"Haul'em Boys!" Wrecker Diorama

Post by **Coen** » Thu Dec 17, 2015 12:20 pm

Hey Fellas!!!
The fellas on the POP hangouts got me one of the Mirror Models T969A US Diamond Wreckers for my birthday a few weeks ago, along with all the aftermarket goodies that I could ask for. I've been chomping at the bit to start working on it ever since.
I've managed to clear my bench of almost all of my ongoing projects and I decided that I'd tackle this thing.
A few months ago I decided that I was not going to build any more large projects, as they take up way too much room and I can't get rid of them afterwards.
SO... I then built my Sand in Me Pants dio, my Michael Wittmann at Villers Bocage dio, and then my 1/72 HMCS Moose Jaw dio.
So much for decisions eh?
This will be no different.

The wrecker is a skill builder kit as it is and will take some time and a lot of effort to build. The parts are numerous and need a huge amount of clean up. They build up ok, but it's an old fashioned worker's kit. I've seen it built up before and it looks awesome, so I'm hoping that with time and patience I can pull off something decent.

Fact sheet...
Diamond T 4.0 ton Wrecker
Truck, 4-ton, 6x6, Wrecker Diamond T 969, 969A, 969B
The Diamond T Wrecker was basically a standard truck with a wrecker body by the Holmes .Co.
It was first seen in 1941 and has been used by many armies around the world -including BRITAIN and CANADA - until long after the second world war.
Purpose was; 'To lift and tow disabled vehicles'. and it was Classified as 'Standard'.
It was delivered first with a closed Cab (969) and after 1943 an open Cab was used.(969A-969B)
One in four were equipped with the 'Ánti-Aircraft-Machine-gun Mount M36'.
Engine Hercules RXC 6cyl
Displacement 521 cu.in.
Brake horsepower 131
Lift capacity 10 ton , Winch capacity 15.000 lb.

I didn't want to stop there though, I got it in my head that a recovery diorama would be interesting, or at least a dio with recovery vehicles on it would be. So, I pulled out my Tamiya Dragon Wagon with trailer and an Eduard (tasca) M4A1 Sherman to go with it.

Fact Sheet...
Type 40 ton (36,287kg) 6x6 Tank recovery truck-trailer
Designer Knuckey Truck Company
Manufacturer M26: Pacific Car & Foundry Co.
M15: Fruehauf Trailer Co.
Variants M26A1, M26A2
Specifications (M25[2])
Weight
Empty[1]
M26: 48,000 lb (22,000 kg)
M15: 36,600 lb (16,600 kg)
M25: 84,300 lb (38,200 kg)
Loaded[1]
M26: 103,000 lb (47,000 kg)
M15: 36,600 lb (16,600 kg)
M25: 164,300 lb (74,500 kg)
Length M26: 25 feet 4 inches (7.72 m)
M15: 38 feet 5 1⁄16 inches (11.71 m)
Width M26: 10 feet 10 3⁄4 inches (3.32 m)
M15 12 feet 6 inches (3,810 mm)
Height M26: 11 feet 5 inches (3.48 m)
Crew-7
Armament 1-.50 cal. machine gun
Armor, front-3/4", sides, rear, 1/4".
top speed-26 MPH
fuel cap, 120 GAL.
Users: US Army, British Army, JGSDF
Some cool websites with useful info..
https://www.facebook.com/M25-Dragon-Wag ... 594992591/
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mtygf/county/m26.htm
http://www.dse.nl/~vrzaob/wc52/joesstory.html
http://www.easy39th.com/files/TM_9-767_ ... 5_1944.pdf

I boxed up, recycled, or binned a few old builds on the shelves to make some room and I think that I can put together another dio that I will have a hard time photographing because it's too big.

Here's the reviews that I did on the Dragon Wagon and the M4A1 some time ago if anyone is interested...

[youtube]9j5dxPOnvAg[/youtube]

[youtube]7cUN7JmITQA[/youtube]

I haven't gotten a tonne done yet, the wrecker was the first thing on the bench and that took a huge amount of time and effort just to get most of the frame built. I decided to stop until after the holidays as I'm apparently getting some reference material as a present and I want to double check some connections and add some detail if I can.

Here are some of the aftermarket goodies that the fellas tossed in for the wrecker.
Should certainly add a bit to the build.

So far all that I've done is a large portion of the frame and the power train.
That was a handful.
As I said, I'll put her aside for a week until I can go over my references.
The majority of the work was spent on finding the parts on the hard to see sprue markings, cutting the parts from the huge connectors, and then cleaning up those connections and the seams.
The kit is moulded in two colours of plastic, light and dark grey, the dark grey doesn't like Tamiya Extra Thin much. I had to use either Revell's Contacta or Humbrol's Poly to glue many of the parts. The TET just wouldn't melt the dark grey plastic enough to get a good weld.
The instructions are very simple photocopy print outs on letter sized paper.
That may sound cheap and poor quality, but the drawings are superb and extremely clear even if they are very busy. There was never a question as to were a part went or how it was oriented. So... very well done, just different.
Finding the parts on the sprues was another matter. Very difficult to see the numbers and letters.

I didn't spend a great amount of time on the engine and it's a bit sloppy, I wasn't planning on it being visible anyway. So I just slapped it together mostly.

After putting aside the wrecker I started work on the sherman and some figures.
The figures I made from bits and pieces of left over Verlindin sets and assorted equipment sets that I had in my spares... so they're a bit frankensteined. Others are some ancient Tamiya figures that I'm hoping to be able to bring to life... Though I have my doubts.
Then the crew of the Dragon Wagon... a set of 4 identical figures with different arms to pose them. What a joke haha. Tamyia was terrible back then for figures.

The Eduard (tasca) sherman was superb as would be expected of a tasca kit. I've built this same kit before when it was under the tasca lable and it's exactly the same kit with the addition of a different PE sheet and really crappy decals.
The kit itself is awesome and built really well. It will need some casting texture though as it has almost none.
I added a couple of verlindin stowage sets and I may still add the side skirts, I'm still thinking on it. I just added the tie down ropes to the stowage, so they don't appear in the photos.
I haven't decided on a theatre for the diorama yet either, France... Italy (still need to check the usage of the dragon wagon and the wrecker in Italy), winter, spring, fall... since some of the fellas are dressed warmly I may do a spring or fall scene.

Post by **Rodney** » Thu Dec 17, 2015 12:44 pm

Can't wait to see the wrecker come together

**Felis Barcinonensis YouTube Channel** · Post by **felisbarcinonensis** » Thu Dec 17, 2015 2:37 pm

Just...WOW!

Post by **ladip63** » Thu Dec 17, 2015 7:33 pm

Yep, So much for not doing anything big, Mike. That's OK you have to do something over the winter season.

The Master is at it again!!! Can't wait to see the Dragon Wagon and the weaker come together. Sherman looks good.

Post by **Mylightweight** » Thu Dec 17, 2015 7:42 pm

I'm very excited to this come together, it may shove me in the right direction to finish my Dragon Wagon

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Thu Dec 17, 2015 10:07 pm

AWESOME!!!!
Loving that wrecker

Post by **Coen** » Sat Dec 19, 2015 3:07 am

Thanks Fellas

Started working on the Dragon Wagon now. I decided to start with the trailer first instead of the tractor. I wanted to see how the kit built up without the annoyances of having to stop to paint sub-assemblies.
It was amazing!!!!!!
It's probably one of the best armour kits that I've ever built to date.
It's completely typical of Tamiya kits in so far as it being extremely easy to build and the fit is absolutely fabulous. The details are wonderful and accurate for the most part according to the mountain of reference material that I have.
Just a plain old enjoyable built... only a-typical to a Tamyia build... It won't be done in 4 hours.
This thing has a tonne of parts and will take me at least 5 days to build I'm thinking.

Now I'm wanting to build the FAMO and trailer. haha.

Here's what she's looking like now, not much to see at the moment.. just the trailer.

I started on the tractor tonight, maybe by the end of the weekend or early in the week I'll have that together.. it's a lot more involved so we shall see.

Post by **Scaleman** » Sat Dec 19, 2015 12:00 pm

Looks really nice mike, I cant wait to see the rest of the build, very exiting.

