M32B1 TRV with T1E1 Mine Roller
1
May 22, 2022Lower hull with basic interior parts (plus square plastic rod to support the floor that will be added later), and turret parts with ejector pin marks filled with putty.2
May 22, 2022Turret parts glued together, roof held on with tape so everything will set square. Fit of the turret walls to the base ring is very tight.3
May 22, 2022Turret seams puttied and sanded, and some interior parts added.4
May 22, 2022.50-calibre ammo boxes detailed.5
May 22, 2022Hull with driver’s compartment from AFV Club 17-pounder M10 kit, as the basics of it can be seen through the opening in the turret. Jerrycans in left rear sponson, from Italeri with RFM lids to make them water cans, and Tamiya M1 Thompson SMG under turret roof.6
May 23, 2022Mortar ammo tubes made from sprue H of this kit, as it has the right diameter; Tasca’s tubes are too long (18 mm instead of 16 mm). The hull rack in the right sponson holds 19 rounds.7
May 23, 2022Drive shaft and cover for power take-off chain added. These aren’t meant to be entirely accurate but to give a good enough impression when seen through the open roof of the turret.8
May 29, 2022Winch transmission added, not very detailed nor exactly to scale, because it will mostly be out of sight. What counts is that it gives the right impression.9
May 29, 2022Winch drive added under the floor, again mostly to give the right impression of the actual thing rather than being fully accurate.10
May 29, 2022View through the open top to show what will be visible on the finished model.11
May 30, 2022Details added to the firewall.12
June 15, 2022Fire extinguisher bottles from an old Tamiya M60A1 kit, with pipework from copper wire.13
June 15, 2022Winch control handles scratchbuilt from plastic strip and rod.14
June 15, 2022What you can see of the levers etc. through the open top, when the floor plates and winch drum are in place. (Drum has been bulked up with some leftover bits, so not as much cable needs to go on it later on.)15
June 15, 2022Driver figure, legs and torso from two different MiniArt sets, arms from the figure from an Asuka Sherman, head from Royal Models.16
June 19, 2022Turret interior now finished too.17
June 19, 2022Whole interior painted olive drab using Mr. Aqueous Hobby Color.18
June 20, 2022Interior had a wash of black and a drybrush of light olive to bring out the detail. Seats and mortar ammo tubes painted black, and fire extinguishers undercoated in dark yellow so that red can go over them later without becoming dark and muddy.19
June 26, 2022Hull floor and winch put in. Winch cable is far too long and rolled up so it can be cut to length later on.20
June 26, 2022Interior mostly complete, though hull top and turret are both still loose.21
June 26, 2022Left side of mostly finished interior.22
June 29, 2022Driver figure painted.23
June 29, 2022Driver in his seat, and a helmet and pack added to the rear floor to add some interest and make the vehicle seem more “in use”.24
June 29, 2022Driver masked off with a piece cut from a plastic bag intended for storing sandwiches 🙂 This can be pulled up through the hatch after painting, and is impervious to model cement (as proved by a quick test).25
June 29, 2022Covers made for grouser compartments to replace the kit’s air scoops, which were often removed and replaced when M4A1s were converted to M32B1s.26
June 30, 2022With the hull, turret and some stowage together, it starts to look like a tank.27
July 3, 2022Some of the recovery equipment installed in the left and front sides.28
July 3, 2022More recovery equipment on the right and rear. Two of the spare track links have been replaced by ones from a Dragon Sherman kit, for variety.29
July 8, 2022Replacements for the hubs of the mine roller discs, 3D-printed by a friend from a CAD drawing I made based on an illustration from the technical manual for the T1E1 mine roller.30
July 8, 2022Bold Division hub on the left, replacement on the right. Because of the BD hub’s thickness, the set only includes 21 (so you have to alternate one hub and one disc) when there should be 36 (two hubs to each disc).31
July 8, 2022Roller discs with hubs: Bold Division parts on the left, replacement hub on the right. The discs on the right also had their centre holes drilled out to 9 mm diameter instead of 5 mm as per the set’s parts.32
July 16, 2022All eighteen roller discs with a hub on both sides,33
July 16, 2022As I made the hubs slightly too wide so a set of discs is 4 mm too wide for the Bold Division parts, but those are about 2 mm too narrow compared to drawings of the real thing, I widened the parts by 2 mm on each side by superglueing a piece of plastic card to it.34
July 16, 2022After the glue dried, I cut the plastic roughly to shape. It still needs to be filed down to match the resin parts.
Opmerkingen
12 22 May 2022, 14:03
![](/profiles/img/33587-335-s.png)
Watching this 👍 I find those recovery vehicles to be rather interesting subjects, indeed.
20 June 2022, 10:48
Album info
The T1E1 "Earthworm" mine roller was used by the US Army from late 1944 on, mounted on the front of M32 tank recovery vehicles.