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Modeller Build Logs
Tasca M32 Recovery Vehicle w/ T1E1 Mine Roller |
| By James Wechsler | | Started: | Apr 15, 2008 | | Updated: | Nov 9, 2008 |
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First off let me say that Paul Owen is a great guy, even if he is a Vancouver Canucks fan. Having built 44 Shermans, I really hadn’t planned on buying the Tasca M4A1 kit since I’d built that variant a few times over. But Paul sent me this kit and it is a really, really great gift. So I got motivated to do something special.
After thinking about it for a while, I realized that simply building this kit as a gun tank really didn’t get me excited. Then it dawned on me, it would make the perfect conversion base for an M32 Armored Recovery Vehicle. I mean the old Italeri kit was just staring at me and screaming ‘I need a new hull, suspension, and transmission cover!’
So there it was, my mega project. But then I got to thinking a little more. Why not go further? Let’s scratch build the T1E1 ‘Earthworm’ mine roller! Never heard of this massive contraption? Check here:
http://www.jedsite.info/engineer/tango-number-us/t1_series/t1e1/t1e1-intro.html
But wait, there’s more. The M32 has two huge hatches on the turret structure that just scream ‘interior’. At last, my project has reached planning fruition. This blog will be of an M32 ARV w/T1E1 Mine Roller and a full interior.
Plan on a lot of chapters. |
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| The fighting compartment floors revisited | Sep 18, 2008 |
Since I built the entire winch, I figured that I better show it off. So I decided to not use the machine gunner’s platform that I built. Instead, I added the support bars at the front of the fighting compartment and the small angle bar with the bolt holes that’s on the bracket by the rest of the crew floor.
The machine gunner’s platform is a three part hinged item that can be folded up when removed. So I’ll probably just have it lying on the crew compartment floor.
I also scratch built the two small bins that go on each side of the winch. The one on the right (top of the photo) holds spare 0.030 cal ammo boxes for the bow gun. I’m not sure what the other holds.
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