Thanks guys. It has been fun so far. The Meng parts fit the Tamiya hull and turret pretty close. A bit of sanding here and there to make things fit, but nothing too bad. The Meng parts definitely are more detailed and look much better than the old Tamiya parts. The Tamiya parts still hold up pretty well though.
It was a mystery to me as to why they did a fairly comprehensive troop compartment interior (at least for the 1980s), yet did not do anything for the turret, driver’s hole or engine compartment.
That’s looking good.
Now, to get that German amber Mars “Vorsicht, großes, sich bewegendes Metalltier” light spinning around on a railroad flat car might be interesting [:)]
In 1990, the trains looked the same, only with about 1/3 of the vehicles in some ammount of tan-colored paint (and the same number of Mars lights still left on).
Thanks guys. I don’t know why they didn’t do the turret interior either. It wouldn’t have been that much more work; maybe one more interior sprue.
We called those “whoopie lights”, but officially they were Rotating Amber Warning Light System (RAWLS).
Looks good! Nice to see how well the different kits fit together.
I have been progressing pretty well. I think the interior is pretty much done. I painted it using Krylon Pistachio spray. It is dead-on for interior seafoam green. I added M16A1s, an M203, and an M60 to the weapons mounts. Pretty much all of the decals are from the Tamiya kit, with a few from the Meng interior set.
I added a 3D printed intercom control box and J-boxes to the interior as well. The interior lights are from the Meng set, wiring is fine solder and string. The hand holds are from the Eduard Interior PE set.
The IP is from the Eduard Interior set. It looks really nice once painted and detailed.
Here is the Meng turret interior. I added the radios from the Meng set, detailed and wired.
The lower turret basket from Meng. The ammo feed chutes are from the Eduard Turret Interior PE set as Meng missed them.
I still need to add a few detail pieces such as MRE boxes, a couple bags, maps, etc. to make it look a bit more lived in. More to come later.
It’s all looking the part. My only critique is the TOW rounds. You could have a blue dummy warhead on a brown live rocket motor stripes, for training rounds. But the yellow live warhead stripe wouldn’t be seen on a round with a dummy rocket motor blue stripe. 35 1/2 years later and I still remember way too much stuff from that school… lol!
I love all the wiring, the dome lights, dirt on the floorboards… dead bang on target.
Thanks stik. Good catch. That is what I get for following Tamiya’s instructions without either thinking about it or checking. That is an easy fix with some brown paint.
I fixed the markings on the TOWs. Brown stripe for motor end. I don’t know how I screwed that up. I know better.
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Sharp job there on all the interior detail!
I love kits with interiors, but I know most of it will be invisible forever.
But since I enjoy building, just putting parts together, it’s more bang per kit.
Thanks guys. I too love doing interiors. Yes, most won’t be seen, but I know it is there and I enjoy the detail work.
I have a small update as well. I added some personal items and gear to the interior to complete it. I am calling the interior done.
In the back, I added a couple MRE boxes, water can, ammo boxes, canteens, a helmet, bags, etc.
Same in the driver area.
In the turret, I also added a bag, ammo can, and canteen, along with a map for the BC (Bradley Commander).
Excellent work here. I will publicly admit that interiors give me hives, hats off here.
Again, very cool. She’s coming right along!
Thanks guys. It has been fun so far.
It IS a shame that most of the interior won’t be seen. You’re doing such a great job on it, it looks like you could climb right in. Love the detail and added equipment.
I enjoyed the interior detail of my Bronco M24 turret, but you can’t really see any of it either.
Several of you are real experts at modern U.S. vehicles. I assume that the light green interior paint is the current color being used?
Thanks M1GarandFan. I like doing all the interior detail even though I know most will not be seen.
It depends on the vehicle. Tank and howitzer interiors are still white. Strykers also have white interiors. Most wheeled vehicles (HMMWV, HEMTT, MRAP, FMTV, etc.) have either dark green or sand interiors. APCs (Bradley, M113, M577, AAVP7, LAV-25, etc.) have the seafoam green interior.
I appreciate the info. Verrry interesting, as Artie Johnson used to say on Laugh-in.
That might be useful to me at some point in the future. Thanks.