discussion U.S M8 Light Armored Car Greyhound (Tamiya 1/35)

[Matt.]

Going to make a start on this today, a lot more parts than I was expecting.
Hope i get the time to get stuck in and crack on.

 

[Mini Me]

Never seen one of these built up before........I'll watch from a safe distance of course. Rick H.

 

[rtfoe]

Rick, you must have missed Scotties build...I think his was a turretless recon vehicle. I wonder if the Tamiya and the Italeri kits are the same mold Matt? I have the Italeri one and will check the sprues against your picture. Should be a nice build...Rick come closer, I'll stand between you and the build should anything happen. :tears-of-joy::tears-of-joy::tears-of-joy:

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Guest]

I'm in Rick .
Any coffee. ?

 

[Guest]

I wonder if the Tamiya and the Italeri kits are the same mold

I’ve not built either, but no, they’re not. They were released around the same time, but appear to have been designed completely independently of each other. The instructions are on Scalemates, and show clearly that the two kits really share nothing except the subject and scale:
https://www.scalemates.com/kits/tamiya-35228-greyhound--123035
https://www.scalemates.com/kits/italeri-364-m8-greyhound--101842

By the way, Matt, I don’t know how accurate you want this model to be, but I remember a letter sent into Military Modelling magazine after an article in which Steve Zaloga detailed the Tamiya kit, which explained the things wrong with both the kit’s interior and Zaloga’s added details. I could dig it up for you if you want.

 

[rtfoe]

Thanks Jakko, clears things up now.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Jim R]

Hi Matt
I remember seeing a Greyhound on Combat Dealers. Hus was trying to prove he could get a better deal than Bruce.
I'll enjoy following your build. Being Tamiya the fit shouldn't give you problems.
Jim

 

[The Smythe Meister]

"min" too Matt,
I`ve wanted to do one of these for a while now,so will be very interested to see your take on it.
Good luck mate,watching all the way:thumb2: ,
Cheers,
Andy

 

[Matt.]

I’ve not built either, but no, they’re not. They were released around the same time, but appear to have been designed completely independently of each other. The instructions are on Scalemates, and show clearly that the two kits really share nothing except the subject and scale:
https:tongue-out3:/www.scalemates.com/kits/tamiya-35228-greyhound--123035
https:tongue-out3:/www.scalemates.com/kits/italeri-364-m8-greyhound--101842

By the way, Matt, I don’t know how accurate you want this model to be, but I remember a letter sent into Military Modelling magazine after an article in which Steve Zaloga detailed the Tamiya kit, which explained the things wrong with both the kit’s interior and Zaloga’s added details. I could dig it up for you if you want.

Hi Jakko,
If I get it finished without any great mishaps I’ll be happy. I’m quite a way of worrying about accuracy yet. Many thanks for the offer.

 

[Steve Jones]

I'll take a seat with the rest of the rabble. Good luck!

 

[Guest]

If I get it finished without any great mishaps I’ll be happy.

I wouldn’t be too worried about that. It’s a Tamiya kit, so you’ve clearly picked the easier of the two to put together

 

[Matt.]

Been a bit busy lately with Things and experiencing on not ruining models at last stage anyway finally made some progress. Struggled with the tamiya XF 2 white. Will be messing with wash soon, it’s gonna be inside so not too worried.

 

[Gary MacKenzie]

From the Osprey Book "M8 Greyhound Light Armored Car 1941-91" the photos show that the majority of these vehicles had the floor repainted Olive Drab , and the vertical plate behind the drivers head etc were also painted olive drab, the crews disliking the fact that the white was too easily seen from above , and from the front if the drivers compartment was not covered by the removable hatches.

some pictures of a restored m8 @ https://leicestermodellers.weebly.com/m8-greyhound-armoured-car-c-23.html
and a m20 @ https://leicestermodellers.weebly.com/m20-utility-car.html

 

[Matt.]

Thanks Gary, some great photos in those links, after following tamiya paint instructions I knew it looked odd and couldn’t believe it was all white, tried googling but didn’t find anything, I’m going to stick with it as I’m having all hatches closed so won’t be seen again

 

[Gary MacKenzie]

I think the problem was that they left the factory all white , and it was the troops/commanders who organised the repainting/over painting of some surfaces with olive drab paint.

 

[Guest]

Struggled with the tamiya XF 2 white.

Far easier if you get yourself a spraying can with white primer. Build the hull with most of the parts inside, but top and bottom separate, then spray it for far better coverage than you’ll get with model paint straight (never mind than if you brush-paint it).

I think the problem was that they left the factory all white , and it was the troops/commanders who organised the repainting/over painting of some surfaces with olive drab paint.

I suspect they left the factory with OD floors, because that was the norm for American vehicles with open-topped hulls and/or turrets. I can’t find a usable scan of a TM online to check this, though (restored vehicles are suspect here, because people often make mistakes when painting them — think of Shermans with the insides of hatches painted white, for example).

Some more searching

Ah, found one, on what feels like a slightly dodgy site, but it’s a good-quality scan of TM 9-743, Light Armored Car M8 of 10 March 1943. It includes this overhead shot:

View attachment 390807

You can tell here that the interior floor has much the same colour as the outside of the vehicle, but that the interior walls are white. A view into the turret shows much the same:

View attachment 390808

And the driver’s compartment:

View attachment 390809