Here is my WIP of a special forces Dumvee for the humming along campaign. The base kit is Tamiyas M1046, with the Legends interior and the SF modifications made form scratch.

Here is the full assortment of goodies, courtesy of ebay.



Although the photos arent clear, the extras being used are:

Accurate armour clear water bottles
MIG Humvee wheels and US storage boxes
Voyager Model M2
Legends Humvee interior
Echelon Humvee decals
Archers Humvee placards
and Evergreen strip and sheets.

I'm using references mostly from the net and Osprey's Special Operations Forces in Afghanistan. And thanks to Nick (AngryDog) for a lot of Dumvee pics, which'll be really useful for mounting a weapon for the front passenger.

So onto the pics (excuse the quality, these are from a camera phone). So far the chassis is built and mostly painted.







Thats all the progress for now, but I'll post more photos soon. Im still deciding on what other weapons to mount: I have a couple of 240's and a couple of 249's.

If anyone has any photos of how the radio/ blue force tracker is wired up I'd be grateful. Please post your opinion.

Enjoy

Ah, a scratchbuilt GMV. You should have said so! Nicely done so far.
There's a recent thread in the modern forum with photos and diagrams of the wiring.

Thanks Rob, I saw the thread now and I'll try and wire up the radio using the photos, but my hamfistedness will probably get in the way.

Anyway, heres the next update. Since last time I've completed the chassis, added the wheels and painted the lot. The MIG wheels have the correct aggressive tread pattern, but no sidewall lettering and the resin is a bit thin in places.



In the cabin area, I've added the rear doors as per some GMV's, repainted the radio set and added a few personal items like water bottles, a file/folder for the radio and an M4.
This M4 is an older Trumpeter moulding with newer attachments.





Unfortunately the supports for the rear racks were at the incorrect angle and got in the way of the doors. So these were ripped off and redone.

The roof has also been built with two scratch gun mounts and various other details. The front gun mount will be home to one of Voyagers lovely new M2's, which are brilliantly detailed. The second mount will take an M240.



Thanks for looking and sorry about the pics, again
Comments and criticisms welcome, and stay tuned for the next update!

Well I figured out how to take better photos, so I thought I'd share a clearer view of the Dumvee.









Well, since the photos were taken, I could see some mistakes, glue residue and unpainted areas I have mostly sorted out. Now time for the crew's gear which comes from various Tamiya and Trumpeter figure/stowage kits.

Comments always welcome.

mate! brilliant start! will be following this build as i am going to do one soon. Got the pro art set and the pro art wheels. And a few other bits and pieces!

Can't wait to see more!

Cheers Matt. Glad you like it. I saw the Pro-art set, but was quite expensive, at least on a university budget, and I thought I might be able to scratch the majority of it anyway. Though I would sat the Pro-art wheels are better than MIGs

Also I wanted to know if the packs in the Tamiya modern US military equipment set (35266) would be correct to use?
I reckon they're ALICE packs but I've seen Dumvees with a variety of packs (even in chocolate chip camo) so I thought I could use these as well.

More progress soon.

Just a small update for today. Since Im not sure if the Tamiya stowage is modern enough (can anyone help with that?) I started with the weapons and the stowage that is correct.




Now the weapons. 50. cal and M240 for the turret, and 249 for the front mount. And a scratch cooler for inside.




Enjoy and comments welcome

Nice cooler The rest too.
Backpacks from Tamiya's 35266 are ALICE system, as You mentioned above. I think You should buy Legend stowage set LF1115 - there are MOLLE backpakcs in it. From this Tamoya set You can use f.e. fuel and water cans, spare ammo boxes etc.

Cheers Kuba, I already suspected the Tamiya kits wouldnt be that helpful but now I know for sure what bits I cant use.
I found the Legends Stryker stowage kit on Ebay, so I was wondering if any packs/items from that kit can be used?

On to the Dumvee: Its got some paint on it which matched the colour in photos quite closely. The paint was a 50/50 mixture of water and Tamiya Dark Yellow. I've also fixed the weapons, but havent glued the roof down, so I can detail and weather the cabin.









Thanks for looking.

So another update on the GMV. I finished the cabin with the scratchbuilt cooler, the BFT keyboard, manuals/folders I saw in some reference photos and another one of the crews M4s. On the outside, I fixed the roof in place, and started painting and adding the stowage from Legends. Some of the weathering has been done using a few different oil paints, but there's more to do, and then, maybe a base.









Next update soon, with more of the stowage and weathering done. All comments welcome

looking good mate. i'd throw on some packs on the side, and heaps more gear in it. a few ammo boxes as well. Do a simple base, and add a figure too. it really ads life to the vehicle.

Other than that, looks great!

Well its been a while since I posted an update. I ve added a lot more stowage, taken from the Legends stryker set, and have done the majority of weathering for the dumvee and its stowage. I think this looks much better, more what you were thinking right Matt?

Just wondering whether there are any appropriate SF figures? I was thinking something in the Blast or Hobby fan range might work?







Hope you like it, and any comments appreciated.

I'm not normally a stickler for detail, but the M249 with the tubular shoulder stock is incorrect. That type of stock hasn't been used in US inventory since the 80's at the latest. However, don't let that derail your project.

You've done a great job and I will continue to follow your progress. The most important thing is that you are having fun.

Cheers Brent. Thanks for the info on the M249, I took it straight from a Trumpeter figure set, but I guess i should'nt have let Trumpy do my research for me

On another note I found a couple of figures from New World Miniatures, which should arrive soon, so hopefully the Dumvee will have a small crew soon.

that is looking great! just what i had in mind!

The NWM figures are great. I have 2 of them,and am looking to get more. The Hobby Fan and Blast figures are well worth it too.

The NWM figures have arrived, so I started work on those. Firstly I have to say the sculpting and casting are superb.

The two SF operatives were painted with Tamiya acrylics, and based on NWM's photos and the Osprey publication. Some weathering has been done, using oils, but the dusting on the clothing will be done later.

The pictures really dont do them much justice, as they appear much better in real life, but my painting skills are far from decent, so any comments on them are welcome.

looking good! i'd repaint the trousers in the 3 tome desert camo as thats what SF operators wore. A mate of mine in US SF was told thats what ther were ordered to do most of the time.

Other than that, great figures! Good paitning on the flesh!

Its been ages since I updated this thread, but then again there wasnt much to update. I got round to making a simple base with a a fair bit of grass cover, a few small rocks and not much else. I glued the antennae on which was a mistake as i have snapped them off repeatedly.

The dumvee isnt glued down, just positioned for the photos, and i'll take some more later showing the figures in position











enjoy

thats a good looking base! the slope gives it a good look! can't wait to see it finished!

Actually, I think SF dudes were good wearing pretty much whatever they felt like. As for the vehicle, it looks good. However, (and I can picture twenty guys Googling away trying to prove otherwise) if you've got time to stop and point, you've got time to clean the windshield. I know dirt adds character, but it also occludes your vision thus making it harder to do bad things to bad people.

Edit:
What's the scale height of those NWM figures? The M4's look giant compared to them.