The Devil's Saw

[frank2056]

On another point, you come up with a scratchbuilt Gatling Gun of this apparent quality but you don't show us how you got there?  As my 8-yr-old is prone to saying:  Awwwwww....  ;-)

I want to keep only a modest deviation from real history for this build.

The Gatling? Easy - I cheated! It was going to be the gun for a chopped down M-113 recon tank. I made it my making a cast of the circular plates from the Italeri Vulcan's gun, then cut some styrene rod to a length that looked right and glued them in the plates. I drilled a hole in the end of each of the rods, too.

[frank2056]

Some progress. Overall view, with a 1/35 figure for scale. The tulle cloth in the foreground is for the headlight debris shield (still to be made):


Front view. The headlight is an M.V. Products lens and the housing is a road wheel from an old Monogram M-29 Weasel. The fuel drums are still not secured in place. Also visible is the fume extractor/A/C exhaust on the revolver cannon:


Another side view with the tanks mounted. The wheels aren't really blue; they're a very dark green with sand overspray:


Detail of the .50 cal machine gun, a resin kit from Legend. The lower mount is a modified tank suspension from an anonymous kit. I've spent way too much time on this gun and the "stuff" that goes with it! No fault of the kit, though. IMO it does a good job of erasing the German Tank look!


Here's a detail of the scratchbuilt ammo box holder (the dark green piece). I sprayed it with desert ammo, then with a light and uneven coat of dark green paint. The resin .50 cal ammo is to the right.


I've stated some of the weathering as well. The tracks are going to be an issue; the vinyl Trumpeter tracks are a real pain to work with; glue won't hold them together (not even CA). I used a small alcohol burner and a hot knife to melt the track ends together, but there's so much strain on the tracks that they're tearing apart. Repositioning the front return roller might be an option, but not one I'm looking forwards to. I'd sooner just use the individual track links. I've been using Gator Glue to stick them together, and it's making a surprisingly strong and flexible joint.

I also put together the PE side skirts, but they don't fit properly and in any case, make the tank look German again. I may use one or two, though.
Still to do:
Finish the headlight.
Paint the fuel drums.
Add the tools and cables.
Finish the .50 cal
Finish the revolver cannon.
Add figures.
Weathering and paint chips.

Frank

[frank2056]

I got rid of the headlight and replaced it with the headlight from an M113.

I put some Bare Metal Foil in the headlight, burnished it down, trimmed it then put a drop of Gator Glue on it. The Gator Glue dried to a nice, colorless clear:


Here it is, mounted on the tank:


The plastic tracks on this kit are just awful; the tension from the wheels is deforming the track, even after only a couple of days on the tank! I guess I'll have to use the individual links.

Frank

[John Howling Mouse]

Many thanks for the ongoing in-progress pics...this is exactly the kind of tutorial I need!

[frank2056]

I've made and added the decals, started putting some washes and filters on the tank, and I'm working on at least one figure.

The decals. "Le Scie du Diable" nose art is on the gun cover, the French Foreign Legion emblem is over the driver's vision port and the 3 / 08 is the tank's brigade and number; it's also the date I started this tank (3 2008). the shine is from the Future I used as a decal setting solution:



This is the decal artwork I made. I made a set of stenciled numbers as well, just in case. Printed on a laser printer using Tango Papa decal paper:



The figure I'm working on will be an approximation of this dapper dude:



Even though the picture was taken during the First Indochina War, it's close enough for government work. I'm making a copy of the MAS-49 rifle that he's carrying. It's been pretty easy to modify a Tamiya M1 Garand to make it look like a MAS-49:



I also fixed the problem with the track by gluing a few of the individual track links with CA to the ends of the vinyl track. For some reason the plastic to vinyl joint is far stronger than the vinyl to vinyl.

That's it so far.

Frank

[frank2056]

Progress so far - tools, wheels and fuel tanks are on the tank. I put some filters on, then overcoated everything with Testors Acryl flat + sand. The Acryl makes me thirsty just looking at it:



Here's a view of the rear:



Detail of the .50 cal. I just noticed that the barrel is crooked. Doh!:



The walking figure I'm modifying:



The stance isn't quite the same as in the photograph, but close enough.

Both together:

[Captain Canada]

Wow...is this ever turning out great ! Love that first pic from this update...the bloody thing looks real !

[Brian da Basher]

This is just simply awesome! I'm especially impressed with how you dented and weathered the fuel tanks. I'm enjoying this one immensely!

Brian da Basher

[Mossie]

I'm enjoying really this build, that gatling just gives such a different look to a tank.  It could be a pretty nasty support weapon, laying down a carpet of supressive fire.  The cannister round that Jon mentions would rip apart troop concentrations.

[ysi_maniac]

Absolutely TOP NOTCH 

[frank2056]

Thanks guys. I put the tracks on last night, but I think they'll need some tweaking. I also wanted to replicate the blackened color of steel that has been exposed to the desert environment for a while (just like Bluntie did on his Flettner), but I couldn't get it right. It's annoying, because I have all the reference pictures I want!



Maybe next tank I build.

Frank

[nev]

Thats some terrific work there - love the outdoors shot, suitably dusty 

[Sisko]

I am really diggin this build!

[Ed S]

Maybe next tank I build.

Frank

Looks good.  A really nice diorama.  But don't you think you overdid the weathering just a little?

Ed

[frank2056]

Looks good.  A really nice diorama.  But don't you think you overdid the weathering just a little?

Ed

What? You don't like the bullet holes? This old 1940's Ford (I think) was about 1/4 mile South of the long gone town of Bagdad, in the Mojave. The town is right off Route 66, and the tree at the extreme right in the distance is all that's left. Much of the car was still in the area - tires, engine block, wheels, etc. surrounded by the town's dump (mostly rusty cans by now). At some point in the last year, someone took the car and many of the parts away! I contacted the local Bureau of Land Management office to ask if they had moved it, and why... and they were quite upset that it had been taken; since it was well over 50 years old, it's an antiquity and a Federal crime to remove.

In any case, I'm going to use some of my pictures of the area as a backdrop for when I finish the tank. Just a few miles further south, into the valley, is the Naval Weapons Test Center and you can see (and hear) the occasional boom.

Frank