Howdy fellas,

Thought I'd properly start my 'M,S&G' build thread (especially since I mis-named it last time).

For those interested, and/or who aren't aware of what I'm building. My entry is the Bluetank boxing of the M8A1 Cargo Tractor. It is boxed under a couple of names that I know of, and probably a couple I don't.
To the build.

I've already shared some shots of the early suspension work on another thread. Suffice it to say, that the suspension build up on this kit is a pain in the arse. But I won't bore you to tears with a long explanation. I will just begin by showing you pics as I go along.....
{at least some of these pics are posted in an effort to lend a hand to Plasticbattle who is planning on building this same vehicle for the Campaign}

Here is a pic of the upper return roller 'pins' which I have shortened in length to reduce the sheer amount of left-to-right play in the assembled piece....


These 'pins' slide thru the center of the two return roller wheels and slide into mounts on the side of the hull....like so



The way the manufacturer decided to design the suspension assembly is ridiculous. Apparently the 'engineer' who assisted the company in laying out the parts interaction was smoking crack or something.....
Anyway. In a further attempt to maintain alignment along the track path, I had to both shorten the rod holding the road wheel to the suspension arm, and also shorten the return roller mounting rod length while at the same time scratching up a metal 'spacer' to keep the return roller itself aligned with the other wheels
Here's a pic of that bit of work....

The shiny bit is the metal sleeve I had to slip on to maintain proper roller spacing.

Each of the suspension arm/road wheel assemblies were supposed to have a rather unique way (that's putting it mildly) of mounting the wee little metal spring on the backs of the arm. I opted to donate the the small U-shapedlocking pieces to my resident Carpet Monster, and instead just simply applied CA to secure the spring in place.
After all this (and much, much more) work, I was finally able to basically finish the left (driver's) side of the M8A1's hull.
Here is a photo of said work submitted for your perusal....


As you can see, still a lot of work to do, but I think after I've finished wrestling with the suspension nightmare, the rest of the vehicle should go a tad more smoooooothly....

Tread.

your care and attention to detail is amazing Tread. I especially enjoy reading about about the track modifications as pigs may fly yet and Roo will do a tracked thingie! :-)

Howdy Cliff,

Thx for stopping by. I didn't think you hung around this side of the tracks (pardon the nifty pun) :-) ....hehehe.

As to my "attention to detail". Well my friend, it is indeed bolstered and butressed by the likes of fellas like you. I can't begin to tell you how much I have learned and grown in my modeling/miniaturizing talents because of my association with members like Gunnie, animal, and you. The list is a long and warm one my friend.

I sometimes think I'm including stuff that most members would find 'non'entertaining, or even 'non' applicable to their particular project parameters. But, as I've already stated repeatedly to animal, and YOU......posting all of these 'little' things IMHO is not only invaluable information regarding the nuances of scratching, but aid in giving insight into techniques, procedure's, and applications for just about any projects demands.
As was so eloquently phrased by Mr. Jim Lewis recently in another thread where he was kind enough to reply in a helpful way to one of my queries....

"...I have only one personal motto to offer: Do the Ordinary - Extraordinarily!..."

This (as you know ), is what 'seperates'.........I can only strive.

Tread.

Gasp! BlueTank! The horror! Ewwww - nasty - yuck!

Gotta go get mine outta the stash now! :-)

Love 'ya 'Tread for pulling this beastie out. I've always had a mine to whip this kit into shape. Aurora had one way back when in the proposed (incredibly brief - never got off the drawing boards) configuration of the M8A1 carrying the LaCrosse Guided Missile. Naturally, this was when I was young and my mind easily warped...

I vowed to make a convincing version of this rig when I learned enough about building scale miniatures. There's no better time than the present - it actually looks like fun! I may join you!

Gunnie

Tread
Looks great so far What type of tracks do you plan on using? (++)

Tread:

Was down in Houston a couple weeks ago -- saw this kit in a hobby shop.

Thought I'd just buy it & knock it out over the weekend to see what all the fuss was.

Figured it was easier to let you have your fun :-) :-) :-)

"...& knock it out over the weekend..."

Wha..huh?

What can I say......other than, please read what it says inside my 'User Signature'.......

Tread.

Keep posting these 'in-prgress' threads Tread, I don't get mine 'till Christmas!
Gonna be most helpfull when I get to start it.

Howdy again fellas,

Thx for the replies.

