Doc's Building Thread

[Doc Twilight]

Well, I've been super busy with annoying real life stuff, but I'm going to try to contribute and put my entry in for the hell of it. I suppose I can get it done by December.

The plan is to build an improvised armored gun truck for my continuing "ACW2" project. ACW2 essentially an American Civil War set in the 1930s. Gaining popularity here. For my part, I happily admit was influenced by the excellent quality of "A Very British Civil War."

At any rate, the vehicle will be a self-propelled artillery piece, perhaps in the vein of the Garford or the Deacon, which will be based on a standard Ford Stake Bed, with armor plating, and an appropriate artillery piece mounted in the rear. Nothing too fancy.
Haven't decided which faction it'll serve with - it could equally be a Constitutionalist or Nationalist vehicle, depending upon what I think after it's actually built.

My sketches are awful, but I'm envisioning an armored cab, with a protected bed, and an artillery piece likely taken from a naval armory or arsenal. Since most of my forces are designed for the Midwest, and since there are a large number of Naval and Naval Reserve armories in the state of my birth (Indiana) and surrounding areas, I can fairly easily justify having some kind of naval piece as the main armament. If I have my druthers, the vehicle will also feature a ram, but I haven't decided whether this would truely be "overkill."

I have sourced the basic components - two different pieces of artillery from Reverisco, plus a third I already have (haven't decided which to use). These are as follows:

http://www.tin-soldier.com/rpg/12lbgun.htm
http://www.tin-soldier.com/77mmgun.htm
http://www.tin-soldier.com/75stchamd.htm

All are fairly common pieces from the late nineteenth century through WW1, and some continued to be used up through WW2. I have seen examples of each in US war memorials and museums, so I'm sure, if nothing else, there would be access to such weapons. Certainly the British and French examples were used by the Americans, at least during the Great War.

The vehicle that'll be used for the conversion is this very lovely piece from Blue Moon:  http://www.bluemoonmanufacturing.com/view_product.php?product=BMM1202.

The armor plating will probably be a combination of various bits I already have, plus plasticard, and green/grey stuff where appropriate. Finding plasticard in the area has become problematic, so we'll see whether the thick stock I already have will be appropriate... There will be rivets, too, and I have a few thoughts about how to do this. The typical method I use is to use very small rhinestones purchased in local craft shops, since they have the appropriate shape, and look just like rivets when painted (when unpainted, they tend to give a vehicle a very "liberace" look..)

Anyway, that's where I am at the moment. Will hopefully have some pics and information for you soon as I work up the possibilities.


-Doc

[Doc Twilight]

Finally have some photos to show.

This is the basis of my conversion, a Model T short "Stakebed" truck/lorry from Blue Moon manufacturing. It's a very nice, very well designed kit. No fiddly bits, went together in a snap, which is good, because there were no instructions... The image is shown here with one of my ACW2 figures, a gently converted Brigade Games miniature from their RCW range.



I have built the basic hull and the floor of the stakebed, but I have intentionally avoided adding several parts. I've left off the headlights, the walls of the bed, and the steering column. I plan to add armor plate to the basic structure, using plasticard, "rivets", and basswood, if necessary. The rear bed will be armed with an artillery piece - most likely the French 75 with gunshield, since that size seems to work best for the vehicle. I haven't decided whether there will be an armored "wall" for the bed yet. Still working on that bit.

Hope to have more images, soon.

-Doc

[alone_withmyaxe]

I think they call this a good start!

Sounds like it will be cool when you get done, look forward to seeing more.

[Cory]

It's lookin' good, but speed, not armor, would be the saving grace of such a vehicle so I would advocate for no armored bed.

[Doc Twilight]

Cory and Alone -

Thanks for your comments. Will be doing more work on it, today.

You do raise an interesting point regarding speed. However, I think some sort of protection should be provided. I wonder if sandbags would be appropriate? Or would they end up heaping on just as much weight as a few sheets of boilerplate? I'm open to suggestions on this. Wood might also work - but I don't think the traditional "stakebed" would be particularly useful, so it'd have to be modified, regardless.

-Doc

[aircav]

I would Armour it with steel plate as they did in SCW or like the Canadian macine gun Corps below:



(& if you do it as a kit you could sell it too  )


Keith 

[Doc Twilight]

Not sure I could sell this one as a kit, Keith. Maybe I could have someone copy the final product, and sell that as some sort of kit, but I'm using components from several different companies, and they probably wouldn't like me using them commercially all that much;)

My latest update.

Today, I roughed out the plasticard bits around the cab. Here are some photos from each angle. As you can see, I still have gaps to fill with green or grey stuff, rivets to add, plates to straighten, and a little bit of sanding here and there to deal with jagged edges that can't be fixed with sculpting putty. As you can see, I've modeled the protective plates for the radiator open , in order to prevent overheating of the vehicle when in motion. I had originally planned to add a ram of some sort to the front, but I may very well leave it as is. I do plan to add a headlight to the upper housing, near the passenger side, however.






I have also included photos of "Dry fits" for the two main weapon options I'm considering. Both are kits by Reverisco. They are very nice, finely engineered models, with a few fiddly bits, but generally well cast and with a reasonable number of pieces (I can't say this for all John's models - they are all extremely good, but some have too many parts and too few instructions!).




These are the the famous "French 75" of WW1 vintage, and what is essentially a 17 pounder naval gun, though it was used by several different nations. Both were used from the late 19th century through WW2 in one form or another. Actually, the 17 pounder will be slightly taller, as one of the first things to happen was that the gun carriage broke off of the gun mounting... (poor construction on my part); I have converted it with magnets, to allow the gun housing to turn (it already freely changes elevation as built), but the glue on these hasn't dried yet.

