1/35 "Hell Hound" hover truck - Complete (for now...)

LOL! Thank you sir. High praise indeed!

I hear you about the chipped paint. I figure this vehicle would have to be made of a lightweight (non-ferrous) metal, so the paint chips will be steel or aluminum colored rather than rusty. Looking at it carefully, it doesn't have much in the way of easily damaged parts (like fenders and such) so the only real damage I would add if I was doing another would be some nicks and gouges to the rubber bumpers on the engine housings, and even then I'd keep it light. This thing is pretty sturdily built!

Turret is almost done, then spot washes and drybrushing. Still a ways to go...

  Cosmic J said, "When you open your mouth, you allow others to see into your mind.".............So, CJ, stop posting those photos that make my jaw drop.....my mind is not a pretty sight! :) :)

  Sweet work!, and you definitely should be able to accurately weather, using those photos of real armor, in the real environment. The small rock damage..........I would think that would be mostly on the bottom of the vehicle.....the rocks that could cause serious "dinging" would be too heavy to lift to sufficient altitude to come down on the upper surfaces with enough force to "ding" armor plate......chip paint? maybe, but make noticeable dents in armor plate, I think not.

Finished post shading the hull and assorted parts. I mixed 4 parts Israeli Armor Sand and 1 part Burnt Umber to make the shadow tone. Notice how it seems to darken the overall color. I'm really grooving on this color, don't know if it's accurate or not, but I'm definitely gonna use it again for other projects.

One note for other builders of this kit: The turret is completely open on the inside, giving a view of the inside of the hull. For some reason, I thought there was a "basket" that the turret gunner sat in. Had I paid attention, I would have known to paint the interior parts before assembly, and maybe added some detail in there. Oh well. I painted everything I could reach the shadow color and just got on w/ it.

Some more notes on the turret: The interior has some details that need to be painted before you assemble it. Otherwise, it would be difficult or impossible to paint all the little parts and instrument faces.

Also, the turret parts don't line up perfectly. I had hoped to just snap the parts together after doing the interior, but the seam will need gluing and putty for a flush join. I'll do that after I paint all the details inside.

More soon...

PatlaborUnit1 wrote:

J I am in the same exact situation with my hovetcraft recovery vehicle.  As a recovery vehicle it will not be slogging through the mud and crashing through the trees, but it will be throwing dust everywhere plus going over the occassional bush. I plan a trop paint job with plenty of Mig pigments in the corners and on the air cushion skirt.  The final decideing factor for you will be the actual operating terrain and how often your HT gets washed.   Looks GREAT so far by the way, I have never sen one of these finished!

Thank you, I appreciate that.

I saw a finished one at Wonderfest USA back in 07, I think, the year it came out. Other than that one, I'm surprised not to have seen more of them too. I think it gives the impression of easy modding/kit-bashing, so maybe folks are thinking of changing it up when they build it, which slows down the process. That's what happened to me.

sumpter250 wrote:

if those hoverfans are strong enough to actually lift this thing, they're going to throw a lot of mud and dust into the air and onto the hull. Q. will this model be displayed "in a scene"?....which brings up Q2, will the scene be wet, or dry? In other words, what exactly will the fans be throwing ?(I was going to ask what would be hitting the fans, but perhaps that is territory that shouldn't be explored) . In a wet environment there will be mud, that dries into thick buildups of material, the same color as.....dust! that would evenly coat surfaces when operating in the same environment, during the dry season.

It won't be "in scene" at first. It's part of an IDF group build that I joined late, and it has to be done by the 20^th to get the badge so... I'm just gonna finish it first, then see what I can do about building a dio for it afterwards.

It's an (conjectural) IDF vehicle, so Israel would be its primary terrain. I got some pictures from White_R34 of the area, hung them below.

psstoff995 wrote:

Don't forget small rocks dinging up the paint!! Looks really nice so far

You know, I had honestly not thought of that. Don't know why, but now that you mention it it's obvious. Those rocks would be moving at a very high speed too. Looks like I'm gonna be beating this little guy up a bit...

As I said, White_R34 sent me some recent images to help me out. Here are some of them:

White_R34 wrote:

Here's some new photos from the region, of the Active sevice and Reservis units.

White_R34 wrote:

Here's a Mk II on patrol at the Israel border., It's call the Mk. IID for the armor added to the turret and sides of the upper hull. An one last thing I wan to show you all the IDF D9 an D9R Catt, this thing is truly a beast. They use thing to help push there way over built up hills and man made obstacles.

White_R34 wrote:

You know your hovercraft would be a great Idea! No more MUD holes!!