Well, in an effort to hopefully be of some use to others out there I will continue my attempts at sharing my build 'nuance's' with you. Just be warned that these are all my personal notes, and not necesssarily rote suggestions.
In fact, our good Gunnie is considering building this same kit, so I can only hope to be in the same ballpark as a bugger like him.
On to the build.

All of the road wheel suspension arms are manufactured and designed to pass thru the side of the hull and be held in place (and in front-to-back alignment) with a rather crappy, too short piece, or 'cap'. I, in my usual 'too-an*l' way, found the kit supplied caps nothing but fodder for the previously mentioned "Carpet Monster", and items that simply did not work right.
So, in my AMS-induced stupor, I came up with a (one) solution to the problem. I created my own 'sleeves' that would smoothly slipover the outside diameter of the suspension arm pin, and would not pull back thru the hole in the side of the lower hull.
I generally like to work with aluminum tubing when at all possible. But also utilize Brass tubing when I need a 'thinner' wall thickness for whatever reason. And for those who may not know, or are 'noobs' to scratching, the aluminum tubing is simply softer (cuts / files / sands easier). In this case, because of the physical limitations of both ID vs.OD, plus wall thickness parameters, I had to use both materials.
Below is a photo of the reason. The wall thickness of the brass tubing (upper example) was thin enough to allow the 'pin' of the suspension arm to pass nicely into it, where the aluminum tubing's wall thickness (lower example) did not allow this.

So, I had to cut two sections of both brass tubing (inner), and the larger aluminum tubing (outer) to create one (1) 'sleeve' for each suspension arm.
Here is a pic of the two seperate tubing sections before gluing together....


And here is a photo of the pieces put together, and slipped on the end of the suspension arm pin.


This final photo shows the road wheel suspension arm in place on the lower hull with the new 'sleeve' attached.


Now...this may seem like a lot of 'overdesign' work for just simply attaching the road wheel arms, but when the kit supplied parts are simply 'bad', you have to come up with answers of your own. This option described above is simply mine.
I felt it was a fairly simple solution, and had the added appeal of being both clean and simple.......plus it looks good

Tread.

Howdy Gunnie,

Man, as much as I'm enjoying (?) being the 'front-runner' with this wee beastie, having you join in on the festivities would be quite nice. Your scratching skills, which are much more fine tuned than mine, would come in handy with this one. And, I would be quite interested in seeing how you personally choose to address the kits 'quirks'.

Simply put. I will take any opportunity presented to learn anything you've got to teach/share Jim. To use a modeling term as a descriptive, I would learn loads just from your 'shavings'.

But, I'm going to continue along in my plodding way for now, and just hope I'm getting it right, and doing the kit some justice.
Now that you may be joining in (please do), I guess I'm going to have to kick it up a notch just to keep the dust I eat to a minimum.

Tread.

Okay - I'm in! Winter is a energizing time for me - I seem to get a lot done in a short period of time. Who cares if I've got a table full of stuff going on...

I'll play catch-up!

Gunnie

"...Okay - I'm in!..."

Superb!!

That's mighty good news Jim. And as to your "playing 'catch up' with it.....all I can say is "Please hurry!"

What I will share with you are a couple of '20/20 hindsight' observations if that's alright?

What I have been trying to do is use as many of the kit supplied parts as possible (a tough assignment at best ). I spent a decent amount of time cleaning and prepping the supplied road wheels but am not really happy with them at all (as soon as you see them I think you'll see what I mean). I have been under the impression that the M8A1 uses the M41 'Bulldog' drivetrain and road wheel assembly.
If this is in fact true, and I were to do this project again, I would opt for replacing the kit supplied road wheels with the Tamiya ones from their 'Bulldog' kit.
I have already purchased a set of AFV Club T91E3 aftermarket tracks and am quite happy with them. But I need to buy another set to cover the 'extended' circumference.

Also, (and then I'll shut up). The kit supplied cargo gate sections are "O.K.".....but the woodgrain relief is 'proud' and not recessed, plus theirs a significant amount of moulded in depressions or sinkmarks to deal with.
I'm completely scratching these.
I've also got a couple of pictures showing slightly different configurations of the vehicle......one with a central I-beam boom....food for thought.....

Tread.

Joke, Joke, Joke .... sorry if it came off wrong.

Actually I screwed up by not buying it, completely forgetting the picture I found of the wrecker version of it.

After letting you go thru all the bug-finding/fixing of the basic kit, adding a boom assembly would have been easy ....

John