M8 Greyhound - Complete (for now)!

Well, my M8 is complete, at least for now. It's all packed-up and ready for its trip to Auburn, Indiana for the AMPS Nationals on April 26-28. It looks as if AMPS Central Virginia will have eight to ten completed M8s on the club display table--not a bad showing for our first club build.

Since my last post I completed the turret, gun assemblies, and antennae and painted the attached tools. The handles on the tools were first painted with a diluted Vallejo Model Color Natural Wood (70834). Once dry, they were streaked with Vallejo Model Color Burnt Umber (70941) diluted with distilled water. Metallic parts (gun barrels, shovel, axe and pick heads) were painted with Vallejo Model Color Black Grey (70862) and once dry were rubbed with the lead from a #2 pencil. Areas on the body were then given a pin wash of raw umber oil paint thinned with Turpenoid.

The base I eventually want to use is not yet available so I did not weather the lower sections of the body or the suspension. All of that will be done once it is based so I can properly tie in the M8 to its surroundings. As an interim base for the display I opted for painting a wooden plaque to represent the French flag.

A few more photos of the completed model:

Stay tuned to see what's next on the agenda!

M8 Greyhound - Fading

The next step was to apply fading to the already painted surfaces. This tones down the color and the markings and ties them all together in addition to making the vehicle look like it has been outdoors in the elements. The fading was done by diluting Vallejo Model Air Sand (71075) with Vallejo's Thinner Medium (70524) in about a 1:10 ratio paint to thinner. This was airbrushed at 25 psi static in several light coats until the desired result was obtained.

I then applied a darker fading to the lower portion of the vehicle, using Vallejo Model Air Green Brown (71030) and Thinner Medium as described above. Here's a photo of the left side showing how the markings have been toned down:

You can compare these photos to the previous ones to get some idea as to the change in the finish.

Next up: Painting the attached tools, finishing the machine gun, and then onto the wash.

M8 Greyhound - NASCAR Style

Not really, but, boy, did those French know how to mark-up a vehicle! I decided (finally) to model an armored car of the 2nd Plt, 5th Sq, 1st REC, 5th Armored Div of the Free French Army in France, 1944. Here's a side shot:

And a front shot:

And a rear shot:

The decals were from the kit and were the typical Tamiya water-slide type. They were applied using Micro Set and were hit with Micro Sol where needed to get them to snug down over the rivets and ribbing. The model was then air-brushed with a fine, misted coat of Vallejo Matt Varnish (70520).

Next up is painting the attached tools, finishing the turret/gun assembly, and then beginning the final weathering.

M8 Greyhound - Ready for Decals

I've completed the initial airbrushing and have attached the wheels and rear fenders. The tires were finished by applying a series of washes using Vallejo Model Color Black Grey (70862) thinned with water until the desired effect was obtained. At this point I have also airbrushed Vallejo Gloss Varnish (70510) over those areas thatg will receive decals.

They're not shown here, but I have also nearly completed the turret and gun assembly. Since the M36 gun mount was not used on the vehicle I am modeling, I've decided to mount the M2 machine gun directly to the rear of the turret.

More photos to come after the decals are applied.

M8 Greyhound - Base Coats

The underneath parts were airbrushed with Vallejo Model Air Olive Drab (71043) and a couple drops of thinner: inside the rear fenders, wheels, and turret and the underneath areas of the hull assembly and gun assembly. I then lightened the olive drab with Model Air White (71001) by adding 2-3 drops of the white to the airbrush cup and stirring to mix. This was then sprayed on the turret basket, the outside of the fenders, wheels, and turret and the upper surfaces of the gun assembly and hull assembly. The ring portion of the turret basket will be brush-painted off-white.

I'm not sure that I have enough contrast so my plan is to lighten the olive drab even more and highlight the flat, upper surfaces on the hull and the upper part of the fenders. Once totally dry, I will then gloss coat the areas for the markings and apply them, followed by weathering.

M8 Greyhound - Primer Coat

Final painting was begun with a light grey primer coat. Instead of panzer grey or black, I opted to use AK Interactive's Airbrush Grey Primer (AK-003). I'd forgotten that I had a bottle of this in one of my AK sets. I sprayed it straight (no thinner, etc.) through my Grex airbrush at 15 psi static with no issues whatsoever.

You can see the various components in the photo above: main hull, turret basket, turret, gun assembly, rear fenders, and wheels. Next up is the base coat of olive drab.

