Hello everybody!

I sure did hope I could post an update here sooner... But, like they say - better late than never! The thing is the interior of the AFV Club kit is pretty barren, and without the windshield and roof it will be very visible... Eduard set 35906 helps a little, but I also had to design my own decals, then get them printed - but finally I can show you my results.

So here are some details and first decals on:

And here are the interior parts painted up and more decals... I have also made the fire extinguisher. There will also be a 3D printed flashlight, and I think I have to 3D print the fire extinguishers, too, for future projects.

Here's a link to the 3D prints in case somebody could use them:

https://www.shapeways.com/shops/nam-models?section=1%3A35&s=0

So, how do you like my data plates?

Thanks for lookin' and have a nice day

Paweł

That's funny about the missing links there but great job fixing the issue! 

Wow, I had clean forgotten that the tracks were a link different from each other--memory wants to put that down to the "stagger" in the torsion bars, that one on one side is ahead of the other.

TigerII

I see that the suspension is like the USA M113 APC.

It is an M113 suspension.  The M548 is a modified M113 with the hull cut away and reconfigured in the front to be a cargo vehicle as opposed to an APC.  The engine, running gear, and lower hull are all the same as an M113.

Hey Pawel, nice work on the tracks. I like the subject you've chosen. I see that the suspension is like the USA M113 APC. In the photo of the front, it resembled the Marine Corps LVTP-7 Amtrac. Anyway I'll be keeping tabs on this build. It looks good so far. Good luck. 

Hello!

Thanks a lot for your comments!

I don't know exactly why it turned out this way, but I think there's some problem with the Italeri track to begin with - there are 69 links per side in the box, AFV Database says there should be 63 on the left and 64 on the right - that's one thing. Then I agree with Cap'n - it would be enough that the distance between the sprocket and the idler is 4mm bigger than in the M113 kit and there you have your 2 links.

I have no way of knowing for sure, but for me the photos of the real thing show the track in pretty good condition and not too loose - but a bit on the loose side, as it seems to touch the rear road wheels. I remember reading that the correctly tensioned track should hang a bit above one of the road wheels - but I don't remember how much and above which wheel it should be.

I also managed to decipher the inscription behind the driver's doors - it seems to read: "REMOVE SCREEN, INSTALL DRAIN PLUGS,
ACCESS COVER PLATE AND GASKETS,
BEFORE VEHICLE OPERATION"

Now I wonder what could be meant with "screen"?

So now I'm startin to work on custom decals, as I need some data placards for the interior.

Thanks for reading and have a nice day!

Paweł

Many display tanks and APCs have tracks that have worn rubber bushings that make the tracks seem much more loose than they would be on a vehicle in service. Walking track is a weekly and sometimes daily task done by crews, so any track links with worn bushings would be replaced more frequently.

In a tank battalion, just about every tank had track changed out annually, not as a scheduled event, but as it was needed due to wear and tear after major exercises.

Is it me, or amybe photo distortion that makes the drive & idler looks just a smidge too far forward & back?

Like, maybe the donor kist locations were a tad long?

Would that be worth taking calipers to other 113 kits to measure the center-to-center, maybe?

This, as it's all too common to take measurements off unloaded museum/display vehicles, which is like to make the resulting track length too long, rather than too short.  Just spitballing here, but also remembering one too many high-riding M-60 kits.

Looking good.  It is interesting that there were too few tracks.  I built the Italeri M901 years ago and it had the correct number of tracks.

Hello!

Gamera - thanks a lot!

lurch - thanks a lot for your kind words, they mean a lot to me!

And I managed to finish the transplant! As it turns out, Italeri gives you 69 track links per side, which looks like a lot, but the tracks are still two links too short - so I decided to scratchbuild those missing two links per side and put thm where they will not be too visible. And so the tracks are finished:

As I still want to paint them, I just made the track sets removable for now - that should help with said painting:

Now I'm starting working on the hull - I have to distress the sheet metal some, to match the 1:1 photos.

Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

Thats looking fanrastic. Like Gamera said earlier, You always pick great subjects. I always enjoy your work, And you always do fantastic work. Thank you.

Looks good Pawel, great improvement to the original kit.  

Hello!

Gino, Gamera - thanks a lot for your comments, I'm glad to have you on my thread here!

Gamera - you bet I put a lot of time and effort to select the right ones!

And I also wanted to let you know how the "transplant" is doing. Here's how the new suspension looks from the inside:

And here's a photo showing the wheels off, a the same time comparison to stock suspension on the other side:

And it's that other side that I'm working on right now... I could use some "The Doors" right now... "...break on through to the other side, break on through to the other side, yeah..."

Thanks for looking and have a nice day!

Paweł

Oh wow, that's so cool Pawel! You always find the coolest subjects! 

Nice job.  It is coming along well and the updated suspension and roadwheels will make it look great.

Hello everybody!

Glenn - I already wrote you something in the thread you started! Thanks a lot for your kind words!

Rob - you make it sound like fun!