I'm struck by how little damage the vehicles have on them, especially the combat bulldozer. You would think that they would at least have more chipped paint or scratches. Dirty as hell though...

It may be ironic, but I think to be "realistic" my model will have to be more beat up than the real thing.

Thanks for the support guys, I appreciate it.

Post shaded the hull today (would have done it sooner, but I came down w/ a bout of the flu...). Came out a little garish. Toning it down tomorrow, then maybe pixs.

if those hoverfans are strong enough to actually lift this thing, they're going to throw a lot of mud and dust into the air and onto the hull.

Q. will this model be displayed "in a scene"?....which brings up Q2, will the scene be wet, or dry? In other words, what exactly will the fans be throwing ?(I was going to ask what would be hitting the fans, but perhaps that is territory that shouldn't be explored) . In a wet environment there will be mud, that dries into thick buildups of material, the same color as.....dust! that would evenly coat surfaces when operating in the same environment, during the dry season.

J I am in the same exact situation with my hovetcraft recovery vehicle.  As a recovery vehicle it will not be slogging through the mud and crashing through the trees, but it will be throwing dust everywhere plus going over the occassional bush. I plan a trop paint job with plenty of Mig pigments in the corners and on the air cushion skirt.  The final decideing factor for you will be the actual operating terrain and how often your HT gets washed.

Looks GREAT so far by the way, I have never sen one of these finished!

Thank you gentlemen, you are all very kind.

I'm torn on the weathering. On the one hand, I prefer a clean model w/ minimal weathering, and as an Israeli Defense Force vehicle, it probably wouldn't get too beat up w/ normal use.

On the other hand, if those hoverfans are strong enough to actually lift this thing, they're going to throw a lot of mud and dust into the air and onto the hull.

Suggestions and tips always welcome.

Ok, I know it's been awhile, but I kinda got stuck for a bit. I got really indecisive about some minor details; piddling stuff really.

I can identify with that!  Looking good so far, I too, am waiting to see how you weather the final assembly. I get the feeling that you not only know how this "hell hound" operates, but also what conditions it operates in. Knowing the "prototype", before modeling it, has its advantages. 

Great modding work

Ok, I know it's been awhile, but I kinda got stuck for a bit. I got really indecisive about some minor details; piddling stuff really. So I just decided to finish the build, and fix any details I don't like later.

I blocked off the seams on the ramp w/ a thin sheet of styrene. It's not fancy but it works.

Next, I began painting. I started w/ the turbine fans. I painted them MM Steel on the outer parts, and MM Jet Exhaust on the inner parts. I thought this might look like oil or grease stained metal. They were very flat looking, so I post shaded the fan blades w/ MM Gunmetal.

I'll apply washes and drybrush them later.

Because metallics are hard to clean out of the airbrush, I sprayed some other stuff that needed to be painted at the same time.

Then I airbrushed a basecoat of MM Israeli Armor Sand over all the major assemblies. Because this is a big kit, and I tend to shoot at low pressure, it took several hours to complete coverage. The model has some wicked undercuts on it, especially on the bottom and in the cargo bed.

I'm happy w/ this color. In these images, or under very bright light, it looks very green, but in shadow it looks almost grey. It's a green w/out a lot of yellow in it.

The hoverfans appear to have protective "bumpers" on the bottom of them, so I painted them w/ a mixture of Black and Aggressor Grey, to look the like rubber used on tires. If I were going to weather this vehicle more, I'd carve some nicks and gouges in them.

I painted the engine housings MM Olive Drab to break up the color monotony a bit. Maybe they were manufactured in the US and shipped over? Who knows?

Then, I post shaded the "bumpers" and engine housings. A little sloppy, but I'll clean that up in the next painting stage. Adds some nice depth to the details.

The next step is the long process of post shading the vehicle hull itself. That's what I'm doing tonight.

I'm sure you can work your way around the problems and finx a way to do it. 

As far as that Mg goes, praticly speaking, for that vehichle, its most likley not meant to be aimed forward, more for shooting at things higher up then it.

That being said, you could probably easily mod it forward. 

smeagol the vile wrote:

May I inquire to what those unforcene circumstances are?

You may indeed.

I was gonna display the model like it was "in-flight" moving forward at a high speed, w/ some figures posed as if they were riding on it, but I'm having some trouble finding appropriate figs. (I expected to have to mod them some, but I want to avoid the hassle of having to sculpt or heavily modify them.) 

I wanted to put one guy in the turret w/ his elbows up on the sides, one guy standing in the rear (bracing himself w/ one hand and holding his helmet on w/ the other) and a third figure hunkered down against the slipstream on the rear bench seat.

