Another found photo: thanks to the eBay auto/truck parts section.

Yes, fuel filter.

fuel filter?

Might take quite a few of these kits to fill up a flatrack but it looks like it might have possibilities:

MMK: Stowage, Straps, and Ratchets

http://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/256024

Expensive too. 8 (2 across, 4 per side) pallets to a flatrack.

Expensive. Oh yeah!

Is it just me or does the new PLS armored cab look like the head of a Star Wars AT-AT Imperial Walker?

Of late I have been thinking about my next HEMTT.

Seeing as how I now have a lot of spare HEMTT parts laying around!

For this new vehicle I decided not to invest in the Real Models resin engine but I still wanted to improve the look and detail of the finished engine area. This is not going to be a build log but maybe just the sharing of a few HEMTT detailing ideas.

The wheels started spinning . . . .


I concluded that no matter what you do to that fake wall at the front of the partial engine it still shows. Paint it matte black and it is still visible. I asked myself what could I do to make it disappear as it is not supposed to be there? Then it struck me, make it disappear - remove it! So I decided to remove the areas shown in yellow. I also made a cut in the air intake pipe in order to lean it back a bit. This would allow me to tilt the rear of the engine downward as it is in the real vehicle.

Very crude work but effective I think. I also had a left over etched muffler heat shield in my spares box which I could donate to the build.

Now the plan is to paint the inside surfaces of the hood enclosure matte black and then when I paint the exterior color I will let a heavy over spray of the body color fall into the rear portion of the engine enclosure to soften this affect.







As you can see I have angled the engine, transmission and the transfer case downward as per the actual vehicle.

Once that big exhaust pipe and muffler are installed there is very little chance that anything will be seen beyond the end of that partial engine.

You might have also noticed earlier that I opened up the front air intake area of the engine enclosure. I then used a small piece of left over etch screen to knock together a radiator for this latest HEMTT beast.



And of course I had to once again open up the airway chimneys on the back wall of the cab so you just might stand a chance of actually seeing this radiator on the finished model.

(Actually, if you shine a flashlight up through the bottom front air intake on the cab and then look down through the roof vents you can see the radiator quite nicely!)

For those who have been following this build from the beginning you might recall that the resin engine from Real Models had an incorrect doubly long 4 cyl. air pump as well as a double oil pump. (Covered here on pages 9 & 10) Back then I cut these in half to make the correct auxiliaries for the first HEMTT engine. This left me with two more resin details I could now add to this engine.



Finally a little touch of Dark Seafoam Green color to signify the engine was built by Detroit Diesel then add some dust and we're all good.

p.s. I also painted the air intake tube flat black and the blower and exhaust pipes in rust.

I think these few zero cost changes greatly improve the otherwise very minimal Italeri HEMTT engine!

DONE (Well I may add a few cables and hoses!)

Focused thread covering improving the Italeri Grove Crane for the HEMTT going on over at:

http://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/256601

HEMTT DIFFERENTIALS:

This photo posted by Rob (Dragon164) got me thinking. Maybe last time around, when I used the stock Italeri inboard gearhead differentials they may not have been as large as they needed to be?



So now I am up to my old tricks again - removing the gearheads from the two outboard differentials, adding bolt head detail and check plugs to all four difs but also enlarging the stock inboard gearhead (pass-through) differentials even more than before.







I cut the head off the gearbox and then added two .060 x .250" (Evergreen #159) shims to the assembly, glued the head back on and sanded everything to shape. That top cover on the dif is there just to add a bit more mass.

Another reference shot, this time of the forward pass-through gearhead differential:

HEMTT SIMPLE DIFFERENTIALS:

I wish I could find as good a photo of the non-gearhead outboard simple differentials. The drawing below is the best I have at this time:

HEMTT Simple Differentials:

Be careful what you wish for - eBay Motors will provide it for you!

This one is a rear #4 axle.







Unfortunately due to the angle of the line drawing above I never realized till now, that the simple differentials had such a deep conical faceplate - my model version clearly needs more correction.

So now I am practicing the cutting of these conical shapes in flat plastic to hopefully replicate the face of the simple differentials. So far not doing too well.

Much easier to draw than to cut out in scale.

I would think it would be much easier to make the conical diff cover using A&B epoxy putty sanded to shape. That is what I would do.

You're probably right Gino but I am not familiar with the product you mentioned. Could you send me a Brand name?

I considered carving it out of a solid but didn't know what to use.

A & B is a brand name. There are many other types though. It is basically two-part putty epoxy. One (A) is usually a grey putty and the other (B) a lighter color putty. Once mixed to become a different color, can be shaped like modeling clay and will harden in a couple hours. Once hard, they can be cut, sanded, shaped, etc. Comes in handy for all sorts of things.

OK, my local hobby shop didn't have a clue regarding the A&B putty product. I will check shortly with places like Michael's Art Store and Hobby Lobby. Hopefully I will have the putty before I do the second differential.

As I said, my plastic cutting efforts did not produce the results I had hoped so I switched to using body filler putty. Since it has to go on wet it sort of obliterates what other detail (bolt heads) that may exist in the area but it does achieve the desired shape. (More or less.)

This is where I'm at for the moment:

Wow!! Really? Surprising. Craft stores may not have it. If not, body filler will work fine, its just not as sculpt-able.

Epoxy putty
Milliput

Cheers Rob.

My latest distraction: I got it in my head that I wanted to build a non-standard HEMTT, so I concocted a free-lanced civy HEMTT with mid-ships mounted crane and a hydraulic dump bed.