I like it, great job!

I have seen only one picture of a real HEMTT were the davit was carried fully assembled. A few had the elbow with the hand winch installed but only one where the arm was in place. Probably a smart move unless you weld them on because otherwise they would vibrate apart and then wouldn't be there when you needed them.

My question: Where/how are these items stowed when not in use?

Everyone I ever worked on, had it in place with the cable/hook wrapped around and through the wheel.

Well I just answered my own stowage questions but I suspect both these photos where taken stateside. Since every truck you worked on Dustin had the davit fully assembled I suspect in combat conditions an extra 10 minutes to put the davit together could make all the difference.


The elbow and crank winch are stowed next to the davit standard on the right side of the vehicle behind the
spare tire and the davit arm is bolted to the upright standard on it's left side.

I am sure I'm not the first to discover this but I think I found the original source for the Italeri boxart:




No photo credit given except; "Camp Franklin (MEK) 11-21-03"

What is this?

I am going to hazard a guess and say it might be the cab air conditioning condenser!

Can anyone confirm?


Original un-cropped photo credited to TacAir Publications and Michael Benolkin - Used here for discussion purposes ONLY.

There seem to have been two types of hydraulic reservoirs: an earlier more complex structure and then a simplified later design. While the Italeri HEMTT uses the simplified version, of course I had to choose the more complex design on the right!


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More on this in a few minutes.

Took me a bit longer than a few minutes!



The air cleaner kind of looks like a minion standing there leaning one elbow on the power steering oil tank!


Early style power steering oil resovour.
Photo not credited

Nice work so far Mike!

I plan on making a Mk48 with a LVS16 towing a M1000 trailer.



Cheers Rob.

Rob, I would love to follow that build! Would really like to learn how that truck is put together.

I assume that massive hinge in the middle of the Mk48 flexes left and right but not up and down which in theory gives it the ride and stability of a ridged frame truck but the manuverability more like a front end loader???

Here is an interesting photo of just the rear LHS portion of the vehicle:

https://www.google.com/search?q=mk+48+usmc&client=safari&hl=en-us&prmd=isnv&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjnm82QodXOAhUIFh4KHeJODM4Q_AUIBygB&biw=1024&bih=704#imgrc=9Re51XC13m7jGM%3A

And a cool photo of the center portion of the truck articulating:

https://www.google.com/search?q=mk+48+usmc&client=safari&hl=en-us&prmd=isnv&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjnm82QodXOAhUIFh4KHeJODM4Q_AUIBygB&biw=1024&bih=704#imgrc=Kw7UZnunvro7dM%3A

Back to HEMTTs

(But don't let that stop you from talking about the USMC Mk48's - I want to learn a lot more there!)

The Real Models kit has you install the muffler mounting brackets on the rear corners of the engine just behind the valve covers. (Kinda makes the engine look like it has wings - Red Bull gives em to you!) But this drawing clearly shows that the brackets mount much wider than that b/c they bolt on right at the very ends of the muffler, way too wide to be mounted to the engine.

Again the TM manual is frustrating b/c it illustrates the sub-assemblies but never gives you an overall view of anything so that you can see where and how things go together!

Anybody out there work with HEMTTs to know the answer?

If interested I found the HEMTT engine manual #TM-9-2815-224-34-P. It can be viewed at:

https://www.nsncenter.com/Library/TM/TM-9-2815-224-34-P

Finished work (finally) on the early style power steering oil reservoir along with that giant canister air cleaner.

A couple of VERY minor details:

I noticed in a photo the other day that the HEMTTs carry their blackout headlight on a crossmember behind that big open screen in the center of the front skid plate. My spares box quickly produced a blackout headlight from an old Deuce and a Half kit in short order.

This is REALLY minor but these two hose fittings on this electro/hydraulic control enclosure are supposed to be offset as you see here and not straight and parallel as Italeri gives them to you.

Mike, I have applaud your will and determination with this project. I sure would have tossed most of the kit by now and moved on to Trumpeter offering. However, you are doing what true modellers should do...build it and use the opportunity to sharpen one skills.

Again, this tread is becoming a gold mine for Hemtt lover. I'm truly diggin' it. So, keep up the good work sir.

I was complaining about the Model Masters "Modern Desert Sand" being too yellow but then it occurred to me; I was using the pastel shaders for my Detroit Diesel engine, why not try it on the entire vehicle?

I started by warming things up and darkening the tone with some light brown and orange/yellow colors and then finished off with straight white to lighten and blend everything together.

I know this photo does not do it justice but the tones and colors are very pleasing now with some slight variations to give the feel of desert weathering.

p.s. Pastels adhere much better to flat paints that have a bit of a surface "tooth" to them. Also it doesn't hurt to do your applications shortly after the paint has been laid down fresh. In these cases I am picking up the pastel "dust" with a somewhat wide (1/4 inch) soft bristle straight edge brush and scrubbing the surface with it.



p.s. The pastels also serve to give the vehicle an overall rather dusty desert look as you might imagine.

Thanks Mike for your words of encouragement. The Trumpeter kit might have been easier in some areas such as when adding the engine but even Trumpy did not incline the differentials and transfer case and their kit has the same problem with the gear head differentials. Just like Italeri, Trumpeter makes all four differentials the same when in reality the #1 & #4 axles should be simple differentials without the gear heads.

With Trumpeter you do get the rear brakes but without actually seeing the kit I can't say what other advantages their newer kit might offer.

Following along VERY CLOSELY, Mike- GREAT WORK!!! All of You Guys are the US Soft-skins GURUS!!!

It's a waffle grill...

I had suspension breaks on their AB-41 and other wheeled vehicles kits after oil paint and mineral spirits washes.

Seems the glue bond with their plastic is not as strong as other brands like Tamiya or Dragon (I'm using Tamiya extra thin liquid cement).

I tend to reinforce the fragilest joints with superglue and accelerator, and try and use acrylic washes (less agressive) on the suspension parts.

Cheers,

Christophe

I thought it was time for another overall progress shot: (I'm big on progress shots.)

Last night I made a move. I opened up the self defense access opening in the roof, so I am now committed to building a gun ring for this baby.


(I scratched that raised ring around the opening.)

I will post a thread here when I start.
I also have the new Trumpeter kit on the way!

Cheers Rob.