Another minor update. Added some missing bits to the dash and got some more paint on. The one positive to brush painting white (and any other light colour) is that you get a worn effect that you might not with an airbrush. One more coat and some semi-gloss should do it. I gave the chassis and radiator a semi-gloss black coat as well. I'm thinking of doing this as a fairly new vehicle so I won't go overboard with weathering, mainly dust. While I had the black going, I roughed in the dash dials, batteries, the stuff in the engine compartment and started the dials on the radio.








I also did some more test fitting of the windshield/hood/roof. With the roof taped in place I got a better idea of the fit and sequence. The frame goes in first, then the hood. The armoured glass frames won't align with the hinges properly if you do it the other way around. More on that when I get around to gluing it in place. The main frame is quite thin and flexible so care will be needed in aligning and gluing. I was hoping to get the glass frames glued on first to stiffen the part, but that doesn't seem to be a viable option.

Hopefully nobody is being put off getting the kit because of all the dry fitting and fiddling. If you plan on leaving the doors closed, you won't have as much trouble. Because of the modified dash and the extra detail, I created a little more work than might have been necessary. However, do bear in mind that all the hull plates have beveled edges and will need to be test fitted and glued carefully to avoid extra headaches. This is most definitely not a weekend kit in any case and the wealth of detail is worth the extra time and care needed. More tomorrow, knock on wood.

Kimmo

Today's update brought to you by tricky fit and the ridiculously easy. I decided to get the windshield frame attached so it would have some time to set properly. A little trimming and sanding (too much in a few spots) and it plopped into place nicely. I added some stretched sprue to help with a couple of the big gaps. That dries overnight and then filler.





Continuing with tricky fits, I added the nose frame because I figured my chances of painting etc if left for one of last steps wouldn't be that great. Be extremely careful removing it from the sprue, it's thin and will snap if you look at it funny. Before you go gluing it in place, test fit and make sure the hull sides are more or less square. It's also a good idea to drill holes where the rod for the actuator arms go. If you leave the doors open, this will be seen and the you will get a better attachment point for rod of your choice if you go with the pe or kit option. Once the glue on the frames has set, I'll trim the mounts off from the inside. Back to gluing; glue the vertical sides of the frame first and let dry. When dry, you can now fiddle with the top frame. I had to make a cut in the cross frame to get a better sit. Make sure everything is glued as best you can with a generous amount of glue, and leave everything to dry until completely set. Once set, then go back and fill and/or sand/scrape. This is another one of those places where fit is less than perfect, but I don't see what IBG could have done as an alternative. Take your time and glue as you go.




While everything was drying, I thinned the seat laces down for a better appearance and got started on the turret. I filled in the holes for the turret clips (the clips can be chopped off if you wish) which will be seen if you leave the hatches open. I'll add some rivet detail and some bits and bobs too. I need matching rivets so I made a smash mold from milliput. Heat sprue, smash, cool, trim. Voila. Matching rivets.






Now to the easy stuff. I weathered the engine and chassis with tube watercolours. This could not be simpler. Mix an appropriate colour, slather on fairly heavily, remove or blend the excess as it dries or after it has dried. Wipe excess off with a moistened brush and wipe the paint onto a rag. This was so simple that I thought I must be missing something. It's a bit washed out in the photos, but it looks pretty nice, trust me.





The watercolour revelation has really given me a nice option for weathering the rest of the vehicle, we'll see how that goes. I think some pe work is on tap for tomorrow.

Kimmo

Hi Kimmo,

Coming along really well.

Al

Thanks Al, I'm pretty sure you're no stranger to the patient approach

Kimmo

Got a little bit done today, life decided to interrupt a perfectly good modelling session. Did some seam clean up, some primer, details painted and got the radiator fan assembled. The nose got some attention. The interior mounting stubs got shaved off and a frame added. You can make out the hole I mentioned yesterday.



The hood frame needed a piece added.



