I'll have to miss that one, Justin; bummer about that. I've got a car club event that day in Newberg (I live in Hillsboro). If you do any of the scale modeling shows, I'll be at the Seattle IPMS show on April 9th showing a couple of Shermans (M51 Type A with scratchbuilt interior; Coldstream Guards rocket Firefly) and trolling the vendor tables for goodies. Finding suitable wheels for a 1/35 scale trailer model is proving to be hugely difficult. Scratchbuilding the lowboy itself isn't a huge deal, but proper running gear is the challenge. Most military truck kits with duals just aren't quite the right size. Not worried about military tread patterns; lots of rigs used primarily off-road use those tires. But rim sizes are typically different.
As for the Madill 071, I have one of those planned as well. I'd love to get some actual blueprints, but so far only a sales brochure. I would suggest 1/35 for the tank parts. If you want it on a truck, even a die-cast, the 4% difference between 1/32 and 1/35 won't be noticeable. The modern 1/35 tank kits are far superior in detail to the older 1/32 offerings. Check out
www.tasca-modellismo.com out of Japan. Tasca makes the best Sherman kits, and they sell the parts sprues and suspensions separately. For a Madill 071, all you need is the lower hull tub, firewall, differential cover, and suspension. Everything from the sponson line on up has to be scratchbuilt anyway. Oh, and you'll need to come up with a transmission (available in resin or by raiding an Academy M10 kit) and a suitable engine. I haven't solved that last one yet; nobody makes a Detroit Diesel 8V-71 in 1/35.
ointhead :Banghead 