Author Topic: M114D (for Diesel)  (Read 5789 times)

Offline Old Wombat

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Re: M114D (for Diesel)
« Reply #50 on: November 26, 2022, 02:38:36 PM »
Can't argue with either of the above.

Great job on the interior :smiley:
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Offline Jeffry Fontaine

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Re: M114D (for Diesel)
« Reply #51 on: November 26, 2022, 02:46:54 PM »
@Frank - Looks great with the additional armor protection and the RWS certainly gives it a new lease on life along with the M113 wheels and sprockets.  One thing that I find odd with your external fuel tanks is the position with the slanted portion being on top and the longer bottom portion sticking out further to the rear.  Have you considered reversing the external fuel tanks to have the slanted portion on the bottom?  I would imagine in doing this it would give more clearance to the hull and tracks to help clear debris that would accumulate in that area on muddy or wet terrain. 

BTW, the commander's cupola on the M114A1/M114A2 is the same cupola albeit modified (heavily) that were put to further use on the LAV-25 TOW ATGM variant, M981 FISTV, and the M901 ITV (TOW ATGM) based on the M113. 
« Last Edit: November 26, 2022, 02:52:12 PM by Jeffry Fontaine »
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Offline Buzzbomb

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Re: M114D (for Diesel)
« Reply #52 on: November 27, 2022, 05:34:29 AM »
Very fine work, in both detail and quality.
It is very small isn't it ?

@Frank - Looks great with the additional armor protection and the RWS certainly gives it a new lease on life along with the M113 wheels and sprockets.  One thing that I find odd with your external fuel tanks is the position with the slanted portion being on top and the longer bottom portion sticking out further to the rear.  Have you considered reversing the external fuel tanks to have the slanted portion on the bottom?  I would imagine in doing this it would give more clearance to the hull and tracks to help clear debris that would accumulate in that area on muddy or wet terrain. 

Quite sound thinking on that Jeff, the lower slant position would also help climbing angle without fouling.

Frank, really like how this is going along.

Offline Frank3k

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Re: M114D (for Diesel)
« Reply #53 on: November 27, 2022, 07:18:54 AM »
Thanks, guys. I'm following Jeff's suggestion and flipping the rear tanks.

Not thrilled about the NATO 3 color scheme, but I'm not sure desert sand would be an improvement.

Offline Frank3k

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Re: M114D (for Diesel)
« Reply #54 on: December 01, 2022, 08:04:04 AM »
I'm going to declare this one finished - it's gone way beyond my "motivation budget" for this kit.

I went with a desert sand color, circa 2002-2003 with the implication that it was painted over NATO green. The Mk 19 grenade launcher is missing in these pictures. All the hatches are open because the TC had a particularly potent burrito for lunch. The usual Inspector and French Guy for scale:





I tried to add some paint weathering in addition to the dust/grime:





The Tamiya rubber tracks (cut to length) were a fail. The road wheels look wonky because they're not glued on:



Here it is with the Mk 19 - I didn't have an ammo box handy, so it'll be ammo-less for now. Assume they're inside the vehicle. The name "Beats Working" is named after a Scree class ship from  Iain M. Bank's "The Hydrogen Sonata"
Quote
Scree-class Contact Unit

The Scree-class was a type of Culture Limited Contact Unit active by c. 19th century CE.
Screes were very small; they were the least expensive type of Contact Unit to build. They were only 80 metres long; types of ancient Culture missiles were larger than them. Screes were nearly unarmed.
The class only had a crew of five. This was regarded as far too small to maintain a healthy psychological state in the Mind.

Appropriate name, I think.



Thanks for following along and all the comments!

Offline Ramba

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Re: M114D (for Diesel)
« Reply #55 on: December 01, 2022, 08:41:41 AM »
Great job! The RWS looks cool and really makes a difference.

Offline Jeffry Fontaine

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Re: M114D (for Diesel)
« Reply #56 on: December 01, 2022, 08:47:27 AM »
As usual Frank you have hit this one out of the motor park once again.  The external fuel tanks at the rear really make this stand out and the addition of the RWS at the commander's cupola would certainly rectify some of the complaints that were common with the Hispano 20mm cannon that it was previously armed with.  The addition of the add-on armor plating to the hull sides puts this vehicle easily into a Twilight 2000 setting. 

