I'm very sorry for your loss. Like you, I did too as you know. I have that M40 GMC to build, and maybe two photos total of him in the service. Plus an 8 mm mom made of his unit on parade. He's the guy in khaki with the green helmet, I think.

Good idea for a project. BTW impressive that you are still a) able to find a hobby shop and b) they had an M55 on the shelf.

SB and GM, thank you. 

Bob, I had been wanting to build a couple of the projects that I have in mind beforehand. But now I added a few more to the que after looking thru his photos. Next after this for him will be the Hobbyboss M4 High Speed Tractor

GM, yes I do remember your fathers recent passing as well. Funny that both of ours were redlegs in the same time period roughly (Korean War era) although mine was ADA, and yours FA. And I am pretty jazzed that he has a whole bunch of photos from his service time. Although there are a few that I remember seeing once upon a time that I have not seen again in years. Yes it was nice to find the M55 kit on the shelf here. But we're are most fortunate to still have several Hobby Shops in the area. 

Sorry to hear about your Dad carlos. But this is a nice thing to do, and looking forward to seeing what you do with this.

Hello Stik!

Sorry about your loss.

When it comes to building the Quad, maybe my WIP can help you:

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/3/t/120370.aspx

I also have a WWII-era TM on the quad on my website:

http://www.vietnam.net.pl/M45quad.pdf

It's worth checking out to eliminate the errors of the Dragon kit.

I hope it helps - good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

I'm sorry to hear about your dad's passing SP, but great idea to honor him with this project. 

My sincerest condolences Stik, time seems to be a precious commodity we never have control of. I'm looking forward to your tribute builds.

Bish, Pawel, Gamera, and Armornut, thank you for your condolences. I think that these will be some fun projects to do and kind of in my "gray" area of between WWII and Vietnam/late Cold War that most of my armor builds are usually. And eventually all displayed as a group once completed. Thanks for looking in and commenting. I should have more progress in a day or so.

Pawel, I will have a look at your links and see how much I may or may not alter on my build. I'm trying to use this to get my motivation going again at the bench and superdetailing has bogged down my last few projects.  

Step 2 done: turret base (minus the PE ring on the bottom)

 Sorry to hear about your dad, bud. This should be good therapy

That quad .50 is some kind of weapon. I remember reading about the only one the French had at Dien Bien Phu in 54'. It devistated the Viet Mihn infantry assaults over and over at critical times. Where'd you get it, Brookhurst?

Thanks. Not so much therapy as a part of a good way to honor him in a small way (literally and figuratively). I picked this kit up at Military Hobbies in Orange.

Sorry to hear of the loss of your dad, Stik. He looks so very young in the pic.

Great project, good-looking detail so far, please do keep us posted.

Greg

Sorry to hear of the loss of your dad, Stik. He looks so very young in the pic.

Great project, good-looking detail so far, please do keep us posted.

 

Thanks Greg. Yes, he sure had the baby face, he was 20 or 21 there. I looked older at 19, LOL! More to come in the next few days. 

Condolences Stik, it will be a nice tribute to his memory.

I am sorry to hear about your dad's passing Stik. I lost mine about 20 years ago and still miss him. I understand your wanting to honor him as I have a couple of kits that I want to build that are some of the planes he flew in the Navy. He learned in a Stearman and was flying jets when he retired. Saw action in WW2, Korea and Nam. 

I know he will be tickled pink knowing you are building these kits in his honor.

Steve

Thank you Steve. Yes I'm sure that he would appreciate the builds. Before I joined the Army, I had built a B-26 Invader and TWA Lockheed Constellation for him. He crewed one and worked on the other. But I have no idea what happened to those builds.

So back to our quad .50....

PE base ring installed... 

Then steps 3 and 4, guns and mounting points assembled, and turret sides and front installed...

"Oh ***, looks like a MIG!".

Notice how dad's little bundle of love has its flaps on either side of the sight folded down?

Also the armor shield on the kit looks more like the one in the photo, but not the drawing.

What are those .50's? With that barrel length, they must have had a considerable ballistic arc.

GMorrison

"Oh ***, looks like a MIG!".

Notice how dad's little bundle of love has its flaps on either side of the sight folded down?

Also the armor shield on the kit looks more like the one in the photo, but not the drawing.

What are those .50's? With that barrel length, they must have had a considerable ballistic arc.

 

Yes, I did notice the armor flaps being folded on the one in the photo. And yes, those are standard M2 HB .50 caliber machne guns. I do remember fro my trigger tim e on those that there is a pronounced arc in trajectory. Especially at longer ranges. I dont recal exact barrel length, (although I do have a manual for the M2 in my garage with all the specs) but it is somewhere around 3 feet long. Give or take a few inches.

Coming right along there SP, she's looking mighty fine. 

Thats looking good there Stik.

Thank you Gamera and Bish. Well this is a fairly quick to build kit. Today I finished up the turret, aside from adding the guns and sight, which I will add after painting

then I built the trailer base

The turret on the trailer base

Next up, painting...

My fathers battery.

What a nice little kit, Stik. Clean building job.

Thank you sir. Now I just have to decide which OD to use... LOL! 

Nice photo of your father's battery. I see a couple M4 HSTs there on the far side of the M40s. I presume those hauled the ammo for the guns?

Dont you have one of those sidelined in progress somewhere?

Yes, in a M23 ammunition trailer. I do, AFV Club.

Thats looking good. I had not realised the gun was operated from the trailer.

Thanks Bish. Yes, there were two different trailer mounts, this smaller one that could also be installed on a vehicle bed for an improvised mobile mount, and a larger twin axle trailer that also had ammo drum storage. Or the turret was installed on purpose built vehicles.

Hello Stik!

That quad is lookin' good! Please note that the platform behind the mount is only supposed to be there on a half-track mounted quad. At least the TM says that. On the trailer mounted quad it can be easily enough reloaded from the ground, and so the platform only adds weight. Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł