Still a few odds and ends to finish. I want to do an air ID panel on the roof. Stowage will be strapped down. Dark wire wrapped around the ladder is part of the grounding wire often seen in photos.

Any thoughts to make this better before Saturday would be appreciated. I am taking it to a contest.







Bob

I double checked that right front wheel. It is not crooked. I think my camera lens distorts objects on the edges of the photo for these extreme close-ups. And the light has browned out the passenger side of the interior of the cab in this photo.

Now thats what i call oil spillage. Great job on the weathering!

I also presume the missing headlights etc were all part of the wear and tear look?

Would love to see a shot that has the entire kit in view. ie: from a 45 degree angle.

Looks great! The stains from the fuel tank top hatch are awesome! The completed model is something else to see, and I'm glad you posted the earlier in-progress shots to show the progress. This in it's entirety would make a good article for one of the trade magazines.

Great work Burik

Ive followed your progress with interest as I have the M977 to build and your m978 has been an inspiration to me


Ian

looks great...if this is a desert vehicle, then i would expect to see the tires really dusted with a sand color. The only parts that would be dark rubber would be the treads that come in contact with the road...your tires are way too dark. The bag on top would also have a great amount of dust...tire flaps could even be abit more worn around the edges...i would even make a couple of the reflector lamps look damaged, as if the lens was broken. With the condition you have the rest of the vehicle in, it would make sense that a few light would be broken. NOT the headlamps and blinker mind you...but the orange reflectors that are all around the vehicle...the two bottom ladder rungs could be abit bent too...the spillage on the driver's side rear could use some dusting down abit, cause it too looks way to dark and out of place on this desert conditioned vehicle.

good luck on the contest...you've really done this kit right...

kevin

IIRC JP-8 are a clear to a very light amber in color............ My Furure Brother in law took me to the AFB Lab he works in testing fow water in all of the JP-8 on Base the samples i saw in the lab were clear (they had a couple jars of "Apple Jelly" (JP-8 that had water in it then Froze in the truck)

BOB,
Great looking WV. paint finish is suppurb. Love the weathering and attention to detail. You should do well GOOD LUCK. keep us posted.

hey Matt...WTF RU talkin about?

I beieve Matt was referring to the dark stains from the fill point on top of the tank on the model, and that the shade was too dark considering the JP-8 color he has observed in the past.

Burik, I realized after looking at the photos again that the light colors are off (partially): The side reflectors on the rear of the vehicle should be red, not amber, and the clearance lights on top of the rear panel would also be red. Easy to remedy, though.

It dosn't look like they are weathered either. It seem that they are really overly bright. I could be wrong thats just what it looks like to me. Also b/c of the dust kick up while the truck is rolling off road, the back would have a lot more dust covering it. The decals on the back almost look untouched.... The tail lights would also be red and not amber

I do think that you did a great job, and that it looks great though. So please don't get me wrong

Okay folks, I guess I need to clarify some things. I did not put the sand pigments on the truck yet. So, yes, the decals and everything else will be dusted and not so clean looking. The rain streaks will not look so stark either at that point. This will be the last thing I do after gluing the model down to some base so no hands touch it again. The stowage on the truck is not done yet either. It was still wet when I added it and I moved onto other things,like taking the photos.

I don't know about the color of the lights... I checked the trucks on Prim Portal and it seemed these were the colors. I'll have to recheck.

The fuel stains are meant to be dark since the fuel soaks up all the dirt on the vehicle plus what settles into it from the air. I like the passenger side better too, but I still think the driver's side is okay since that could be an additional spill or whatever. See the stain here:



I really appreciate the input.

Bob

My two cents: From the tankers that I've seen in my time I would say to add a bit of future to gloss up the spills. In what I've seen the spills seem to have a "sheen" that maybe the pics don't show. What ultimately matters is that you are happy with the model and remember that you are the only one who can see it in real life. Maybe we're missing some of the finer points that have already been mentioned. I think you've done a great job !

Yes, it looks like the rear reflectors should be red. I will change that.

I think that it looks great. It looks like the ones that used to top my panzer off.

well if your not completely done with it....why does it look so damn good?

great work my friend...sit back and have a beer

It's looking better every day--you need to let us know how it fares in the contest. I think if you dust up the reflectors it would make it even more realistic. As it is, though, it already looks just like the one in the upside-down reference pic you posted.

Thanks everybody for your input. I'm not sure about dusting up the reflectors. In looking at the Iraq trucks on Prime Portal it does not seem the dust is over the lenses really, at least not noticeable. I think I will dust them up with pigments and see how it looks and then go from there.

I'll post some finished photos of the truck when I have time after I get back from this business trip. I also plan on doing a vignette for this. Both crewmen out of the truck and returning fire at Objective Curley - the supply column had to pull over at a time since the enemy definitely had a say at Objective Curley, for awhile anyway.

Bob