Tracked HMMWV

[Macal]

Hoy Mate!

Really nice project, cool idea, nice work, well done   Like the idea, just add a little more details and it will be a very nice project.  Keep it up!

[frank2056]

I made the doors and primered everything. Now I need to paint the interior, add the seats and detail the insides of the doors.

The seats are scratchbuilt. They're not supposed to look like a modern HMMWV seat, just better than the kit supplied seat, with just a hint of an armored back:



This is a view of the right side, with the doors tacked open. It shouldn't be too hard to get in and out of the vehicle (except maybe for the VIP guy). The doors are copies of the un-armored kit doors, with two layers of plastic. The window frames were cut from the original doors. The handles are scratchbuilt. I decided to make them open like normal doors (rather than vertically), since they would be much heavier than a normal door, making opening (and closing) with hydraulics a slow affair.



The box on the roof is either an AC unit or some other piece of hardware. It may not stay (and it does cut into the gunner's FOV a bit). I may just add a sign that says "please attack from the front and sides only. Thank you"

Left side, with the doors closed and tacked on:



Since this is a forward drive vehicle, the space normally occupied by the transmission is now fuel and storage.

Once the interior is painted and finished, I'll glue on the top and deal with the seams.

Frank

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Frank,

The HMMWV is looking really good with the top on.  I am looking forward to seeing this with the tracks mounted. 

The figures are certainly looking good too! 

[Cliffy B]

YES!!!! YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

[philp]

Definitely looking good.  Make sure you add some stair rails or whatever under the doors to assist the VIP (and anyone else) in accessing the vehicle.

[Weaver]

This is looking great Frank, can't wait to see it finished! 

Stair rails under the doors are something I considered on the Trackrover, but then I decided they'd get knocked off easily. One option would be to have the fold up to sit on top of the track guard when not in use and fold down when the dorrs are opened on some sort of linkage.

Alternately, there could be a retractable, pogo-stick-style "step bar" (like the ones on some aircraft) on the inside of the door behind the window, so that it drops down outside the track when the door's open. It could drop down manually, by putting your foot on it from inside the door or pulling down a handle from outside, and then retract quickly on a spring (cocked by dropping it) as soon as the door starts to be pulled closed from the 90 deg position.

[frank2056]

Thanks for the comments, guys. I have to admit it's looking a lot better with the doors on (I was tempted to leave the doors off).

Weaver, I placed the Gulf War 1 soldier (the driver from the DML/Dragon desert motorcyclist set) on one side, and the road wheels are just the right height for a step. But... I'm probably going to use the side skirts, so I may just punch out some steps in the skirt and add some handholds.

I'll have to decide on a camo scheme, too. Sand or tan overall would be easy, but I was thinking more of a NATO three color scheme, or if I don't loose interest/get too impatient, a digital NATO 3 color camo scheme, since that's what all the cool kids have on their armor these days.

[philp]

I think steps in the side skirts will work fine.

As for camo, how about a Digital Urban camo with a few grays.  Especially useful for keeping those VIPs safe.

[frank2056]

I've worked on the doors and started the interior since my last post.

The doors looked bare without hinges, so I made some spring hinges by wrapping 30 gauge wire wrap wire around a pin, then transferring the "spring" to a 0.010" plastic rod:



I capped the ends with 0.040" rod and attached them. This is what they look like on a door. This is also an interior view. While not easy to see, there's a wire "towel hanger" rod just under the window sill, to pull the door closed:



This is what the doors look like closed. They're just leaning against the side of the vehicle, with the roof holding them in place:



I also started the interior. I decided to go with an airplane style control wheel (instead of individual track levers), as found in some upgraded M113s:



This is just a reworked piece from the original M113 kit, mounted on the humvee's instrument panel. I just noticed that I photographed it upside down. The "U" should go up.

[General Zod]

Dude
That is a major cool conversion.

[sotoolslinger]

Dude
That is a major cool conversion.

YEP