Bobbing an M35 in miniature (1/35th scale model)

[Ruppster]

Finally started working an bobbing a 1/35th scale M35A1 plastic kit the other day. The first picture shows the rear axle and rim. To simulate the flange that the rear rim would bolt to after the hubs were flipped I cut the middle section out on a couple of the spare rims. The second image shows the center piece that I cut out slipped on to the axle. Then I chopped off a quarter of the kit bed and cut an equal amount from the frame. The third picture shows the modification I did to shorten the frame rails in the kit. Picture #4 is the rear suspension. For rear springs I stoled the front suspension from an Italeri 5 ton M925 kit. The last shot shows part of the modified bed in place.

Can't wait to get this finished as the other day UPS brought me my latest order. It's a 1/16th scale kit of a WWII U.S. M16 halftrack (by Trumpeter).

Ruppster
1985 M1009 Blazer

 

[Michael]

Looks good, keep us updated.

 

[avengeusa]

cool

 

[SgtHatred]

where do you get your model kits from?

 

[Ruppster]

where do you get your model kits from?

I get them from a few places. There is a local hobby shop in the mall I work at that is the best I have ever seen. When they get new model kits in stock they put the month and year that it came in on the price sticker. If the kit is there for a year they mark it down 50 percent. Plus last week they had a special going. If the kit was older then 14 months it was 75 percent off. I picked out 7 kits that would normally have totaled $400 and only paid $100. One kit was the 1/35th scale Tasca M4A1 Sherman which was $80. Picked it up for 20 bucks because it was 15 months old.

My favorite mail order site is http://www.spruebrothers.com/. I have placed several orders with them and each order was shipped quickly and were complete. They carry a line of resin conversion kits from Real Model to convert the 5 ton Italeri M925 6x6 cargo truck in to several different versions of the older multifuel 5 ton trucks, including tractor and wrecker versions. I have the M52 conversion kit in the works right now and will be working on it some more when I am done with the 4x4 mod on the M35 kit. Anyhow, my last order was with http://www.greatmodels.com/. I have done a few orders with them in the past and have had nothing but problems with them. The only reason I even ordered from them this time was due to a great deal they were running on the 1/16th scale M16 halftrack ($150 sale price versus $230 at other places).

Ruppster
1985 M1009 Blazer

 

[phataux]

any updates?

 

[KaiserJeep715]

neat! any more pics?

 

[Chevytruck]

wow! its one way to say you got a bobbed truck!

 

[scottc]

Looks like fun.

 

[Ruppster]

any updates?

Sorry, haven't worked on it much over the last week so no progress has been made. About 10 days ago I received a rather unexpected phone call. A couple months back I called a gent that was parting out a couple of GMC semi trucks. One of them had a Detroit Diesel 6V53 with a "12 speed Roadranger" tranny. His asking price for the engine and tranny was $500. I have a Dodge CT800 that I'm doing up as an Air Force tanker chassis since Dodge used CT800's for this back in the 70's and 80's. It has a 5x4 tranny setup that I want to convert to an RT613 tranny. When I called the seller of the "12 speed" tranny and 6V53 I asked him if the 12 speed was an RT6XX series tranny but he didn't know for sure. The only way to find out for sure was to check it out in person but I never made the time to drive out to see them. When the guy called me last week he made me an offer too good to pass on. He said he would take $1,000 for both trucks. Turned out the truck with the 6V53 has an RT613 tranny (might even be an overdrive version but I haven't looked yet) along with a set of rear axles with a 6.17 gears (my CT800 has 6.8 gears so the 6.17's would be an improvement). The other truck is a GMC Astro 95 COE semi with a Detroit Diesel 8V71 (no turbo) and an RTO-9513 Roadranger tranny. The rear axles on this truck have a 4.11 gear ratio and might be used in an actual ex-Air Force Dodge CT800 tanker chassis that's for sale near me. Stock gears in the tanker chassis is 7.8 to one so 4.11's would be perfect.

Needless to say I have been busy lately playing with some 1:1 scale stuff. In a week the military vehicle club I am with will be driving in the Fur Rondy parade and I am on the schedule to drive the club's WWII Dodge in it. Then the next weekend we will be putting on a military vehicle display at the local Dodge dealer in Anchorage. So it will be a while till I get to work on the kit again. I will update this thread when I get some time to work on it.