M8 Greyhound - Prepaint

The exterior is complete and ready for the "soap 'n' water" treatment to remove oils and other gunk. Then it's on to the air brush and a primer coat. Here's another view of the hull, this time from the rear:

Also ready for washing and priming are the turret, turret basket, gun assembly, rear fenders, and wheels. My plan is to attach the rear fenders but not the front. I was going to leave off the rear fenders, too, but most of the "cool" French markings are on the rear fenders. So, they stay! I'll post pictures to try to illustrate the steps in painting and weathering.

As the overall paint color is olive drab I'll prime with a darker color to serve as a pre-shade. I thought I had a new bottle of Vallejo Black Primer but I don't, so I'll use either the Vallejo Panzer Grey Primer (73603) or the Vallejo Model Air Black (71057). We'll see what kind of mood I'm in when I pick-up the air brush.

M8 Greyhound - Interior

Finally, the interior is complete and ready to be "buttoned-up." The walls were air-brushed with Vallejo Model Air White (71001) and the floor with Vallejo Model Color USA Olive Drab (70889). Washes were done using both burnt umber and unbleached titanium oil paints mixed with Turpenoid. I know some of the lighter wash looks garish, but that is due to the brightness of the lights and the camera. Here's a view of the rear wall:

While finishing the interior, I have also been working on the turret, turret basket, and main gun:

Once the hull is closed-up I can begin finishing the outer hull and completing the turret. Then comes final painting, decaling, and weathering!

M8 Greyhound - Interior Pre-Paint

Well, the holidays have wound-down and it's time to get back to work in earnest on the M8. The schedule calls for the group build to be completed by the end of March so that the collection can be exhibited at the AMPS Nationals in Auburn, Indiana in April. While I didn't do much actual modeling over the holidays, I did do a lot of thinking and planning re this build.

The M8 presents me with quite a few "nots": it is not North African, it is not pre-war (WWII), it is not British, and it is not German. When I couple all those with the shrinking time frame, my conclusion is that I cannot delve as deeply into the detailing as I had planned at the outset.

The above photo shows the interior more or less ready for painting. The resin pieces (communication boxes, carbines, flashlights) and clutch, brake, and gas PE  pedals are from the Verlinden detail set. The interior will be viewed only through the open-top turret and through the open front hatches so the parts were placed in their approximate positions just to "busy up" the interior. I tried to build the shell rack out of PE for the right sponson but could never get it to fit right, so I closed the compartment off with the sliding door section from the kit. The kit radio was nicely reproduced so I used it in the left sponson in lieu of the resin piece. The fire extinguisher is just sitting behind the seats and will be removed prior to painting.

Next up is adding a few pieces to the upper hull interior and painting the interior. Then I can close-up the hull and move on to building the exterior and the turret.

The French Have Arrived!

Well, at least the new MiniArt set has. Their set (no. 35105) arrived yesterday from Great Models Webstore. The newness of the set is reflected in the workmanship exhibited by the figures.

The figures are molded in two sprues of grey plastic. All parts appear to be well-cast and, while not up to par with resin figures such as Alpine's, detail is excellent. Clothing folds are well-done and all five faces can actually be recognized as being different. Even moustaches are finely molded on a couple of them.

Except for the de Gaulle-like figure, all have the potential for fitting in well in the diorama I am planning for my M8. Time will tell which of the four work best with the partisans already on my workbench.

The Maquis

The Maquis were predominantly rural guerrilla bands of the French Resistance during World War II. Initially they were composed of men who had escaped into the mountains to avoid conscription into Vichy France's Service du Travail Obligatoire (STO) to provide forced labor for Germany. In an effort to avoid capture and deportation to Germany, what had started as loose groups of individuals became increasingly organized. Initially fighting only to remain free, these bands eventually became active resistance groups. (Wikipedia)

Master Box Ltd. has produced a set of five figures (MB 3551) depicting four Maquis (three male, one female) and a captured German soldier. I have added the numbers in the box art photo above to show the three that I am contemplating using in a vignette for my M8 Greyhound build. Yes, I've finally decided to model an M8 from the 2nd Free French Armored Division, France, 1944. At this point I plan to use two or three of the Maquis figures shown above along with figures from the forthcoming MiniArt set of French Tankers (35105). If they are not available in time, my fallback position is to use Hornet French tanker heads on U.S. tanker figures from the appropriate time period.

M8 Greyhound - Oopsies Part 1

The great thing about group builds is that they afford the opportunity for everyone to share their build experiences, to see first hand how others have handled issues arising with their builds, and to ask and have answered questions that might not have occurred absent seeing others' models. I gained all this and more at our recent AMPS-CV meeting.

I already mentioned the curve forced into the steering linkage. Along those same lines, it was pointed out to me that on almost all of our models the transfer case is "floating" when it should be attached to the frame. This is a result of the one-piece drive train and at this point, there are no real fixes for either problem.

