Terry Jessee

This is a LARC-V. It's a Vietnam era amphibious cargo vehicle that was used for ship to shore transfer. LARC-V stands for "Light Amphibious Re-supply Cargo Vehicle." After Vietnam some have been used as "Duck Tour" trucks like the old modified WWII Ducks. In other cases, they've been used for rescue, for cargo, and even in Antarctica for supply transfer. There are lots of color and configuration possibilities beyond the military versions. Haven't decided just yet which way to go. This shot with the Jeep gives you an idea of relative size. It's a big vehicle and a big model--about a foot long. The kit is too new for much aftermarket stuff, but I suspect that there will be more. This is a curbside with no engine. Lots of photo etch included with the kit. Surface detail is pretty good, but fit is kind of dodgy.

I always wondered what John Milner's coupe might have looked in 1958 while he was still building it.

Fujimi did three kits of cars from the 1982 film, Blade Runner. I finally got all of them done. Cool models but very simple, so I spent time adding details. I had fun grubbying the white police car.

Most of them were filled with sand to serve as a barrier against mines and grenades under the truck. Don't know how effective that was. Too, it wasn't uncommon for these guys to use a couple thousand rounds in an attack.

99% finished, but I'm going to put it up for a bit and work on something simple. This still needs some additional weathering and a couple of small detail parts, but in a few days. Need a rest after 74 days of this silly thing. Rough estimate is that this is comprised of about 400 parts, including kit and aftermarket parts. The gun box was scratch built from plastic sheet. I think some of the Eastern Europe and Asian companies are in a race to see who can cram the most parts into a kit box. Anyway, there it is.

I checked to see if I had posted this before but couldn't find it, so.... Big Donkey Resin (sadly, business has closed) Chevy Nova modified. Except for the intake horns for the fuel injection, this is all resin. Well, the dirt clod screen is bee screen, and the nerf bars are Plastruct. Otherwise. Larry Baisch did some of the coolest stuff ever. Really sad that he's closed down. Some of his bodies are still available from Mike's Decals, though.

Baremetal Foil.

ICM kit.

This is a two-man scout car that was designed by the British Naval Air Service in WWI. Only a few were built on the Model T chassis, and most of those eventually were sent to the Russian army at the time. This is 1/35 scale.

No, it's there. Just can't see it.

Plus the books by David Doyle and Timothy Kutta, yes. Research can be half the fun.

This is mostly out of the box but with some aftermarket Cragars and Firestones.

Wow. That would have been a treasure.

This was just out of the box with a little weathering. "The Mummy" is one of my favorite movies. There's an in-progress shot with an AMT Ram promo to give you an idea of relative size.

AFV Club M54A2. And no.

Yes. AFV Club.

Posted some pics of this earlier, but here's where it's gotten to. Big pieces are all together now--just some windshield pieces and small bits to add. From here I'll start the gun box, which is scratch built. But it's mostly flat shapes so should be fairly straightforward. The box is slightly more complicated than just a single wall box, but that's part of the fun. I'm into this about 300 parts so far. These kits are way over-engineered and don't fit all that well. But this is an interesting project, nonetheless. As I've searched for reference photos, I've discovered that there were at least five different versions of this truck. Mine won't be 100% accurate to any particular version. I'll combine features I like, I guess.

This is a fun, simple kit. The only tough part was getting the driver's hands on the steering wheel and shifter. I had to stick him in the seat first, then attach his arms. I also added some better jerry cans and a few other small details.

Meng released their F-350 King Ranch pickup in both 1/24 and 1/35 scale. This is the 1/35 version. I found photos online of some of the trucks that were used by Iraqi insurgents, and the F-350 figures prominently. One in particular looked pretty interesting as a model project and most of the parts were available in that scale. The gun in the back is also from Meng. It's a Russian ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft gun. I liked the color scheme and had fun with that. Because the windows are small, the interior is hard to see, so I included a shot of that before I finished assembling the truck. That Chinese assault rifle is really tiny in 1/35 scale. There's a shot of that before I painted it. I've also included a couple of photos with other vehicles to give an idea of relative size. Hard to believe that an F-350 is as big as a WWII GMC 6X6.

On the original cars, only the left taillight had the "stop" lettering. It was black and the letters formed an arch around the top of the lenses. At the bottom was a small red circle that almost looks painted on. I knew that the taillight had the lettering but never found any good photos of it until recently. So I've left it. I'll do differently on the next one. Have a convertible to build yet.

This is a Modelhaus conversion kit for AMT's '57 Chevy. Has a complete ambulance interior with cabinets, oxygen tank, and a gurney (which you can't see because the windows are too small...?).