And in the meantime I got an Italeri M113 variant to use it as a donor for a chassis parts transplantation. I started with lots of dry fitting and measuring. Then I drilled a hole in each road wheel pivot point to mark their positions. At last I took a saw and levelled the playing field, so to say:

As you can see I have already made some road wheels. The leftmost wheel shows the AFV Club part - as you can see no detail on the inside, whatsoever. That's why I decided to take the italeri part for the inside of the road wheel (second from the left), but also use the AFV Club part for the outside (it's quite nice).

As I'm writing this I already glued the road wheel arms in place and now I want everything to dry throughly to get a nice stable alignment. Then I'll take next photo for you and start working the other side.

Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

Pawel

Rob - That's interesting! So what do you reckon, how many hours do you have in one of these babies? Like I wrote above, this kit has a substantial commonality with "Nancy" gun truck, but improves on it.

The M548 was just basically an armored pickup truck. We had ring mounts on some of them, but I don't recall ever seeing an M2 mounted. The cab cover was always in place.

We learned to drive on M113s and the M548 drove the same way. Easy to drive, at most I probably was on one for a couple of days worth of training.

Pawel I just looked at your quad build again and posted a question you have already solved somehow. How did you make the bends on those ammo belts? They turned out fantastic and no doubt you'll be doing it again.

THese must be out of this world I bet.

https://www.hlj.com/1-35-scale-flexible-ammo-belt-cal-050-gas35150 

Pawel

Glenn - so far I've only built one quad 50 and it was by Dragon. The build report can be seen here:

http://vietnam.net.pl/M55mod1en.htm

Like Tcoat wrote, the barrels would have to be practically parallel. Now that AFV Club quad is somewhat old and has a lot of misunderstandings, but is still a step up from the gun truck "Nancy", because you get a resin trailer chassis that is correct for all quad 50s in Vietnam. Some parts in the kit, however come from the half track M16 version - you have to watch for those when building this kit. The power charger (small gas engine/generator) would have to be replaced with something newer here.

Rob - That's interesting! So what do you reckon, how many hours do you have in one of these babies? Like I wrote above, this kit has a substantial commonality with "Nancy" gun truck, but improves on it.

Tcoat - maybe I'll get to building a gun truck on wheels some day too...

John - a plain M548 seems to be a pretty common vehicle, but it has some wild variants, too, and those can be rare.

Thanks a lot for your comments and have a nice day!

Paweł

 

Glenn - so far I've only built one quad 50 and it was by Dragon. The build report can be seen here:

http://vietnam.net.pl/M55mod1en.htm

Like Tcoat wrote, the barrels would have to be practically parallel. Now that AFV Club quad is somewhat old and has a lot of misunderstandings, but is still a step up from the gun truck "Nancy", because you get a resin trailer chassis that is correct for all quad 50s in Vietnam. Some parts in the kit, however come from the half track M16 version - you have to watch for those when building this kit. The power charger (small gas engine/generator) would have to be replaced with something newer here.

Rob - That's interesting! So what do you reckon, how many hours do you have in one of these babies? Like I wrote above, this kit has a substantial commonality with "Nancy" gun truck, but improves on it.

Tcoat - maybe I'll get to building a gun truck on wheels some day too...

John - a plain M548 seems to be a pretty common vehicle, but it has some wild variants, too, and those can be rare.

Thanks a lot for your comments and have a nice day!

Paweł

Interesting subject Pawel.  I've never seen that vehicle before.

LOL I see by the three *** the four letter word I used for 'angle' was mistaken for an anatomical feature.

I see that and you're correct.. Yours is a different kit. On mine the front mounts on the outboard guns is probably 3/16 further inside than the back ones. 

GlennH

I hope the quad 50 assembly is better than the AFC club gun truck I've had sitting for a year part built. I bought what I think are better 50's but the thing that's driving me nuts Pawel and has caused the pause is the gun mouting on both outside 50's. The inner mounts line up front and back but the outer mounts will *** the gun muzzle inward.

It suddenly dawned on me as I was typing this that that may be intentional to get the point of aim in the same direction. I had only seen one in the flesh from a distance. Pawel, you have built other quads, am I assuming correct? If so I still have to wonder why the outer mounting pads are not cocked slightly as well..

 

Mine lined up perfectly. 

To get the guns to coverge at any reasonable range you would hardly be able to see the angles. 

AFV Club does the mix and match form of kit creation. So this quad .50 is probably the same as the guntruck and towed version.

The National Guard still had the M42 Dusters in use as late as 1985.

I got a license to drive the M548 ammo carrier when I was a college kid, but that was the only time I ever had time on one.

Good luck with the project.

I hope the quad 50 assembly is better than the AFC club gun truck I've had sitting for a year part built. I bought what I think are better 50's but the thing that's driving me nuts Pawel and has caused the pause is the gun mouting on both outside 50's. The inner mounts line up front and back but the outer mounts will *** the gun muzzle inward.

It suddenly dawned on me as I was typing this that that may be intentional to get the point of aim in the same direction. I had only seen one in the flesh from a distance. Pawel, you have built other quads, am I assuming correct? If so I still have to wonder why the outer mounting pads are not cocked slightly as well..