Here's the next installment of my USMC armor in the PTO saga. This will be an M4A2 used on Saipan. The TC called her "King Kong".
I scratchbuilt the wading trunks.
The bogies are Tamiya with DML wheels and details added in plastic hex rod.
This is an old Verlinden resin conversion for the Tamiya M4 series. I spiced it up with the correct final drive cover, wheels. commanders hatch and small details from DML. Everything else will be scratchbuilt.
Its always good to see a sows ear turned it silk purse. Couple of things, tho. Its been a while since I have seen King Kong...I'd check the side lifting rings on turret. Only very, very early ones had them so high. Only other thing I'm not sure of off top of my head is the weld bead near filler caps.
BTW, absolutely love Applejack...makes me want to finish my Comet.
The Marines liked to convert old fuel tanks and what not into water tanks for the infantry on those hot hot islands. I scratched built the water can from a piece of old pen body and scraps of styrene.It will be mounted right there on the engine deck with some piping.
Beekster about two and a half years ago the guy who owned a hobby shop in downtown Henderson was ill and started liquidating his inventory. I got two of the Verlinden resin M4A2 hulls and one turret. They were designed decades ago for the then state of the art Tamiya M4 series. The hull is the classic Fischer built M4 as used by the USMC. It's well detailed and suits this project just fine.
My wife asked about this mishmash so like I told her, if it's yellow is a Verlinden piece, green is Tamiya, gray is DML from my spares and the rest is scratchbuilt or leftover PE.
The long long work week is behind me now and we are moving forward on King Kong. She's sitting in primer as we speak. Here are some pre primer shots of the build.
Additional research and some big help from a member on another site revealed the front panels on this were actually plywood, used to thwart magnetic mines. They will be painted accordingly.
Hey G...you were in Phoenix Saturday. If Im not mistaken, King Kong and Applejack were both there. I must say they look much more impressive in person. The pictures don't do justice.