Hmm. Sounds like your pretty proud of your Father. That's great Gunnie, he sounds like a good man. You don't see many 'self-made men' anymore,sadly. I dearly love my children, and try my damndest to give them all the things they need in life, but I worry sometimes about the world they're growing into. It's a much tougher environment now, and the kids today can be tough also. But then I come across young people like Yoda and it makes me feel better. (don't tell Yoda I said this )
Anyway, my post was meant as a light-hearted tease about your apparent well laid out building style. I am impressed by your techniques, and even more impressed by your openess in sharing it. :-)
As to your 'homebuilt' equipment. I just hope you don't mind me looking over your shoulder, that's all. I think you make us all try to be better.
So you know Chris Mrosko too huh? I guess you get around with all the really good guys. Must be nice...
I still think you should be giving Mastemodeling classes yourself. Maybe all you need is a good promoter? Give Don King a call! I hear he's dropped Mike Tyson, so he should have an opening on his calender for someone who doesn't EAT people!

Tread.

Agreed 100%! And - OK - I won't tell YodaMan - shhhhhhh... It could go to the young Jedi Master's head. Look at what happened to Anakin Skywalker!!!




LOL - I certainly wouldn't make a fine, young, cannibal!

Back to ravaging plastic tonight...

Gunnie

OK, I appreciate the close-up of the bottom of the cargo bed in the third pic Gunnie. So, you think I've got to do that too huh? NP, the pic is something I can work off of. Tomorrow I guess it's off to the hobby shop again for some more styrene stock. (these guys just love me down there).
So tell me Gunnie ( sensei), is the method I use 'wax on' or wax off'??

Tread.

BTW, do you use regular glue on the frame rails, or superglue? In fact, where would you use the CA glue? What type of bonding situation do you feel merits its use? What type of situation merits the Tenax 7R? What situation requires the use of that basic high school algebra? What situation demands voting Democrat? What situa.....SLAP!!!......sorry, got a little carried away there....

Tread.

Well - you really don't have to model this extra detail Tread. From casual viewing angles, this isn't all that detectable - one would have to go looking for it.

Sensei say - "wax off when at all possible"

Gunnie

I quickly slapped the frame back up on the alignment table for you again this evening alongside the longer M139 5-ton chassis. This one is slated for my Honest John Artillery Rocket Launcher. I was gluing some things and thought about your last post...

Here, I'm using 5-minute epoxy to set the rear dualie wheel hubs in place. The two sanding sticks again double as horizontal alignment jigs, while the grid paper helps to line things up from above - even when I don't always park the model spot-on for a picture . I also parked two pieces of the Real Model M54 Cab Conversion (here virtually identical to AFV Club Deuce parts) on the frame for pre-spotting the placement of the cab against the measurements on the graph paper.

Amongst the glues you want to use, the 5-minute epoxy will give you a superior bond and a bit of working time before it sets. This allows you to spot-up parts like the wheels into the correct positions and alignments as needed.

The Tenax-7R comes in handy bonding the long sidewalls of the Cargo Bed. It isn't a strong bond, so if you've got some rough handling or sanding to do on those parts - get it done beforehand. Also, in the pictures above, I'm using .005 thousandth thickness sheet styrene on the cargo bed. To attach this to the model, I use superglue. Testors Liquid Cement and even Tenax-7R in some areas is too aggressive, and will melt the .005" styrene panels altogether. They really soften up the Italeri plastic, and make a real mess with delicate sheet styrene parts.

The frame subassembly is pretty much done with the Testors Liquid Cement, as this gives a strong bond and some working time to ensure things line up properly. However, for full-strength, I let the frame sit clamped into position overnight to let the bond cure. Epoxy is too messy and superglue too fast-setting for assembling the Italeri frame - as you need a medium amount of time to coax the parts to cooperate.

The superglue will come back into play assembling the resin Real Model Cab Conversion, or even in scratch-converting the AFV Club Deuce into a M54 Cab. It and the accelerator give a fast, quick, bond that doubles as a filler for bubbles and seams. I assembled both subassemblies solely with superglue and accelerator, and worked slowly to ensure I got everything in the right place before committing to glue.

Gunnie

P.S. - the time to vote Democrat is when all else fails, the skies are dark, and Liberace begins to sound really good to you...

P.S.S. - Algebra should be used everyday - and twice on Sundays in California. I did really well with Boolean Algebra in High School. Everyone who does, also does well in the Air Force. I wonder why? I also understand that Boojums are Snarks - but Snarks are not Boojums...

Sweeeet! Looking forward to that :-) :-) :-)

Gunnie, Tread, Yoda,
There's some awesome stuff going on in this topic. Keep it up! Hopefully we'll see construction articles from all of you guys so you can share it with us!

Thanks Bryan - I do have the construction article on how to do this conversion in the works already - we're just going through it here in this thread...

Oh Tread - where 'ya been? When last we left off, we were puttering around with the frame subassembly...



I've gone ahead a bit over the weekend and put the wheels on the frame at this stage.



I also parked the shell of the Real Model M54 Cab Conversion on the frame, with the modified Italeri Cargo Bed on the frame subassembly to size things up. You'll know you've got it right with the distance between the rear wall of the Cab and the front wall of the Cargo Box is 6 1/2 inches in scale. To do this, cut off 1/8 of an inch (1:1 measurement) from the rear of the riser rails on the frame for the Cargo Bed - and not 1/8 of an inch out of the frame rail itself. There is nothing wrong with Italeri's frame when it comes to modeling this conversion - the wheelbase is correct.