The one detail you missed is to not remove the fuel filler cap feature from next to the driver's hatch opening.  But that does not take away from the awesome work you put into this model.   
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Offline finsrin

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Re: M114D (for Diesel)
« Reply #57 on: December 01, 2022, 09:29:46 AM »
Added armor, rear fuel tanks, and tasteful weathering (stains around fuel fillers are nice touch) is realistic.   :smiley:
Lucky to catch photo op at time of burrito fume air out.
« Last Edit: December 01, 2022, 11:22:22 AM by finsrin »

Offline Frank3k

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Re: M114D (for Diesel)
« Reply #58 on: December 01, 2022, 11:03:53 AM »
Thanks, guys. I enjoyed putting the Trumpeter RWS together - not as nice as the AFV Club version (and not as many useful spares) but nice enough. The lenses are different color and match the real world lens reflections, well - although they're not visible in the pictures. I used a strip of flexible resin ammo belt that claimed to be .50 cal, but looks more like 7.62mm. There's a tracer round every 5 rounds, but of course, only one of the three on the strip is visible.

Jeff, I left the existing fuel tank caps in place (there's another one on the glacis) since I would expect it to be a bit of a gas guzzler. I even added a section of fuel line in the interior (made from sprue) to the upper front left of the driver's position, directly under the filler cap.

I noticed that some of the pencil marks on the armor plates are visible under the paint/grime... I was about to repaint the areas, but they look pretty good.


Offline Old Wombat

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Re: M114D (for Diesel)
« Reply #59 on: December 01, 2022, 11:37:50 AM »
Afghanistan, here I come! ;D


Looks awesome, Frank! 8)

And the upgrades are very plausible. :smiley:
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our engine sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Offline GTX_Admin

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Re: M114D (for Diesel)
« Reply #60 on: December 01, 2022, 08:27:35 PM »
 :smiley:
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

You can't outrun Death forever.
But you can make the Bastard work for it.

Offline LemonJello

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Re: M114D (for Diesel)
« Reply #61 on: December 01, 2022, 09:51:59 PM »
Now I have to add a couple of these to the inventory - this is just an exceptionally well done modification.

Great job!

Offline Story

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Re: M114D (for Diesel)
« Reply #62 on: December 02, 2022, 01:54:42 AM »
"Beats Working" looks like something the 48th Infantry BDE (GA National Guard) would have dragged along, had they actually made it to the Sand Box.

For reference, enjoy https://www.ajc.com/news/local-govt--politics/gwinnett-sheriff-keep-military-vehicle-despite-federal-recall/YHQQfXDSRdNUGPu2ozffyK/

Offline Gingie

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Re: M114D (for Diesel)
« Reply #63 on: December 02, 2022, 04:03:25 AM »
Works for me! But I'm biased towards the more plausible whifs, and this is 100% one of those.

Offline Dr. YoKai

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Re: M114D (for Diesel)
« Reply #64 on: December 04, 2022, 03:26:39 AM »
 With it finished and the weapons station in place, the diminutive size of the vehicle is quite evident. Nice finish, Frank. Now I want to go back and re-read Banks-the Minds are some of the neatest characters...

Offline Frank3k

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Re: M114D (for Diesel)
« Reply #65 on: December 06, 2022, 01:28:09 AM »
Thanks for all the comments! I slapped together an ammo box for the Mk.19:



Here it is in a family portrait with the wheeled M113 and HMMWV guntruck:



I was going to add a couple of figures from the Dragon/DML US Tank Crew, but they're US Army from the first Gulf War. I tried to hide the fact with a Trumpeter USMC camo decal for the uniforms, but it fell apart.

Offline apophenia

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Re: M114D (for Diesel)
« Reply #66 on: December 06, 2022, 05:44:08 AM »
Dang that looks good!

Too bad about the uniform camo decals but the three vehicles together do give a really good sense of scale  :smiley:
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Offline Ramba

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Re: M114D (for Diesel)
« Reply #67 on: December 06, 2022, 08:56:01 PM »
Nice collection. Really liking that HMMWV guntruck.

Sorry about the Trumpeter decals falling apart. I use Microscale liquid decal film over the camo decals especially on the Cross Delta, FFSMC and other camo decals. The only one I haven't used the liquid decal film on was the Trumpeter decals. Out of all the different camo decals I have used, Trumpeter were the best ones so far, for me. Try the liquid decal film on yours and see if that would help.



Offline LemonJello

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Re: M114D (for Diesel)
« Reply #68 on: December 06, 2022, 10:07:28 PM »
That's a nice little light armor recon team you've got there.

Offline Frank3k

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Re: M114D (for Diesel)
« Reply #69 on: December 07, 2022, 12:35:16 AM »
I'll try Future on the decals - it's a good substitute for decal film.


It's funny that the HMMWV probably has the most firepower of the bunch - 4x .50 cal, plus the Mk.19 grenade launcher.