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M9 ACE US Armored Combat Earthmover

In between major projects such as review builds for Armorama and commission work, I like to do build to rejuvenate the juices to continue on working. I picked up this M9 ACE with my Christmas money. It was 99.99% out of the box. No after-market parts or photo etch sets where used. The only addition I used was lead wire for all the hydraulic hoses and the antenna cable.

The vehicle modeled is from the 24th Infantry Division 3rd Engineer Brigade. The model is painted with a mixture of Tamiya Desert Yellow and Flat white. The bumper numbers are spliced from different other decal sheets. The “V” on both sides also came from spares. The large sideways “E” was sprayed on using a stencil made from Tamiya rice tape. The sideways “E” is the symbol for engineers. The green “T” you see is what we put on the vehicles to show the center of gravity for air lifting and rail head. We used green “100 mile an hour” tape to do this. Vallejo washes and pigments were used for the weathering. On top of the Vallejo pigment, I dusted MIG Productions Vietnam Earth to simulate the red clay of Ft. Stewart, Georgia.