I was wondering where the Pro Art PE part #2 tread plate went. They showed it to go on top of the gunner’s platform but it is too wide. Their instructions show to bend it to fit but I still thought it was wrong.
Here you can see the Pro Art instructions showing to place the tread plate on the gunner’s platform
Great catch! Yes, they seem to be the bases for the radios. Pro Art does not show them in their instructions. I already CA glued the radios so will have to try to remove them carefully and fit those bases in.
Painted the Pro Art tread plate but it is only dry fitted for now. Waiting for the Eduard set so I can add the rest before gluing it in. Also added the Pro Art radio base plates. I used AK RC markers to paint the tread plate and radios. Thanks to Rob (18bravo) for the reference photos. Also thanks to loncray for pointing out the radio bases.
For the first Panda M-ATV, yesterday I added the CROWS, rear mud guards and 4 lights on the roof corners. Still a few things to add like the mirrors, wheels/tires, all the clear parts, .50cal and antennas. I also need to touch up the CROWS as that is when the thunderstorm rolled in while I was airbrushing it and lost power. No painting today as we had a thunderstorm earlier this morning and still under threat of more thunderstorms today.
After viewing the reference photo of the camo M-ATV with minigun, it seems that the external storage basket on the side of the turret has a 3,000 round ammo can in it. I had previously scratch built those turret baskets but to fit a 20mm ammo can. I just scratch built a couple new turret baskets to fit the Legend 3,000 round ammo cans. I scratch built two guessing there is one on the other side of the turret as well. I still need to add the mesh.
Worked on the Live Resin M134 today. The metal barrels are from RB Model. It took me over 3 hours just to assemble the metal barrels. I was ready to toss them as they are extremely fiddly to assemble. I will attach the barrels to the rotary assembly some other time. I am tired from working on those barrels. I also have to fix the two barrel clamps below the muzzle.
Got the metal barrels attached to the rotary assembly this morning. The two barrel clamps still need a little adjustment but not going to worry about it as they are extremely fiddly.
This is a different Legend MCTAGS set that I removed from the casting blocks this morning. Some parts not shown. The resin was soft and most of the parts were removed carefully but easily enough with a sharp #11 blade. I switched out the .50cal for a Legend M240.
Still a ways to go to finish it but getting close. Legend has the clear parts molded with the window frames so you need to mask off the clear parts for painting.
The Legend MCTAGS turret is slightly smaller than the Live Resin MCTAGS turret. I have no idea which is the correct size. Overall, the Live Resin looks better to me.
You can see the Legend shield on the left is smaller than the Live Resin shield on the right.
The width of the Legend turret is also slightly smaller than the Live Resin turret. You can see the difference on the back walls. Also, notice the front part of the turret how the Legend connects at the front where the Live Resin version is separated.
I don’t know if there are two different types of MCTAGS turrets but from these JLTV reference photos below, the front should connect so looks like Legend has it correct.
Got the NATO green and brown laid down today on the I Love Kit JLTV. Still a ways to go before closing it up though as I haven’t finished the interior yet.
Got some of the sand on the interior parts painted today for the ILK JLTV. I also painted the sand for the DUKE antennas, BFT and parts of the MCTAGS turret. The MCTAGS turret was alreay painted in Tamiya NATO green and was gloss coated so it looks darker. The shield was touched up so that is why it looks like two different shades of green.
I got the idea to paint parts of the MCTAGS turret in sand from this reference photo. Notice the hood mounted mirrors? ILK, RFM and Sabre did not include the hood mounted mirrors. I have quite a few reference photos of JLTV’s and while most don’t show those mirrors, about 1/4 of them do as this photo shows.
Had a little time last night so I added the DUKE antennas, BFT and the .50cal with ammo can and ammo feed belt on the CROWS for the Panda M-ATV. The hood is still loose but will hopefully glue it down one day.
Got Galactica’s (Priamide) 3D printed LRAS3 mount in the mail the other day from 3Dp Train. It fits almost perfectly on my scratch built weapons plate.
The 3D printed LRAS3 mount circular plate at the bottom that bolts to the weapons plate is maybe 1/2 mm bigger than the area it fits on at the edge of the scratch built weapons plate. The size difference has nothing to do with Galactica or 3Dp Train, I scratch built the weapons plate by eye so I was off by roughly the 1/2 mm. You can see at the bottom right that the circular plate hangs slightly off the edge. I could just add a strip to widen it which I might do instead of scratching a whole new weapons plate.
