Egilman

Renwal didn't do the M-8 they did quite a few but not the HST's. Nitto did the HST's with this one and an M-4 (which was wildly incorrect and out of scale to boot) They were doing things no one else was even thinking of like a 1/32 scale Atomic Annie.... (which is a HUGE kit, I have it in my stash) and of course what was considered the most detailed armor kit of the day.... (the kit that got me into modeling dreams) This of course is the revel re-release box art... I never got to build this one but it did set of my muse.... Then I saw this one... Again a re-release Revell box, but I have an original in my stash now. Revell acquired the Renwal molds way back in '76.... Only recently have they started re-releasing them..... Thankfully, they haven't changed them...

This kit has been out there for a while, initially it was a motorized kit and had full operating suspension and a true rubberband track. The kit I have has everything from the older kit except the electric motors and drives. Reading reviews of this kit numerous reviewers stated that one needed to acquire a Walker Bulldog kit (Tamiya) to get the correct sprocket for the track which would have to be aftermarket, and, more than one set because the M-8 has one more road wheel than the M-41 making the track lengths 15% longer... So I bought the M-41 and the two track sets.... As you can see it is a full blown M-8A1 with the T-48 Body and Dozer blade.... Perfect fit for my M-51 Skysweeper As I had been working on it, I decided to lock the operating suspension in place taking the ride height off the Tamiya M-41 hull.... Road wheels and return rollers on, unpainted, it's close to the point of painting it overall Olive Drab. I found out that the return rollers did not have rubber tires on them so they will be painted steel, the road wheels of course get a coat of rubber.... I build model armor as a series of sub-assemblies, Hull, Deck, Superstructure, Gun, Turret, Tracks etc. once the major subassemblies are done they are painted. (usually rattlecan for the base coat) US army vehicles of the period are painted the ubiquitous US Army Olive Drab overall as the base coat of paint from the manufacturer. The only markings being the registration number stenciled to the sides. (insignias and unit markings are added in the field) as I'm building I check what I have for decals and what is needed on the field units.... I don't build combat mud hogs or specific units so I need a clean set as an example of general usage to get the right look. So yesterday I spent half the day searching the internet for generic US Army stars & lettering, WWII/Korean war vintage in 1/35th scale. I settled on the Microscale #13-11 stars & letter/numbersets. One would be enough, but Microscale has a $20 minimum so I had to buy three sets. which is ok cause I have a number of old kits (and some new ones) that do not have US markings. (or what they do have sucks so bad I wouldn't embarrass myself by using them) Nitto unfortunately does not offer US markings in decals. or rather they don't include stars as depicted clearly in the box art. I checked this out with the M4 HST kit I also have and they provide the rising sun flag for the Japanese versions but no US Stars. (and the reg numbers would look like they were painted by hand with a small brush) Totally and completely unusable. Forward body, crew & engine compartments, upper left are the internal bulkheads, upper middle right are the engine compartment grilles, they will be hand painted black and dry brushed OD Green to show the grill structure. This pic shows the sub-assemblies at this point, Cab in the upper right glass installed in the bulkheads upper center and below that the incomplete front engine plate which gets mounted to the lower hull before painting. All that is left is the copper rod and hooks to be installed. Completed cab structure, all the little bits in place (those brush guards around the windows were a bear to get correct. the windows will be installed after the paint job. you'll notice the scuffed up look on the top of the drivers cab, it had three molded on track links that I had to take off, they were out of scale and looked like blobs besides they were upside down. with all the extra track links I have they will look much better and have the correct number of 4 links. Before you can paint the hull, we have to mount the idler wheel and sprockets. this is an image comparing the rubber track sprockets, (in the center) and the scale Tamiya M-41 sprockets. I had an issue with the scale sprockets cause they didn't mount to the axle the same way the operating sprocket does. The hole in the scale sprocket is too small, so I drilled it out a bit larger than the operating sprocket, cut off a 1/8th inch length of mocha straw pushed it into the hole which now slips over the axle with no play. A little Formula 560 to affix it all together and we are good to go... And finally the lower hull with the idlers & drive sprockets in place and a completed front bulkhead. At this point I would start mounting the hydraulics for the dozer blade and it would get a bit crowded so this is where the paint comes in..... More subassemblies coming...... EG

Super Clean?