Ruppster
1985 M1009 Blazer

 

[Wolf.Dose]

Anyway, nice modelling work.
I also have the problem of 1:1 and 1:35 scale. My hard is jumping between these scales. But my trucks must run, so time for the models is short.
Wolf

 

[Ruppster]

Two years later it's time for an update. Last year we had to move again and now that things have settled down I now have time to get out some kits. I went back to work on the bobbed M35. Due to using a rear axle from the M35 tandem setup as a single axle with different springs I had to come up with something to replicate the hardware that holds the rear axle to the springs. I drilled out a couple square pieces of plastic cut from left over material from the shortened bed and adding 8 short pieces of brass rod. Just need to get some smale scale plastic nuts to add to the underside of the plates.

Still toying with what I want to use for tires. I was going to use the resin Michelins but changed my mind when I found out how badly made they were. I kind of like the looks of the tires from the AFV Club M1126 Stryker kit but they are a little too narrow. They are a little loose on the M35 rims too but could be made to work easily enough. The Revell MAN 8X8 tires look a little too ballon like and the smooth sidewall just makes it worse. Anyhow, below are some pics showing the different tires.

Added: while typing the above I started thinking about a kit that I just bought, a Trumpeter M1078 LMTV. The tires from the M1078 look great but don't fit the M35 kit rims very well. This got me thinking about another kit, the Hobby Boss V-100/150 models. This afternoon I looked at JimLewis' great work on a V-100 in a seperarate thread ( http://www.steelsoldiers.com/models-scale-replicas/36403-v-100-xm706e1-feelin-groovy.html) and it dawned on me that it had rims similar to that on a deuce and a half. I have the V-150 with the 90mm gun but when I looked in to it the rims had 10 lugs like a 5 ton. After a little searching on Google it turns out the V-100 kit comes with both 6 lug and 10 lug rims. I did test fit the 10 lug rims from the V-150 kit to the M1078 tires and they fit perfectly. Now I need to get a V-100 kit for the 6 lug rims. They look to be just like rims for an M135/M34. So it looks like the tire issue is now solved. Will add a picture of them on the truck later.

Anyhow, hope you guys enjoy the pics. Will post more as work progresses on it.

Ruppster

 

[CharlesKing]

A darn fine start.

 

[Ruppster]

Thanks. Maybe in 20 years I will have acquired enough skills (and patience) to be close to your level of work.

Placed another order with spruebrothers.com this morning. Ordered the Hobby Boss V100 so I can steal the rims out of it for this build, along with a set of LionRoar M1078 resin tires for the Trumpeter M1078 to replace the original kit tires that I will be raiding for the bobbed deuce. Also ordered a set of Legend resin wheels so I can still build the V100.

On another note I need to quit ready these forums as it keeps giving me more ideas for future builds. One thread I read earlier has me thinking of building a stock framed M35 but using a single rear axle (a non-bobbed 4x4 M35). Might even use the 5 ton transfer case and axles from the 5 ton M923 kit I raided the front springs from for the bobbed M35 I'm working on now. Another idea I'm toying with is using the cab from a Real Models M52 conversion kit (uses the chassis from the Italeri M925) and building a bobbed 5 ton truck. Either that or take a Revell MAN 6x6 chassis, remove one axle, shorten the frame a little, and put the bed from the M923 on the back.

Anyhow, thanks again.

Ruppster

 

[CharlesKing]

Well, I've been doing this since 2002, so it will definitely not take you that long buddy. I'm going over to 1/24 scale trucks now. gotta to test the waters.

 

[Ruppster]

Got the latest shipment from Sprue Brothers the other day. In it was the HobbyBoss M706/V100 kit that I wanted to steal the rims from to use with the tires from the M1078 LMTV kit. When I took a closer look at the M706 rims I didn't like the shape of the holes in the rim. Plus the center section doesn't have the correct amount of offset that I'm looking for. I'm trying to simulate the look of the rims from an M135 or M34. So I decided to combine the center section from the kit rims with the outer portion of the M706 rims. Below is a picture of the results. Now I just need to repeat this 3 more times.

On another note I have been trying to decide what to do with the open area where the spare tire would normally be. I have a fuel tank from an Italeri M925 kit (the one I raided the front springs from for the rear of the bobbed M35) that I could use but the detail on it is so bad it would need a lot of work to make it look right. So when I opened up the box for a Real Model resin M52 conversion kit (kit number 35059) I was surprised to see the kit contained three tanks, a standard M54 tank along with two smaller tanks for use in the M52 conversion. Since the M54 tank from the resin kit is not needed for the M52 conversion I think I will use it to fill the open gap on the driver's side of the bobbed deuce. I noticed one other thing with the M52 conversion kit. It looks like several cab parts from the AFV Club M35 kit were used as the masters for the resin parts in the M52 kit.

Ruppster