Post by Deleted on Nov 24, 2012 0:33:02 GMT -5
I've been doing a step-by-step build of M966 TOW Missile Carrier over on Armorama. You can find it here:
www.armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=197470&ord=&page=1
Here is most of the build log:
I'm building an early US Army M966 TOW Missile system carrier for the 'Tank Destroyer/SPG Campaign'. This image is the inspiration for my kitbash build:
The photo is from Verlinden Productions book Warmachines No. 15 3/325 ABCT Airborne Battalion Combat Team "Blue Falcons" in action.
Several things appeal to me about the vehicle in this image.
1. All green engine hood (bonnet as some call it).
2. Early style side mirrors
3. Early style M249 SAW with 'skeleton' rear stock.
4. Secondary weapon mounted with the TOW system.
The model build will be a kitbash of the following:
Base kit- Tamiya M1046 TOW Missile Carrier
Parts from-
a. Tamiya M1025 Early Armored Doors
b. M249 from Tamiya Modern U.S. Accessory Set
c. Secondary weapon mount from Academy M1025
d. I'm pondering using an EDUARD M1046 PE Set but am not
sure if I want to go that deep into the project.
I will have some work to do to figure out how to mount the secondary weapon system on the turret ring. Unfortunately, I don't have a completely clear photo of the way it is mounted. The book has a picture of an M60 mounted with TOW system also. I may decide to do that. Not sure yet.
Step 1- Front & Rear Axles
Step 2- Attaching Lower Arms To Front & Rear Axles
Step 3: Installation of the transfer case and muffler/exhaust.
Simple step that involves assembling the two halves of the transfer case. When the transfer case is assembled, you install it at the rear of the engine. The last piece installed here is half of the muffler which contains the exhaust pipe section.
I have decided to go off the deep end and use Eduard set
35 655 M-1046 Humvee TOW photo-etch set on this build.
You can see photos of all of the content on my website at this link:
HMMWV In Scale Eduard 35 655 M1046 Humvee TOW
I've started using the previously mentioned Eduard set for the M1046 TOW Carrier.
In this photo, you can see the difference in details between the 'out-of-box' pioneer tool rack and a tool rack with details from the Eduard set. My intent is to display this pioneer rack in the lowered position but still on the vehicle.
The design of the Eduard set is partially incorrect in that the locking brackets aren't angled correctly as they are on the real vehicle. See image of the real assembly here:
HMMWV Pioneer Tools and Rack
Additionally the photo-etch straps that go over the tools should go between the mattock handle and the carrier frame. But, as a result of the way the kit part was molded, you have no choice but to glue the PE strap on the outside of the frame. I hope that makes sense.
I'm skipping around the construction sequence some to facilitate airbrushing the vehicle chassis.
With that in mind, here is completed Step 5 which has you assembling the pioneer tool rack and the fuel tank.
Here is completed step 8 which is the rear bumber and the front bumper.
Rear bumper (shown with added Eduard details):
Front bumper:
Although the Tamiya M1046 TOW Carrier kit does have the parts for the standard front bumper, it does not have the directions for it in the kit instructions. I had to reference a set of the instructions for the Tamiya M1025 Armament Carrier to make sure I got the assembly correct.
Well, I figured since I was doing some multi kit part combining, adding photo-etch and doing a little scratch building I might as well use one of my DEF Model resin tire sets. So, I have spent some time tonight shooting lots of photos of the tire set before assembling all of them.
Here is the packaging:
Here are the 5 tires....you will notice that 2 ea are labeled 'A' and 2 ea are labeled 'B' and 1 ea is labeled 'S' (spare).
Here is a photo of the DEF Model tire(left) next to the Tamiya tire (right).
Here is a photo of a real tire for tread comparison.
Here is an image of one of the assembled DEF Model wheels next to one of the assembled Tamiya wheels.
If you look close, you will see there is a bit of gap between the wheel and tire of the DEF Model wheel assembly compared to the tight fit of the Tamiya parts. I think once the DEF Model tire/wheel is painted, the gap won't be noticeable.
For those interested, I have 14 images of the DEF Model set posted here:
DEF Model DW 35004 HMMWV R/T II Sagged Wheel Set
I have a few photos of the real Goodyear Wrangler R/T II posted here:
Goodyear Wrangler R/T II Photos
I got the DEF Model wheels assembled, part gaps filled and cleaned up.
This photo shows the gaps between the tire and wheel/rims filled using Mr. Surfacer 500.
This photo shows the tire assemblies after the seams and Mr. Surfacer 500 have been cleaned up.
The wheels should look pretty good after being painted and dry brushed.
The following photos are a combination of steps 4 through 8.
The photo below shows the 'top' of the frame/chassis. I didn't paint it as thoroughly since the body of the HMMWV will block it from view.
