I had a few days off due to Hurricane Idalia and was stuck in the house. Prayers for those affected. We were spared here in Tampa; just some wind and rain.
I worked on the M871 while cooped up and finished it up. I got the MiniArt pallet set in and discovered that they are not right for modern pallets. They are Euro pallets which are too narrow. The MREs are the size of a modern pallet.
They are easy to fix though. I cut the two outer boards off of one pallet, and added them to another pallet.
Once glued together, it is the correct size. All you have to do is adjust the underside supports and you are set. It took 3 Euro pallets to get two larger ones. I was able to get nine pallets out of the set, which originally came w/12 Euro pallets. I was able to cobble together an extra one from left over cutoff pieces.
Here is how they look with cargo on them. Each piece also has shipping labels and is properly tied down. I also made a couple water bottle case pallets in the same manner as the MRE pallets. Since it is a USMC tractor/trailer combo from ODS (Op Desert Storm, '90-'91), the cargo includes: T142 tracks, M60 road wheels (both steel and aluminum), and an M60 cupola.
Additional cargo. The wooden crates are from Miniart as well.
Here is all the cargo.
Here is the trailer weathered with a couple sand and brown washes, some green chipping, and some sandy drybrushing.
And with the cargo loaded.
I mated it with an M931A2 Tractor I had built a few years ago.
I gave it an overall update while I was at it. I added instrument and placard decals in the cab and added the air lines and power cord back to the trailer, along with James Lee’s 3D printed gladhands. I also added a few other details and decals here and there to spice it up a bit.
This “quick weekend build” turned into a couple weeks, but was really fun and I am satisfied with how it turned out. Building all the cargo and other added items really added to it, but were well worth it.