Warren D

Good job, I built many of the WW1 planes in 1/72 when I was younger, and my eyes were better and my hands steadier! I used monofiliment sewing thread for my wires. It's not too hard. First, drill holes slightly larger than the line (around a #80 drill IIRC) where the lines attach being sure to drill at the same angle as the wire will be. Cut a piece of line a little longer than needed. Put a small amount of ACC accelerator in the hole. Put a small puddle of superglue on some scrap and dip one end of the line in it. Stick that end in the hole and it should bond instantly. Measure and cut line to length so that there is just enough to stick into the opposing hole. Same technique, accelerator and a a dab of superglue only this time you'll need a toothpick to apply to the end of the line. Insert end in hole and you now have close to scale wires. Repeat as many times as you have wires. You can also reverse the glue and curing agent, using a toothpick, put a dab of glue in the hole and dip the end of the line in the accelerator. I like the first method as I found when putting the glue on the hole it often set before I could get the line inserted. Trying to drill out cured superglue from a #80 hole is a royal PIA!

Excellent work on this one, weathering is spot-on.

Thanks Thank you Thank you Thanks Thanks Thank you

The AFV Club kit with some mods based on photos of it in Vietnam from James Lyles books. I saw a few pics of it with the soft top so I made it removable, most pics don't show it. I'm getting the hang of the AFV Club M54 kits, there are lots of little adjustments needed to get things to fit.

Thanks Thank you Thanks, more to come! At some point, I'll likely donate the entire collection to one of two military history museums.

And a couple of maintenance vehicles! The collection to date, all 1/35 scale.

Thanks Thank you. I still have plans for several more. Thanks

Thanks, yes, it did have blue wheels. Thanks

Calling this one done:

Another Vietnam gun truck, The Bounty Hunter was based on a 5 ton M54A1 truck and was in the same outfit as the M35 (deuce) Quad gun truck "Nancy". It has a quad 50 cal mounted on a trailer (minus the wheels) in the back and a single M60 in the cab. The rope to the windshield armor was to be able to raise the front armor on the fly; simply pull on the rope and the armor pivots up. This build started with the AFV Club M54A2 which was backdated to a M54A1 with 3D parts of an auction site. The Quad 50 is the Dragon kit, minus the wheels. The extra cargo storage on top of the tailgate is sheet styrene from scratch along with the dividers in the bed.

It's black! Well, mostly. Custom mix, all Tamiya. Flat black with a little gloss, a touch of black-green and a few drops of blue. I also drizzled in some flat white to dull the black down (minor fading).

Thanks, I've got a couple more to add during final assembly. Thanks Thanks, I had color on it yesterday but didn't like the black. I re-shot it this morning with a modified black I like better. Once it sets up, I'll gloss coat prior to decals.

Thanks Bill. I know what you mean, I almost bought a 1974 M54 at a MV show a couple of weeks ago to convert to a GT. Had the Mack motor and lots of upgrades. Sheet metal was a little rough and it would have needed conversion back to 10 tires as it had been super-singled. I hardly have time for my M37 GT so I had to pass.

After some time away, I picked this build back up. It's almost ready for paint, I still need to fab the windshield armor (which will be installed in the down position). I filled the hole in the fender for the exhaust stack as the A1 variant exhaust dumped just behind the front wheel.

Thanks!