Here is the end result of kit steps 1-10. Remember I have added some PE and Def Model wheels.
The tires were painted with Life Color 'Tire Black' to give some contrast between the wheel color and the tire even though in real life there isn't a big scale color difference. For some reason the color photographs lighter than it actually appears.
I have begun the installation of various interior PE parts.
Here is a small update. All of the seats and seatbelts are now installed. I also got some more interior PE done. The resin fuel can in the holder is from Real Model.
The jerry can holder strap and the tie down straps are two piece assemblies and definitely required some patience from me. The fuel can is only 'posing' in the picture for now. I made the strap so that I can disconnect it and remove the fuel can for painting.
I have a brief moment tonight and wanted to post a couple of photos of the construction of the PE gunners platform. The gunner platform in the kit is one piece. The Eduard photo-etch set has a 3 piece gunner platform.
Here are the parts for the Eduard gunner platform.
Here are a couple of pictures of the Eduard gunner platform next to the kit part.
Here is a picture of a real gunner platform.
Here is the kit part for the dash.
Here is the kit part after I have removed the raised dial faces with a hobby knife and glued down the Eduard PE set dial face with Elmers white glue.
Here is the kit part with the dial face glued in place with Elmers white glue and the Eduard PE dial face frame glued in place with CA glue.
Here is the windshield frame and dash installed on the vehicle body.
I have assembled the Eduard PE set replacement radio mount. It consists of 6 parts. The instructions for the Eduard set show you using 1 ea of part #32.
The set only comes with 1 ea part #32.
However, the interior pictures that I have of a real M966 TOW Carrier shows that the radio tray should have 2 ea of part #32.
I ended up opening up another Eduard PE set for a Tamiya M1025 and I used the part #32 out of it.
The assembly was pretty difficult for me to put together. Probably due to my inexperience with photo-etch.
This picture shows the Tamiya kit radio tray (being held by tweezers)next to the installed Eduard replacement assembly.
Another view of the installed Eduard radio tray assembly.
I have modified the kit TOW missile rack with the Eduard pe parts.
Here is the unmodified kit assembly.
The Eduard pe parts make a more detailed storage rack for camouflage netting bag. The modification consists of 7 pe parts. 3 parts are additional frame work and 4 parts are more detailed tie-down straps than those parts molded on the kit supplied bag.
This photo shows the tie-down straps from the pe set. Each tie-down is two parts. You must interconnect them just like the real strap. In this photo, one set is interconnected.
In this photo, the straps are loosely in place.
In this photo, the straps are tightened up. The overall assembly is ready for priming and painting.
Next up, I tackled the air cleaner and coolant overflow assembly. The basic kit parts consist of just two pieces. Eduard dresses the assembly up with 7 additional PE parts.
Here is the basic kit assembly:
Here is the assembly with the Eduard pe parts installed.
Here is a side-by-side comparison of the basic kit assembly and the kit assembly with pe parts installed.
Here is the rear interior so far. Still have a lot to do.
I began some work on the front of the vehicle. These next two photos show the front grill with a photo-etch screen installed.
This photo is the backside of the screen:
Here is how the screen looks on the grill from the front of the assembly:
My latest progress has been modification of the tailgate with parts from the Eduard set.
Here is the kit part:
This step has you removing the protruding parts (top left and right) on the tailgate that the retention chains hook on to and replacing them with PE parts that, when folded, are hollow and to scale like the real vehicle.
In this step you are also attaching four photo-etch camouflage straps/tie-downs on the exterior surface of the tailgate.
I have mixed emotions about the camouflage straps/tie-downs. They are a neat detail in a way, but I don't like the execution of the detail by Eduard. I have the following complaints:
1. The top of the tie-down, as made by Eduard, does not attach at the top of the tailgate like it does on the real vehicle. See these pictures:
When you position the bottom tie-down bracket on the eduard piece properly, the top does not go to the top of the tailgate. Here are a few photos of the eduard camouflage straps/tie-downs in place on the model kit tailgate:
2. I additionally feel the eduard camouflage straps/tie-down parts are too short. Their short length does not enable you to represent the camouflage straps rolled up for storage as seen in my photos above or used to secure something like the fuel cans on the M1114 in this picture:
The camouflage strap configuration did not change between the legacy HMMWV (M1025, M1045, etc.) and the M1114 (ECV)when it came into service.
3. I’m additionally unsure of the purpose of the buckle detail on the strap. It is inaccurate and is just a flat piece that does not have a noticeable purpose. I may reshape it later.
