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Hi all, Here's my just finished 1/72 Diamond T Asphalt Truck. It's the IBG kit, which I got from the hobbyshop last week. Great little kit, with excellent detail and fit. The only slight dissapointment are the headlight guards, which are not clear. I used some MRP Olive Drab on it. Thanks for looking, I hope you like it. Pete

My next contribution is the M19 tank transporter. A Revell rebox of the Matchbox original. There are three very dark green sprues, including a lovely base. I had taken a photograph before slapping on some paint but it got corrupted so this is after a coat or two of paint. There's a bit of flash and a lot of mould lines so it will need cleaned up as we go along. So it'll need painted at the end but this will act a small cover for some the more hidden parts. Also the green colour takes a lot of coats to cover up so this will act a small an undercoat. Several pages of instructions. Colour call outs for 4 options, two North West Europe, one post war Bundeswher and an Israeli version, along with the requisite transfers. Alas, no Western Desert option as included in the original MB boxing.

Having returned to the hobby after a great many years and having a practice build on a few models, I decided it was time to embark on a project to model my Dad's British Army Diamond T tank transporter. He used to drive them during his time in the Army in the 1950's and my aim is to faithfully replicate "his" T. This means I'll be doing some minor modifications, including a little bit of scratch building and custom decals... neither of which are things I've ever attempted before. For the trailer I've purchased Accurate Armour's Dyson 50 Ton trailer - and working in resin is something I've not done either!https://accurate-armour.com/our-products/135th-kits/k168Just to add that I'm a very slow builder. I don't get huge amounts of time to devote to the hobby and I do tend to be away a lot with work. That said however, this is intended to be presented to my old man in a finished state whilst he still has all his marbles! This is him (on the left) with his No.2: And this picture is of one of the tractors in his company. Note the position of the mirrors and the gun hatch on top of the cab. Anyway, on with the kit. For the tractor I'm using Merit's 1/35 M19 kit. Having come from a 1970's Airfix background I'm finding the quality of the kit and packaging to be outstanding. Some of the parts are tiny... and my ageing eyes need extra magnification! Engine block goes together nicely. I've already spent a lot of time on my hands and knees searching for tiny bits of kit that have pinged out of my tweezers! These two parts are roughly 1mm across and fit onto the generator.I had to thin the belts in order to make everything fit. At first I thought it was a problem with the kit but I then realised I'd made a schoolboy error with the orientation. Luckily there is a spare belt because I broke one with a bit of over vigorous sanding. Tip: The longest side of the triangle should be in vertical. Clamping up to keep everything aligned whilst the glue sets... I'm thinking that I should prime and paint it before adding in the air and oil filters (which are different colours). I'm also considering whether I should add wiring looms, or whether that is a step too far for my skills. Work has also started on the chassis.

Diamond T Model 969 Wrecker. Pics thanks to Steve F

I'm rather pleased with this one: Diamond T 968/ William Bros 'SnoFlyr' rotary snowplough. Used by the RAF from about 1943, originally developed for the US Navy, these were versions of a civilian highway model, themselves versions of a railway design. The chassis was cut a little shorter at the front, and obviously the winch & front bumper assembly left off. The support frame assembly was scratch-built. The Rotary Snowplough was scratch-built using plasticard and microstrip and rod. There are some pictures on the web of this unit attached to a FWD HAR-1, and I used these pics and a copy of January 1946 edition of Popular Mechanics (bought on the web) to produce a scale(-ish) drawing. The engine cover on the rear was again scratch-built using plasticard. Most of the RAF examples had a Coventry Climax R6 engine to power the snowplough, through a transfer case, and provide hydraulic power for the controls and lifting gear. The chap was from one of the many Airfix RAF vehicle sets. I reshaped head and hands to represent a woolly hat and gloves, and added a tissue paper(+PVA glue) leather jerkin (the famous 'Don R'), on which I tried to represent the wind. The colour scheme is basically US Olive Drab, mixed to Mike Starmer's spec. At this stage of the war the RAF didn't re-paint vehicles until they needed it- so most RAF vehicles would've been in the colours they were supplied in. I sprayed Humbrol Glosscote over it, applied the decals and a light blackwash, and finished with a coating of Humbrol Mattcote. I did a quick dusting of artists pastels to get the snow effect. The base was a spare piece of cotton glued onto the base and covered in a filler called 'OneTime' this is a lightweight decorators filler (uses micro balloons) designed to fill deep holes and dry quickly. AS you can see it dries really white, and rock hard.

