Sorry to reply so late, thanks a lot for your comment!
You’re right, some mud might be the right thing to add here! I’ll work on that.
In the mean time I’m back from my vacation and I’m movin’ on with the build. I’ve finally equipped the upper hull - there was mainly the AN/VIC-1 interkom, a first aid kit, a flashlight and some more minor details there. Here’s how it looks like now:
Now I will close up the hull and try to fill and sand all the joints smooth, then I’ll add some more details to the interior and move on to the suspension.
Tiger II, Gino - thanks a lot for your comments and for your kind words - they mean a lot to me! I’ve just closed the hull up and now I’m working on hiding the evidence of that
Thanks a lot - yeah, my vacation was nice. We were hiking in the mountains in along the Polish/Slovakian border.
And I closed up the hull. Wanted to show you how much of the interior will be visible:
I have cut off a piece of hull because it prevented me from installing the radios. Now I have to glue it back and smooth out everything, I also want to add some missing welds.
I also have the benches left to be installed. As per tip from ikar01 (Bob) the benches will be folded up, to make a room for a place to sleep (on top of the ammo boxes on the floor).
I also filled and sanded the undeside. Sonn I will be able to start all the fun with the suspension!
Hello!
Now let’s see how these new forums will work. I’ll try to fast-forward this thread, because, as some of you already know, my first M706 is already done.
Originally posted on September 6th:
I have everything nice and smooth now:
As you can see I added some lugs on the rear - where the fuel can holder and pioneer tool rack would bolt to, but USAF didn’t seem to use them - I guess on the airbase they would only add weight here. I have also added some missing welds on the sides. And now I can start working on the suspension.
So first I had to work on the springs. OOB they look like this:
And here are my tweaks:
Now I have to build new shock absorbers and their mounts, and also the bolts attaching the axles to the springs. FUN!
As you can see I added some lugs on the rear - where the fuel can holder and pioneer tool rack would bolt to, but USAF didn’t seem to use them - I guess on the airbase they would only add weight here. I have also added some missing welds on the sides. And now I can start working on the suspension.
So first I had to work on the springs. OOB they look like this:
And here are my tweaks:
Now I have to build new shock absorbers and their mounts, and also the bolts attaching the axles to the springs. FUN!
Currently I’m havin’ fun with the front suspension. I’ve assembled most of it:
The axle is my 3D design, reworked kit springs and scratchbuilt shock absorbers.
I’ve also scratchbuilt the power steering cylinder and I also have the drag link built, but it is not on the photo yet. The wheels will be shown “steered” to one side for a cooler look.
I hope to show you the photos of ready built underside soon. Thanks for looking and have a nice day
I have my chassis almost done. I added the last parts of the steering system, including a sheet metal cover for the power steering cylinder:
Having that, I was able to put the machine on its wheels - only temporarily now:
The rims on the front wheels were a little cracked, so I repaired them with copper wire. Looking up the chassis would look like that:
I plan to add some shading and weathering later, for now I’m building the details on the top. I got a hint from “the real thing guys” that I need a better grille over the exhaust on the “duck bill”. I’m trying to draw something up in 3D.
It was pointed out to me, that I need a new grill over the “duck bill” in the rear. So I drew up a new one and recently it was 3D printed for me:
After fitting it here’s how it looks like:
On the same picture you can see the radiomans top hatch, also known as the “rear gunners hatch” which is way off in the kit. The cover is too big and the opening is too small - something like that deserves a kind of trophy, doesn’t it? I’m using MMK’s door kit, but the radiomans hatch from the kit has wrong shape, so I decided to convert the kit part here. I also had to move and enlarge the opening in the kit roof and I lined the edgeswith 0,5mm copper wire.
One more photo:
Here you can also see the rear light brackets made from styrene sheet.
On the next photo are the side lower door stops that I made of copper wire. The kit parts have wrong dimensions anyway:
Out of wire I have also fabricated the front light guards:
As you can see, I like wire a lot
Thanks for reading and for your comments, have a nice day
Recently I’ve been working on all those doors - and there are many of them! I have ordered a MMK set that has only V-100 doors - they are a separate set for a reason! And it’s a nice little set and not so expensive. Here’s a link to the MMK page:
Now I want to paint them on the inside and temporarily install them closed to paint the camouflage on the vehicle. Then I’ll permanently install them as open.
And in the front I thought about how to best attach the mesh to the light guards and I decided to solder them on:
I’ve also added some welds around the lifting eyes in front, too. The winch compartment cover is also temporarily secured for now. I’ve also intalled the top armor and the fixed weapons mounts, made from the kit-supplied PE - a little simplified, but nice:
Now the plan is to temporarily fix all the doors in closed positions and paint on the 3 colour camo on that.
I started painting the camo pattern. For masking I used “patafix” rolls filled with masking tape. This is how it looked like after painting and masking the first colour (sand brown) and painting the second colour (green):
And here’s the thrilling moment - masks removed!
The OG came out pretty gloss - I’m going to knock that shine down with clear after applying the “effects”. I also want to paint the doors’ edges black to simulate the gaskets there. Interstingly, I tried to look up the instructions for all the kits of the V100 and they all don’t seem to match the photos as far as the camo pattern go. My scheme is also a litle “what if” on the rear deck - hard to find references on this area…
Well, now I want to apply the decals and do some weathering. Thanks for looking and have a nice day
I’ve now put on a layer of flat clear, and yes, it sure looks better! I have also painted up the lights front and rear. Hobby boss supplies these parts made entirely of clear plastic - that allows to paint them up in an interesting way. In the photos below the wheels are only dry fitted, so they look funny. Somehow the left lights also look crooked, I’m not sure why, in reality they look “straighter”. Here are the photos:
I feel like I could finish this one up in one day if life didn’t keep coming in the way… Let’s see how long…