Speaking of adding pieces, the windshield sides need a couple of strips to represent the recessed look. The kit supplied bits that were left after fitting were too small and V profiled. Not a huge deal. Similarly, the nose will need a couple of strips to bring out the triangle. Could someone with the MH book tell me if those rivets should be there or not? The Mk I seems to be smooth. Thanks.




The fan went together smoothly enough. It is a lot more in scale than the kit supplied part. I attached the hub and ring with Vallejo primer, this allows plenty of fiddle time to get everything lined up. Bend the blades and you're good to go. Except you're not. The fan is slightly too low to fit into the radiator opening if you glue the hoses in place like I did. This applies to both the pe and kit fan (they're identical). The instructions don't mention anything special so if you've decided to leave the radiator for last, attach the fan so that a blade is pointing straight down and bend it upwards (or trim a bit), this will be enough to clear the bottom lip. It will not be seen by anyone other than a competition judge with one of those x-ray bendy mirror light thingies. Otherwise, you'll need to attach the bottom hoses to the radiator first and do a bit of tilting/jiggling.






A couple of shots with everything in place.




I should get a few hours in tomorrow, stay tuned.

Kimmo

A minor update, it was rather hot and muggy and I don't do hot and muggy well. Unless it's a sauna. Got the rivet strips for the turret done, added a couple of etch pieces and drove myself nuts with the dashboard. Still needs some touch ups.





The pe is meant for the initial Mk II release so some parts may not be an exact fit. Case in point, the armoured slides. I needed to slightly trim the corners. Score and snap, easy enough.




Looking over the etch, I started wondering about a few things and was going to detail the hull doors. The lock mechanism provided is rather hefty, as it should be for the Mk I. Mk I? Hold on, something may not be right here. I had a look at some refs and the hull doors may be a tad undersized for starters. I need to do some investigating before I jump to any conclusions, that will have to wait as I have a gig tonight and may get to meet some interesting musicians. It's good to be me sometimes.

So with that, I'll leave you all hanging in suspense for a bit. Oh, and if someone with a copy of the MH book could send me a message, I'd really appreciate it. I need to have a few things cleared up that the book might help with.

Kimmo

So, after a good fun night of spinning tunes and talking to a very nice drummer I got to digging around to see what was bothering me regarding the side doors. Here's a pretty good comparison pic of a Mk I (above) and Mk II (below) from the data sheets at War Wheels. Not sure who the photo credits should go to, so hopefully nobody minds me using them for discussion purposes. I did some minor rotating and scaling to get them close enough to each other. According to the data sheets, the only difference between marks we might be concerned with is the wheel tread which isn't applicable to the side view. The wheel tread (which I'm interpreting as the width between wheels as opposed to wheel base which would be the length between wheels) is 60 inches on the Mk II and 58 inches in the front and 57 inches in the rear.



The two marks should be identical in hull shape and size, and so they would appear in the photos. You will note the square door as opposed to the rectangle that the kit provides. The width of the square door corresponds nicely with the width of earlier door.

Doing a google image search, yet again, showed that many photos identified as Mk IIs, should be Mk Is, if the only discernible difference in hulls is the placement of the doors. You will see photos of front doors and narrower fenders to confuse the issue of what mark the vehicle actually is. I'm guessing that at some point before the Mk II was introduced, the fenders were simplified and continued that way through production.

So where does this leave us? A couple of options: leave the door as is or widen the opening and the door. With a wider door, the pe door lock looks more like it should and is therefore correct(ish) and the kit is wrong based on what I've been able to figure out.

I think I'll correct the door and hull, and at the same time I can also cut out holes for where the machine gun mounts were on the different versions. The Part set includes blanking plates so I won't have to worry about scratching replacements. I'll need to drill a hole for the antenna wire as well.

All this will have to wait for Monday though. Any comments or questions are of course welcome and encouraged.

Kimmo

Hi Kimmo,

A very useful blog, you're doing an excellent job.

Al

Thanks Al.