The M-8 HST started life as a test article. The T-43 HST. which was a new design utilizing the running gear of the M-24 Chaffee Light Tank. Of course the M-24 was well known to be underpowered for a tank (even a light one) and as such, the T-43 HST did not survive automotive command testing. It was then ordered that a completely new HST would be developed using the complete running gear of the newly designed M-41 Light Tank known as the Walker Bulldog. Designated the T-42, it was eventually accepted as the M-8 high speed Tractor in 1945 with two development versions, the M-8E1 and the M-8E2, the main difference being the engine and transmission combination....... The M-8E1 could be distinguished from the E2 by the sloped windshields..... M-8E1 with optional sandshields and general cargo body M-8E2 on the Allis-Chalmbers test track without a mission body... While standardized in 1945 the war had just ended and there were plenty of HST's to go around for a peacetime army so the design continued in development with the M-8E2 eventually being accepted as the current standard and authorised for production of 500 units designated as the M-8A1. The A1 had several body adaptations that could be made for it. Standard was a full length cargo body, much like the standard cargo bed of the M-35 truck. There was a specialized body specifically for the Skysweeper batteries. Known as the T-48 body, it has provisions for carrying the crew, the initial loadout of ammo, the cables needed to connect the gun to it's generator and directors and a skid hoist on the back which carried an M-18 30kw generating set to run the gun. It also had provision for the T-84E4 bulldozer blade, but this wasn't mounted on all vehicles..... M-8A1 as standardised with the T-48 skysweeper body, this unit also has the hydraulic connection for the dozer blade prominent below the drivers window....... The same unit as above with the dozer blade in action... Now, for the kit.... The Nitto 1/35 M8A1 HST

Just a note, this is an already completed build log.... just posting it as requested...... :-)

Well, my interest in this kit comes from it being the Prime Mover for the M-51 Skysweeper 75mm automatic anti aircraft gun... I built the Renwal 1/32nd scale Skysweeper earlier, (I don't have a build log for that, just images of the finished kit) and the M8A1 HST was the designated prime mover for all M-51's as issued. (please bear with me as I show you the motivation for the build) The Renwal Skysweeper, OOB...... Fairly nice kit, an old classic......... When I build artillery, I prefer to build it with it's prime mover, basically the vehicle that moved it around from location to location. It's like the German "88" and it's 8 ton semitrack to haul it around, the Long Tom had it's M4 HST.... Etc Etc etc.... That's the way I like my artillery and in as issued condition... (no muck, no grime, no damage maybe a little paint fade from sitting on the apron for a while but nothing major) Once the subject is chosen I do my research...... Next post, research......

Where did you get my portrait from?

All you could do is get the tracks, put some links together, and see if a pair will fit.... the Walker and M-8 were the only ones that used the T-91 track as far as I know........ There is also this option.... Armor Track Models..... (ebay) From what I understand the company is out of business but it does have the sprockets with the track.... I don't know how good they are, the AFV tracks are perfect and much simpler and are the ones I used..... I've decided to post the build log on the M-8 for those interested here in it's own listing..... since such is acceptable to the PTB's..... It's like anything else, not being a rivet counter, if the sprocket fits the spaces in the track, I would say go for it....

Thank you Chris...

That is downright gorgeous, can't wait to see it fully dressed and in the sun......

I think these will do the job..... The website is here.... Print/Scale They have them in the usual scales. I think that solves the bomb markings problem... Here's another set.... WBD48006 1:48 Warbird Decals - US WWII & Korean War Bomb & Rocket Markings #48006 That's from Sprue Bros, in stock.....

Question; If one had done a build log on another fora, and it was appropriate for this fora and there is interest, would it be okay to repost it here rather than redirect our brethren to brand "X" fora?