Problems: I can't find any sitting IDF figures, and the Gatling gun sits too far back in the turret to allow someone to fit into it comfortably. The controls and display would jam right up against the gunners face.

Nothing wrong w/ the kit however, just my ambitiousness. I'll figure something out.

SkullGundam: Thank you, you're very kind.

guardsmen22 wrote:

I think the leg idea would be really cool.  looks good so far, I've been interested in this kit for a while so I'll be watching this with great interest.

Thank you. If you have any questions about the kit, please feel free to ask.

John31388 wrote:

Looking good so far

Thank you. So far, so good...

smeagol the vile wrote:

the thing about photoetched, and mecha metal AM parts... is its such a crime to paint them, they look so cool unpainted. Have you thought of a scheme yet?

I think you mean the hex bolts? Yeah, they do look pretty good all shiny like that.

Its going to be Israeli Armor Sand (actually a greenish kind of color) w/ Olive Drab parts and dark grey rubber bumpers on the engine housings. IDF markings all over. Lots of dust weathering.

I was going to display it "in flight", but unforeseen difficulties have me rethinking the decision. I'll try to get it done first, and then decide.

the thing about photoetched, and mecha metal AM parts... is its such a crime to paint them, they look so cool unpainted.

Have you thought of a scheme yet?

I think the leg idea would be really cool. 

looks good so far, I've been interested in this kit for a while so I'll be watching this with great interest.

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. I've gotten a lot done, just none of it flashy or showy.

This kit is well engineered, but it does have a lot of seams that need to be filled and sanded.  Just about every part really. That's where a lot of my time has been taken up.

Here are some examples of what I'm talking about. In some cases the parts don't line up, or the seam runs over some molded on detail. In the case of the smoke launchers, they were hollow in the back. If their backs weren't visible, that would have been fine. They are however, particularly the ones mounted on the turret.

The apparatus for extending the rear ramp is a particular problem (look especially at the first image). There's no way to get sanding sticks down in there, so I'm gonna have to cheat the seams. I got a couple of options I thought of: A) cut some styrene into strips and glue those over the part, or B) cut one big piece of styrene and just cover it all up. B is easier, but might not look as nice. Any advice in this area would be greatly appreciated.

I filled and sanded all the seams I could find and get at, and I filled the rear of the smoke launchers w/ Aves Apoxie Sculpt, sanded to shape. I also had to replace some detail w/ styrene bits. Some examples:

I still haven't figured out yet what to do w/ the rear ramp. No matter how I decide to display the model, the ramp will be clearly visible, so I gotta do something.

Having set the precedent of replacing the handles on the sides of my Hell Hound, I also had to do the same on the top. While I was there I drilled out the headlight stations to accept some MV lenses. For the spotlight on the top, I added a brass tube, the end of which I opened up a bit w/ a dental burr. The resulting hole in the rear of the light mount was capped w/ styrene, sanded to shape.

Earlier in construction, I did some damage to the front hulls anti-skid texture. To repair this section, I took a tip from redleg12 for re-creating the damaged area. I carefully masked off the sections in the front and used Krylon Texture Spray Paint to re-create the surface. I didn't want to go through the hassle of masking and painting the whole thing this late in construction, so I just did the front. It looks a little different than the rest of the model's AS surfaces, but until I get paint on it, I can't tell how much. It definitely looks a lot better than it did damaged.

The rear hull was also received some brass wire tie-downs, and a strip of styrene to cover some gate marks that I somehow missed in the construction process.

The engine mounts are interesting. They have quite a lot of movement to them. I don't see how that would help the vehicle, but could make for some interesting display options w/ some minor work. If I decide to do another one of these, I might use this feature to build it w/ legs instead of hover fans.

So that's where I am. Except for the rear ramp, the model is ready for paint.

LOL! Its cool, I figured it out.

See the pin that runs through the tube is fixed in place, and the rod has a notch in it that the pin locks into. My bad for not explaining better.

Thanks for the support guys.

Cosmic J wrote:

That done, I had to figure out how to keep the model from spinning on its post.

I've had the same problem with displaying aircraft in flight.  Many years ago, I read a tip for this in FSM.  Use two pieces of telescoping square brass tube instead of round.  You can also solder a piece of round rod into the smaller brass tub if you like, and cut the small square brass tube to be flush with the bottom of your model.

I know I'm too late to help, but maybe on your next build?

Looking forward to more posts!

m@

Comming along nicely......

Terry.

Thank you, SG. Really, I appreciate that. Sorry to hear you can't keep your hand in right now, but I'll know you'll have something to share come the summer.  

I did some work on the other one too; I'll try to get something up this week.

