Hello all,

This is a project I have been working on for a while, it is Tamiya's Gama Goat in 1/35 scale with a lot of detail added (both scratchbuilt and using Voyagers extensive update set).

As you can see, a lot of the effort so far has been focused on the engine bay.

The engine is about 95% done, some minor details remain. The basic engine block was "stolen" from a Tristar Panzer 38(t) and then the other details added with plastic sheet and various profiles.

I am not claiming 100% accuracy on the engine, but as accurate as I can achieve in the visible areas and good enough to fill out the empty space in the rear.

Some work has also been started on the engine bay, a fair bit of work remains in that area.

The actual vehicle has also received a lot of extra detail. I plan to leave the tilt as it is (just the frame), I have seen this on pictures and rather like being able to leave the tarp off so the drivers compartment will be more visible.

The "strap" between the two rear tilt bars will be shortened eventually, it is not glued in place (also visible in the reference pics I have seen).

Anyway, enough with the text, here are some pics of the progress so far.

Thanks for looking.

NO WORDS!!!!

All I can say is "WOW"! What a great build.

Thank you Andre, I appreciate that very much.

Thank you very much Ronnie for those kind words, very glad you like it.

Beautiful work!

That was the loudest, most obnoxious vehicle I have ever ridden in.

G

Sven, that is some of the best work in styrene that I've ever seen. Your attention to detail is amazing. Such amazing work. Keep up the great work.

Regards,

Eric

Superb work. Look forward to seeing more.

Good to have you back, Sven. Your work has always been very clean and amazingly detailed and the Gama Goat is no exception to the rule.

Wow! Superb scratch work.

What are your ideas on the paint scheme and markings?

Mario

Gentlemen, thank you very much for your very kind words.

Wayne: after reading the accounts from people who served side by side with these vehicles, I certainly don't envy them! :-)

Eric, Chris: that is very high praise indeed, very much appreciated. I'll keep posting as the build progresses.

Mario: thanks for the welcoming back. I have intentionally refrained from contributing here for a longer period of time, sadly the Armorama experience was ruined (for me) by 2-3 individuals with very poor attitudes towards others, have notions of their own self-importance and who do not appreciate opposing points of view.
From now on, I will refrain from getting involved in debates and negative discussions and focus on the positive and constructive modelling aspect of the hobby :-)

To Armorama's credit, I have still visited this site more or less every day and checked out the builds and enjoyed the constructive contributions from the vast majority of this community, yourself included.

Enough about that, and back to the build! Thanks for your very kind comments, it is truly appreciated!

I am going to challenge myself and do this one in MERDC (not sure what "season scheme" yet though).
As far as markings go, not sure yet, the plan is to make this one a shelter carrier.
At first I planned to do a Grenada vehicle until I discovered that the indicator light arrangement was different on those (earlier) vehicles - at least from what I can make out from the pics I have seen, so the marking options are very much open at the moment. Suggestions are welcome! :-)

Stunning work looking forward to seeing the goat painted

Thanks Craig!

A little left to build first , but the paint job will come - soon I hope :-)

Damn this MIGHT be better than the M113..... (just kidding) Great work; its so clean and your pictures are always top notch...

Nice dang job, I drove one back in the late 70's.
Dang sump pump kept going out.
Yours is a dream.




Jeff

Hello Chris and Jeff,

Thanks for those kind words, glad you like the model and the pics.

Chris : if this could be better than my M113 I would be very happy, it would mean that I was improving :-)

Jeff : this vehicle must really have been a piece of crap. It seems as if nobody who drove, served or rode in these things actually liked them. Fun vehicle to model, though! :-)

Yep have to agree a piece of crap, reason why did not last long in service LOL

We lost one in Korea as to a river crossing in flood conditions, and the sump pump either not working or fast enough, cost the lives of two troops on that crossing not in the goat, but in a raft, hear that the Col, that said go, lost his command also.The Imjin in monsoon season, not a river to try and cross, under an exercise.Don't think they ever found the Goat, but we did find the two troops after searching the river for two weeks, both were found way down river, almost near the Yellow Sea? , how do I know I was a mechanic on the boats looking for bodies as we were the only American bridge unit there. Bummer we did not find them, but we did find a dead women, and a bunch of dead pigs.Crazy place as we scrambled to catch these floating bodies,which turned out to be dead pigs.Happened right before I left country.

Solider on.




Jeff

Jeff, thanks for that very interesting account. It certainly puts things into perspective. You are actually the second person this week to tell about soldiers who lost their lives due to problems with the Gama Goat, that is terrible and tragic. I can honestly understand that it is/was not a loved vehicle.

My dear friend
I feel it's my obligation to point out to you, that here on this forum, we strive for excellence and perfection, so please bare this in mind, the next time you choose to show off your work. But since you clearly weren't aware of this, I'm going to give you a second chance to improve your building techniques and basic skills.
Ha ha, I'm very happy to see you back here, and I really hope to see you again at this year's C4 in Malmø.
Your friend
Jacob

Hello Jacob!!

I am so sorry for shaming this site with this crap build, I should have known better. I will definitely take you up on that second chance, please do not give up on me :-)

Good to be back, my friend, its been a while.

Yes, we will meet at C4. Perhaps I may even have a model finished by then.. haha
Look forward to seeing you again, and your wonderful models of course!

Sounds great, and I really look forward to see this Goat in the flesh. I mean, you have pleeeenty of time to finish this up 😉
Jacob

Outstanding detail work. Super clean and consistent.

Haha, yes there should be a lot of time to get this done. I'll see what I can do, hopefully I can keep the tempo up now and get it finished by October :-)

Thank you for those kind words, KoSprueOne, I very much appreciate it.

The build continues...

I realized at an early stage that if I was going to expose the engine compartment, I would not be able to use the Tamiya engine compartment hatch, since it has no details inside and the louvers are only molded onto the outside surface.
This is by no way a short cut or oversight on Tamiya's part, they simply did not design the kit to be displayed with an open hatch.

Anyway, for my project the only choice I had was to scratchbuild it.

I have been putting this one off for a while, I anticipated a real nightmare with all those louvers, but as it turns out once the work started it was fairly straightforward, even though it took some effort to ensure the straightness of the louvers.

I had my trusty Chopper to help, which was a God-send considering the quantity of equal length pieces I needed (over 100 of them).

Anyway, I am now calling the engine hatch done, except for a couple of handles and hinges on the outside.

Here are some pics.

Thanks as always for following!

That is simply outstanding work. If I was to try out something remotely as complicated as that, I'd be locked up in an asylum.
Jacob