M-32 Tank Recovery Vehicle - Italeri 1/35 (Part 3)

The tool boxes and the A-Frame mounts were attached to the rear deck.  Plastic rod soaked in glue was used to simulate the welds for the mounts.

Spare track mounts were fabricated from styrene strips and u-channel and they were attached to the rear of the turret.

                              

Spare road wheels and drive sprockets were added to the exterior of the turret.  The turret was then attached to the hull.

Here are more pictures of the tank with the turret attached

The front fenders were made from styrene and glued in place.  The front tow hitch was also added to the hull,  

Next, I started on the A-Frame.  The seam lines were scrapped smooth (very time consuming) and the attachment points were prepped for attaching to the hull.  Small areas were sanded smooth so the mounts could be glued.  Styrene rods were used to simulate the weld beads.

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M-32 Tank Recovery Vehicle - Italeri 1/35 (Part 2)

The work continued on the interior of the lower hull. 

The transmission cover was from the Italeri kit and covered with Vallejo putty, and hull was from Dragon.  The transmission bolts were punched from 0.015 styrene.

The early model air cleaners were made from brass shim stock and plastic.  The rear hatch handle was added and weld seams were added to the heavy duty the tow hitch.  The welds were made from stretch sprue soften with liquid cement.  

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Up next was fitting the rear deck to the upper resin hull.  It took a lot of trimming and shaping to get it to fit.  The rear deck was from the Italeri kit.  The additional filler caps from from the spare parts box.

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The direct vision blocks were scratch built from sheet styrene and were fitted to the vision ports.

Additional details were added to the upper hull.  The mortar bottom plate and the tow port hatch were from the Italeri kit, the lifting lugs were made from paper clips and the fenders are made from plastic.  The upper and lower hulls required trimming and a lot Tamiya putty to get a good fit.

Additional details were added to the front hull.

Next I worked on the rear deck tool boxes.  I didn't like the tops, so I made new ones from shim stock brass cut and folded to fit the top of the box provided in the kit.

Brackets and footman loops were added to the top and rear of the tool box for the pioneer tools.









The brackets for the spare road wheels were make from plastic and aluminum strips.  The plastic strips were glued together and attached the the road wheels using liquid cement.  The aluminum cross supports were super glued in place.  Four were made, 2 for the front of the turret and 2 for the rear fenders.

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M-32 Tank Recovery Vehicle - Italeri 1/35 (Part 1)

The Italeri M-32 is a older kit and needed some updates.  The large hatch hull was not common version and the turret dimensions were not accurate.  The upper hull was replaced with a Tank Work Shop M4A1 Direct Vision hull, and the lower hull was replaced with one from Dragon.  The transmission cover was from the kit.

I started with the lower hull and VVSS suspension.  The Italeri VVSS brackets lacked details and was replaced with brackets from Dragon.  They needed detailing too.  Bolt heads were added to the return skids and to the return arm rollers.  Grease fittings were added to the top of the bracket under the skid.  The skids were too thick and thinned by sanding and scraping.  Four mounting holes were drilled into the front of the bracket.  I used two types of road wheels - the spoked wheels are from the kit and the pressed spoked wheels are from Dragon.  These needed the 10 rivets around edge to be added.  Both road wheels had a mold seam line that needed to be removed.  To do this, they were mounted on a drill using a tooth pick and sanded smooth with 100 grit paper.

Since the M32 has an open top and the hatches were going to be open, the interior provided with the kit was sparse and needed to be detailed - no driving compartment was included and the turret and crew compartments had some basic details.

For the drivers compartment, a transmission, floor, dashboard, radio, and seats were added.  The transmission was casted from an M-10 kit.  The floor, dashboard, and seats were made from stryene and green epoxy putty.  The radio was from the spare parts box.  For the crew compartment, the machinist tools boxes, firewall, winch, and floors were added.

A basic winch was scratch built too.  Since the winch was going to be covered, not much detail was needed.  The floor was modified and the hatch was cut open.

  




The floor was primed and painted black.  The salt technique was used to weather the floor before it was painted white.  I think it gives a good effect for worn.

The turret was next.  The back of the turret was too narrow in the back by 0.3".  Thin wedges were made from 0.04" Styrene.  The wedges were glued to the existing turret. 

A paper template was made for the sides of the turret.  They were made from 0.04" styrene and glued to the turret.  I left the inner turret walls in place.  

The back plates were fitted, glued, and sanded.  The turret was bolted to the upper hull.  Bolt heads were added to the turret.  A paper template was used to make sure the bolts were evenly spaced.

Detail was added to the interior of the turret.  The rear pulley, hatch, and fold down seat were  missing - they were scratch built.  The mortar ready rounds, fire extinguisher, crew seats were added and detailed.