It's all fun and games until someone starts looking at reference photos a little too closely. Fortunately this business with the doors isn't a major problem to correct, just one of those head scratchers in how IBG missed something which is fairly obvious. I'm beginning to wish I had a copy of the book to see what other bits of useful information it contains. These little beasties are foreign territory for me, and the net only offers so much information, but a very nice change of pace from the usual tracked suspects. The real fun should start when I get around to doing up the replacement grills and hinges. I will also make an attempt to use every bit of etch that comes with both Part sets to give readers something to go with in making a decision on whether they feel it is something they can use or not.

Pe is not everyone's cup of tea, it's not a favourite of mine either, I prefer plastic and doing my own stuff, but sometimes there is no other sane course of action for certain details. I was hoping to be a little further along in the build by now but bench time has been at a premium, none of those 6-8 hour sessions that I would like to have had to really get into a groove. Hopefully by the end of this week all the interior stuff will be done with. The exterior should be a one or two session job at most and then paint, which will have to be spread over several days to allow for proper curing of the base colour. I will be doing a caunter scheme and using masking tape so cured paint is a must.

Kimmo

Hi Kimmo,

Your build is coming along very nicely. I think it's going to look great with the Caunter scheme.

In regards to the issue with the side doors, I've checked my copy of William Marshall's "Marmon Harrington" (Model Centrum Progress, Special #1, ISBN: 978-83-60672-20-4) to see what Marshall has to say about it.

Oddly enough, he makes no mention whatsoever about the different designs of the driver's and front passenger's side doors. According to Marshall, the main difference between the Mk. I and Mk. II is that the Mk. II was built on the Ford 3-ton General Services Truck chassis but with the Marmon-Harrington 4-wheel drive system whereas the Mk. I was built on the exact same chassis but with 2-wheel drive.

Going by the photos and line drawings, some (I'm guessing early or initial production) Mk. II were built with the same side doors as the Mk. I. The first door change would appear to have been the passenger's side door (as in the photo you posted) and then, finally, the driver's side door was changed to a similar design.

I appears that most Mk. II's were built with the "square" side doors moved further back on the hull than with the Mk. I style doors next to the seats. However, at least some Mk. II's had the Mk. I style side doors (either both or just the driver's side). Your theory about the PE parts being fitted for the "initial" Mk. II could explain the differences.

In regards to the size and shape of the Mk. II side doors. Going by the 1/35th scale plans in Marshall's book (pg. 51, top), the driver's side door is approximately 15.5 mm wide x 14.6 mm high. Note that the height of the door is estimated since the door in the side view plans is foreshortened because the sides of the hull are slanted away from the viewer. I used the ratios between the side (p. 51) and rear views (p. 53) to calculate this value. There are no plan views of the passenger side door, but from photos they appear to be the same size.

Finally, Marshall goes to great lengths to describe the differences between the South African Defense Forces (SADF) version of the Caunter pattern and the standard British pattern. If you're going to badge out your M-H Mk. II as a SADF vehicle, send me a PM, and I'll pass along what Marshall has to say about it.

HTH and happy modeling!

Thanks Mike, every little bit of info helps. I guess there was some trial and error with the doors then, or just hurrying batches out the, erm, door. I was thinking that the doors were square because it's a neat answer. I did some guestimating in a drawing program and need to transfer that to the kit. Based solely on the side shots above, the square is out a little in height as would be expected due to the angle of the upper plate. Close enough for government work should suffice here. If someone else wants to get out the calipers at some point, that would be great for those who want a more definitive answer on how the kit stacks up overall.

As to the scheme, I'll use what's in the box and check that against an official set of drawings, I think they came from War Wheels as well. The colours will be matched as best I can with what I've got at hand. I think I have enough info to get reasonably close.

As to the etch, it would make sense for Part to re-use as much as possible, and again, this set is not specifically designed for the ME release. Hopefully they'll do a dedicated set with some more interior bits. There is room for the aftermarket companies to do their thing with all of the releases, a proper dash, radios for the German version, general stowage and so on for all of them.

This week should be a busy one. Stay tuned.

Kimmo

Hi Kimmo
I've bee n following this with some interest.
I noticed the box art shows a New Zealand vehicle as a NZer I hope you complete this build as a NZ Army vehicle.

