Hey guys

I was wondering if any one could give me some pointers here.

I am half way through completing Academy's M998 gun truck. I have gotten a few answers from pics off of the net, but I still need some questions answered.

1) Did all vehicles have the gunshield erected for the M2 and Mk19? What woud have been most common?

2) How common was it to have the wooden platform situated on the rear bed?

3) How would I go about weathering the tyres? I found that spraying them with Tamiyas light sand doesn't give a realistic look.

4) Where US Marines still using the OD alice pack in late 03?

I'd appreciate any help here guys.

Thanks!

The best description I've ever seen is THIS lesson from Mig Jimenez himself.
-Sean H.

Some answers:




Not all vehicles had them. It was a case by case item. Either with or without is correct.




Again, they were a case by case item. It depended on whet the unit needed, esp. if the gunner is short and needs a platform to stand on.




The best way to weather tires is with drybrushing. It looks much more realistic than spraying them. You can also dust them with chalk pastels or pigments.




Yes, there were some green ALICE packs still floating around at that time in the USMC.

Many of the items you are referring to were unit-specific changes and characteristics. It is best to find a pic of a specific vehicle that you like and model it from the pic.

The Academy kit basically represents an off the shelf manufactured gun truck humvee with the pre-fabricatrd armour panels andy M2 arrangement. In terms of the commonality of the M2 gun shield it really does just boil down to the subject you are building. Based upon the reference I have seen all I can say is some had em some didn't. The shield would be more common from around late 2003-2004 when the need for protection increased. Some had the acav shield whilst other vehicles sport unit level improvised shields. In the case of the Academy kit that particular combo does have the shield.

As to the wooden bed I'm not sure what you mean? Do you mean the blank seats? or a wooden would on the floor?

Thank you Sean.

I will have a look at that. Appreciate it.

Thanks Gino.

There was one pic in particular. But it was of an M998 in Afghan, 2004. The Marines had some OD packs stored with a spare tyre on the canvas roof.

The colour scheme I am going for is of an M998 gun truck in Fallujah. Nato camo, except for the doors and winshield that are sand.

Rob, the kit has in it pieces to build a little wooden platform (which I was thinking of putting on the floor of an M113 ACAV as part of my next build.

I havent seen pics of a platform. Crude wooden benchs in the centre of the bed, yes.

Thanks for the other pointers.

Here are two pics that may interest you (providing you don't have them already )





HTH

Frenchy

Thanks French.

I see that the woodland camo rucksacks are being used in the one pic.

Really appreciate it.

Yes they are, however those are not ALICE, they are the MOLLE II rucks. Much the same for our purposes as the current ACU/Multi Cam MOLLE rucks.

Thanks Steve. I would really love to find some of those in 1/35. The only thinh is, we are so limited in South Africa. Tamiya's modern US military equipment set only arrived at the store where I buy last year. I have also been looking everywhere for Bronco's M1114 as well. No one stocks it here.

Your best bet is to buy online. Lucky Model out of Hong Kong is one of the cheapest and they have a great selection and service. They have the M1114 on sale right now for abour $29. They also carry the Legend Molle Rucksack set.

Lucky Model

Thanks Gino. I just wonder if they will ship to SA.

Who makes the MOLLE set?

Sorry Gino, I see that you already said that Legend makes it.

I will put pics of the M998 up after its done. Not the best kit i have worked on (especially the Mk19).

Thanks again for all the pointers.

You can some time's find that kit onsale on line. I shop Great Models and they have sales from time to time. Sqadron has sales as well. Now I have see sales of Sprue Brothers but not alot.

Thanks Cpt. I will have a look at those sites.

Hey Guys.

I finsihed the M998 gun truck yesterday afternoon. I am happy with the end result, bar one or two minor details.

I can't seem to figure out how to upload pctures of the finished product though.

The 'UPLOAD PHOTO(S)' tab doesn't allow it for some reason.

Are the pictures small enough? there is a file size restriction. 3072kB

Hey Scott.

The pics I wanted to put up are 1.56 and 1.63 MB's.

The pics have to be hosted on the net somewhere for you to upload them. You can not upload to a post directly from your computer. Yu can upload them to your gallery here at Armorama, or use another site like PhotoBucket.

I prefer to use PhotoBucket for ease of uploading. Once you have them uploaded, it is pretty easy to link them here. All you do is click on the IMG Code block (below the pic when you hover your curser over it) and it automatically copies it. Come back to your post here and paste it into the post. That's it, simple.

Thanks Gino!

I will give that a shot. I think I will take some better pictures first though. The one's I took last night didn't come out as well as I would have wanted.

Again, appreciate all the tips.

(if you do want to see the one's I have taken in the meantime, send me your email address and I will mail them to you. Any tips on how ti improve the model will be most welcome)