RAM's M41AM Vietnam 1968

[Old Wombat]

OK, back to my favoured field of Armour!

This build was started on Christmas Island, where I did the basics, & has been my project since finishing the Surefire & getting my modelling spot set up.

It is the Tamiya M41 Walker Bulldog, modified & slightly accuratized. The guns aren't finished, yet, & were placed for the photo's.

Quite a bit of work has actually gone into this (between dealing with the maintenance back-log & getting ready for my daughter's 18th next Monday) including scratch building the turret side bins, fitting the mount for the L7 GPMG, modifying the front guards & scratch building different rear guards, "glazing" the drivers vision blocks, putting some padding on the commanders hatch, moving the gun's travel-lock & the tools, & making a mantlet dust cover from white decal film. I, also, filled all the holes & cavities so common in 1970's era Tamiya motorizable kits.

Here she is, so far:













Hope you're liking what you see.

Comments welcome!



Guy

[Jeffry Fontaine]

I like your way of making improvements to the M41.  Did you fabricate the stowage boxes yourself or did they come from some other source?  Making the mantlet cover from decal material is a new one to me, have you seen the rubbery material mantlet dust cover from AFV Club?  I am told it will fit the Tamiya kit plus the AFV Club kits including the Skybow M41. 

[Old Wombat]

Jeff;

The stowage boxes/bins are scratch built using styrene sheet, angle & little bits of rod. I was unaware of the AFV mantlet cover but I knew my budget on this build is going to be stretched anyway (once I get the crew figures & extra casting, & build the dio base) & it wouldn't have been in the picture, anyway. However, I also knew that my white decal sheet was quite strong & kinda vinyl-like, so I tried that because it was available & wasn't going to be an extra cost, & it worked. The metallic pieces are cut from the thick foil seal from a tin of coffee. All but one of the handles (which I managed to carve from the solid Tamiya block) were removed & replaced with bent wire.



Guy

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Nice work on the boxes Guy.  Your mantlet cover looks convincing enough and you have the additional satisfaction of being able to claim it as something you made and not sourced from a store.  I was a bit surprised that you were able to use the decal material to make the cover and it will hopefully hold up well with a coat of paint. 

After seeing what Denmark did with their M41 tanks in upgrading them with a lot of stowage boxes around the turret and a laser range finder over the gun tube.  I would certainly like to try that on one of my Tamiya kits and give it a new engine deck as well. 

[Old Wombat]

Jeff, as I said, the decal film (for laser printer) is quite thick & vinyl-like, & is doing OK, so far. I've sealed it down with a coat of floor polish which it handled well. I'll probably do a couple more coats of the floor polish (Future not being available in Aus any more, I believe) to protect the film from the paint.



Guy

[Volkodav]

I take it the GPMG /MAG58 is from the Tamiya Pink Panther Land Rover kit? :)

Looking good, can't wait to see this progress.

[Old Wombat]

I take it the GPMG /MAG58 is from the Tamiya Pink Panther Land Rover kit? :)

Not quite, it's from the even pinker Italeri (retooled?) re-pop of same.



Guy

PS: I'm pretty sure it's the same kit but I could be sufficiently distanced from reality for that not to actually be a fact.

[Kerick]

Very nice work! How much is factual and how much is imaginary on this vehicle? The side stowage boxes look great. (I can't believe they molded the pink panther vehicle in pink!)

[Old Wombat]

Hi, kerick! Thanks for the comment & here's your answer (kinda)! :thumbsup:

Accuratizing:
Is very minor, mostly filling in the big spaces under the sponsons/boxes over the tracks & the holes meant for switches, etc, for the motorizing gear, & cleaning up a lot of poor joins.  Plus, all but one of the handles (which I managed to carve from the solid Tamiya block) were removed & replaced with bent wire.

Modifications:
The stowage boxes/bins are scratch built using styrene sheet, angle & little bits of rod. I wanted to add the pretty-much universal mantlet cover &, after experimenting with the poly packaging that Tamiya recommends, I knew that my white decal sheet was quite strong & kinda vinyl-like, so I tried that because it was available & wasn't going to be an extra cost, & it worked. The metallic pieces are cut from the thick foil seal from a tin of coffee. I, also, scratch built the mount for the L7, which came from an Italeri "Pink Panther" Land Rover. The front mud guards were cut at an angle, similar to that of later variants of the M41, & the rear guards were removed & replaced with "field mod" guards designed to stop quite so much cr_p getting between the sponsons/guards & the tracks &, given the new profile of the rear guards, to stop mud being thrown up onto the exhaust. Oh, & I moved the tools from the right front guard to the front of the hull, & the travel lock from above the left rear guard to the left rear of the hull.