The overhead shots are kinda difficult to get with the tripod and little digital camera I have, but you get the drift. The sanding sticks are really a good way to get vertical alignment out of the rear dualies when you attach them to the model. I've seen many an excellent model tainted because of bad alignment here.



Gunnie

Next time on this channel - the all-important Grill work...

Gunnie,

I just checked back on this thread because I've finally gotten my modeling area usable again. For the record I almost completely 'reinvented' my modeling room because of you!! #:-)
So, I check back, and LO and Behold......Gunnie's last post ( dated 5/7/02 I'm sorry to say) is still chock full of incredible stuff!!!!!!!. Ya gotta love this guy!........

Anyway, I'm just getting back to my frame (BTW, finally figured out what you were using for that metal table 'thingie'), got the tyre's, just waiting on the new AM cab. (this get's expensive). I am looking forward to getting back to it on my new 'table'......I will be in touch as soon as I 'fire it up' (also working on my AC-119 K gunship project for Penny. Been working on that on the coffee table ).

You're a 'Gem' Gunnie!!

Tread.

BTW, how is your 'Honest John' coming?

Tread - I had to put it on the "second shelf" to complete more pressing projects. I've got the chassis and Cab done - and am puttering around with the Launcher itself. I saved the Honest John Rocket itself for last - as I figure it's the easiest to work out. It is a denizen of the "second shelf" (my own fun projects) with The Big Kahuna and the Jaguar Sheridan sitting next to it. All three of them call out to me in the middle of the night...

Gunnie (where's the yawning emoticon???)

Gunny,
I missed this whole thread when I was building my "King Cobra" guntruck back last April. I based all my work off articles on your website and PM's between you and me. This thread would have been a big help. Turning this into an article would be great. I too want to build more guntrucks. Keep up the guntruck talk.

Thanks for the suggestion and encouragement Gino. I guess I do have a lot of GT modeling information rolling around inside of my head - putting it down on paper would be nice...

Gunnie

Aw shucks! Just got a look at your M35/M925 M54 conversion. There I was, feeling kind of cocky about my conversion. Bro, I'm not even in the ball park./league with yours. Guess thats what I get for being cheeeeep. Used the Monogram M49/M35/M34 (whatever) cab and front clip . Definitley plan to do it again using you photos and instructions. AND the AFV M35 - Italeri M925 kits. Of course just as soon as I get half way through the project (bucks and time invested), some smartass company is going to come out with one. Has happened to me twice. First was my pathetic attempt to scratch build a 1/35 M115. Yep AFV does it. Now they're coming out with an M40 GMC. My conversion of the old life like kit is almost completed. Guess you guys should cross your fingers and hope. Well the sooner I get started the sooner we can expect one eh? They are probably waiting on the M54 until I get some serious bucks in it ya think? #:-) Seriously though thanks for the photos. Always did think my M54 looked a little peculier

Glad you guys 'piped in'. I'll keep this post short (since Gunnie's a very modest fella), but, is Gunnie the Man or What!?! Because of the GunnieMeister I've completely redone both my modeling room, and the way I model! For the record, it now takes me a lot longer to build something, but I feel much better about the accuracy of the kit (without going 'anal' about 'counting rivets') and enjoy the entire process now instead of taking my time with one part of the process, and then bolting through another.

Tread.

My Farthing's worth... #:-)

This is for Tread - a salute to havin' fun with modeling!



I just finished "paint chippin" my M4 Sherman and uploaded it to the Workbench Section of the Gallery here. That model folder is all about what Tread wrote above - enjoying the entire process...

Gunnie

After seeing that pic Gunnie, I think I'm gonna have to go "Sherman Shoppin'". My wife thanks you (Modeling keeps me out of her hair!) Gotta have something on deck, M48 is going a little faster than expected(although I haven't started paint/weathering/goodies yet....that takes the majority of the time) NICE JOB!

Many Thx for the salute Gunnie! As the saying goes "I owe ya bro' ".

And what does Gunnie use for the salute, another show-stopper!!! Can you beleive this guy? How he whips out these masterpiece's I'll never know.

Tread.

Here's a few 'whips' back at ya!

Mannnnnn, now there's a good wife!..... Where did you find her?...........Are there any left?

Tread.

Thanks guys! Honestly, if I hadn't come to ArmoramA - I seriously doubt I would have even built this M4 Sherman at all. It's nice to be around people who love models - and build them too!

Gunnie

hey gunny
do they make an engine kit for the italeri or afv club trucks..i plan to do the honest john launcher like your working on..i have a spare m49 fuel tanker and all of the 5 tons from italeri any suggestions thanks Ray

Real Model does market a nice resin drop-in module for the M35A2 AFV Club model kit. Armed with the Tech Manual, you can backdate this to the A1 without too much bother, perhaps making even a veteran mechanic happy (maybe ).

Gunnie

Would that be the same engine for the M 54 Gunnie?

Tread.

Unfortunately, the Real Model engine set wouldn't fit in a M54 model kit - but would provide nice details to supplement a scratchbuilding effort...

Gunnie