An additional challenge with the conversion of the tailgate is to get the top of the left/right photo-etch replacement brackets angled correctly and flush with the rest of the tailgate. As you can see in my pictures, I used some Mr. Surfacer to fill the gaps which I then sanded smooth. My results aren’t as good as I would like but I’m calling it good. I think it will end up looking ok after being primed and painted.
www.armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=197470&ord=&page=1
Here is most of the build log:
I'm building an early US Army M966 TOW Missile system carrier for the 'Tank Destroyer/SPG Campaign'. This image is the inspiration for my kitbash build:
The photo is from Verlinden Productions book Warmachines No. 15 3/325 ABCT Airborne Battalion Combat Team "Blue Falcons" in action.
Several things appeal to me about the vehicle in this image.
1. All green engine hood (bonnet as some call it).
2. Early style side mirrors
3. Early style M249 SAW with 'skeleton' rear stock.
4. Secondary weapon mounted with the TOW system.
The model build will be a kitbash of the following:
Base kit- Tamiya M1046 TOW Missile Carrier
Parts from-
a. Tamiya M1025 Early Armored Doors
b. M249 from Tamiya Modern U.S. Accessory Set
c. Secondary weapon mount from Academy M1025
d. I'm pondering using an EDUARD M1046 PE Set but am not
sure if I want to go that deep into the project.
I will have some work to do to figure out how to mount the secondary weapon system on the turret ring. Unfortunately, I don't have a completely clear photo of the way it is mounted. The book has a picture of an M60 mounted with TOW system also. I may decide to do that. Not sure yet.
Step 1- Front & Rear Axles
Step 2- Attaching Lower Arms To Front & Rear Axles
Step 3: Installation of the transfer case and muffler/exhaust.
Simple step that involves assembling the two halves of the transfer case. When the transfer case is assembled, you install it at the rear of the engine. The last piece installed here is half of the muffler which contains the exhaust pipe section.
I have decided to go off the deep end and use Eduard set
35 655 M-1046 Humvee TOW photo-etch set on this build.
You can see photos of all of the content on my website at this link:
HMMWV In Scale Eduard 35 655 M1046 Humvee TOW
I've started using the previously mentioned Eduard set for the M1046 TOW Carrier.
In this photo, you can see the difference in details between the 'out-of-box' pioneer tool rack and a tool rack with details from the Eduard set. My intent is to display this pioneer rack in the lowered position but still on the vehicle.
The design of the Eduard set is partially incorrect in that the locking brackets aren't angled correctly as they are on the real vehicle. See image of the real assembly here:
HMMWV Pioneer Tools and Rack
Additionally the photo-etch straps that go over the tools should go between the mattock handle and the carrier frame. But, as a result of the way the kit part was molded, you have no choice but to glue the PE strap on the outside of the frame. I hope that makes sense.
I'm skipping around the construction sequence some to facilitate airbrushing the vehicle chassis.
With that in mind, here is completed Step 5 which has you assembling the pioneer tool rack and the fuel tank.
Here is completed step 8 which is the rear bumber and the front bumper.
Rear bumper (shown with added Eduard details):
Front bumper:
Although the Tamiya M1046 TOW Carrier kit does have the parts for the standard front bumper, it does not have the directions for it in the kit instructions. I had to reference a set of the instructions for the Tamiya M1025 Armament Carrier to make sure I got the assembly correct.
Well, I figured since I was doing some multi kit part combining, adding photo-etch and doing a little scratch building I might as well use one of my DEF Model resin tire sets. So, I have spent some time tonight shooting lots of photos of the tire set before assembling all of them.
Here is the packaging:
Here are the 5 tires....you will notice that 2 ea are labeled 'A' and 2 ea are labeled 'B' and 1 ea is labeled 'S' (spare).
Here is a photo of the DEF Model tire(left) next to the Tamiya tire (right).
Here is a photo of a real tire for tread comparison.
Here is an image of one of the assembled DEF Model wheels next to one of the assembled Tamiya wheels.
If you look close, you will see there is a bit of gap between the wheel and tire of the DEF Model wheel assembly compared to the tight fit of the Tamiya parts. I think once the DEF Model tire/wheel is painted, the gap won't be noticeable.
For those interested, I have 14 images of the DEF Model set posted here:
DEF Model DW 35004 HMMWV R/T II Sagged Wheel Set
I have a few photos of the real Goodyear Wrangler R/T II posted here:
Goodyear Wrangler R/T II Photos
I got the DEF Model wheels assembled, part gaps filled and cleaned up.
This photo shows the gaps between the tire and wheel/rims filled using Mr. Surfacer 500.
This photo shows the tire assemblies after the seams and Mr. Surfacer 500 have been cleaned up.
The wheels should look pretty good after being painted and dry brushed.
The following photos are a combination of steps 4 through 8.
The photo below shows the 'top' of the frame/chassis. I didn't paint it as thoroughly since the body of the HMMWV will block it from view.
Here is the end result of kit steps 1-10. Remember I have added some PE and Def Model wheels.
