Dragon 1/35 M4 Mortar Carrier

[Tim Marlow]

Looking very good so far Dave. Good catch on the PTO. I wouldn’t have known that, so would have just added it and wondered what it did

[Dave Ward]

Looking very good so far Dave. Good catch on the PTO. I wouldn’t have known that, so would have just added it and wondered what it did

You could fit it, and it wouldn't be seen, unless you picked the model up..............
Dave

[Graeme C.]

Interesting build Dave, I'll follow your progress.

[Jim R]

Hi Dave
Glad you're still keeping an eye on your desk time - well mostly anyway :rolling:
Chassis is looking good and only one instruction error so far.
Jim

[Dave Ward]

Main part of the chassis ready for priming: masked off the mounting points for the suspension bogies

The suspension bogies are a fiddly little assembly - tweezers are essential - all the bits on the left go to make the assembly on the right.........................
I'll finish the other bogie off & that'll be it for the day. Tomorrow, I'll crank the compressor up & give an overall spray of OD primer.
Dave

[scottie3158]

Nice work I did the AFV meat chopper and the assembly is pretty much identical. You are making great progress.

[Dave Ward]

After a dose of primer, then a topcoat of Vallejo ModelAir Olive Drab, I painted all the rubber bits AK3 Tyre Black & the tracks AK3 Anthracite


Then - the assembly! - Whichever way you assemble the tracks, they're going to be a bit of a tussle! You can see where bits go, but you have to flex those tracks alarmingly to get them to go over the roadwheels/return roller. Anyway, after a 30 minute wrestling match..........................


OK, I've had to go round and touch up all those bits of paint that I scraped off during the extensive handling needed! I reckon that's the most difficult part of the model completed now. I'll have to paint the exhaust pipe, but that's the chassis ready to be put aside for later!
Dave

[scottie3158]

Dave,
Looks good mate.

[Guest]

That came out well, good to know it’s a bit of an exercise to get the tracks on but you got there without anything breaking, so I’d say all is fine

[adt70hk]

Coming on very nicely Dave, Looking good so far!

ATB.

Andrew

[langy71]

Love this Dave, a really clean looking build.

[Dave Ward]

If I were to make this model again ( extremely unlikely, as they're very expensive ), I'd not add the road wheel bogies where the instructions say. I'd assemble each track unit, adding the sprocket & idlers loose & inserting the bogie loose into the track assembly. Then I'd offer the whole lot up to the chassis fitting over the drive shaft, idler axle & fitting the bogie mount onto the chassis rail. Keeping them loose should just give enough jiggle room to ease the parts together. Adding a few drops of TET should hold it all on place - considering the struggle to get it together. Sorry if this sounds weird, but I'm running through it in my head, the way to assemble it with minimum grief! ( not the way I did it! )
Dave

[Jim R]

Hi Dave
Well done with the tracks.all looking good.
Jim

[Tim Marlow]

However you did it Dave, that’s looking very smart :thumb2:

[JR]

Agree with the guys it's looking good . Good for you getting those tracks on.

Personally I like that premade chassis, that's what's puts me off from trucks and builds like this .