YouTube · Post by **Kingdan** » Sat Dec 19, 2015 2:50 pm

Yep cool as

Post by **arkbuilder2012** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 12:35 am

Look forward to see your work on the wrecker, I have that kit in the stash along with the partially built Diamond Dump Truck. Maybe some inspiration to finish it.

Post by **Coen** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 1:49 pm

The way that this Dragon Wagon is moving I'll be back at the wrecker in just a few days. I'm waiting on reference material for it before I move on.
Until then I'll try and finish building the Dragon Wagon before the 25th. After that I want to switch to the wrecker, then build the diorama.
Then I can concentrate on painting.

Here's the state of the DW now. The trailer is finished and the tractor is nearly done.
The interior is complete and is ready to be painted.

Some shots of the excellent sub assemblies that make up the bits and pieces for the engine/transmission.
Almost all completely workable.

There's easily 80 parts to this and it took a total of 45 minutes to build it.
The fits are crazy beautiful.

A quick mock up to see how big the total build will be... Fraking huge!!!

Next the interior constructed.

A test fit shows that things are not all great in Kansas. Something is preventing the cab from making a tight seal.
I'm thinking it's one of the ribs, but I'll worry about that once I have to button it up.

Next I'll look at adding a bit of extra details to the interior like wires, conduits if any and some stowage scattered around the cab.
Then I'll paint the interior, paint what crew I'll use, install them, then tape it all up so I can paint the exterior.
Here's a video about my standard BS musing about the kits and the build.
[youtube]dPpTvYyxFAA[/youtube]

YouTube · Post by **Kingdan** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 10:06 pm

Ding dang do Mike cracking on at speed with this mate

Dan

Post by **TheTroyster** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 3:19 am

Didn't you say you were going to do smaller dioramas? I mean after this one right?

Looks great as expected!

Post by **Coen** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 10:32 am

The first thing that learned years ago, is to never listen to myself.

Post by **Paul** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 10:46 am

Shaping up to be an awesome build mike, think i need to add that dragon wages to my stash too

YouTube · Post by **Scalemodelmedic** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 11:18 am

Interesting subject and great build too, definitely one for the size queens. Ever since I read "death traps' I've wanted to do something similar but I wouldn't have finished a 1\72 figure in the time it's took you to get this far!!

Post by **Coen** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 1:01 pm

Paul wrote:Shaping up to be an awesome build mike, think i need to add that dragon wagon to my stash too

Thanks Paul

wages... hehehe.

Scalemodelmedic wrote:Interesting subject and great build too, definitely one for the size queens. Ever since I read "death traps' I've wanted to do something similar but I wouldn't have finished a 1\72 figure in the time it's took you to get this far!!

Jon, I've got almost infinite time available to me to build, so I get a lot done in a few days.

YouTube · Post by **Scalemodelmedic** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 1:30 pm

Still impressive as its all clean building! Looking forward to the juicy bits when the weathering starts to fly

Post by **panzerdodge** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 11:07 pm

This is going to be an epic dio. Can't wait to see more.

Post by **Nige99** » Tue Dec 22, 2015 9:02 pm

That's a epic build you've given yourself Mike!!
But hey that's you all over dude. Big is beautiful, look forward to see what you do and ETO. what season.

Post by **Coen** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 12:45 am

For he most part, I've finished the build of the dragon wagon now. I still need to do the fine details, but all of the big stuff is done.
I have to see about doing brake lines and hydrylics if any as well as detailing the cabin.

Here's a few shots of the assemblies... Superb thing to build.
All of the bits that move... Move.

Q

[URL=http://s1317.photobucket.com/user/Lord_ ... .jpeg.html

[/URL]

YouTube · Post by **Kingdan** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 12:56 am

awesomeness but your gonna struggle to find a shelf big enough

Dan

Post by **jbellos1** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 3:59 am

Damn Mike - that is a beast! Love the winches...amazing details in there. Oh, and the suspensions...just amazing looking. It looks like you have had some serious building fun and basically tore through that kit! Nice...and with the Sherman on it...wow, simply, wow.

YouTube · Post by **Scalemodelmedic** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 8:12 am

Loving this build, its do detailed and so massive there's tons to appreciate.

Post by **jaurie407** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 4:24 pm

Awesome work as always can not wait to see it painted and weathered

Post by **Nige99** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 8:08 pm

Loving this Mike winch and the chain is spot on.

