I’ve had this Hsuky VMMD in my stash since it came out, and I’ve never really had a chance to assemble it or even sell it.
When I saw this campaign, I decided to assemble it.
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Wow! Please please do that! That would be a fantastic beast of a model!
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i saw one of those take an underbelly in Tal Afar in 05. i was in my stryker behind it while it was doing it thing. the explosion was so big, it ripped it into three pieces with the operators compartment tossed into the air and landing on its side. Couple minutes later we see the operator door open and the kid stands up, gives us the wait a minute finger and lights up a smoke sitting on the edge of the door. we were sure he didnt make it. damn good vehicle for sure.
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Charlie,
I’d personally love to see an Ironclad - especially scratch-built! It would be cool to watch the process and see the bits and pieces from the other manufacturers that you’d add.
Yeah, Ironclad!
Mike 
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Iron clad models are few and far between. Wish there were more around that were not expensive resin kits.
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Incredible.
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For anyone who wants to scratch build a United States Civil War ironclad, one option is to use an existing card model as the template. When basing a model on an existing model there is always the danger of copying errors, but if the goal is to gain building experience performing such a task, it is a relatively easy way to get that experience.
Head over to ecardmodels,com and look at the offerings from a publisher called Heinkel Models. He offers a whole bunch of United States Civil War era ships and submarines. They are very inexpensive. Download the .PDF, scale it to whatever size you desire, and use the card model as a template for your plastic model or wood model. This is much easier than hunting down plans and trying to make sense of them.
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Hey, wait a minute! That’s called peer pressure and that’s a form of bullying! I’m not going to be bullied… ok, I’ll do it.
I’ll bust out the plans this weekend and see whats in there. Bought the plans from a ship-modelling hobby shop in El Paso called the Dromedary. Don’t know if they’re still in business but they had everything for plank-on-frame builds from plans to belaying pins. Some of the sets are phenominal, all are decent.
Let’s see what happens,
Charlie
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Welcome aboard guys. Looking forward to seeing those for sure!
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Excellent idea, Peter!
When I saw this GB, this kit immediately came to mind:
Just three days… the countdown has begun.
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Good to see you back here. Nice choice Welcome aboard.
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That’s an hell of a story !
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Tomorrow! I’m getting impatient but holding it together (I really am trying)! 
I’m calling this build a KV-3A (did a bit of digging and didn’t find a KV that was a -3).
Mike
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Yup! Gentlemen start your engines!!!
Today is the day
One each unassembled 4-8-8-4 Big Boy locomotive.
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OK, went through the plan sets last night and kinda narrowed it down. I’m thinking maybe the CSS Albemarle, or USS Carondelet. This is subject to change at this point (commitment issues). At some point I’d like to do the Cottonclad CS Bayou City but I don’t have any plans… or time… or space. As it is, whichever one gets built is going to need a truck to move it around.
Charlie
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Uh, just how big are some of these Ironclads you are or will build??? 
Mike
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I have a kit with a cab in one piece with just a door removed. Is it still good for this campaign ?
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Depends on the scale,
a normal rowing boat in 1/2-scale is pretty big
but a battle ship in 1/700 scale is small …
CSS Carondelet 196 feet long by 38 feet wide
CSS Albemarle 158 feet by 35.4 feet
CS Army Gunboat Bayou City was 165 foot long
1/35th scale was mentioned, 67 and change inches long
by 13 inches wide for the Carondelet …
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Technical question. For metal tracks, in the past, I’ve used Fruilmodel links. Fruil’s used to come with wire so there were no “inside” or “outside” ends of the wire.
These Master Club tracks have two pins per length (see the picture [different brand, same pins]). Which pin goes on the outside of the track? Nut end or flat end? Common sense says the nut end, but…
Just answered my own question: a flat-headed pin that inserts from the hull side of the track link, and a pin with a washer and cotter pin that inserts from the outside of the track link.
Thank you for your assistance.
Mike
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Many Russian tanks used pins that only had a forged head.
The head was to the inside. At the rear of the tank there was a sort of
ramp fixed to the side of the hull. When the track links passed by the
ramp smacked them back into position if they tried to creep inwards
(toward the hull), the forged head stopped them from going outwards.
I believe German designers copied this design.
Tankers were constantly checking for missing cotter pins when the
tank was stopped.
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