Plenty of time before the end of September, so I dropped in on this party. Did I miss the party? Did everyone go home?
I started the Tamiya base M151a2 kit, and I'm VERY impressed with the fit and engineering. My last couple AFV Club and Academy kits weren't as enjoyable-- and especially not the fit and engineering of my last scratchbuild.
Also, excited for all the extras in this kit-- I needed an M60 with pedestal for a humvee I have planned for later, and here it was! Don't think I'll use the TOW launcher, but into the scrap box it goes for some future build, likewise I'm not sure if I'll use the driver figure. We'll see. It's nice that he's included too though.
Too bad the decal stencils are only in black-- I had wanted to paint this in solid OD. If I use the kit decals, I have to give it a light-colored camo.
So work has begun, not much to see yet...

More posts as I go. Thanks for looking!
-Sean.

This kit is practically falling together! Since the prototype is a simple modification from the basic M151, my build should be too. As such, little things like the dashboard grab handle is there in the box, and holes under the passenger door opening for mounting the shovel are already there (though the instructions for this TOW missle version show the shovel to be stowed on top of the fender).
I'm like a kid in a candy store.
Anyway, to fold up the passenger seat, I did have to plug the big locator holes in the battery box cover:

I snipped the locator tabs off the seat bottom and glued them into the holes. At least that was the plan, but I lost one of them in the carpet and used sprue for that one and for a smaller hole there too. In this photo, the smaller sprue is yet to be trimmed and sanded down (after the glue dries).
cheers!
-Sean.

Here's where we are now:

a bump to the thread, and a bit more progress to my Not Fighting Vehicle (NFV?):
I cut apart the kit seat, filed back the cushions at the break, and added bent wire for springs for some detail and to further disguise the mold marks that were hidden under the seat. The thin wire was from a small section of braided wire that I cut from its insulation and unraveled. I bent the wire back and forth on the end of a tweezers.

My latest mutt is sharing workbench with my Steampunk build, so progress is not quick, but after April 1, I can focus on it.
-Sean.

Started attaching the extension on the back of the body.
I used the kit's antenna mount as the new side spare tire mount, but I was too excited and already installed it. I hope my impatience doesn't make trouble when I go to paint it.

Now I've added some styrene strips for the curled edges of the stamped metal pieces on the actual truck. When I looked at the photo above, the Tamiya lack of pedals was glaring, so here I've added some. I used the kit figure's boots to judge size, but they still seem huge. Regardless, they'll be more hidden some when the build is done, so I'm not panicking.

Still tons of fun. It sure is nice when a kit doesn't fight you. Now even this scratchbuilding looks pretty straightforward. I've studied prototype photos, and the top stays will be pretty simple. I'll keep posting photos as I go.
thanks for looking!
-Sean.

interesting MUTT. I like how you modified the pass seat part like that

a lot of interesting projects going on in here. I haven't even started my own project yet...

emroglan, that Fuchs is outrageous!

Thanks, Ko!
I caught "Stripes" on the Showtime network this weekend, and in 1981 the Army was crawling with M151's-- a neat MP vehicle with blue lights especially.
Anyway, as busy weekend. Added grooves and ridges to the pressed steel parts (realized later that the left panel would be hidden by the seat cushion).:

Used H-Column pieces left over from a prior build, cut down the flanges on one side to create channels for the stretcher racks:

Built up the racks from round styrene rod and the channel pieces. Thin wire on the rack ends for hold-downs. Seat cushion made from 1/16" styrene roughly filed and sanded to a lumpy shape. (My 1/16" styrene supply is actually the excess from a shower-surround from my parents' bathroom remodel.) Filled and sanded the snorkel hole in the hood. Built up the ammo box/storage from styrene bits.:

-Sean.

I used round styrene rod to make the canopy bows. I drew a pattern for myself on my graph paper mat...

Then made 3 of those and the square cross-bars...

In my personal opinion, it's been coming together nicely.
thanks for looking,
Sean.

Sean, that will be a very unique Mutt there once completed. I'm following your build with interest. One question as I'm too lazy to search myself, where do they place the stretchers? Over the top, horizontally? Over the top, perpendicular to the vehicles axis?

Thanks, Emri. The stretchers slide in those channels-- one along the right over the fender and one diagonally along the floor. There's usually a third location along the left over that fender too (extending out the back), but my research says that's often left out for seated passengers on the left, as I've done it here.
-Sean.

For Emre, I've taken this photo from the back, to see the "business end" of my ambulance, ready for paint:

Then I gave everything a dose of modern darker Olive Drab:

The interior will stay this color, but for the outside (since I only have black decals, need a light color scheme) I chose MERDC "gray desert" camo scheme. I haven't tried to paint armor camoflage since I was 10 or so, so hopefully I've read enough here on Armorama to make a decent go of it.
thanks,
Sean.

