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Latest project - Tamiya 1/35 M8 Greyhound.
pcmodeler
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Virginia, United States
Joined: January 17, 2002
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Posted: Wednesday, December 21, 2011 - 07:34 AM UTC
Part of a group build our AMPS chapter is doing. Starting here with the bottom. Added a large number of bolts, brake lines, etc. Will be using the Eduard and Verlinden detail sets available.



panamadan
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Minnesota, United States
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Posted: Wednesday, December 21, 2011 - 08:42 AM UTC
Great start!
Dan
pcmodeler
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Virginia, United States
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Posted: Tuesday, December 27, 2011 - 01:44 AM UTC
Got quite a bit of work done on this yesterday. There are some big problems with dimensions/etc. on this kit. I was finally able to work around some of them on the upper section of the lower hull by scratchbuilding the missing area between the upper and lower hulls. I also added several more items from the Verlinden detail set as well as adding A LOT of wiring and cables.


210cav
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Virginia, United States
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Posted: Tuesday, December 27, 2011 - 03:31 AM UTC
Fantastic, where is your AMPS located within Virginia?
pcmodeler
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Posted: Tuesday, December 27, 2011 - 04:10 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Fantastic, where is your AMPS located within Virginia?



We are in the Richmond area.
210cav
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Posted: Tuesday, December 27, 2011 - 10:39 AM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text

Fantastic, where is your AMPS located within Virginia?



We are in the Richmond area.



Thanks
Darn, I'm just outside DC.
errains
#045
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South Carolina, United States
Joined: September 23, 2005
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Posted: Tuesday, December 27, 2011 - 12:52 PM UTC
Hey 210CAV

Don't let that stop you, I'm in Stafford (on the south side of the Woodbridge mess) but I try to make the pilgrimage each month, work permitting! Its a great group and is a load of fun!!

Check out their web page... http://ampscv.org/

210cav
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Virginia, United States
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Posted: Wednesday, December 28, 2011 - 05:06 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Hey 210CAV

Don't let that stop you, I'm in Stafford (on the south side of the Woodbridge mess) but I try to make the pilgrimage each month, work permitting! Its a great group and is a load of fun!!

Check out their web page... http://ampscv.org/



Eric-- many thanks
DJ
pcmodeler
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Virginia, United States
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Posted: Thursday, December 29, 2011 - 06:21 AM UTC
The ampscv website also contains some articles on detailing the M8 (provided by one of our members) as well as the photos of those being done by other members of the club.
pcmodeler
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Virginia, United States
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Posted: Friday, December 30, 2011 - 01:24 AM UTC
I did some more work last night. Primarily on the munitions bin. Ugh. The Verlinden photo etch is less than fantastic in its design and detail and the instructions are horrible. For starters, much of the bin construction is actually missing in the instructions. Not covered. The bin doors essentially float (no kind of sliding guides). The small clips that hold the shells in are a great way of finding out exactly what your eyesite is like.

I managed to solder the bin together. I knew that because of the additional details I made in the upper area of the hull that I would have some issue with fit. Not as bad as I thought. I had to dremel some of the plastic away on the inside area of the kit bin area (along the sides) as I knew I'd have to lower the munitions bin just a touch. I also had to sand the left top at a small angle. The photos I have of the actual vehicle actually show something similar. I added a couple strips of styrene to represent the guide rails for the bin doors. On the right side radio bin, I had to lower the radio shelf as well as the top of the radio would hit the new structure that I had to add.

Additional items added: map holding clips, instrument cluster and a few other details near the stearing column, etc. Also, I laid the top on it for these photos. This is essentially how I'll be building it. The remaining part of the upper hull will be removeable. Why do all this work and not be allowed to see it??




pcmodeler
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Virginia, United States
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Posted: Monday, January 02, 2012 - 08:14 AM UTC
Some more work done. Received my additional comm boxes from Verlinden. Was able to finish those up as well as adding the handheld for the comm's on two of the boxes, added some small bolt heads on various hold downs, added the jerry can holder to the rear of the drivers seat (along with strap). Also added some of the smaller hold down points that items like canteens and such would get attached too. Finally the figures collection was raided for weaponry in the forward area. They will be attached when painted but needed to know where they'd go so I could fashion the hooks. Just need to go over everything to make sure I got it all and then it's ready to paint.




pcmodeler
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Virginia, United States
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Posted: Monday, January 09, 2012 - 12:08 PM UTC
OK. At this point I need to clear coat it for decal application. Will be using the archer transfer set.

