Mammoet Grove GMK 3055

I seem to have gained a reputation on this forum in only seeing things in red and black with silver mammoths-and I have to admit its true. I enjoy collecting the things in Mammoet livery, but I really love turning things that are not available in Mammoet into Mammoet. My first conversion was that little crawler, the CC8800 and its been down hill from there!! The forum’s and Mammoet’s encouragement have fueled that passion. So when DHS put items up for clearance prior to the open house I bought a couple of items destined for conversion, one of which was the THW Grove 3055-a seemingly obvious conversion prospect and a practical addition to the fleet (unlike a 495HF in Mammoet livery).

The first process of a repaint is to disassemble the unit. I usually view a model for a bit before taking it apart. This unit had numerous screws and typical looking boom sections with the spring loaded locking clips. So I undid the two screws and separated the top half of the model from the chassis. This reviled more screws holding the undercarriage-which was awesome. By undoing them the three wheel trucks came shooting off as they were spring loaded. It was great as I did not break the mounts like I usually do on Conrad press fit ones. It was also a very realistic as it was a true independent suspension complete with drive shafts and differentials. I next undid the crane form the upper chassis and proceeded with dismantling the boom sections. I was unable to remove the spring clips as the end of each section were closed. As I tried to remove the various pieces from the otter boom I encountered all of the glued on pieces, including the two wheels, fans and jib supports-all of which broke when removal was tried. Pulley removal was no problem, the pins pushed out easily. Taking the cab off was a huge issue as it is a forward tilting unit that is held in place by the very realistic engine (complete with Mercedes logo’s on the rocker box covers). The engine was held on with a screw and some sort of pres fitting in back, which was only discovered after breaking it to get it out. The hook transport holder also broke when I attempted to remove it. The counter weights are a four piece unit three of which were removed with two screws, the other two I gave up on figuring how they were attached. Exhaust stack, oil tank and air cleaners also all came off, breaking their respective mounts as the were glued in.

Well I figured what I broke I could repair-after all super glue and epoxy can hold things in place just fine. I then proceeded with the next step-stripping to the bare metal. I usually start by going straight to the sand blaster first and only using chemicals if necessary. I tried a boom section first and after a couple of minutes I had not even removed the glossy finish-so I cranked up the compressor to 150PSI-no affect. So I break out the lacquer thinner which is usually all it takes to break up the paint . I let it soak for about 20 minutes and saw none of the tell tale bubbling or peeling paint. I did however notice that all the boom clips were plastic and they had melted as well as a few other parts not diecast. Back to the sand blaster at 150 psi-not even a chip of paint came off. So I let the parts sit over night in lacquer thinner-and discovered some more plastic parts melted including two on the chassis that were destroyed, and the entire top of the crane carriage that wraps around the boom support!!! Parts that I thought were diecast and to boot very little paint came off. ARG! So next I broke out the citrus paint stripper and used it as directed and managed to peel off about a third of the paint and the sand blaster removed a bit more. So I upped the ante and moved on to a commercial version of Bix Strip and let it sit 24 hours. To my pleasure it did indeed remove all the paint . It was disheartening to see so much of the model destroyed and how much plastic was actually used. And it was not over yet.

The crane operators cab was entirely made of a very thin clear plastic, not the typical insert inside a diecast cab. As it was clear you could see the paint from the inside as well as out, so if I repainted over the yellow I would still see it through the window. So I figured I had no choice but to remove the paint there as well. I carefully whipped the painted area with lacquer thinner and it smeared and came off, and as many of you are already guessing frosted the clear to a nice opaque ugly thing, complete with impression of my finger prints. And guess what, I tried whipping it clean with my citrus cleaner and that did nothing!! The cab was and is basically ruined (maybe I can get another from Chuck and live with an yellow inside).

So needless to say I had a mess on my hands. I proceeded with the repaint which came out fine. I then proceeded with fabrication of replacement parts from styrene, my first attempt with this stuff. I did okay I guess, but it certainly is not perfect and I see the flaws a mile away. I applied epoxy to all the parts I had broken off and reattached them as best I could. I got the model back together and you can see the results below. Definitely not my best effort and one that will sit towards the back of my displays.

Once again this is not a criticism of DHS or THW models at all, just a tale of repaint that did not go as I thought it might. I welcome any and all comments and tips that you might have to share.

Bob

After 24 hours in laquer thinner-note missing covers on crane carrier-melted off!

Nice "clear" windows:

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