Scenario:
This tank will, eventually, be part of a Royal Australian Marines in Vietnam diorama & will be accompanied by the Italeri "Pink Panther" Land Rover, modified for RAM service in SEA, & a number of RAM's (in vehicle & on foot). I have the story to go with it pretty well fleshed out.



Guy

[Claymore]

Awesome work so far Guy. I've always thought the M41 would be a great base for a whiff project. Unfortunately, the only one I had in my aging collection, I gave away. Really looking forward to how this one turns out.  :)

[Buzzbomb]

Yes... that is taking shape.
To whom will said beasty belong to ?

[Old Wombat]

Merci, Messieurs Claymore & buzzbomb!

Scenario:
This tank will, eventually, be part of a Royal Australian Marines in Vietnam diorama & will be accompanied by the Italeri "Pink Panther" Land Rover, modified for RAM service in SEA, & a number of RAM's (in vehicle & on foot). I have the story to go with it pretty well fleshed out.

Brian, you'll find a lot of my builds will be shoe-horned into the RAM's (Royal Australian Marines) theme from now on, it's become something of a passion/obsession.



Guy

[Frank3k]

Guy, this is looking great so far. I have the same kit, so I'm following with interest. I 'll probably steal borrow some of your ideas. The Tamiya M41 is a surprisingly nice little kit, despite its age. A great "blank canvas" for whiffing and it's cheap ($12 - $15 in the US).

I like your idea for the mantlet cover. I have some crappy, rubbery ink-jet decal material that should work well for this.

[Kerick]

I built one of these OOB a while ago and its a fun kit. Reasonably priced too as Frank3k pointed out. If I were introducing a young person to armor building I would have them start with this kit. Nice results to encourage the builder at minimum investment. IIRC another company makes a more modern kit but at a higher price. I'll stick with this one. NZ used some of these at one time as I recall. I might have to look into the Danish versions or other country's versions.

[Brian da Basher]

Now that beast is ready to kick butt and chew gum and I think it just ran out of gum...

Love all the guns mounted outside the turret. Perfect for keeping those Victor Charlies at a distance.

Brian da Basher

[father ennis]

Kerik,hit the nail on the head with this kit. I had one in my stash but when I was taking care of one of my friends children I let the boy have it and we built it that afternoon.  You couldn't have wiped the smile off his face with a baseball bat. His dad told me later that he had it on display in his room at home next to the T-rex I had given him before. It was a very heart warming scene.

[Kerick]

Thanks. Best thing we can do is give a youngster something to be proud of.

[Kerick]

Here's a German language build article on the Danish M-41 DK 1. The pics tell the story well. It might be useful for further whiff inspiration.
http://www.razyboard.com/system/morethread-daenischer-m41-dk1-heng_long_panzer_forum-1327848-5807038-0.html

[Old Wombat]

Thank you all, gents. You do me great honour!

Thanks for that link, kerick, but I'm not about to go that crazy on the mod's & detailing!



Guy

[FAAMAN]

Well done Wombat, great scratching as usual, the RAMs are going to be well equipped!! 

[Kerick]

Now I'm tempted to pick up a kit and try the DK1 mods. Like I need another project!!!

[Old Wombat]

Now I'm tempted to pick up a kit and try the DK1 mods. Like I need another project!!!

 

[Old Wombat]

Thank you, Mr FAAMAN, sir!

..... Or should I call you $h!#duckman?

Sorry, Neil, couldn't help it.

Again, to all of you, thank you for your comments!

These are the final pic's for the next 6/7 months, as I'm off to my particular version of Happy Land on Thursday & I wont have time to learn basic airbrushing & paint this before I go.

So, here is the beast all tied together with Tamiya grey primer, which should be well & truly dry by the time I get back.



















You may notice the rather rough paint around the driver's vision blocks, this is because I made them with Micro Krystal Klear & 3 or 4 layers of floor polish & I didn't want to leave the liquid mask on for 6/7 months to bond too well with the "glazing". I will fix it up eventually with the old brush method of painting.

Don't know if I'll get a chance to get back before I leave, so; Hope you've enjoyed the show, so far. Catch you as soon as I can on Island.



Guy

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Guy, do you plan to install a searchlight above the gun tube?  It would be appropriate for that period when your M41 would be in service.  The same searchlight as used on the M48 and M60 would be ideal for your project. 

[Buzzbomb]

Nothing like a good undercoat to tie it all together... Looks great