Friday, May 20, 2016

Rubicon M5A1 Stuart VI work in progress

Okay, a bit glacial.

So after discussing the subject of sand skirts on the Rubicon forum, I attached the sand skirts.

Some filling will be required on the rear part of the skirt (have a look at the rear view later).

One thing to note on the above photographs is the position of the Glacis plate. I glued it on far too high, there is a large gap between the bottom of the plate and the sand shield/mud guard fixing. So I had to remove it and re fix it nearer the correct position. Unfortunately this left a gap at the top. I used a piece of micro strip to fill in the gap at the top (the white line on subsequent pictures).

I then drilled locating holes and added armatures (square section plastic rod/tube) and fixing points for stowage. I also added two Bolt Action British helmets, hanging from the turret lifting rings. I think that they should be proper tanker type helmets, but they are not available ready made.
The driver is not very popular, his pack is hanging on the front (the other packs are on the turret), though it does provide him with an incentive not to drive through too many puddles.

The mounting points on the rear of the hull project through (sort of) the first tarpaulin to provide a fixing point for subsequent soft stowage.