All the best


Chris

Thanks for following along. Yes it will be in NZ markings. Would you (or anybody else) by chance happen to know if the caunter would be the standard scheme or whether the slate grey was replaced with light purple brown? I recall reading somewhere that for more temperate climates, this is what was used, or perhaps it was just an option for local commanders to implement at their discretion?

Kimmo

Another shorter than hoped for session at the bench today. I'm beginning to wonder what I've done to offend the scheduling gods. Anyway, doors sorted.

First off, mark the door openings (I went with square) and tape them off to protect the surrounding area. The height looks correct judging from photos. I had to remove a strap from both hull sides to make sure they weren't in the way, another plus with using liquid cement, you can remove pieces fairly easily if you need to.




Next, drill a series of holes not quite at the cut line. Leave a little extra room for the corner.




Remove the excess with a knife, profile the corners correctly with a round file and trim, sand or file the openings smooth.






The doors get cut in half and 2 strips of 20 thou get glued in between. Happily, the plastic was the perfect thickness.





That will set overnight and then get a touch of filler and final sanding.


I got a bit of work done on the turret. The hatches were glued in place as were the pe hatch brace mounts and hatch stops. The mounts were super glued to 5 thou first, then trimmed and glued to the hatches. Well, one decided that the super glue wasn't going to stick so it got the regular cement treatment. I drew alignment lines on the hatches first. The mounts still need a bit of bending to get square.






These will also set overnight and then I can add the braces from 2 Mbit cable again. The real braces are telescoping tubes so once again, this stuff comes in nice and handy.

And that's it for today. I should get a few hours in tomorrow.

Kimmo

So how much did you cut out of the door opening and how much did you add to the door? That looked like an easy fix that I think I can even do.

Cheers

It was about 3 mm. Your mileage may vary a little bit so it's best to measure for yourself. Simply measure the height and width of the opening and the door, and you'll know how much to cut out or add respectively. It is best to do the cutting out before you do anything else to the hull sides.

Speaking of cutting out, I decided not to do anything else to the interior. Looking at the refs, it looks like the last two "panels" of the hull sides got double armour. The middle covers the mg hole and the rear has a rough cut oval for a pistol/rifle port. The Part set unfortunately doesn't include a port cover, so I decided to leave well enough alone. Ditto for not adding storage racks. The door opening being further back would mean a rethink in how it should look and I want to move on.

Kimmo

A minor update today. Continued with the turret and fixing the seams on the doors and got the dashboard tidied up. The braces were made from wire as mentioned yesterday. I pinched the ends of the sheaths a little. The pics are a bit blurry but should show you how it went together. I think I may have the mounts the wrong way around, oh well.




After half an hour or so of clean up, I think I got the dials as good as they're going to get. A drop of gloss on the dials and some glossy white for the dash proper. I also added some glossy white to the interior since I had the stuff mixed.



That's it for today, should be a bit more time tomorrow.

Kimmo

Very nice job on the doors, Kimmo!

I like the way you preserved the leading edge hinge details and how you sectioned the kit doors and added the filler pieces to them. A neat and efficient job all the way 'round.

Also, that's a good trick to illustrate with the .005 styrene on the PE brace mounts. Very useful in those situations where you need time to align the PE parts.

Cheers!

Thanks Mike, us old timers have a few tricks up our sleeves to pass on to the young'uns.

Kimmo

Another quick update. Primer and paint today. Added the latch boxes to the doors, these could be thicker in my opinion, but adds some interest to the doors. The handles will go on later. I couldn't get a decent pic of the bare pieces, just too much glare so this will have to do. You can also see the results of yesterdays clean up and sanded down primer. I need to fix a wee booboo on one of the doors.





Some white on the turret.





And the seats with a coat of primer.



I also got some other bits and bobs painted. I can tell I'm making progress because I'm running out of things to paint white. I should get a good 5+ hour session in tomorrow, knock on wood and sacrifice a 1/4 chicken dinner to the scheduling gods.