Post by **Coen** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 3:06 am

Yup, wicked kit and I haven't a clue how I'm going to paint it yet.
One thing at a time I guess haha.

Now that the wagon is built I did a bit of work on the wrecker. Mostly just installed the engine and transmission and built the cab.
No easy build. Took all day in fact. Lots of clean up and a lot of the parts didn't fit well. So I had some convincing to do. That and the fact that the Tamiya extra thin doesn't like the dark grey plastic much made building very slow and tricky.
I'm still waiting for my reference material so I can do the plumbing.

Here's a few shots of where it's at now....

Post by **billk** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 9:19 am

Aha i was waiting for this build since i saw the review you made on i long time ago.That was the triger to buy also the Dragon W, of course i was too intimidate to build it but now i see it's not that hard as i was expecting...
Good job and nice Holidays!

Post by **Coen** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 2:23 pm

Building either the Sherman or the dragon wagon is a sinch, the wrecker is a handful though.
Painting the Sherman is no big deal, but the wagon and the wrecker may be another matter.

Post by **arkbuilder2012** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 10:26 pm

Glad to hear I'm not the only one that has problems gluing some of the Mirror parts together. I was advised by another modeler to use Humbrol Liquid Poly. Couldn't find any Liquid but did get some Humbrol Poly with the precision tip. Haven't had the chance to try it out yet. Build looks good so far.

Post by **Coen** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 11:07 am

The Humbrol Liquid Poly is pretty much all that I've been using for the last while now.
I gave up on getting TET to work.
The Revell Contacta works fine as well, the Tamiya orange bottle does next to nothing though.
So... I'll be saving on the Tamiya products for this build, but blow through sanders and number 11 blades for the clean up.

I've been working on the wrecker the last three days and not much progress has happened.
Between a fat man in a red suit breaking into my house to drive my children insane, a huge dead bird that my wife managed to turn into food...poor Butch... and a snow storm, I haven't had much will to work.
I had the time, I always have the time... I was just so freaking tired. BLAH!

When I did get to the bench, the work was slowed because of the difficulty of the kit.
I haven't worked this slowly on a kit in years. I still have Mojo for it though, so that's good.
It's starting to come together now, and that helps with the momentum.

I opened the PE set for the boom and discovered that it also had PE in it for many of the parts that I'd already built.
That annoyed me a little. There were some parts that I would love to have replaced with PE.
If I can I will try to pop some off and swap them still.

Here is where she sits now...
The Wheels aren't attached permanently yet, mostly I was just checking to see if it was level.
Neither is the cab, fenders or engine cover. I have to constantly test fit everything.

Here's a video that I did blathering on about the builds if you're interested.
When I posted it, it was still processing on pootube.

[youtube]C1NLC8rb3tc[/youtube]

**Felis Barcinonensis YouTube Channel** · Post by **felisbarcinonensis** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 1:38 pm

Nice truck!!!! Did the creepy laughing man in red steal the dead bird?! Looks like a shocking paranormal case

Post by **Coen** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 2:08 pm

felisbarcinonensis wrote:Nice truck!!!! Did the creepy laughing man in red steal the dead bird?! Looks like a shocking paranormal case

No... but he made a total mess of my living room... paper and ribbons every where!!!!!!!!

Post by **Nige201980** » Tue Dec 29, 2015 10:44 am

Cracking work as always Mike. Looking forward to seeing this on a dio its going to be huge.

Post by **arkbuilder2012** » Tue Dec 29, 2015 1:50 pm

The LZ Models wheels look great. Gonna have to spring for those for my dump truck and wrecker model. Looks like your making good progress.

Post by **Coen** » Wed Dec 30, 2015 3:24 pm

Thanks Fellas.

Post by **Coen** » Wed Dec 30, 2015 3:50 pm

I've spent about 15 hours just working on the winches and the flat bed assemblies, spread of the last few days.
It was fiddly but very enjoyable. Now that the holidays are over I need some enjoyable.