Coming along nicely Sean!

Which MERDC colors are used in the gray desert? Is it the one with green-brown-white-black?

Thanks! (Sorry if you saw I mispelled your name, but "Edit" was still active, so I fixed it.)
gray desert uses: Sand, Field Drab (gray-brown), Earth Yellow, and Black. So it's mostly a series of gray-brown colors.
I considered one of the snow white and green MERDC patterns, but I wanted to leave the door flaps off, so the poor soldiers would have been pretty cold in winter.
-Sean.

After seeing you paint olive drab, I thought you'd go with a MERDC pattern with some green in it

The light base I applied under the camo is pretty ugly now-- it can only get better! It's a household glossy spray paint, so it's staying tacky, taking a while to cure. I couldn't find the other colors in spray cans, so from here I'm painting by brush. (Wish me luck!)
-Sean

Camo on!
first two colors:

third color:

(Didn't find Earth Yellow paint at the LHS or on the internet, so my 7-year-old and I decided which of the colors we already had that we could mix to make a passable Earth Yellow.)
fourth color:

I realized I couldn't paint the spare tire while it was glued on, so I had to pry it off. I'm sure I couldn't have applied the tarp anyway with it on. No damage.
Now, the complete camouflage scheme sure livens up the build!
-Sean.

wow, well done. Did you have to mask off the inner areas to spray the aerosol can tan from the can or did you spray into a cup then AB apply this base color?

Yes, I masked over the canopy supports to keep the interior green.
Thanks,
Sean.

Here is my Build

Yufkey-- that's some fantastic painting and weathering. I hope to be that good someday!
(...but it looks like you picked up some plaster in the tire treads . You may need to pick that out with a knife or something.)
Otherwise excellent tone variations and chipping. Really great work.
What kind of facilities do you work in over there in Europe? I suppose you're in a normal apartment or something-- do you have a spraybooth?
Thanks for your service too!!!
-Sean.

Thanks for the great feed back. I have been putting models together off and on for about 20 years. I have picked up a few tricks here and there. What's really helpful are the Mig Videos.

I was station in Germany, in the Kaisersluatern Area and I lived in an very modern Germany Home.

Another post on my build, nothing earth-shattering, but the stark black tires weren't believable, so I painted a gray mix onto the tread. Heavier than standard dry-brushing, but not complete coverage and a rough edge...


Right after this, I gave it an overall Dullcote to seal the decals and even out the various paint finishes and unify the camouflage.
thanks for looking, more later.
-Sean.

This one has made it's way to the shelf, so I think that means it is done! It is finished as a 1st Signals Battalion, 1st Infantry Division vehicle operating in the Leningrad-Lake Ladoga area in early spring 1943. Not the best kit in the world, but it provides a decent starting place for a fairly esoteric vehicle. This may be the only kit of the beast that ever makes it into plastic so if you are a fan of this kind of thing you might want to pick one up before they become impossible to find. The kit does have a few issues, overly complex undercarriage, overly simplified cab, no fuel filler spout or wiper motor/blades, and some simplified detail. But in the end I'm still happy with it as an essentially out of the box build. Do I need to load any photos into the kitmaker photos area to make the completion official?

I took a diversion to try tissue "canvas" techniques on a test subject, but I'm back on this build...
I cut tissue panels to size, laid them out and slathered on diluted white glue (Elmer's), then folded edges to make them sharp and stiff, and hung the first ones on the kit.

I didn't cover the kit in plastic wrap, to help in removing the "canvas" later for painting off the truck, but so far on my test build, the glue releases from the non-porous plastic parts easily enough.
Here, the side panels have dried. No problems there:

Here's the top panel, placed wet. I left the edges loose and cut the panel generously, because there will be shrinking and pulling as it dries.

These photos show how the top panel dried:


then, after everything had dried initially and the shrinkage was complete for the most part, I wet the edges again to set the final shape.

More later. Thanks for looking.
-Sean.

Here's the finish of the canvas top. I'm pretty happy with how it dried and took paint. I had popped the dried white glue up and removed the top, then painted olive drab underneath, then white above, let that cure, then masked the white squares and painted OD again. Even with that many coats of paint, it's delicate, like handling flower petals. I used low-tack drafting tape for my masking. I had laid the tape on my cutting mat and cut to shape, which should have reduced the tackiness further.

I applied the decals over Future, then sprayed overall with Testors Dullcote, then when that dried, reapplied Future on the lights, mirror, and dashboard gauges.
I tried a heavy-handed pin-wash to pick out details, but I'm still figuring out the process. I've got craft acrylic paints lying around, but those don't seem to thin enough, or the diluted mess beads up and runs too much.
Anyway, then I glued in the windshield and then used tacky craft glue to attach the roof.


cheers!
-Sean.