The other problem I noticed is illustrated in the photo above. On the left of the rear plate there are two holes that need to be opened if one is attaching the medical kit in a later step. I decided not to attach the med kit but forgot to remove the reinforcing circles around the now non-existent holes. Thankfully, I will be able to carefully reach these with a #10 blade and sandpaper, as well as the faint injector pin marks which I also failed to notice.

Once these are completed and I do some further seam clean-up I'll be ready to move on to the interior. Although I'm sure there will be more "oopsies" posts, I hope I can keep them to a minimum.

M8 Greyhound - Lower Hull & Suspension

At this point, the drive shaft assembly was attached to the lower hull. The kit tires were left attached and the entire unit was set on the tires to ensure that everything touched the ground. The front shock absorbers, lower rear torsion bars, front springs, and transfer case brush guard were then attached. The only fit problem encountered so far was the left front spring interfering with the steering linkage (see arrow in photo below). I'm not sure where the misalignment originated, but as a result, the steering linkage has a slight bow . . . not suited for competition, but, oh well.

To finish the undercarriage, the four rear shock absorbers, muffler and exhaust pipe assembly, and rear suspension support were added. A drill bit and pin vise were used to open the end of the exhaust pipe.

The front plate had six ejector pin marks. These were sanded out even though I later realized that the aftermarket interior plate would cover them. The two tow clevis attachments were added to the front plate and then the assembly was joined to the front of the hull. There were no issues with the fit.

The rear hull plate has two holes which must be opened if you wish to attach a first aid case in a later step. I left them closed. The two tow clevis attachments and tow pintle plate were added to the rear hull plate and the assembly was then attached to the rear of the hull, again with no fit issues.

After a final clean-up and check of the work to-date, it'll be time to tackle the interior--lots of added detail for that area! Here's a photo of the left side showing the work up to this point:

M8 Greyhound - Drive Train

Step 2 consists of building the drive shaft assembly. The drive shaft unit is molded in one piece to which were added the transfer case cover; front, middle, and rear axle covers; the steering mechanism; and the left and right steering ball covers.

At this point I constructed the kit tires/wheels. I am not planning on using them on this kit but they are important in the next step to ensure that the wheels all touch the ground properly when this assembly is attached to the tub. The kit tires are built using interior poly caps which, while they leave a lot to be desired when building tank models, are rather convenient here allowing the tires to be snugly slipped onto the axles.

I also decided not to leave off the fenders so additional detail in the wheel wells was not added.

M8 Greyhound - Initial Hull Construction

In this step the hull floor has been added to the hull tub and the rear suspension plates and main drive shaft have been attached. Several ejection marks on the tub (both exterior and interior) have been sanded flat . . . probably more than necessary but being unfamiliar with this kit better to be safe than sorry!

M8 Greyhound - AMPS CV Group Build

For its group build project, AMPS Central Virginia chose Tamiya’s 1/35^th scale U.S. M8 Greyhound Light Armored Car. We commenced the build with an introductory session in August and are scheduled to wrap it up in March 2012. Members can build the model straight out-of-the-box or can add any of the numerous available aftermarket accessories.

I have the base kit, the Aber PE set, Royal Model PE/Resin set and 37mm turned metal gun barrel, and the Hussar wheel set with chains. I’m ready to begin construction but am unsure at this point exactly which vehicle to model or even which nationality. Luckily I have some time before having to make that decision. I’m thinking about leaving off the fenders but that will entail adding some scratch-built details to the lower hull and suspension. All I know for sure at this point is that I will NOT add an engine compartment and engine. Those hatches can stay closed up!

M8 Greyhound - The Real Deal

The 6x4 wheeled M8 light armored car was the only armored car used by the U.S. Army in combat during World War II. While its initial development was slated for the Tank Destroyer force, it wound up being used by cavalry reconnaissance squadrons. Development of the M8 began in 1941, the prototype was produced by the Ford Motor Company in June 1942, and over 8,500 were manufactured between March 1943 and April 1945. While the M8 was mainly used in Europe, it also saw service in the Pacific. The M8 was supplied to both Britain and France and it was the British who nicknamed the M8 the “greyhound.” Many countries around the globe continued to use the M8 well after the end of World War II.

The M8 had a Hercules JXD rear-mounted, water-cooled engine capable of producing 110 HP and the transmission had a 4-speed forward/1-speed reverse gearbox. Its six-wheel configuration made it a stable vehicle. The steel-plated body armor ranged in thickness from 19mm-32mm and the open-topped turret had 19mm armor. Armament consisted of a turreted 37mm M6 main gun, a coaxial .30-cal machine gun, and a pintle-mounted .30-cal machine gun.