Humvee GMV Enduring Freedom

Using a Pro Arts conversion kit for this one. 

A couple of hours work and most of the frame is done. As usual with Tamiya the parts fit very well. 

First resin parts glued. The winch has very good details, but it took a good part of 30 minutes to clean the part. It was both fiddly and difficult to clean it but i managed by being slow and carefull. 

Very good winch details at the rear as well. 

The original Pro Art kit comes with nice Humvee resin wheels, but I had a set of Super Swamper tyres in the stash and there is no reason not to use them 🙂 

An early mockup to check that all things are aligned. 

Making a simple base. To make a small base I have good results using air drying DAS clay. I mask of the area where I don´t want any clay and cover the area with white glue before I spread a thin layer of clay. The glue helps the clay to better bond to the base. 

Then I set the tyre tracks. Be sure to wash any clay off the tyres when done. 

I use a piece of sand paper to «print» some texture in the clay. 

The I add some rocks and press them into the clay. 

Last thing is to remove the masking tape and let it dry for 24 hours. When dry the detailing continues. Next step will be to add some AK acrylic texture. 

Mock-up. It starts to look like a GMV. The Pro Art parts are well detailed but extremly fiddly to clean up. I had to glue the ammo can holder on the passenger side before the final sanding (which is not done yet). 

Mk 19 as the Main weapon. 

The Pro Art Models kit is ok for its age, but I´m starting to get tired of facemask, vacuume cleaner and sanding. 

The upcoming operators need som weapons. The M4 rifles and DMR are from Blast, the M240 is from Legend. 

Allmost ready for some paint 

I will go for the rear doors since the crew is dressed for winter.  

I built some extra armor and added pedals and floor mats to the GMV 

The armor is scratchbuilt from styrene and masking tape using some reference pictures. The bolts is a bit over scaled, but it is what I had in my spares box. 

The same armor, but with some primer. 

And it can hardly be seen with the dash and windscreen attached 

I did not like the bolts so I changed them 

Working on the radio setup. (Mock-up picture) 

Built a satellite antenna. Figure is for scale only. 

Changed the radio for a better set up from MR Models. 

Moons out - Goons out! 

Heater system installed 

Lots of small details tonight. Fuel Line, sun visors, speakers, windshield viper motor, etc… 

«The Goons» at a very early stage of painting.  

The evolution of Goons. Some more paint added.  

Crew is more or less finished 

Finally got time to do some work on the GMV. Still a long way to go. 

Roof and gun mount is not glued. Need to work on the interior. 

Radios wired up and installed 

I´m quiet happy with how the PLGR GPS turned out. 

A bit of stowage. The tarp is made from Kleenex tissue. 

Crew has gotten their personal weapons and is glued to the seats 

Birdseye wiev 

Vehicle commander with his M-4 in a sling 

Rear wiev before the roof went on. 

Finally some progress. Interior is done and roof is glued on. 

Only a couple of more nights now 

Finished!