Cadillac Gage V-100 Commando Armored Car - Vietnam - Build

[c.rainford73]

Super job

[lmcq11]

shame you had to re manufacture a turret, but it really will be well worth the effort.

Hi Herman, It was planned from the start that I would build a turret. It is not too complex, it has mostly flat armored plates. It just took a bit longer because the resin model I planned on replicating as is was not accurate, so I had to do more research, that's all.

It is actually quite interesting to do investigative work on a AFV I have not studied before, plan solutions from scratch, be creative, and also hope for the best... The building itself is only part of the experience. I never really know how it is going to turn out.

Are you planning a crew for this one ?

Yes, the vision is of a Vietnam US Military Police base patrol vehicle, with an MP standing in the turret, a driver through one opened hatch at the front and an M-60 gunner in the back standing through the top hatch, looking towards the rear.

V-100 Vietnam

Capture.JPG (36.66 KiB) Viewed 3709 times

[lmcq11]

Hi,

This is the turret, part 2.

The T50 turret is finished, mounted with ABER .30 and M2 .50 machine gun barrels. I looked around for flash suppressors for these but did not find any. These would be very delicate, i will see what I can do.

Ludwigs 1/16 V-100 Commando armored car

Ludwigs 1/16 V-100 Commando armored car

The cupola hatch looks simple but it is actually a complicated design to reproduce, so many angles. I did my best to capture, interpret and reproduce the design from pictures and few drawings seen here and there. Doing a better job would have required accurate blue prints. Good enough I think.

Ludwigs 1/16 V-100 Commando armored car

Of course, it needs to be made operable. The locking mechanism is also working well and is important in keeping the hatch shut.

Ludwigs 1/16 V-100 Commando armored car

Ludwigs 1/16 V-100 Commando armored car

Ludwigs 1/16 V-100 Commando armored car

Ludwigs 1/16 V-100 Commando armored car

Ludwigs 1/16 V-100 Commando armored car

Ludwigs 1/16 V-100 Commando armored car

With all core components built, now the focus will go to the electronics, install the speed control that I just received and do a test run. Then create the headlight, tail lights, install the turret permanently, create rotation and gun elevation system, sound. And after that, go around the vehicle, create and install the various small and fine details still missing, and build the 3 figures. Still a lot to do... It's going well and I enjoy building this model very much.

Regards, Louis

[c.rainford73]

Beautifully crafted and designed. I respectfully bow in admiration

[lmcq11]

Hi,
This is the testing of the electronics and a field test before starting to install them permanently on the model

What you see below is the following;
- Flysky IA10B receiver
- 10A ESC speed control unit on channel 3, connected to engine and 6V battery
- Truck engine sound unit connected to Y splitter on channel 3, follows the rev of the engine
- WPL Direction servo connected to channel 4
- 10A ESC speed control unit on channel 1, connected to Heng Long turret rotation unit and 6V battery
- Micro servo on channel 2 for gun elevation
- not shown are headlights and taillights unit that will be connected to the receiver

Ludwigs V-100 electronics

Got to play with the model for a 10 minutes test run with electronics hastily thrown inside for the purpose. Runs well. The ESC speed control unit is good. I was a bit concerned with the unit price of $4, yes four dollars including shipping... but its very smooth (forward, reverse and break). Cannot go too fast through between forward and reverse, got to give the unit a good stop and then reverse. It is powerful enough. I will not be climbing anything with this model and risk a roll over that would break something.

Ludwigs V-100 electronics

v100b.JPG (95.31 KiB) Viewed 3677 times

Regards, Louis

[Ad Lav]

Could you use a fibre optic tube up the barrel and a bulb at the end?

[lmcq11]

Could you use a fibre optic tube up the barrel and a bulb at the end?

Sadly, the bore of the ABER gun barrels do not go end to end, only a few mm at the tip. Although it might have been doable to create a bore for the .30 with proper tools, the longer .50 M2 barrel would have been impossible for me. I thought of using a Mato 0.30 MG with flasher but it is oversized and inaccurate, it is ok when standalone but would not have looked good just next to a fine ABER .50 brass Barrel. I got to select my battles... The headlights need to be custom made.

Regards, Louis

[BarryC]

Could you use a fibre optic tube up the barrel and a bulb at the end?

Sadly, the bore of the ABER gun barrels do not go end to end, only a few mm at the tip. Although it might have been doable to create a bore for the .30 with proper tools, the longer .50 M2 barrel would have been impossible for me. I thought of using a Mato 0.30 MG with flasher but it is oversized and inaccurate, it is ok when standalone but would not have looked good just next to a fine ABER .50 brass Barrel. I got to select my battles... The headlights need to be custom made.

Regards, Louis

Hi Louis,

I am struggling with the same issue using the AFV Model 50cal. I am considering using tubing and turning the taper on my lathe. I need to find tubing with a .020-.030" inner diameter and sufficient wall thickness to allow me to turn the taper without compromising the wall thickness.

Should prove to be challenging, I only need two.....for now!
Barry

[lmcq11]

Hi,

This is the frontal section with the headlights

This is what the V-100 builder needs to create. The brush guards are easy enough but the headlights themselves have a unique shape that have to be entirely scratch built.

Ludwigs V-100 Commando

An inexpensive LED kit was used for the lights and connect directly to the receiver. The LED was shortened to fit the headlamp body. Core parts were created with residual plasticard, one thing that you get plenty of when you build a Ludwigs kit. No need to pick into the plasticard reserve and enough for quite a while.

Ludwigs V-100 Commando

The headlight forms are made of layers of plasticard.

Ludwigs V-100 Commando

They are hand crafted on a best effort basis with basic tools, no way around it.

Ludwigs V-100 Commando

Headlights are Installed as well as other details around them, it was a 5 hour operation end to end.

Ludwigs V-100 Commando

Ludwigs V-100 Commando

I can see a bit of fine tuning to do on the brush guard.

Ludwigs V-100 Commando

Ludwigs V-100 Commando

Ludwigs V-100 Commando

Headlights are important and add a lot of the realism of the vehicle. Tail lights are next on the agenda.

Ludwigs V-100 Commando

Regards, Louis

[c.rainford73]

Absolutely brilliant work