I am not sure which of these I like better, now that I have seen both of them "dry fit" to the truck bed. I think the 17 pounder would need very little else in the bed to make it complete, but I'd probably put some sort of sheet metal wall around the bed if the 75 was mounted, very similar to the shots Keith provided in the post above. I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on these options.

At any rate, I'm very pleased with my progress, so far. The hard part is almost done.

-Doc

[aircav]

Looks good Doc, I liker the top gun best, i think armored drop sides would be great 


Keith 

[andekmcc]

looking good , It certainly has an 'extemporised' look about it as indeed it should  .  I actually prefer the second gun though perhaps only a front shield not to cover up so much of the detail. I do like Aircavs idea of drop down armoured sides 

[Doc Twilight]

Thanks again for your comments, guys. Helps motivate me to keep working on it. I did a -lot- of work on the truck today, filling gaps, sanding, adding rivets, and, well, have a look for yourself.

The sparkly, very fruity looking things are actually rivets. It's a trick I learned many years ago when I started building Landships for VSF - extremely cheap rhinestones from local craft stores, which, when painted, look exactly like rivets. They have the added benefit of coming in numerous sizes. Unfortunately, they tend to make a model look incredibly ugly before it's been painted;) I assure you, however, that Liberace has nothing to do with this vehicle...

Here are some views of the vehicle from various angles.







I must admit that part of the design was influenced by the armored Model T used by the Poles during the 1920s. I have a beautiful Brigade Games kit of saidsame vehicle - which I have painted up and assembled, but unfortunately the wheels were not well cast, and so it hasn't been very durable on the gaming table. (It's unfortunate, as it's a beautiful vehicle, otherwise.)

Anyway, things left to do include adding the armament (I think I'll be going with the French 75), filling in a few final gaps, and painting. Overall, I'm very pleased with the way this little bugger is coming together. I'll have more photos soon, but it's pretty close to complete now, and I'll have to follow the rules and save the final shots for my entry:)

I have decided that this will likely be a Nationalist/Federalist vehicle. In my version of the ACW2 concept, these are troops loyal to Washington and the ruling military junta. Will need to find some crew for the gun, but haven't had much luck finding suitable American artillery crew who don't require me to buy a gun as well!

Comments, etc... welcome as always.

-Doc

[andekmcc]

looking better and better  I look forward to seeing how the rivets look once there painted.  What about a Naval Crew from Pulp figures? links below.  Some are unarmed and others could be converted to unarmed crew they also have some tramp steamer crewmen which could be similarly converted if your looking for a more irregular crew.  I have a few and they paint up quite well. 

http://www.pulpfigures.com/catcode.php?range=Americans&code=PYS&number=7&custID=922200701257353836
http://www.pulpfigures.com/catcode.php?range=Americans&code=PYS&number=4&custID=922200701257353836

[Doc Twilight]

looking better and better  I look forward to seeing how the rivets look once there painted.  What about a Naval Crew from Pulp figures? links below.  Some are unarmed and others could be converted to unarmed crew they also have some tramp steamer crewmen which could be similarly converted if your looking for a more irregular crew.  I have a few and they paint up quite well. 

http://www.pulpfigures.com/catcode.php?range=Americans&code=PYS&number=7&custID=922200701257353836
http://www.pulpfigures.com/catcode.php?range=Americans&code=PYS&number=4&custID=922200701257353836

Ande -

Thanks for the suggestion! I am a big fan of Pulp Figures (actually my own miniature line is scaled specifically to go with Bob's work).
Those are, indeed, great figures, and they'd be a pleasure to paint.

Unfortunately, I'm looking for something a little more "regular" along the lines of US Army or US Marines from the period in regular uniform, more or less (though the idea of a naval crew is definitely a good one, and worth considering). The option I'm considering at the moment is the Brigade Games US Artillery Crew, which comes with a 75mm field gun.

Admittedly, I'd love to have a set of them with gasmasks. Maybe I should have somebody with sculpting skills convert some for me.

-Doc

[andekmcc]

Admittedly, I'd love to have a set of them with gasmasks. Maybe I should have somebody with sculpting skills convert some for me.

-Doc

Aircavs the gas mask king  hes converted a whole battalion of them!  A navy crew wouldnt be too bad you could say the vehicle had been converted in the boilershops and armouries at Norfolk 

[Doc Twilight]

Aircavs the gas mask king  hes converted a whole battalion of them!  A navy crew wouldnt be too bad you could say the vehicle had been converted in the boilershops and armouries at Norfolk 

You do have a point there, Ande. I can see free ranging mobile units of the US Navy heavily involved in the fighting. And no reason the Navy wouldn't split between the factions just like everyone else...  Food for thought:)

-Doc

[Doc Twilight]

My latest photo update and, I believe, the last I will be able to do before the final entry is submitted, because it's pretty close to completion.

Here, I have added a few details. Notably the weapon, which I modified to allow full 360 articulation using rare earth magnets. This will likely be painted as a Mk.1 Naval Armored Gun Carriage, the "Porter", as used by Nationalist naval infantry during the Second American Civil War. Credit for making this a naval vehicle goes to Ande. I had toyed with making it a Marine vehicle earlier, but his suggestion makes sense, and will be fun to paint.






The final version will hopefully include crew.

Comments, etc. as always are welcome.

-Doc