Been thinking about reposting it here..... there is some customizations and scratch building I did to it, and the research.... I built it to go along with my Renwal Skysweeper as it was the prime mover for the M-51.....

You need two things the proper aftermarket tracks and the proper drive sprocket to fit the tracks.... Tracks; Two sets of AFV Club AF35046 T91E3 workable track, you need two sets as the kit tracks are for the Tamiya Walker bulldog which has only five road wheels and your M-8 HST has six. You will also need the Tamiya walker bulldog kit itself for the drive sprocket to fit the tracks..... Both vehicles used the same suspension/track components, it was designed that way.....

It's easy to paint the nose of the bomb one color it can be done in several ways, my trick is to dip the nose vertically in some thinned yellow paint. Once that is dry, dip it again in some Olive Drab paint thinned the same way, just not quite as far into the paint as you did the yellow.... Leaves a nice yellow ring, the only difficult part is making sure you have it vertical on each dip....

It's an original Nitto.... And yeah, those are the rubber band tracks that were used for the motorized version..... Aren't worth the powder to blow them to hell.... And thank you for the compliment.... I did a build log about her a while back before I discovered this fora.... I can tell you how to fix it....

I have absolutely no doubt that your shoulder was stiff the next day.... :-) Been there done that....

When Browning first designed the ma duce, (based upon the very successful M-1918 .30 cal) the army ordered it tested in continuous fire until destruction.... any one care to guess how many rounds went down range before it finally decided to quit firing? .......... 32,687 before the action finally broke...... (the barrel of course was destroyed long before the action quit) It is considered the most reliable gas operated heavy machine gun ever manufactured.....

Well I can show mine.... I still hadn't touched up the barrel in this photo.... Post Korean war vintage.... that's MM gunmetal with steel lowlights and MM rubber grips everything else (pedestal mount and cradle) is standard OD green.... (there no PE on that gun btw)

Artistry in action.... It looks the part my friend, I cant wait to see it in it's house colors..... Beautiful detail work....

Those are mk 65 bombs..... originally designed in 1939 for the USAAF they were the general purpose design used throughout WWII and Korea, they were also used in Vietnam when the supply of Mk 80 bombs got low cause they were dropping them faster than they could make them..... It is an overall OD color with two yellow stripes fore and aft... fuses (there were three, nose contact, tail contact delay, and side radio altimeter) are colored steel or aluminium during WWII of painted green in Korea and Vietnam... the contact fuses were installed safed and had propellers that spun to activate them as they fell. they had two circular screw-in lugs on one side for hoisting and mounting into the bomb dispensers/racks They did come in various sizes and marks for different purposes, but the design was basically the same Mk 65 throughout WWII.... An example of a 500lb GP bomb from WWII... They still find several of these in Germany each year ranging from 250 lbs to 4000lbs.... unexploded.....

That green is going to sparkle under a high gloss finish.... I like it.....

Good for you! The wife has been suffering from cabin fever the last few days but she is getting ready for some sun also..... (except the pollen is driving her nuts)

The Avia S-199's were actually built immediately postwar..... When Israel flew Nazi Planes Quote: 'The Avia S-99s & S-199's was constructed with parts and plans left over from Luftwaffe aircraft production that had taken place under the country’s German occupation of Czechoslovakia during the war." Were they made by the Nazi's? no, designed by a Nazi for the Nazi's yes.... Does a name change, change where they were created/originated from? or, what they were? Not in my opinion.... Not faulting the Israelis, they needed weapons and at that point in time the world was conspiring against them getting what they needed expecting the arabs to make short work of the jews... They couldn't get the proper engines for them because of the arms embargo so they obtained surplus Heinkel engines and props for them.... Made it a widow maker in service and quickly withdrawn when better aircraft became available...... they not only scored victories against Egyptian C-47's (modified into bombers) but over Syrian Spitfire's and Egyptian Mustangs...... Impressive if you ask me....

Would it surprise you to know that the fledgling Israeli Air Force flew modified Me-109's.......... in their early years......