TeeELL Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 (edited) Hello fellow Members. With some trepidation I offer my completed Tank Transporter for ribald comment and derision. Elsewhere, I have posted photos to supplement comments within other peoples threads so I thought it wise to capture everything in my own. Firstly then, I offer you the T980 Tractor unit: The decals are 'home brewed' and are taken from photo of the real deal. The 'strongman symbol' is appropriate for the era. The windows have been greased and sand added to reduce the reflective area so as not to advertise the unit to enemy aircraft (in fact the area kept clear was usually smaller than my model depicts. The rear end contains a significant load of sand bags to improve traction in addition to Fuel and Water flimsies, a drum of lubricating oils and a captured 'jerry can' (probably 'liberated' from a rescued tank). Heavy duty chain, rope and restraining blocks make up the remainder of the load. The 'Caution Left Hand Drive' sign is a bit of a disappointment as I found it extraordinarily difficult to get my laser printer to match colour - this was the best I could manage. Mmmmm, my very clever mirrors have lost their 'mirrors' and I only spotted that this evening!! So what is visible is the 'blob of PVA' and the carbon fibre mirror arm. This cruelly enlarged photo shows the driver's mates 'bail out' gear hanging on the front of the load bed, the helmet looks ready for the scrap man!! Fortunately at normal viewing distance it looks OK. Come to that, the huge bits of crud in the paintwork disappear as well. Edited November 17, 2014 by TeeELL 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeELL Posted November 17, 2014 Author Share Posted November 17, 2014 The Diamond T 980 (M20) was coupled with a Rodgers Trailer (M9) to produce the M19 transporter. I've not any photos of the trailer alone and I'm not going to de-couple and remove the Crusader now - sorry. Instead, I offer a photo of the coupling before concluding with the unit complete. In this photo, apart from the Crusader crew having a 'brew up', you can see the winch hawser stowage, the safety chains and the hydraulic pipes for the brakes. The complete unit with load. The Crusader II has escaped unscathed from its action but the Liberty engine has given up the ghost. The Crew 'bail-out' kits can be seen strewn around the tank along with camouflage netting, storage boxes, fuel cans, tarpaulin, 2 captured 'jerry cans'. The rear fuel tank has been capped off and now serves as an additional water source. The tea is being brewed from water heated on an issue portable cooker stowed on board the tank. OK, standing by for incoming!!! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 Nice work, I like that little lot! No pics of the Diamond T interior though.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phildagreek Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 That's good, like it. Which kits have you used? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foghorn Leghorn Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 That's cracking! At first I thought I was looking at 1/35 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeELL Posted November 18, 2014 Author Share Posted November 18, 2014 Keefr, I tried to take some yesterday but the sky was overcast and flash photography didn't work. It is sunny today so I will try again and post any successful shots. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
batcode Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 nice job Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 Keefr, I tried to take some yesterday but the sky was overcast and flash photography didn't work. It is sunny today so I will try again and post any successful shots. Thanks - wasn't meaning to nag, I thought you already had some after reading one of your posts on Nigel's thread. I'd like to see how you did your control levers, but don't spend too much time trying to take pics. Cheers keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeELL Posted November 18, 2014 Author Share Posted November 18, 2014 For Keith in particular but also for anyone interested I have a couple of close-up shots of the interior of the 'office' on my T980 tractor unit. As you will see, despite better light than yesterday and the strategic placing of supplemental lights the office remains difficult to photograph. Whilst clearer with the naked eye it requires deliberate viewing to see the detail (such as there is). The gear and transfer levers were made using nickel silver wire with the tip dipped in either PVA or Araldite to create a 'blob'. Removed any excess Araldite (PVA tends to dry much, much smaller than the 'blob'). Once dry the blob can either be dipped again (repeated until the knob/blob is the size you require), filed to the 'mushroom' shape (again if appropriate), primed and painted. To make the hand brake I bent the end of the NS wire over on itself and then folded that back. A bit of filler/glue in the handle fold and job done. The matchbox/Revell steering wheel is gross and you would need huge hands to grip it. I used nickel silver wire for the column and an etched steering wheel with 4 spokes, to give the grip some 'depth' I ran a bead of PVA around the rim which dried to a D shape, I confess I didn't bother repeating the exercise on the lower side (does that mean I get excommunicated and banned from the Forum?). So here are a couple of photos of the 'office': Oh that is such a cruel enlargement!!, But you can see the Transfer lever, hand brake, steering wheel and just make out the instrument/switch panel. Careful study and you may make out the other 2 lever (one of which is gears, can't remember the others use - sorry, might be high/low ratio or drive selector to the winch - someone will know), those 2 levers are just about visible through the bottom right spoke of the steering wheel, they have black knobs making them difficult to see. This view rather suggests the transfer lever knob could have been made a little smaller, other than that there is little else to see from this side - I really should fabricate a latch - how else will the door stay closed? Bye the way, the drivers mate is holding it with his fist because it is too hot to touch otherwise - well that's my excuse............. I'll finish off with a couple of view of the rear of the trailer and the Crusader tank: I guess that's it really. Happy to post any other techniques I used if it helps, just remember I am very new to this AFV modelling and weathering so I am on a very steep learning curve. I'll do a separate thread on my GMC 353 based Fuel Bowser in due course. (For the sharp eyed amongst you the aircraft in the back ground is a Cuban Revolutionary Airforce Sea Fury, which appears in the aircraft kit review section). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeELL Posted November 18, 2014 Author Share Posted November 18, 2014 I tried a bit of photoshopping to improve the interior shop, so here it is: 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 Thanks muchly, I appreciate the effort, & I have some ideas for mine now! Cheers keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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