NATO/CARC Green and NATO/CARC Brown) and Black. Seeing as how this is in a museum, it is quite likely that the barrel came from a seperate source than the rest of the vehicle.

Thanks for all the input and personal experiences with finishes, etc. I appreciate it, guys!

I just realized that the barrel has some kind of lighter brown than the rest of the vehicle. I wonder if the barrel is a replacement? (Did someone point this out along the way? Sorry if I didn't catch that sooner!)

I think I'm going to go with a 3-color finish in old MERDC colors. I'm seeing a lot of 3-color finishes, but with a brown color that's more yellowish than chocolate NATO brown. Thanks again for your input, al!

garzohn.....I think I'll leave the squirrel for the museum. :)

Not that I can give some advice...but, are you also going to put the small squirrel on top of the mufller?? LOL

It looks like a very faded NATO 30color camo to me.

i don't recall having sand in the pattern when we got new M60A2s in august '75. they were od until we got back from training at hohenfels and than all were painted IDENTICALLY usong a number of volunteers and 2 bn maint bays. our bn cdr was somewhat detailed oriented and had a cow when he noticed the 3rd left road wheel on one tank was the incorrect color.

prior to that my 4 A1s and 2 M-60s were still desert camo. 3-33AR/3AD.

Even before the NATO tri colors came along, some units deleted the sand color highlights and either covered them with black, or one if the adjoining field drab/forest green colors. I saw this on 8th Mech Division AFVs in Germany in 1984 REFORGER.

If the field artillery painted their guns the way we painted our tanks, even though there was a pattern, it was transferred using the Mk. I Eyeball and regular blackboard chalk. Neatness depended on the person who was chalking it out and how good a copy of the pattern he was working off of.

Once NATO 3-color came along, all we did on many of the previously MERDC was delete the small sand squiggle, make the black squiggle a little larger and use the NATO brown instead of that tan colored brown shown on the gun tube above.

No two tracks looked alike back then.

Ready for paint!

Well, I've finally gotten to the point where I think I"m, ready to paint this beast. It's not going to be easy! Man, the holes, reverse angles, and complexity of the pieces is going to make it a real PITA! It's hard to get that gun out of there and almost impossible to get the "turret" out once it's in there--the pieces around the gun hit the side seat. Gonna have to figure something out...?

Having said that, the gun cradle is a nice little piece--infinitely better than the blob kit piece! This picture is really even more impressive when you realize that I originally built this entire assembly backwards---on the wrong side of the styrene kit piece, and then had to disassemble it carefully and put it all back together, lol.

Here's the whole thing, minus the tracks of course

I have to say, the PE set REALLY adds to the detail that this kit really does need--but now, I don't think I can build my other two versions without it, and man, there's a lot of complex PE pieces in this!

The most annoying thing about this old kit is the wealth of seam lines that you have to sand carefully away. THAT took more time than anything, except the PE!.

HELP!! The more I've looked at this photo, I've realized that this vehicle is NOT in MERDC scheme, but 3-color. Maybe some of you vets can tell me though---does this look like an incomplete MERDC scheme in MERDC colors? I know that sometimes they didn't quite do the "full Monty" on all vehicles. Or does this appear to be standard NATO 3-color? 

Thanks for looking in, guys, and if anyone has any opinion on the color, please speak out!!!

Duster, thanks for your input on the mini-Dremels!

Narayan, hey, good to hear from you, man! Thanks for looking in and for saying hello! Whatcha working on lately??

the doog

disastermaster

Hey, that's pretty cool, Steve! I gotta see if I can find me one of those---that looks really convenient instead of dragging out the Dremel for small, quick shaves? I'll bet it doesn't hold a charge long though, does it? I have one of those battery-powered Dremel mini's,and that ain't worth the plastic case that surrounds it for doing anything more than shaving a dimple off of styrene, and you're back on "charge" for three hours..

The good news about those finger nail tools is they are light and small enough to reach in small places, and they spin at slow enough speed that you don't burn through the plastic. 

The bad news is they are small  and slow and will take forever on medium size jobs and a long time on small jobs.

But it will beat hand sanding in many cases, just don't be in a hurry; oh and rechargeable batteries are good to save on costs

Karl, its great watching you reffine a kit as you go along. You have such an eye for the essence of whatever you build. This one looks to be right on target.

Thanks for the heads up on the battery powered dremel. I have been meaning to get a dremel for the last 10 years and now I can cross that one off my list of options!

Keep it coming.

disastermaster

Marc and Brian,

Thanks, guys!!

Marc, that's not motorized---it's just a tool with a three kinds of routing bits that you can use to enlarge holes or use as a sort of rasp. The other two tips are long and thin, and all are coated with something like a resin diamond dust. You put them in the hole you want to enlarge and use them like saws, ya know? I think I got it from Micromark, but I can't remember what it's called?

wing_nut

Lest you all think I gave up on this pig,

Give up?  You?  Nah!

Looking good doog.  

Is this a little single battery roto-tool?  and if so, where'd ya git it?

 That's what it looks like.

 When not using my dremel, I use my $.50 battery powered thrift store special.

Works perfect!