¹⁄35

M16 Multiple Gun Motor Carriage Part One

The first time we will dig into the excellent Griffon Models photo etch detail set (L35026) is to add details missing from the main wheel carriages for the rear tracks. These details include the drainage holes for the cast housings, the foundry casting numbers, some bolt heads and the correct exhaust pipe hanger and U-bolt. Assembly of these went rather smoothly, and the Griffon Models metal is very well engineered to fit the Dragon parts almost perfectly. If you end up with a rather rough look to these carriages, that’s good. They are huge rough sand cast parts with a texture, they should NOT be smooth or refined. Once these are assembled again, overall Olive Drab is airbrushed to blend it all together.

The small road wheels I mounted on pins to paint, painting the OD color of the metal wheel first. I make my own wheel masks out of sheet clear plastic, and made a set for this model. Flat Black looks best on tires when sprayed, and it’s the best way to get a nice sharp border between the tire and the metal wheel.

Once these are dry, all are assembled into the complete rear carriages, and assembled onto the chassis at the same time as the front tires. To get the alignments correct and the vehicle level, I use the rear track halves under the road wheels to put everything in the correct orientation while the glue dries. This will ensure that your flat spots on the front tires end up in the correct place.

When I was constructing the front axle unit, I chose to break the alignment pins where the hubs and backing plates install. I want the vehicle to be “in action” in my diorama and as such, I don’t want my wheels locked straight ahead. Once you are rid of the alignment pins, now your eye is your only guide, so I advise patience and a lot of checking and visual inspection to ensure you get the desired results. Fortunately, my eye alignment worked out great, and my front tires are exactly where I wanted them. All of this is left to sit and dry awhile, being highly critical stuff.

A build such as this has many, many sub-assemblies involved, and this works for me because I get to go assemble and detail some other parts while things dry. In this case, I’m going to build and detail the front bumper winch chassis. Once again, the Griffon Models PE kit offers an upgrade to a compromise made by Dragon in their plastic. The winch has a distinct actuator mechanism, which Dragon chose to not represent very well, so it gets replaced with Griffon PE brass parts which do accurately represent the actual unit. After carefully cutting away the inaccurate plastic and smoothing, the PE parts are assembled and do look really good, and I’m impressed with the Griffon details so far.

After the entire winch and bumper are assembled and allowed to dry a bit, it’s time to install it on the chassis, and it slips right together without much effort. After this has dried, then of course it is cleaned up and also painted into the chassis basic OD color. Do not install the actual winch gearbox at this stage. The short section of its driveshaft needs to go through a hole in the front armor of the body, and you won’t be able to get the body on if you put the winch together now.