The plan is to get the engine compartment painted and weathering started, chassis mounted and engine wired. This is the major area holding me back and I've been waiting for a proper session to get it taken care of. Once that's done, the rear hood can be glued in place and then finish up the interior. When that gets done, then the rest can be done a bit at a time if I only have short sessions available.

Kimmo

Didn't quite get everything I wanted done today, but close enough. I was a little optimistic on how long the wiring would take. It took awhile, let's leave it at that. Here's how it worked out:

First off, the ignition wires need to connect to something so I used my handy wire sheath again. I stretched the opening a bit, and inserted two strands of stretched sprue. I couldn't find any appropriate wire. Then I super glued another two strands at the base to form a strand of 4.



This now needs to go somewhere so I drilled a hole on either side of the thingy on the front of the engine. Mark with a needle first, very small drill then a proper size so that the sheath fits in nicely.





Fan out the wires a bit and get the rearmost into a pre-drilled hole. Stretched sprue is quite flexible if fresh. A dab of super glue and then bend to taste and tack as needed onto the engine block. To make the sprue even more flexible, and to prevent snapping, brush liquid cement onto them.




And repeat for the remaining wires. I realized two things doing this: first off, do this before the fan belt is in place. Second, see above and start from the holes in the heads for a better drape. You could also get fancy and go with an angle bend, adding a piece of sheathing to simulate the spark plug and so on. This will have to do for a first attempt at wiring an engine.

After that, the cooling hoses got glued in place. The fit was ok and with a little filler and paint look the part. I also added the tube at the top of the radiator. No idea what it is or where it's supposed attach to, if anywhere.






As you can see, I needed to do some touch ups with the grey. More weathering will blend everything back together.


The compartment got a coat of paint, a hood latch and hood support frame. For those of you keeping track, the green is 50/50 Vallejo OD and French tanker green. Looking at the Mk I pics, I decided to paint the upper part of the interior firewall green as well. I think it gives it a nice bit of interest.





And that's it for today. More bench time in the cards for tomorrow.

Kimmo

And we're still not at chassis mated to hull stage yet. I seriously underestimated the time needed before I commit myself. Anyways, more paint and added some just about over looked suspension bits to the chassis. The rear bits I had remembered and was just avoiding so I didn't knock them off, but there were quite a few headaches, er, pieces to glue up front as well. It goes without saying that you should do the front end bits before attaching the engine, but it can be done afterwards and do be very very careful removing these pieces!

First off, kudos the the IBG team for all the lovely details and the molding. Secondly, be careful what you wish for when you want highly detailed models. Starting at the rear, I needed to glue 2 rod/struts/thingies. If you glue Ce 17/18 at right angles first, you should have a better shot at attachment. Double check the orientation of the locating pins and holes.





Moving to the front, we get a similar set of thingies attached to an end plate on the springs. I found it better to trim the attachment point off the leaf spring which I had especially taken care not to remove in the first place. Glue the caps Ce5/6 and Ce21 first, then Ce 20 (the horizontal pieces). You should have enough play to get the vertical rods in place if you didn't let the glue dry too long for the first step. Let it dry for a couple of minutes so that it will bite, but not set. Ce 22/23/24 are easy enough, glue the Ce24 to Ce 23 first then that to the chassis.





There's also a pe strap to go over the rear of the transmission. Glue one end down, then press to fit in place, glue the other end.



I glued the pedal mount in place now as well, first I glued small squares of 5 thou to give the pedals something better to attach to.




I did all the touch up painting on the engine and painted the newly glued stuff and another coat of green where needed. In a rare stroke of luck, I actually get some bench time tomorrow, let's see if I can get the chassis mounted this time.

Kimmo

Excellent work Kimmo.

Al

Thanks Al.

Kimmo

Slow and steady will get you there, Kimmo. You're making nice progress by any measure that I use!

BTW: Those strut and lever thingies are "rotary" shock absorbers, also known as "lever arm" shock absorbers. They do look quite odd to the modern eye accustomed to the more familiar telescoping shape.

It's all coming along very nicely though. I'm really liking this build and subject and looking forward to seeing more.

Happy modeling!