Hi Guys

Finally finished Tamiya's M8 Greyhound , the kit was up to their usual high quality as you would expect from Tamiya and went together with no problems what so ever.
Any comments , contructive critisim greatfully accepted as allways.

I intend to display it on a dio undergoing long needed mantainence hence the well worn look of the vehicle.
I scratchbuilt a complete engine , radiator housing and fuel tank (its not 100% accurate but i do intend to have a couple of GI's with there heads under the hoods so it wont be that noticable )

I added some extra detail inside the hull and turret with plastic card , wire etc.

I opened up one of the side panniers (which i have just noticed still have not had the latches glued on yet DOH!!!!!!!!! )

And finally did some minor surgery on the front wheels to show them at an angle, basically had to saw through the axles and replace the steering rods with wire.

And last but by no means least a big thankyou to members Piwi and Plasticbattle who provided lots of reference pics and material, I owe you guys

Looks great Ian,
I really like the subtle weathering tones you have done on the M8 . Very well done , looking forward to seeing the finished dio .
Richie

Great looking M8 Greyhound, Ian ! Your interior is excellent. Overall finish looks good, and I like the beat-up battered look you have on this M8.

Looking forward to seeing your diorama

Cheers !!

Alpen

great looking greyhound ian... one of my favorite ww2 softskins...

how was the kit interior? is it good enough without any AM?

Thank for your kind comments Guys

Mojimbo , the turret is fine , its missing a few small brackets and thats it , however there is very little in the way of interior regarding the drivers compartment.
Included are - seats , steering wheels , control panel and gear shift.
From the reference pics i have, the walls have wiring brackets for personel equipment , radio connecting boxes etc , all easily enough reproduced with some plastic card and wire

I went overboard and made pedals for the driver , added a couple of m1's as personal weapons , shame you cant see them

Ian

the MG is nicely detailed though the barrel should be drilled. i like the tool box and opened hood and bin. did you scratchbuild the engine? excellent job..it would be nice to show some more details and pictures of the greyhound. and yes..i just hope they'll release kits with steering assembly for realism..a treat for softskin modellers.

Ian,

I like it. I hope my M8 and M20 will turn out as nice. Any way to get a detail shot to show the modifications to the steering? That's one "detail" I planned to add.

Thanks in advance,

Mike

Thanks Stainless
Whoops on the 50cal , i will drill it out , cant believe I drilled the 30cal coax and missed that




Yes, the engine is completely scratchbuilt , there are some pics of it prior to adding the hull top and engine covers in my gallery.





Mike , Its difficult to see the modification to the steering as I used the seperate brake shrouds to cover up the cuts in the axle and replaced the straight steering rod with thick wire and simply cut about 5mm off end off the kinked steering rod and added the same length to the opposite end.
Plasticbattle a member on this site ,sent me the instructions for the Resicast M8/M20 steering kit conversion which i used for reference , if you message me with your email addy i will send them to you if you are insterested

Ian

Ian,

I have to say this is the one of the best M8 that I've ever seen. Nicely executed. That additional details must have been endless hours of enjoyment to plan and build. The only comment I have is the chain hanging on the right could be a bit more rusty in order to blend in with the vehicle.

The fixed steering is the most disappointing item of the kit considering Tamiya had moveable steering in their older kits. I am glad to see someone sorted it out. If you don't mind sharing that Resicast instruction, I can PM you will my e-mail address.

Excellent work Ian. Your M8 looks absolutely great.
I love that worn look.
Will be looking forward to see those Gi's working on your wonderful Greyhound.

Looks really nice Ian,
I like the paint chips , the scratches & oil stains on the rear deck . Very nice .
Love Jenny

Looking great Ian. Your research and extra work has really paid off. On top of that, the paint work is amazing. Love the weathering ... just perfect .... very realistic. The tool box is a nice little addition. Is that scratched as well, or is it one of the PE sets?
Hopefully my own M20 looks as good when I get around to it! This is very inspiring.
If I were to nit-pick one thing, it would be the stowage/tarp rolls. With your very apparent scratching skills, you could have knocked up some rolled tarps, etc, that would have looked much better than some of those poorly moulded types. They´re not in the same class as the rest of the vehicle.
Or, Plus models have resin sets (both allied and german) that are nicely priced (approx £4) and would be a better option, IMO.

Excellent job.
You've made a good job of the interior- I wondered whether you'd follow up the engine build with that. Need a 'thumbs-up', Paul McCartney-stylee smiley... nice one

Hi Ian! Awesome Greyhound you've got in there! It's really great! A masterpiece! Congratulations!
Cheers and happy modelling!
Prato

Have to agree with Frank here
But as for the rest, this is fantastic... The subtle realignment of the front wheels is a perfect touch. For you to scratch build an engine is commitment........Seen some great pics of M8s in one of the Zaloga concorde books. Will get around to them at some stage...

Nicely executed. Love the weathering. Tool box is a nice touch. Keep up the good work. Well Done.

Thanks Guys your comments are greatly appreciated






Frank the tool box is from italeri's field maintainence set , except in the kit the tool box is closed so i used the end peices and made a "box" from lead foil and filled it with the tools supplied in the kit.




:-) I see your point Frank and Bradley , I will make some new tarps from tissue and pva but im going to wait till i start the dio as i want to have tarp laid near the vehicle with more tools/spares on it , ive also got a bucket half full of engine oil to put under the engine as if its got a major oil leak

Ian

Oh btw does anyone know if anyone makes any figures of mechanics or could be adapted ???


Thanks Ian

Ian,

The pics arrived. I do believe that they will also help me convert the front to a "turned wheels stature."

Thank you (and the originator; Plasticbattle)!!

Mike

Your welcome Mike , hope it helps


Happy modelling

Lovely job, been thinking of getting this Tamiya kit for a while.. Nah , I'll just go and get it.

Go for it Murdo its a beauty , although I did read somewhere that the wheels are overscale but what the hell :-)

ian

Ian,

Thanks again for the instruction.
Thank for sharing, Plasticbattle.

Your welcome Donald