Operation: Gertrude. Kendelrios M715 restoration thread

[G744]

A tip from a guy that has painted a LOT of military wheels:

If they still have tires on 'em, use a bunch of old playing cards as a masking between the wheel and tire. They should overlap a little, and being thin, they stick in that gap just fine. Let 'em dry, and use them again...

And you never did save that old, worn-out deck, did you?

 

[kendelrio]

The final step today... took my paperwork to the special plates division in Baton Rouge and had her registered as a Historic Military Vehicle. Permanent registration and the VIN painted on her military style as the plates!

 

[cucvmule]

What an adventure Ken! Its been a year since I looked into the thread, and I believe I missed allot of interesting things as they happened. Having a good specimen to start really helped with the transformation from abandoned to Gertrude being a useful Beauty.

And that choice of rubber really filled up them tubs perfectly. And that is hard to do with the open gap design, having enough room to have a hundred pounds of roots and mud clinging to those tires and some mud chain on them for alittle more bite.

Are you finished or do you have some more idea's that need attention?

 

[kendelrio]

Are you finished or do you have some more idea's that need attention?

Thank you!

Unless something jumps out at me, I'm going to call this one "done" and focus on the M37 now.

 

[Guyfang]

A house, a Car, (Truck in your case) and a woman, are never done.

 

[kendelrio]

I guess you're never "done"....

I bought these accessories from the same guy I bought the field radio Bluetooth speaker from... adds a little pizazz and modern convenience, while maintaing the military look.

First was the dual 3.0 24v USB charger.


I decided this was a great place for it:




Next was making the access for it



Then mounting:


Testing power:



It charges great out of both ports and has an on/off switch....

Then putting the final piece on:




Then was the 24v 3 way LED light:

I mounted it between the seats as it would be useless facing me....



Here are the different colors; red, green and white:

 

[M35fan]

I guess you're never "done"....

I bought these accessories from the same guy I bought the field radio Bluetooth speaker from... adds a little pizazz and modern convenience, while maintaing the military look.

First was the dual 3.0 24v USB charger.


I decided this was a great place for it:

View attachment 916792


Next was making the access for it

View attachment 916794

Then mounting:
View attachment 916795

Testing power:

View attachment 916796

It charges great out of both ports and has an on/off switch....

Then putting the final piece on:

View attachment 916797


Then was the 24v 3 way LED light:

I mounted it between the seats as it would be useless facing me....

View attachment 916798

Here are the different colors; red, green and white:

View attachment 916799


View attachment 916800

View attachment 916802

Looks really good, Ken! That USB charger looks almost stock, especially with the cover on. Nice work!

 

[kendelrio]

Looks really good, Ken! That USB charger looks almost stock, especially with the cover on. Nice work!

Thanks!

 

[kendelrio]

Never say done...

Picked up some deuce troop seats and went ahead cut the hardware off and built troop seats today...








Promoted her and put my old battalion logo on the bumper..

 

[G744]

Schweet!

 

[kendelrio]

I decided I didn't like the green.....

Being as house paint is cheap and I have plenty of time, I decided to repaint her black; but keep the military stencils.

Taped up









Sprayed

 

[kendelrio]

Dried

 

[kendelrio]

The next day, bright and early, my boy and I got to the shop early for the stencil job (paint masks from Delta Team Decals).

I decided to reverse mask my old rank and the bridge number on the door.



My kid cutting it out








Spraying the accessories



More masks




Paint applied

 

[kendelrio]

The results....











All back together

 

[kendelrio]

And of course with the new troop seats, I had to check out the cargo cover...

 

[M813rc]

The original bows came with a bar bolted between them to keep the tarp from sagging and the bows from wiggling.
They are just metal tubing with the ends flattened, should be easy to make a set if you're interested.

Cheers

 

[kendelrio]

The original bows came with a bar bolted between them to keep the tarp from sagging and the bows from wiggling.
They are just metal tubing with the ends flattened, should be easy to make a set if your interested.

Cheers

View attachment 926920 View attachment 926921 View attachment 926922

No doubt! I didn't know that!!! Thank you!