I wanted to try something new and put the NBC Stryker on the shelf for a while. I picked up the Italeri M985 HEMTT Gun Truck. I’ve already learned why I don’t mess with Italeri kits anymore; but I’m still gonna make a go over it.
In the very first step I lost a part to the carpet monster, one of the tie-down points, 12A (according to the instructions). I’ve already seen a couple parts in the instructions that were mismarked!
I also lost one of the drive shafts between the #2 differential and the transfer case, 28A. That one fell down into my chair cushion somewhere and I’ll have to cut the lining to get it out!
I probably have the spares you need. Let me look tonight when I get home, and I’ll get back with you.
Personally, I stay away from the Italeri HEMTTs. The Trumpeter ones are way better. I have built a few and used the Italeri bed and tanker parts added to the Trumpeter base kits. In my opinion, they come out so much better and are light years ahead of Italeri in detailing, esp. the cab interior.
I can only agree with Gino. Consider whether you should get a Trumpeter M983 or, even better, an M1120 kit and only take the cargo bed and the crane from Italeri. If you need more parts, I have plenty left over.
I’m starting to think about how I’m going to paint this beast. I’m considering giving it a base coat of Tamiya XF-67 NATO Green then a heavily chipped and scratched top coat of Tamiya XF-78 Wooden Deck Tan. Kind of like it was painted in the field. I still have flashbacks of being in Germany in full MOPP-4 painting our vehicles with brushes as we were about to head over to the Gulf!
One thing I’m wondering about is the steel plating in the cargo bed and around the cab. I’ve seen quite a few pics of other builds of this kit and they all show the added armor being heavily rusted. I’m hearing the ghosts of 1000 motor sergeants crying out at once that the plates added in the field ought to at least be primed. Anyone got any thoughts?
When I built my M985 and HEMAT MLRS ammo carrier, I needed 8 pods. I collected them from MLRS kits that I did not install the pods on (I had built a bunch over the years) and found some on eBay from sellers who part out kits and sell individual sprues.
There was an AM set of two pods from somebody as well. I can’t remember who made them, but they are out of production now.
The Trumpeter pods can be had from Hobby DNA. I bought a couple sets from them (4 pods). They are a little different than the DML and Hobby Gallery pods and can’t really be mixed, so keep that in mind.
