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Modeller Build Logs
Tasca M32 Recovery Vehicle w/ T1E1 Mine Roller |
| By James Wechsler | | Started: | Apr 15, 2008 | | Updated: | Jun 19, 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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| Let’s get Giggy with it! | Apr 28, 2008 |
For those of you confused with the title, I’m a big fan of the Anaheim Ducks hockey team and I just couldn’t resist the urge.
Well my idea was to use the Tasca firewall as a jig (get the title now?) to make sure the hull was correctly aligned and then remove it and replace it with the CMK one. It worked! I’m not that surprised really but I figured that’s when bad stuff can happen. But not this time.
After I assembled the hull and before the glue was completely dry I pulled the Tasca firewall out. Once everything was dry I used my Microchisel to shave off the locating guides and the CMK firewall fit right in.
But, as Hans Haase correctly pointed out, making sure the firewall fits the upper hull is a crucial task. Doing it at this stage is the easiest way. Both the CMK and Tasca parts are too short with about a 0.04 inch (1 mm) gap. You can’t miss it, especially from the engine compartment so it has to be fixed.
I just added a 0.04 X 0.04 inch styrene bar and sanded it smooth. It’s a simple fix at this stage but a near impossibility later on. Planning, planning, planning.
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