I am currently building the Eastern Express offering of the GAZ-66 general purpose 4x4 truck. I was attracted to it because besides the regular loadbox it gives you the option of building it with a modestly well done vac-formed shelter box/radio van.



The kit is a bit rough compared to todays molding technology and improved level of detail but with patience and a few extra parts it builds into a nice representation of the original vehicle.

My question being:
What is this "cat walk" like structure on the roof????





Since the vehicle is described in the very limited English instruction sheet text as an "independent command vehicle" and that it has what looks like handrails on the roof, I at first assumed that it WAS a catwalk used for observation. However I later discovered that what I thought were handrails were actually radio antennae.
(Not exactly a wise idea for a bloke to be grabbing onto these while transmitting!)

Mike,

I served on this vehicle with the Bulgarian Border Guard(1995-1996).The vehicle designation is KShtM(Komandno-Shtabnaya Mashina/Command&Staff Vehicle),and this model is called R-142N "Deymos".It had a crew of 6 man(IIRC) and I was in charge of phone apparatus.

It is on my to-do list, although I'll probably not use EE offering-it's too rude for me.

Should you decide to build the interior,I can provide you some stuff I collected.

Otherwise- I'll look with interrest your build, so please post your progress!

So far absolutely the ONLY reference for this item that I can find online is a photo of another built up model. I suspect this fellow is treating the "catwalk" as some sort of skylight???

I suspect he is closer to being correct than I am.


No builder credited.

Yeah, that's the cat walk one uses when messing around on the roof.
The R-142N had a telescopic antennae(Gosh, how I hated expanding it on hand) on the backside.
It had various radio sets for VHF and HF transmission.

I have found photo reference to both a "high topped" (tall enough to stand up in) and a low silhouette radio van such as the Eastern Express kit. The limited interior photos I have found do not indicate any sort of skylight on the vehicle.

Mike,

Copy and paste into your browser:
КЩМ Р-142 Деймос

and you'll get a lot of pictures.

Edit- there is no skylight in the Deymos

Interior photos:

If that rooftop structure is indeed intended to represent some sort of expanded mesh catwalk I would love to add this extra bit of detail to the roof. If so then I will want to build up something with a little more 3D quality to it than this vac-formed walkway.

First picture is the compartment for the Officer in charge and the Sergeant.No troopers sat there-all encryption apparatus was only run by Officer.
My place- allong with 2 more radiomen was in the back, with entry from the backside door.

Wow Angel, just WOW!

Спасибо

Every rooftop photo shown on the site you gave me only shows roofs of models (not real truck) but not a single one even has anything that looks like a walkway up there.

You actually worked this very type of radio truck? Still WOW!

Sorry I did not see this post until later. So the vehicles with the larger telescoping antennae had a catwalk on top?

Well,
I have a technical description on my home computer but can check it earlest on Friday evening.
For sure there was no skylight.

Yes, I was trained to serve on one of those and served during each and every training and alarm readiness test we had.

I spent 4 days in the nowhere-during such training-with the Deymos and can tell you- it is not quite convenient to sleep in...

I visited end of June the place where I was stationed for most of my service- and there they still stood- the 3 Deymos we had...

Two more photos found thanks to Angel's advice:

Mike,

Bear in mind there were 2 box types:
1.DF-3 (like on the cover of Orlik), produced by Ikarus of Hungary, it was in use with some armies of the Warsaw Pact(HU,POL,GDR,CZ)
2.Kung K66H- like the one on the second picture-used in the Soviet Army and in my country.
Dimensions of K66H box:

K66H box sides-internal view:

Years ago I tried building this but it was just too much of a mess.Until we can get an more updated version from Trumpeter or a aftermarket conversion I will not even bother trying to build this interesting truck.

Angel - Yes, I realized a bit too late that there were two distinct types of shelter bodies used for this type. I am afraid I used the heater detailing from the tall body as primary reference for what I ended up building for my vehicle. I also jacked the short body up rather high which ended up making sort of a hybrid of the two types.


Jason - I agree the kit is a challenge but I guess I was just in the mood to push ahead and muddle thru on this one. The shelter walls built up nicely and the roof at first looked good. However in the end the roof was unusable as being physically too small. Then again I have no idea what that catwalk/skylight up there was intended to represent.

Most all the shelter box "detail parts" were basically unusable and had to be either heavily reworked or scratch built. (Ladders, steps, antennae, heater.)

I had a kit on hand of the new Trumpeter offering of the basic 66 truck and was tempted to substitute that for the Eastern Express offering but again I decided to rise to the challenge, add/make a few parts and see what I could do with the older kit.

I am right now almost finished with this one. I will post some photos here shortly. I am fairly happy with it though with the level of experience Angel has had with the real vehicle he may never speak to me again for what I have done on my rendition!

Angel I do have still one question if you happen to remember:

Where the vehicle windows tinted?

No one mentions this anywhere in either set of instructions but on the Trumpeter color rendition the artist gives the windows a slight blue tint. However this may have just been his/her taking artistic license to make the glass show up more clearly in the illustration.

I used these photos as reference for the heater (because I could see the heater parts) foolishly thinking the layout would be similar/identical.







So I am afraid my truck turns out to be a bit of a fantasy.

Note - interesting towed communications trailer. That might be a fun build!

No problem Mike!
Information is scarce-unless one is familiar with the vehicle, or speaks Russian.
Regarding windows- they were not tinted, but plain glass.They had rolled whitish curtains located at the top of the window- like in this drawing:


I have 2 Trumpeter's Shishiga(GAZ-66) trucks in my stash and one of them will one day be converted to R-142N Deymos.

Looking forward to see your KShtM!

GREAT - Makes it a bit easier if I don't have to tint windows!

Here's where mine stands at this moment:

Lots of minor details yet to add - much work yet to do on small stuff. (which is where my interest usually lags!) Whip antennae still need to be sorted out.

I freely admit the shelter body stands now much too tall!






Scratch built the following: 2 VHF antennae, 2 sets of stowed door steps and the roof access ladder.


Here is how my heater assembly turned out. Chimney off an old model railroad car, heater blower from the 1/24th auto parts spares box, some EE vac-formed parts, some scratch.

A few more detail shots of the Eastern Express build up:

Rather proud of that dashboard with hand painted instrument cluster and generic Archer placards. Additionally I built up those missing horizontal mud guards behind the front bumper. Also added the fire extinguisher and sun visors to cab.






Wanted a contrasting paint color on the engine. Had to choose something - that blue is actually labeled as a RAF camo color. I am fairly sure the correct engine block color should have been silver with black valve covers, air cleaner and other ancillary items.


Drilled out the lug nuts on the EE spare to make it more realistic.


Scratch built gas can holder** with resin Soviet jerry can from North Star Models.


Canted the front wheels and added a few minor underbody details. (Of course!)
Pastel chalk weathering still to come.

** The artist for Eastern Express did not know what to make of this structure when doing the box art. They drew in a short ladder. Interestingly enough EE decided to leave the part off entirely.