You can see I painted the interior at this point. Was a bit upset as I primed it with the new Vallejo primer and then painted it with Vallejo acrylics. After spraying the primer, I did the olive drab for the floor. I then clear coated that with Testors Metalizer sealer. This was done to make sure that the paint wouldn't lift/etc. I masked the floor with Tamiya tape and wouldn't you know it, I had a pretty good size portion lift in the middle of the floor. Looks like I'll be doing some chipping in that area. That's the first time I've had paint lift and the first time I've used the Vallejo primer. Not sure how I feel about it at this time. You can see that I also did a bit of color modulation on the floor.

I've painted the various cables and other odds and ends. I found various photos on the internet and there was some difference in the interiors among many of them. Some had a partially white floor, some had partially white cab walls, etc. Some might say all the cables should be white but based on what I found the only white lines should have been the hard lines that run through the vehicle and not the soft lines.

Look forward to getting this interior sealed up and focusing on the exterior.









pcmodeler
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Virginia, United States
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Posted: Saturday, February 04, 2012 - 10:24 AM UTC
OK guys, lots of photos here so it will be a bit of a mish-mash and some explaining what I did. I received my Archer transfers for the interior. After a gloss coat, I laid down the transfers using the wet method than satin coated the interior. The interior than received a quick coating of SIN filter brown for dark yellow. This was followed by some very minor chipping. I then sealed it all up by gluing down the top.

It was then onto further exterior work. This included drilling holes where the fenders would attach (since I'll be leaving those off), replacing all the bolts (since some were missing and this way they were consistent), finishing up the open stowage bins on the rear (some will be closed, others open with stowage), adding some missing weld beads with .10 styrene rod, adding some of the external photo etch (which included the dreaded folding of the front headlight guards), wire running to the siren and the filling of things, such as the side holes for the mine rack.










asmodeuss
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Quebec, Canada
Joined: November 19, 2011
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Posted: Saturday, February 04, 2012 - 10:38 AM UTC
Very nice work Mark!
wathare you using for joint filing and ``welding``?

Philippe.
pcmodeler
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Virginia, United States
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Posted: Saturday, February 04, 2012 - 11:08 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Very nice work Mark!
wathare you using for joint filing and ``welding``?

Philippe.



The welds are done using Plastruct .10 styrene rod. That's then softened with liquid cement and stabbed with an old Xacto blade. The joint filler is just Mr. Surfacer 1200. That's mostly just put there to soften it a bit. Will mostly disappear once paint is applied.
retiredyank
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Posted: Saturday, February 04, 2012 - 11:33 AM UTC
Proof that you can never add too much detail. Whis I had caught this one from the beginning. Subscribed and marked(in case I ever build one). Love the suspension. This has always been my favorite part of wheeled vehicles.
asmodeuss
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Posted: Saturday, February 04, 2012 - 12:06 PM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text

Very nice work Mark!
wathare you using for joint filing and ``welding``?

Philippe.



The welds are done using Plastruct .10 styrene rod. That's then softened with liquid cement and stabbed with an old Xacto blade. The joint filler is just Mr. Surfacer 1200. That's mostly just put there to soften it a bit. Will mostly disappear once paint is applied.



Thanks alot! I'll try this
I love learning new ways to impove this art.
Phil.
BBD468
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Texas, United States
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Posted: Saturday, February 04, 2012 - 12:19 PM UTC
Hi Mark,

great work man! that interior is top notch. whats your opinion of the kit outside of all your mods? i really like the looks of it. i recently finished a staghound mk.1. that was my first build without tracks on it. id love to build the M8. i kinda like the wheels and tire thingies now!

Gary
pcmodeler
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Virginia, United States
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Posted: Saturday, February 04, 2012 - 12:26 PM UTC
It's great but when you start doing something like this you realize how wrong some things can be, such as dimensions, lack of detail. So much basic stuff is missing from the interior and even the Verlinden package is missing stuff or is plain wrong. The vehicle interior is either not wide enough or sloped wrong as the turret basket is too close to the side walls. I can't say enough when doing something like this - research. In other words, find some great photos of the real vehicle on the internet.

