[Big D]

Hi all,

I’ve been busy doing a few small tidying up jobs on the M8. My master ‘to do’ list is gradually getting smaller so I guess that is a good sign.

I had saved a trace of the star decal I used on the front of the hull and used the outline to paint the part circles on the inside of the front hatches. They came out pretty good.

A Zero arrow in the turret for the sighting quadrant was next. Thanks to Jonathan for the dimensions which I used to make a small paint mask.

I’ve done some more work on both sand skirts. I spent probably a day and a half dollying out the dents and creases in the second sand skirt. Even after that, I think I could have spent more time on it. The sand skirts were both pretty beaten up and when I got them they looked like a Sherman tank had driven over them, but I think what I have done so far will have to do. It still needs to look like it has been in a war. I used the last of the star paint masks I had to paint the US stars on the sides of the sand skirts and they look pretty good now. I will look to do something about the front guards at some point. I am not happy about those but they will do for the moment.

I knocked up a very rough compass mount which will do until I can find (and afford) the real thing.

I made up some exterior decals for the hull and tool locker covers. I am not convinced on the use of decals especially with some of the rougher steel surfaces and if (when) these come off I think I will make some paint masks instead.

I had a long pin .50 cal pintle arrive for the trolley on the gun ring and I’ve been busy cleaning that up. The pintle came with a trolley stuck to it, with the pin from the pintle completely seized in the trolley socket, so I had to spend some time trying to get that out.

I’ve also been doing a bit more work on the turret. I wasn’t happy with the movement of the turret and it seemed tight in places in its rotation. I removed the traverse gear and sure enough the problem appears to be the skirt on the turret binding with the ring on the hull. I had repaired a section of the skirt on this and it looks like it might have a few high spots on the inside which are rubbing on the paint on the outside of the raised ring on the hull. I’ll persevere with that.

That’s all for this week.