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ARVN M34 Truck - COMPLETED!

JamesOLeary

Master at Arms
Another quick project will be a mostly out-of-the-box build of the old Monogram M34 truck. I haven't decided if I am going to make it as an ARVN vehicle (once I do some research on how they marked their vehicles) or if I will make it depict one of the 3 or 4 M34 trucks the 15th Engineer BN of the 9th Infantry Division deployed to Vietnam with. Very few M34 trucks were used by US Forces in Vietnam due to the military preferring the M35 series due to it's multi-fuel capability. A few Engineer units had some until they were eventually replaced with M35s. Anyway, here is the initial photo I took the other night.

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When I do start on this, it should go pretty fast. Depending on whether I make it an ARVN or US vehicle will determine if it will end up finding itself in a diorama.

Cheers,
James
 
ARVN or 15th Engineer BN M34 Truck

Great if you do it for a South Vietnam one you can get the South Ribbon :popcorn
 
ARVN or 15th Engineer BN M34 Truck

Great if you do it for a South Vietnam one you can get the South Ribbon :popcorn

I think I will make it as an ARVN truck. I just need to find some references of their vehicle marking system. If worse comes to worse, I can always have a RVN flag flying from it somewhere.

Cheers,
James
 
ARVN or 15th Engineer BN M34 Truck

From Dave Millet (Animal):
"The US Army turned over all remaining M 34's we had in the latter 1967 early 1968. Some of the Engineering Units had them up till late 1968. You would be able to see a lot of them in the Saigon area in ARVN Units. Even they quickly replaced them with the M 35 series as soon as they became available to them. With the M 34 a straight gas rig and the M 35 A1's being multi fuel and being able to carry a larger pay load the M 35 was our first choice after the M 54 series five tons. But not all Units were authorized the five tons. The main feature of the multi fuel trucks was that they would run on any thing with an alcohol base. You could run it on bourbon, gas. or diesel."

Let's see if I have some photos in my reference library...

Regards,
 
ARVN or 15th Engineer BN M34 Truck

Saul, any reference photos of ARVN markings on their trucks would be helpful. I have been searching the internet and have not come across much. I remember a slide that my dad had taken when he was in Vietnam, but it was over 35 years ago that I remember seeing it.

Well, not much progress over the past couple of days. All I got was the axles and stuff attached to the frame. I forgot how basic and kind of crappy this kit was, but I am going to try to make it look as well as I can without doing anything major to it.

Here is what I have so far:

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That's all for now.

Cheers,
James
 
ARVN or 15th Engineer BN M34 Truck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPePNvga7CE

They all seem to have a six digit (3 space 3) number painted onto a yellow rectangle on the front and rear:
ARVN_armor47.jpg


phb-cochran-have-gun-will-travel-9-arvn-ambulance-1966.jpg


a still from the movie above has the wide load marking
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4141972chon-thanh-vietnam-arvn-paratroopers-members-of-saigons-elite-picture-id515931916


VN377-vi.jpg


c3d74d48b9941400ba2824a438adcef3.jpg


The USCG even had a gun truck:
hw-tmy-dn-douglas-10-qrt-m60-1971-1972.jpg


Regards,
 
ARVN or 15th Engineer BN M34 Truck

The one thing I have always seen in pictures etc is that theyr vehicles always seemed to be dirty whereas US vehicles at least got cleaned once in a while This can especialy be seen with vehicles used in towns.
 
ARVN or 15th Engineer BN M34 Truck

Thanks for the pictures, Saul. I've seen a few of them before, but there are a few that I hadn't. Besides the yellow strip across the front of the hood, it looks like there was a circular marking on the passenger side front bumper and a number on the driver side front bumper. I am sure I can make something up that will be pretty close. The hardest marking for me to make will be the one on the tailgate just because of how it is molded in the kit.

Dave, my dad mentioned that same thing about the ARVN trucks always seeming to be dirty.

I don't have any photos yet, but the model is about 80% complete in terms of construction. Once done, I will start painting.

Cheers,
James
 
ARVN or 15th Engineer BN M34 Truck

It's been a while since I even touched this model, but I decided to go ahead and try to get it done. I am going to make it into an ARVN truck. I have most of it put together and the other day I sprayed flat black for a primer. I'll have to blow some of the dust off before I start painting the green colors.

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The upcoming show in Arlington, TX has an Out of the Box category, so I will enter this in that category.

Cheers,
James
 
ARVN or 15th Engineer BN M34 Truck

Thanks.

Yesterday I spray painted the truck with Krylon Dark Forest Green which actually was lighter than I thought it would be. It worked out well for the technique I use where I paint a lighter base color and then brush paint Reaper Black Green in downward strokes for a rain streaking effect on the dark OD color used on vehicles from the Vietnam era. After I painted a couple coats of black green, I dry brushed the model with Ammo from MIG Post War Olive Drab. I went over the model several times with that color to try to make the truck look older. I also tried to make the top surfaces lighter to simulate the effects of light.

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Tomorrow if it isn't raining, I will spray it with some Dullcote. Then I will paint the lights, mirrors, steering wheel, gauges, and highlight and shade the seats in the cab.

Cheers,
James
 
ARVN or 15th Engineer BN M34 Truck

Well, I got a few things done on the truck today. I painted the yellow rectangles and white rectangles of the ARVN markings onto the appropriate places. I also painted the lights and reflectors and mirrors. I then hit it with a coat of dullcote to seal it for the dry transfer numbers that I will place in the yellow and white blocks. The truck is actually a bit darker than the photos show and the center strip is actually yellow. The flash of my camera washed that out a bit.

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Cheers,
James
 
ARVN M34 Truck

Before calling it a night, I managed to get the registration numbers put on. The numbers on the front turned out better than those on the back. The ones on the back were a pain in the butt because I did not have a really good way of holding the dry transfers in place to rub them on.

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Tomorrow I will seal the dry transfers and start the weathering process.

Cheers,
James
 
ARVN or 15th Engineer BN M34 Truck

Looking pretty good. I know what you mean about the difficulty with the dry transfers. I tried those on a 1/72 scale civilian single engine plane once and could not for the life of me get them lined up.

Looking forward to seeing more.
 
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