US Diamond T 968A Cargo Truck Mirror Models 1:35 History The Diamond T Model 968 Truck, Cargo, 4 ton, 6x6 (G509) was produced during World War II, beginning in 1941. Early production used civilian instruments and other parts. The designation was changed to Model 968A when military standard instruments and components were substituted. It was produced with both the closed metal cab and, by 1943, open soft-top military cab. The final version was 968B. Its military role was as an artillery prime mover and for general cargo transport. The Diamond-T 968 Truck, Cargo, 4 ton, 6x6 was powered by the 6 cylinder, 529 cu. in. Hercules RXC engine that developed 106 hp. mated to a five speed manual transmission and two speed transfer case. The truck weighed 18,450 pounds and could tow 25,000 pounds. The Model The kit comes in a glossy top opening box with a depiction of the truck in use on the top. On opening the box is jam packed with seven sprues of light grey styrene, a small sprue of clear styrene, a small photo etched brass sheet, a vacformed tilt and a length of rope. Whilst the mouldings are very nicely done with some great details, there is a feeling of a limited run kit to it. The sprue gates are quite large, even for the smallest of parts and the plastic appears quite hard. The instructions too are not what we’ve come to expect from modern manufacturers, being a little in-descript and sketch like. Although the sketches are clearly drawn the parts location isn’t always that clear. With the best part of five hundred parts in the kit, the majority seemingly concerned with the chassis and suspension, great care will be needed when building these sections up. The build begins with the construction of the eight wheels. All the wheels are injection moulded and come in two halves and because of the big sprue gates they will need quite a bit of cleaning up along with the resulting seam once joined together. The front wheels are provided with an inner brake drum and outer centre hub, whilst the rear wheels are joined together by a much larger brake drum with a fluted centre piece and a rear panel, plus an outer central screwed panel. The spares require a hole to be drilled to allow fitting into their respective positions. The points where the holes are required are clearly marked. Next is the engine build. This is very comprehensive and begins with the assembly of the block, which comes in two halves, to which the sump is attached, followed by the cylinder heads. The auxiliary drive unit is fitted to the front, whilst the clutch and gearbox are fitted to the rear. The numerous ancillary parts are then added, along with the intake and exhaust manifolds, air intake filter unit, distributer, auxiliary drive belt and cooling fan. If the modeller wishes, they can super detail the engine with the addition of wiring and piping, especially if the engine covers are to be posed open. Once the engine is complete it’s on to the radiator, radiator housing and grille consisting of seven parts. Then it’s on to the drive train, with the assembly of the front axle, which comes in four parts, the transfer box, and the wheel mounts, complete with ball joint for the steering. The steering rack is then attached followed by the CV joints. Now this is where the instructions go a bit awry, instead of build the rear axles, it moves off to the building of the winch, which is a very nicely detailed unit, which just requires some rope to wrap on it. We now move onto the chassis the two longitudinal rails are fitted with several crossbeams, the completed winch, plus the front and rear end pieces. With the chassis rails closed up the air bottle and towing hook assembly can be attached. The front suspension hangers are then attached in their respective positions, followed by the leaf springs and the front axle sub-assembly. The rear suspension hangers are now attached, and then it’s on with assembling the complex number of parts for the rear suspension. These include the axles, transfer boxes, dampeners and air units. Whilst great care will be required to assemble all these and fit them to the chassis straight and level, it will be well worth it as the detail is quite amazing. There is an intermediate transfer box between the front and rear drive units along with the drive shafts and universal joints, which all have to be aligned correctly. With the drive train and chassis nearly complete the engine mounts and engine is fitted along with the associated drive shafts to the intermediate gearbox. Moving on to the cabin the complex set of levers is assembled and fitted to the cabin floor, followed by the seat mounting frames seat squabs and rear cabin panel. The seat backs are then fitted, as is the rear panel window. The drivers’ compartment front bulkhead comes in a single piece moulding, to which the drivers pedals are fitted along with the instrument panel, coaming and steering wheel bracket. The two piece steering column is assembled and passed through the cabin floor and previously fitted bracket. The wheel can then be attached along with what looks like a column shift lever made out of 0.3mm wire provided by the modeller. The cabin roof is now fitted with the two windscreens, following the written instructions carefully. The roof is then attached to the front coaming first, before being attached to the front of the cabin floor and the rear cabin panel. You must then dry fit the cabin with the engine cover so that the gearstick spigot fits into the hole in the gearbox, whilst at the same time the steering rack gearbox fits into position above the front axle. The written instructions here are in fact very useful, but take your time to get the alignments right. Once the cabin is glued into position you can start fitting the engine panels, the front mudguards, mudguard supports, lights and light protectors, followed by the front bumper. The cabin doors are fitted with their clear windows, but before fitting to the cabin, they will need door handles and window winders made up of 0.3mm wire. The cabin is then completed with the fitting of the roof convoy light and the wing mirrors. At this point the wheels assembled at the beginning of the build can be attached to their respective axles. The two fuel tanks are then assembled along with their supporting bracket assembly under the cabin, followed by the two footsteps, one each side. The truck bed is assembled from the bed, which has seven angular strengtheners attached underneath, front and rear panels, inner side panels and outer cargo bars, which have headrests built into them. The rear mudguards are attached to the rear underside of the bed with a fuel can holder fitted to the left hand mudguard. The bench seats are then fitted to either side of the bed and the now completed assembly can be fitted to the chassis. Lastly the two spare wheels can be attached to front of the bed on the brackets provided. Normally this is where the build finishes, but with this kit the modeller is actually provided with a vacuform tilt, which when cut out and painted slides over the cargo bars and tied to the wire hooks which will need to be made up from 0.3mm wire. It’s nice to see this option as it is rarely available in recently released truck models. Decals The small decal sheet provides decals for two different registrations, along with various placards for around the truck. There are also various sizes of US star and a number of unit markings for which you will need to check your references. Conclusion It’s great to see this truck finally released as an injection moulded kit. Whilst it is certainly not for the beginner, with care, patience and a bit of skill the average modeller should be able to produce a great looking model. The number of parts is quite daunting, but this is only due to the impressive level of detail for the drive train and chassis which will actually be quite visible. The addition of the tilt is a nice touch; just wish other manufacturers included this. All in all an excellent kit, and one I can quite happily highly recommend. I can also recommend the Squadron Signal Walk Around book on this series of trucks, a very useful reference guide. Review sample courtesy of

