Thanks Nikos, your TM link helped a lot!
Cajun
Thanks Nikos, your TM link helped a lot!
Cajun
The TPU looks great so far. Excellent job. I recently acquired a set of the TPU as well and plan to add it to possibly an M813 conversion, or maybe an M923.
Cool, can’t wait to see how it turns out, you’ve got a decent convoy going on with these trucks in your collection, AFV Club’s 5 ton is an excellent model. Study your TM’s for the fuel unit as I’m sure you will, what I’ve built may not be totally accurate for USARV, in country examples were most likely an earlier gas powered pump with a different metering device and possibly used 500 gal pods on an M54A1, just specultating though.
Cajun
Very nicely done! I wish I’d known you were working on it. On a ride three weekends ago I stumbled upon dozens of these, many converted to fire fighting duty. I even posted a few photos.The bracing looks the part.
magnificent job on that kit.
Ta David! It means a lot coming from you my friend
Cajun
I agree. It is an awesome kit. I recently built one as the base for an M54A2 Quad Guntruck, “Easy Rider”.
Whew! I’m calling it on this truck build. I dreaded the ratchet and straps and with good reason. The PE ratchets are an ideal detail to add that extra bling but they’re exhausting to assemble, let’s note - tape and tweezers are not good playmates! I wanted to show more tautness on the straps but considering the materials used, it was an unrealistic expectation, just too fragile. In fact I’m not wholly satisfied with the restraint situation, the kit shackle rings were either broken in the box, broken while removing from the casting block or broke while trying to clean them up, heck, one broke just looking at it, end result was I didn’t have any spares and didn’t want to rob from any of my stash kits so I decided to simply hook onto the fuel pods’ shackle boss, it worked well enough but I doubt it was field expedient.
The lead wire for the fuel pump plumbing was more resistant to bending than I expected but useing ring pliers left indents in the wire, not cool. The farther I went the more small items were getting broken off, when trying to get the next to last ratchet strap on I had the model leaned over on one side when the weight of the resin pods just fliped the whole bed over and off the frame, ssshite!, and there went the right side mirror frame, SSSHITE!
So, construction note: the bed to frame glue points are not very robust.
It’s still a great little model and was a fun build that does a fine job representing an M54 5 ton . . .
. . . this thing looks like a Locomotive!
. . . the power cable to the pump/sending unit is draped over the power slave . . .
You think an M88 ARV is a big peice of equipment? Check it out next to this big dawg!
The saga continues, up next . . . a USMC M67 fire breathing beast!
Cajun
It came out looking awesome. Great job. I have all the parts to do the same. I think mine may be an M813 though.
I appreciate your complement Gino, thanks for your inspiration!
Cajun
It came great Terry. Nice clean build and the details around the tanks with the straps looks excellent.
Looks great.
Look forward to seeing the M67 build.
Great work
That looks fantastic, and huge! Great build!
Very nice. The effort was worth it on the ratchet straps, they look very good.
Awesome build Terry. Excellent details and a great finish.
Thanks for your comments everyone, do you ever finish one and while you’re studying on it you think “I should’ve done more”, I’m glad y’all like what I’ve built, you’re ALL an inspiration to me by your different builds.
Cajun
Terry, on a well finished build, sometimes, even as I’m placing it on the contest table, I struggle between “I should have done more.” and “I should have stopped sooner.”! It’s plagued me for years.
I hear that. Always bugs me after a build. Sometimes one just has to know when to say when. Otherwise my stash would never go down. Now it goes down at a glacial pace lol!
The demons we struggle with as Arteests! LOL
The Stash . . had a whole different meaning when I was younger lol, but I feel ya brother, even when I’m all into a build it still moves at a snails pace. Thankfully (I can’t believe I just said that) the model makers are slowing down on 'Nam releases, I’ll still never be able to build 'em all though, I fantasize about building ODS AFVs and I’d like to build the Stryker family but . . .
Cajun