I'll be honest, even on mine there are shortcuts or errors that I made simply because, aside from scratch building the hull, etc. I had to make compromises.

That said, I plan on building a 1/48 scale M8 and may even do a 1/35 M20 one day. Great vehicle.
GregCloseCombat
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California, United States
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Posted: Saturday, February 04, 2012 - 06:36 PM UTC
The interior looks awesome all painted up Thanks for sharing your super detailing.


There is a 1/48 campaign starting next month if you want to do a M20 or M8 - could be a good excuse to get started

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=Campaigns&file=index&req=showcontent&id=577
pcmodeler
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Virginia, United States
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Posted: Thursday, February 09, 2012 - 04:01 AM UTC
Thanks guys. I know my photos aren't always the best but thanks for following this.

So, Monday night I broke out the soldering iron and went to work on the stowage lids and mine rack assemblies. The mineracks were the toughest as you always have to be careful that the next part you attach doesn't de-solder the part you already attached previously. It's a trick in attaching either clips, or in my case my photoetch folding station to points along the assembly to draw away excess heat.

That said, the stowage bin lids had internal braces attached and the portion of the latch/lock. I chose to bend one of the lids up just a bit and left one open along with detailing the inside of that bin. I'll be putting tools, chains, rags, etc. into that bin. I also bent one of the mine rack assemblies just slightly. Just enough to give it some life.

Still need to finish up the weld beads on the external hull and then I can start attaching all the various tool hold downs. Then it's will be time to tackle the turret. I've been putting that off because of all the small parts on the photoetched shell racks.





vonHengest
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Posted: Thursday, February 09, 2012 - 05:11 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Proof that you can never add too much detail. Whis I had caught this one from the beginning. Subscribed and marked(in case I ever build one). Love the suspension. This has always been my favorite part of wheeled vehicles.



Mark's techniques can be applied to relatively any build and it's worth following this build log just for that. If you do plan on building a Greyhound, then even better!

I'm trying to figure out if I can translate this kind of work into Tamiya's 1/48 Greyhound.
pcmodeler
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Virginia, United States
Joined: January 17, 2002
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Posted: Thursday, February 09, 2012 - 06:52 AM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text

Proof that you can never add too much detail. Whis I had caught this one from the beginning. Subscribed and marked(in case I ever build one). Love the suspension. This has always been my favorite part of wheeled vehicles.



Mark's techniques can be applied to relatively any build and it's worth following this build log just for that. If you do plan on building a Greyhound, then even better!

I'm trying to figure out if I can translate this kind of work into Tamiya's 1/48 Greyhound.



Good question. I have the kit but haven't opened it so can't say what differences there are. I'm sure that everything I've done with the Verlinden resin parts is going to need to be scratchbuilt as I don't believe it's available. Not certain what's in the Hauler photoetch set so can't say off hand what would translate there. I do know that one of the magazines featured a 1/48 scale build of this and they replaced a lot of the missing detail with parts from a German half-track kit. It looked better but by no means accurate.

Personally, when I get around to my 1/48 version I'm probably going to keep the hatch doors shut and maybe put a tarp over the turret. I don't know if I want to go through this madness again in 1/48. Would probably go as far as the Hauler set and replace the barrels with RB Barrels. This will just be in olive drab but I'd probably do the 1/48 in a winter white with the hairspray method.
marcb
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Overijssel, Netherlands
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Posted: Thursday, February 09, 2012 - 07:13 AM UTC
Impressive work!
Never knew this Tamiya kit would prove such a challenge.
Could you tell us more regarding the problems with dimensions/etc?

Thanks in advance.
pcmodeler
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Virginia, United States
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Posted: Thursday, February 09, 2012 - 08:14 AM UTC
The biggest being that the turret basket is either too large or that the vehicle is not wide enough or that the interior slope is incorrect. If you placed interior items, such as bins, where they need to be, the bottom of the turret basket would actually hit them and it would not spin correctly.

On the bottom, the sloping panel actually stops and then goes straight up to meet the bottom of the chassis. That is done because the mold wouldn't be able to do an undercut. That straight wall portion shouldn't bee there.
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