Grove GMK 7550 Repaint

Hello Group!! I have been at I again and have another conversion to share-if your interested. This is a model that was once available from Mammoet, however has long since been sold out, the Grove GMK7550. I have one of the original ones, however mine has the tragic flaw of the silver luffing jib (something I need to correct). This model was painted for forum friend lorainman, whom I meet at the DHS Open House. It was a very fun project that took about 28 hours in total to complete. On this post I will show you the whole process, mainly because I have been having a great time using my wife’s camera, now that she has shown me how to set all the buttons and dials and stuff on it. Here we go……..

The model as it came out of the box, in three “sections”; the crane, the luffing jib and the rear section:



As always my first step is to take it apart, down to the smallest piece and this crane had a lot of pieces and parts:



Then the real work and probably the single longest process begins-stripping the factory paint. Sometimes you can get away with painting over the factory paint, but I found on these telescoping cranes an additional coat of paint would prohibit the operation of the boom sections. There is just not enough room for a couple of more coats of paint and full operation. In addition there are a lot of moving parts that just won’t fit well, especially the lattice sections. So I strip it to bare metal, rinse in water and then use compressed air to blow it clean.



Then its off to the spray booth for a coat of primer.



After the lightest coat of primer possible, its time to start painting. My favorite part of the painting is the underlay of the red strip. This can also be a real pain as well if there is seepage under the masking tape. Thanks to forum friend heavyload (Luc), a very accomplished builder, I now know how to avoid the under run. After masking, spray one coat of clear coat on and then paint over with the black. That is why I love this forum-so much talent to help you improve.



Once everything is painted, dried and baked it is time for assembly.



Finally its my second favorite part-applying the decals and the final pictures



Hope you all enjoyed the post, kind of long, but it’s a cold, wet, rainy Friday night, so what the heck!!

Bob

Back to Everything Mammoet Page