See the rest of the pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/lopicma/M929A2DumpTruck#
Enjoy,
Mark Lopiccola
Post Script: This is the write up I intend to use when I enter it in up coming contests. Most of this is explained in the photo captions on the Picasa site.
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M929A2 Dump Truck
I started this project in 1998 after the introduction of Italeri's M923 ”Big Foot” kit. Earlier that year, I had found an old Revell model, The Military Wrecker, and ”kit bashed” it to an M923. Consequently, that model made it into Fine Scale Modeler Magazine in September of 1998. The dump truck would not be such an easy conversion.
I looked around for 1/32nd scale dump truck kit - first military, then civilian version. No luck. I took opportunity to visit a Army National Guard base in Bay City, MI and photographed the 5-ton dump truck they had on base. I would rely heavily on these photos until 2008, when I took a tape measure to one such dump truck in the parking lot of a truck stop in NE Pennsylvania. Between 1998 and 2006, I had stopped building models altogether and this project spent most of it's time on the self.
Another source for reference, was a set of loose leaf pages from a discarded, Detroit TACOM manual. It contained side, front and rear, line drawings of an older M35 truck, and I used this to reference measurements. I would discover later, that the dump box for that truck, and the one I wanted to build, had subtle difference.
Scaling the drawings on a computer to 1/35th scale was easy enough. Transferring them to plastic was a little trickier. I tried printing them to paper and gluing the paper to sheet styrene. I also tried running the sheet styrene threw my printer. This second method became messy when the ink subsequently transferred to my fingers and hands while working with it.
All of the flat portions of the dump box were easy to create. It was the angled, triangular box side supports, that would cause trouble. I tried bending brass sheet, then tin foil, with little success. I ended up using angled styrene strip from Evergreen and Plastruct, filing down the hard angle to match the real thing. The thicker Plastruct, was the way to go, however, creating 6 IDENTICAL supports was near impossible, so I picked the best of the three I had, and made a rubber mold to cast 6 identical parts.
The rest of the build went smoothly until I mated the dump box to the frame and aligned it to the cab. The frame needed to be shortened by a lot - 3/4 of an inch! I also noted the cab protection ”hood” was not the correct shape, height or length. I started to panic. I found a reference CD containing line drawings for camouflage patterns on all US vehicles. In it, was the M929 Dump Truck... in profile... with measurements! I scaled it to 1/35th and printed out the cab hood profile I needed.
To complete the hood, I used foil seals from Danon, 1 quart, yogurt containers. In retrospect, I should have used sheet styrene... maybe next time. All of the framing supports for the hood are strip styrene and it made the hood extremely rigid.
With the box proper completed, I moved on to details that would need to be fabricated. All the round reflectors are punched foil circles stacked with a punched styrene circle. The marker lights are made from half round styrene strip and punched foil circles (see photos for assembly). I found a pioneer tool rack from Collector's Brass. All of the tail gate securement points are made from foil seals, and carved styrene strip and rod. It is NOT an exact replica, but it represents the parts there. For simplicity, I did not fabricate the hydraulic pistons that tip the dump box. Besides, I had no reference... I DID make a hydraulic tank that mounts just behind the spare tire. This was made of wood blocks, skinned in sheet styrene. The upper deck is embossed foil, simulating tread plate. The fill spout is round rod.
With the dump box now finished, I sawed off the frame, nearly to the rear most axle. The frame is cut so short to allow for weight shift as a full load of dirt is tipped. Because the load ”flows” out the rear during tipping, the tail light assemblies are moved from a bumper to the truck's frame. They are also located deep beneath the dump box for protection.
As far as the frame and cab are concerned, it's ”straight from the box”, with only the head light lenses replaced with M.V. Products lenses. I used Archer Transfers for the dashboard dials and placards as well as the chevrons on the cab doors. All other markings are supplied with the kit.
In the future, I intend on adding a ”Gunship Module” to the dump box. This module will just drop into the box, and be comprised of rail road ties and machine guns. It is my hope this module will be less complicated than the dump box was.
I painted this M929A2 for desert warfare and is sort of a sister vehicle to the wrecker I built in 1998. The base coat is Tamiya NATO Green over sprayed with Desert Yellow. MIG Brown Wash, and Tamiya Pastels round out the weathering.
