Pete's M35 truck. Academy 1/72

[stillp]

Now the Zeke is finished, it's time to start trucking. Picked up this Academy kit for a US M35 2.5 ton truck at the recent MAFVA show. Seems to be decently moulded, with a good level of detail. Actually 4 sprues, but one has only one part on it.

It's in a sand colour plastic but will end up painted Olive Drab I think. One omission is that there are no clear parts provided. A bit surprising, but the headlights are moulded in, so will just need to be painted silver, and the cab windows are all flat, so I should be able to find something to make them from.

Mouldings are crisp, with no flash that I can see.

I'll be building this as a 1968 Vietnam war version - the other scheme is a 2003 Desert Storm one, but I don't want to use the US version of Sandgelb! This'll be the first truck I've built since the 1960s, so be prepared for some mishaps!

Pete

 

[Lee Drennen]

Seated Pete and waiting for a mishap which I don’t think will happen

 

[Mini Me]

I'll park next to Lee......I can always count on him to wake me up if sumthin' mis-happens!

 

[Mickc1440]

Front row filling up

 

[langy71]

Sitting in the wings, splitting my time between watching this and keeping a look out for Matron and her goons..

 

[stillp]

I missed a few sink marks when I said the mouldings were good:
The winch on the front of the chassis has 6 components, so lots of opportunities to put it together wrongly. I took it apart nad tried again 4 or 5 times but I'm pretty confident it's correct now.

Then a few more suspension and drive train parts:

That's finished page 1 of the instructions, time for a rest now.
Pete

 

[minitnkr]

Liedowns are good. Nice progress.

 

[Jim R]

Looks good. The chassis seems to have gone together well. You've earned your rest.

 

[stillp]

Haven't posted any updates for a while, sorry. Wife's knee replacement was cancelled - we'd elected to have it done on the NHS but at a private hospital that I used a couple of times when my employer gave me medical insurance. However, they don't have emergency care facilities so they decided she was too much of a risk because of COPD. So, we know have to wait for a new referral, choose another hospital, and go through all the prep again.
In the meantime I've glued some plastic together and even painted some of it:

From what I can see these were pretty much all-over olive drab except for the engine (black) and the canvas roof which was khaki. Luckily it breaks down into three sub-assemblies, chassis, cab/bonnet, and truck bed, which makes the painting easier.
Pete

 

[Ian M]

Looks like a great little kit.

 

[stillp]

It is good Ian. A few sink marks, and quite a lot of ejector marks, but everything fits together well so far. There's very little detail in the cab, so scratchbuilders could have a lot of fun!
Pete

 

[Mickc1440]

Nice progress Pete

 

[Scratchbuilder]

Wobble,
See what happens when he is let out on his own, he buys models.... That's his allowance gone for the next year... no more ring doughnuts...

Pete,
Good to see you back on the bench, chair pulled up.
Mike.

 

[stillp]

I joined those 3 subassemblies, and added a few more bits. The stowage boxes under the doors were completely open at the bottom, and too deep to fill with any of my usual fillers, so I mixed up some Milliput and filled them with that:
Should have smoothed that out a bit better, but after sanding:Needs the paint touching up, and the tools fitted, then the wheels, exhaust and mirrors, then it's on with the decals.
Pete

 

[stillp]

Well, this has moved on a bit:

Clear coat tomorrow after the 1:1 has had an MOT test, then I'll throw some mud at this.
Pete

 

[Waspie]

Nice work Pete. And good luck on the MoT.

 

[stillp]

Thanks Doug. The MOT shouldn't be a problem, it's for my TR4A, that doesn't actually need one but for £30 it's worth having someone else check it over. It's only done a few hundred miles since the last test so I'm not expecting any problems.
Pete

 

[Lee Drennen]

Looks good Pete I like it

 

[stillp]

Thanks for the kind comments guys. Completed pics here https://www.scale-models.co.uk/threads/petes-academy-m35-cargo-truck.42102/