It may look like a lot has been done to the wrecker, but really it's just the verticle assembly for some winches and an air compressor that has been built. The flat bed and the cab/engine covers assembley I'll leave unattached and try to glue them on after painting. Unless the construction prohibits that. Then I'll paint the entire vehicle in one go and spend a lot of time on the detail painting, forgoing the subassemblies.
That may end up being how I have to do this given how badly the plastic accepts the glues that I have.

Post by **OliveDrab** » Wed Dec 30, 2015 4:20 pm

Very inspiring model building Mike, for some reason I have the strong urge to build something with wheels instead of tracks now!!!

Post by **arkbuilder2012** » Wed Dec 30, 2015 6:06 pm

Shame that the plastic is so resistant to glue, but you have done a great job, Should look awesome with a coat of paint. How was the PE to work with? My dump truck has a bunch of it but I've already planned on replacing it with scratch sheet plastic.

Post by **Coen** » Wed Dec 30, 2015 10:58 pm

Thanks fellas.

The After market and the out of box PE is fairly easy to work with. The engineering of the assembly is fairly easy as well. Very straight forward.

Post by **Coen** » Fri Jan 01, 2016 3:44 am

I spent pretty much the day working on the wrecker.
Watching a few movies and trying to keep this kit glued together.
It's probably the most delicate thing I've ever built. If I fart to loud near it I'm sure it will just fall apart.
It's mostly held together with humbrol poly, Revell contacta, super thick CA glue, and some five minute epoxy.
Mostly the ca and epoxy is what worked in the end. Not much sticks to this plastic.
I can just pop off any part that I want with ease, the bonds are so weak.

Either way... It's built now and hopefully I can paint it without having it fly apart when I spray paint on it.

First I want to plan the diorama though... That will be next.

Here is a few shots of it all built up.

Tomorrow I hope to have the dio at least started, the dragon wago so far is proving difficult to work with at its so big.
I may end up not using it at all for this... We'll have to see.

Post by **Mylightweight** » Fri Jan 01, 2016 4:22 am

The Wagon is a big girl to place, I wanted mine in convoy with a truck but found the dio would be too big for the shelf.

Loving the wrecker so far

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Fri Jan 01, 2016 6:16 am

Looking great, Mike
Keep at it and have happy and healthy New Year
Scott

Post by **Nev** » Fri Jan 01, 2016 9:18 am

Those wheels really set it off fella

Happy new year Mike heres to 2016

Post by **Rodney** » Fri Jan 01, 2016 5:19 pm

It looks to be a nice build to bad its hard to glue together.Cant wait to see paint on it..

Post by **Coen** » Sat Jan 02, 2016 3:34 am

It will be some time before I start spraying paint. I want to build this diorama first.
Speaking of which, after a couple of hours messing around with bases and spacing, playing musical chairs with the vehicles and figures, I came up with this.

The scene will portray a farm house somewhere on the edge of hedgerow Normandy in the fall of 1944. Just after the breakouts and push across France.The diamond T and it's crew are sitting in it's cab waiting for the dragon wagon to maneuver past so it can pull out and hook on to recover the panzer IV that crashed into a tree and was abandoned by it's crew.
Basically a clean up scene after all the excitement is over.
I'm hoping that the farm house will look like an upscale farmer's home, someone with a few pennies to rub together, but nothing new. Old, but well cared for. I want to scratch build a well and a medium sized tree as well.
The panzer IV is one that I built a few years ago but never really had a firm plan for a diorama.
Problem solved.

I've already started on some of the basics. The house is built and the roadway is built up with some DAS.
Once the DAS is dry I'll build the tree and add it to the field, then built the field out of Celluclay.

Post by **ForbesHutton** » Sat Jan 02, 2016 3:56 am

That's a whole lot of plastic to be covered in green paint, you better check with your quartermaster now.

Post by **Mylightweight** » Sat Jan 02, 2016 7:40 am

Looking good, is there anything under the DAS or is it straight onto the wooden base?

Post by **MarkVerploeg** » Sat Jan 02, 2016 9:10 am

Wow this build is huge
the amount of details is impressive to say the least
and the diorama idea looks very nice too
keep up the good work

**Felis Barcinonensis YouTube Channel** · Post by **felisbarcinonensis** » Sat Jan 02, 2016 9:23 am

That's a mega project Michael! An epic recovery!! Love the looks of it