Thanks again - JC

Very cool CJ.  Its lookin good.  I'm sad that I have no time to work on this stuff and no money to buy the kits.  I'll just have to keep modeling vicariously through you.  Cant wait to see this and the hover scout come out. 

Ok, here's what I've been up to lately.

I ordered some 1.5 mm hexagonal bolt heads from Czech Masters by way of Squadron.com, as well as some other stuff for other builds. Unfortunately, they were out of them, so I had to look elsewhere.

This sent me to HLJ.com. They had 1.5mm hexbolts by a company called Alder's Nest...

http://www.hlj.com/product/ADNANE-0130

...so I ordered those instead. This meant I would have to wait until they could be shipped from Japan, hence my long absence.

While I was waiting, I decided to work on how to mount the model. My idea is to put a brass tube inside the kit, and then to run a sturdy brass mounting rod up into the model. So I picked out a suitable tube and a rod to fit in it (no dirty jokes now...).

I located a spot on the bottom of the model as close to the center of balance as I could. This is where I would drill the hole for the mounting rod. I didn't want to use an electric drill however, for fear it might get away from me somehow, and my pin-vice was way too small for the drillbit I needed to use. My solution was old school:

It still didn't go perfectly. I hit a support structure inside the model that knocked the bit askew and made for an ugly hole. What to do?

Digging around in the spares box, I came up w/ these thingys. I got them off HLJ too, about 6 years ago. I forget what they are called. I drilled a hole in one of them, and mounted it underneath. It was just the trick.

That done, I had to figure out how to keep the model from spinning on its post.

I took a carbide drill bit, and carefully put a hole through the tube. Then I threaded it w/ a brass rod of appropriate diameter. Next, I used a motor tool to cut a notch in the top of the mounting rod, and widened it w/ a triangular file.

I think you can see where I'm going here.

I then inserted the tube into the model, replaced the pin, and fixed it in place w/ copious amounts of superglue. The pin was bent over on the other side to keep it in place. It sure ain't pretty, but it works. Lastly, I sanded the tube on the bottom so that it was flush w/ the greeblie I had added.

At Hobby Lobby, I used the weekly 40% off coupon and bought one of those big Imex display cases to put the model in. I'm not sure this is how I want to display it, but if I wind up going that way, at least I know it will fit. If not, I can always use it for a Tamiya Me-262 I'm building...

The hexbolts finally arrived in the mail, and I could get to work on those. I started by carefully drilling tiny holes to accept them. The hard part was making sure the drill bit was centered correctly. The few times it wasn't perfect, I used the bit to file the hole a little in the right direction.

Then I started on the bolts themselves. These are made of brass, and have to be cut apart individually and filed smooth. They are very tiny. I wound up using all but three of them.

I then attached the sides of the hull to the model. I suspected that the internal structure might interfere w/ the bolts (or vice versa) if I added them before assembly. Turns out I was right; some of the bolts had to be trimmed to half their length before they would fit.

Then, one by one, I glued them in place w/ SG. The end result.

Whew! Now I can start detailing and painting.

Ill try and grab you the specs right now for the scout... I'm having trouble.  The Mobile scout was only shown in... one episode of the origional MS gundam.  Its sort of a fan boy thing to have even noticed it.  I dont think they put much thought into the backgrounds of it.  Before the kit it looked like 2 halfcircles (the fans) a rectangle for him to sit on, and a gun hanging.   But as far as purpose goes, it was used like... how we use armored recon.  It has enough speed to get in, scout out, and get out, but it has the firepower to defend itself against stuff it's side if need be.  (A willies jeep with a MG couldnt take out a panzer, but a bit of infintry it could tear them appart kind of thing)

As far as the display positon.  The front and back Dozer things are to brace is when it is in the sonar position.  The front and back drop down, and the spike thats folded on the side extends out and goes into the ground.  It wasnt as much used like sonar for finding subs as its used like the 'put your ear to the ground' method to hear if anyone is following you.  The spike would pick up the tremmors from the mechs moving ( large heavy mechs, alot of vibration ) and pinpoint their location from that.

As far as trimming the pins, unless you are using something like a file, to file the edges down, I find it WAY to time consuming to try and slice or trim those guys, its s much easier to stick the exacto in the female end and spin it (that sounds so wrong, and so violent...)

For my decals I used waterslides.  Specificly bandai's AM Gundam Decals.  There mixed scale, 1/100 and 1/144 but honestly,it doesnt matter when it comes to non words, if you know what I mean.  I'm not a fan of dry transfers.  To many times I got it on straight,tapes it down.  And rubed it till I had carpal tunnel, just to take it up and find it didnt all go down