Diamond T 4 Ton Truck Squadron Publications Walk Around Originally designed for the Quartermasters Corps’ need for a prime mover for the 155mm howitzer, the Diamond T truck featured robust construction and a powerful Hercules engine. The Corps found the truck well suited to their needs, in particular as a dump truck, and strongly favoured the Diamond T over the ubiquitous 2.5ton GMC CCKW cargo dump. Unfortunately the Diamond T cost almost twice as much as the CCKW, a considerable hindrance to mass procurement. In addition to the short wheel base prime movers, dump trucks and general cargo trucks, a long wheel base version of the Diamond T was built for use by the Canadian forces, and the widely used Diamond T 4 ton wrecker shared the shore wheelbase chassis. Serving as the standard US Army wrecker, the Diamond T featured a twin boom wrecker bed, which allowed side recoveries to be made. The book is printed in Squadron Publications standard landscape format with a short history of the type, but only a couple of photographs of WWII vintage. The rest of the book is dedicated to the very detailed walk rounds of four restored vehicles that are still drivable today. These are the closed cab short wheel base cargo, open cab cargo, closed cab wrecker and open cab wrecker. All the photographs are in full colour and well annotated giving not only descriptions of what’s in the photo, but also explanations on how certain parts worked. The book is very well laid out and printed to a high standard. The condition of the depicted vehicles allows the modeller to build their projects with a high attention to detail, after which they can weather the models to whatever degree they wish. Conclusion This is another superb book from Squadron Publications. It’s just a shame that there are so very few kits released to make full use of the detail and information held within the pages. Maybe one day this will be rectified. I can still recommend this book as the quality of the photographs is so good.