I've been playing around with the AFV club M35A2 turning it into a Shop van. I was wondering if anyone out there has any good pictures of underneath this truck. I'm thinking about doing the air lines and have not been able to find any good pics on the web. Here is a few pics of what I've done so far, still got a long way to go.

i cut the roof off, the windows out and made new cover assemblies . I'm going to display it with the doors and windows open.

I wasn't happy with the box bottom that came with the kit so I made my own. I think it look more like the real thing.

I had to make new mounts for the box to go on. The ones that where on the kit where for the cargo bed.




feel free to offer any tips or things that may need changed.

Been wanting to get the one from real models for the longest, is this it. If so does the interior come hollow?

Yes this is the real model kit. It does come hollow. It's basically just a box. The interior roof had a bunch of over flow from when the resin was poured in the mold. I'm sure he never intended for this to be opened up. It has really nice details but I wanted a little more.

Have you ever taken a look in tank-o-grad books there might be some pics there that will work. I know they have great pics. By the way you don't happen to have an extra one you might wnt to do some trading.

I'll have to see what I can find with those books. And sorry I only have the one van body. Real model still has it listed on his website. Shipping usually takes a while but you will get your part.

Mark

Nice work so far

If you are going to show the interior, there are light fixtures in the ceiling, mostly clear but as I remember 2 blue for blackout. Also as I remember 6 lights total. There was also a ventilator fan mounted on the front interior wall.

Rounds Complete!!

Thanks for the info. And yes the interior will be on display. I have a plan to use LEDs to light the interior. I'm going to hav to scratch build the fan assembly and the power boxes on the back wall. I'm going to build it like the one we had in our shop back around the 95-99 time frame. We had a old metal desk against the back wall that we would tie our tool boxes down to. We had a gas cylinder in their as well, and the rest will be a couple of cot's and personnel gear for two soldiers.

Off topic question but does anybody know what the standard for keeping fuel cans are out in the field. I seem to remember two ways we used to do it. One being to dig a retanglur hole about a foot deep and line the fuel cans in it. The other was to just keep them on a wood palet. I'm not sure which would be the correct way it's been over 13 years since I had to deal with such things.


Mark

I remember digging the cans in when they were used for generators. Otherwise they were on vehicles.

Rounds Complete!!

Well I got the frame painted up, i tried the ol hair spray technique to get the chipped paint effect. I thinned down the rust color and added a little yellow and sprayed it in spots to kinda darken the areas around the rust. Not sure how I feel about it yet. The wheels are not glued on yet, I still have some work to do before they go on. As for the box I haven't really done much. I got the first coat on the floor and built the frame and shade for the front window. Well off to cut and glue some more, please any tips or comments are welcome.

Mark

looking great so far,i like the paint job.

Thanks. I am really pleased the way the frame and wheels came out. I've gotten a little more done on the box and have started a little assembly on the cab. Building a truck is like building 4 or 5 models at once. I got the roof of the box carved out so I can put the ceiling panel and lights in. I'll try to get some pics up tomorrow or this weekend. I had actually thought this thread had fallen by the way side.

Mark

Well I thought I would share a few more pictures of what I've been doing on the shop van. I started working on the lights so I can get the top glued on. I still have a long ways to go so please bare with me. I hollowed out the top as much as I felt I could without going to thin. I actually went to far in one spot. I'll have to fill that in later on. The LED's are a warm light, I tried to get ones that would look like a regular light bulb. Well enjoy the pictures.

i think you have dome a great job on your truck.
i love the lighting,that is very cool.

Very cool...love the lighting, especially the blue BO light.

Rounds Complete!!

Hey Mark, I found this website for your shop van..it covers all the variants of the 2 1/2 ton truck

http://trucks25ton.tpub.com/

Hope its helpful in your build! The lights on the van look great!

Jeff

Fantastic job! The lights really sell it. The weathered frame is perfect.

I remember a similar M109 set up as a kitchen back in the mid-70s (2/34 Ar, Fort Carson). We climbed external stairs and walked down an external walkway as cooks served us from windows in the van.

Thanks for the link Jeff. I'll spend some time today looking around on there. It seems strange to me having all these manuals online. Our chief would get so mad at us if we left manuals laying around. And Jim that is a great memory. I can totally see that set up. That would make a great diorama, if someone could actually get a hold of another 109 kit.

Mark

well it has been a long time since I spent some time on the shop van. I've been building a couple of Aircraft for some Vets and managed to get one finished, the other I've lost motivation to work on it at the moment. So I decided to do some work on the truck. Gosh there is a lot of PE for this cab, it really puts my glasses to work. I'm working off pictures and memory of what our truck looked like compared to the pics I've found on the web. I think I'll go with a tan dash with a green gauge cluster. The interior will be tan and heavily weathered. When I had this truck it was during its last couple years of active duty. It probably had not been painted since Desert Storm.



I opened up the vents that allow air into the floor of the cab. I think I'll add some mesh on the inside after paint. I want to have the windshields slightly open so i trimmed out the frame for the glass. Had to be real careful filing this, the center support gets real thin without the glass frame.



the doors get the PE treatment as well. I think I want to have the driver door left open and maybe have the windows not rolled all the way up, not sure yet.



Here is a shot of the real Real Model engine. I've had to cut a lot resin off and still have more cutting to do.





here is the real model hood, It will be positioned leaned back against the cab. That hood prop was lost long before I had the Truck



Thanks for looking, and any ideas or suggestions are welcome.

Mark

Looking good/ I have the same kit, so all of the detailing you are doing will help me with mine. Keep up the great work and looking foward to your updates.
Tom

Well i'm really bad at keeping this updated and at taking pictures while i build. I did manage to take a picture of the roof of the cab before paint. I really wanted to model this truck with a hard top. I can remember installing a hard top on a hot south Georgia day. I smoothed the vinyl top with putty, while trying to put some dents in it. I think i'll try to put some support beams running across on the inside.


The panels were primed with a rust colored paint, and then sprayed with hair spray. After the hair spray dried I applied the sand color. I've started putting together the cab before going over them with a stiff brush. I still have more to do but at least its starting to look like a truck.



I did manage to get the bumper decals on.

I thought I would dry fit some of the cab pieces and the box, I think its starting to look the part.



Well thats it for now, till next time. oh and sorry for the phone pics my camera has gone awol.

Mark

Its coming along really nicely. Great job so far. I can't wait to see it finished, especially the engine. Keep up the good work.

Well it's time for another update. I think I have for the most part finished the Truck part of the build and now have the box to finish. I managed to glue the hood down and then noticed I forgot to put the wipers on. I think I might be able to squeeze them in there hopefully. The mirrors came from Italeri's M925 kit. I'm not sure if the are the same part used on both trucks but they look close enough for me. On the passanger side I had to use some floral wire to make the bas that go around the exhaust pipe. Archer transfers where used on the dash and some small chain from hobby lobby was used to lock the steering wheel. Getting the engne to look right was a real struggle for me. Looking at most pics on the internet shows the engine compartment in mostly dark green covered in oil stains. I know that B214 had class 3 leaks all over the place. I painted it with vallejo FS 34083, it says Russian Green on the bottle but it looked right to my eye. A few of the hoses where painted black and I tried dry brushing black to bring out some of the details. The exhaust manifold was painted a rust color and then a bunch of washes of different colors from dark to light. The head lights came out awful looking. I Remembered that sometimes we were told to cover the head lights with green duct tape to cover up the reflectiveness of the head lights. Then they would make us scrap off the tape glue left behind when we took the tape off. Well thats it for now. Thanks for looking and comments good and bad are welcome. They may be to late for this build but they will be of help in the next.

Mark