The tires were painted with Life Color 'Tire Black' to give some contrast between the wheel color and the tire even though in real life there isn't a big scale color difference. For some reason the color photographs lighter than it actually appears.
I have begun the installation of various interior PE parts.
Here is a small update. All of the seats and seatbelts are now installed. I also got some more interior PE done. The resin fuel can in the holder is from Real Model.
The jerry can holder strap and the tie down straps are two piece assemblies and definitely required some patience from me. The fuel can is only 'posing' in the picture for now. I made the strap so that I can disconnect it and remove the fuel can for painting.
I have a brief moment tonight and wanted to post a couple of photos of the construction of the PE gunners platform. The gunner platform in the kit is one piece. The Eduard photo-etch set has a 3 piece gunner platform.
Here are the parts for the Eduard gunner platform.
Here are a couple of pictures of the Eduard gunner platform next to the kit part.
Here is a picture of a real gunner platform.
Here is the kit part for the dash.
Here is the kit part after I have removed the raised dial faces with a hobby knife and glued down the Eduard PE set dial face with Elmers white glue.
Here is the kit part with the dial face glued in place with Elmers white glue and the Eduard PE dial face frame glued in place with CA glue.
Here is the windshield frame and dash installed on the vehicle body.
I have assembled the Eduard PE set replacement radio mount. It consists of 6 parts. The instructions for the Eduard set show you using 1 ea of part #32.
The set only comes with 1 ea part #32.
However, the interior pictures that I have of a real M966 TOW Carrier shows that the radio tray should have 2 ea of part #32.
I ended up opening up another Eduard PE set for a Tamiya M1025 and I used the part #32 out of it.
The assembly was pretty difficult for me to put together. Probably due to my inexperience with photo-etch.
This picture shows the Tamiya kit radio tray (being held by tweezers)next to the installed Eduard replacement assembly.
Another view of the installed Eduard radio tray assembly.
I have modified the kit TOW missile rack with the Eduard pe parts.
Here is the unmodified kit assembly.
The Eduard pe parts make a more detailed storage rack for camouflage netting bag. The modification consists of 7 pe parts. 3 parts are additional frame work and 4 parts are more detailed tie-down straps than those parts molded on the kit supplied bag.
This photo shows the tie-down straps from the pe set. Each tie-down is two parts. You must interconnect them just like the real strap. In this photo, one set is interconnected.
In this photo, the straps are loosely in place.
In this photo, the straps are tightened up. The overall assembly is ready for priming and painting.
Next up, I tackled the air cleaner and coolant overflow assembly. The basic kit parts consist of just two pieces. Eduard dresses the assembly up with 7 additional PE parts.
Here is the basic kit assembly:
Here is the assembly with the Eduard pe parts installed.
Here is a side-by-side comparison of the basic kit assembly and the kit assembly with pe parts installed.
Here is the rear interior so far. Still have a lot to do.
I began some work on the front of the vehicle. These next two photos show the front grill with a photo-etch screen installed.
This photo is the backside of the screen:
Here is how the screen looks on the grill from the front of the assembly:
My latest progress has been modification of the tailgate with parts from the Eduard set.
Here is the kit part:
This step has you removing the protruding parts (top left and right) on the tailgate that the retention chains hook on to and replacing them with PE parts that, when folded, are hollow and to scale like the real vehicle.
In this step you are also attaching four photo-etch camouflage straps/tie-downs on the exterior surface of the tailgate.
I have mixed emotions about the camouflage straps/tie-downs. They are a neat detail in a way, but I don't like the execution of the detail by Eduard. I have the following complaints:
1. The top of the tie-down, as made by Eduard, does not attach at the top of the tailgate like it does on the real vehicle. See these pictures:
When you position the bottom tie-down bracket on the eduard piece properly, the top does not go to the top of the tailgate. Here are a few photos of the eduard camouflage straps/tie-downs in place on the model kit tailgate:
2. I additionally feel the eduard camouflage straps/tie-down parts are too short. Their short length does not enable you to represent the camouflage straps rolled up for storage as seen in my photos above or used to secure something like the fuel cans on the M1114 in this picture:
The camouflage strap configuration did not change between the legacy HMMWV (M1025, M1045, etc.) and the M1114 (ECV)when it came into service.
3. I’m additionally unsure of the purpose of the buckle detail on the strap. It is inaccurate and is just a flat piece that does not have a noticeable purpose. I may reshape it later.
An additional challenge with the conversion of the tailgate is to get the top of the left/right photo-etch replacement brackets angled correctly and flush with the rest of the tailgate. As you can see in my pictures, I used some Mr. Surfacer to fill the gaps which I then sanded smooth. My results aren’t as good as I would like but I’m calling it good. I think it will end up looking ok after being primed and painted.
