A few 1/35 IFV's and AFV's

[Ramba]

Looking good!

4 x Merkavas (I-Hybrid - to - IV) in the stash, waiting for the Namer to appear, then they'll all join the Royal Australian Marines.

Thanks!

4 Merkavas plus a Namer is good. Looking forward to seeing yours built up. Are you painting them in the 3 color Australian camo scheme? The Merkava is one of the coolest looking tanks out there. I have 5 myself. The one shown above is the Academy Mk.III being done as a what if. I also have the Academy Mk.IID, Academy Mk.IV LIC, Hobby Boss Mk.IIID LIC and Hobby Boss Mk.IV Trophy. Those 4 will be done regular though. I didn't plan of having 5 though. Two were gifts from friends and I didn't really want the Academy Mk.IV LIC but go it because someone sent me the Legend covered basket set for the Academy Mk.IV LIC so didn't want to let them go to waste and bought the kit just to use the Legend set on hahahahaha!

[Ramba]

Great mix of AFV's coming along

Thanks! Hoping to paint up a few more before summer ends.

[Ramba]

Started one more a couple months ago. This is the Zvezda 1/35 BMP-2. It is a rebox of the Dragon kit.


I got the extra added turret and side skirt armor parts from a Dragon BMP-2E Afghanistan kit that someone sent me. I also have the Dragon BMP-2E Afghanistan kit but haven't started that one yet.




The kit comes indy track links. I only assembled the bottom tracks, around the drive sprocket and around the idler. With the side skirts on, you won't see the top part of the tracks by the return rollers so no need to assemble the entire track.





I got it painted a few days ago. It is in overall green.




Yesterday I got a coat of gloss on it. The airbrush was acting up so I got a decent gloss coat on the turret but the hull only got a light coat. This kit will be the test bed for using the AK filter and AK streaking effects. I already have the filter but waiting for the streaking effects to arrive. Hoping to get them sometime next week.

[Old Wombat]

Nice work on the BMP, too!

Mind you, you're wimping out on the tracks! They look easy compared to some that I have waiting for me to have a go at.


The Merkava family will be in either the Australian 3-colour camo or a "Marines" variant of it.

The Namer hasn't hit the shelves here in Aus, that I'm aware of, but I have a pre-order in, so when it does arrive I'll be getting it a.s.a.p.

[Ramba]

Nice work on the BMP, too!

Mind you, you're wimping out on the tracks! They look easy compared to some that I have waiting for me to have a go at.


The Merkava family will be in either the Australian 3-colour camo or a "Marines" variant of it.

The Namer hasn't hit the shelves here in Aus, that I'm aware of, but I have a pre-order in, so when it does arrive I'll be getting it a.s.a.p.

Definitely looking forward to seeing your Merkavas. My favorite one is the Mk.IIID LIC with the Mk.IID a close second. Not a real big fan on the original Mk.I and original Mk.II. I really didn't like the the Mk.IV either with that UFO style turret. The Mk.IV Trophy is pretty cool though as the Trophy kit breaks up that UFO style turret.

The armored side skirts on the BMP cover the whole upper part so you won't see the tracks above the road wheels at all. They Dragon indy tracks are easily assembled but not really worth doing them all when almost half of them won't be seen. I am keeping mine in overall green to practice using filters and streaking effects. The second one will be in a 3 color camo scheme.

Here is a photo showing the BMP with the armored side skirts. You can see how tight the side skirts are along the tracks.

[Ramba]

Got the Skif 2S1 painted yesterday. I used the same green as on the BMP.




Today I gloss coated it. This will also be a test bed for the AK filter and streaking effects.

[Ramba]

Started painting the NATO camo scheme on the two Italeri HMMWV's. I used Blu Tack for the masking. It worked really well and left no residue on the paint.




They were both primed in black a couple months ago. I masked off for the green as seen in these photos. Just the brown left to do.

[Old Wombat]

 

[ChernayaAkula]

Oooh, nice!  With just green and black on, they give off a certain British vibe. Neat.

[Ramba]

Oooh, nice!  With just green and black on, they give off a certain British vibe. Neat.

Thanks! I do have a Land Rover I will be doing in the black and green camo. Something similar to this.

[Ramba]

I finally got the brown laid down and the camo is now complete. Still a long way to go though before finishing both.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

The HMMWV as it was intended to be!  A design intended to be a utility and liaison vehicle and not an ersatz APC/Assault Vehicle.   

That being said, I still have a fondness for the M151 MUTT in its many variations. 

[Ramba]

The HMMWV as it was intended to be!  A design intended to be a utility and liaison vehicle and not an ersatz APC/Assault Vehicle.   

That being said, I still have a fondness for the M151 MUTT in its many variations.

I have many different HMMWV's from Italeri, Tamiya, Academy and Bronco. Some will be mounted with the MCTAGS turrets like in this photo of a US Marine M1151. I have the Live Resin MCTAGS turrets.


Here is my Bronco M1114 with the Live Resin MCTAGS turret.

[Ramba]

Adding the Live Resin M240 with shield to the M998A1 IED vehicle. Here are the Live Resin parts.



Some of the USMC HMMWV's used a certain type of pedestal mount. Legend has it in their Mk.19 gun set.



Here it is mounted in the M998A1.

[Frank3k]

The HMMWVs are looking great! The M240 on the pedestal looks good. What are you going to do with the Mk19 General Delivery Boom?

[Ramba]

The HMMWVs are looking great! The M240 on the pedestal looks good. What are you going to do with the Mk19 General Delivery Boom?

Thanks! The HMMWV I am modeling the 998A1 IED version is based off the one in this photo below. I originally got the Legend Mk.19 with the pedestal mount to do mine similar to that one but I really like the M240 better. You can see another M998A1 in the background with the M240 so I changed my mind and did the one in the background instead. I don't know where the Legend Mk.19 will go at the moment.

[Ramba]

I masked off the Italeri LAV-AT Saturday night. It took 4 hours to do and this is just so I can paint the green. Anyway, Sunday morning I got the green painted. I need to mask off for the brown next. I am burned out from masking so probably won't get to paint the brown just yet. It takes too long to mask the areas off so taking a break from masking for a while. I did find a Live Resin M240 in my spares box. Got that assembled this morning.

[Ramba]

Continuing with the Tamiya 1/35 M1025 converted to a USMC M1043. The box on the side over the extended exhaust is made from balsa wood. Still have to do the weathering and quite a few other things before I get to the end.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

@Ramba - I recall seeing images of an Marine Corps' HMMWV having that box surrounding the exhaust pipe extension and often wondered why that was done? 

Was there an actual purpose for placing what was a wire-bound plywood and wooden construction case for the storage and transport of rifle and machine gun ammunition around the exhaust pipe extension.  Was it to protect the paint or something else like no where to put it and could not dispose of it as it was accountable material from the ASP and had to be returned with the majority of the expended ammunition components? 

What ever the reason, I like your enthusiasm for capturing these little details and making them part of your very nice modeling projects. 

[Ramba]

@Ramba - I recall seeing images of an Marine Corps' HMMWV having that box surrounding the exhaust pipe extension and often wondered why that was done? 

Was there an actual purpose for placing what was a wire-bound plywood and wooden construction case for the storage and transport of rifle and machine gun ammunition around the exhaust pipe extension.  Was it to protect the paint or something else like no where to put it and could not dispose of it as it was accountable material from the ASP and had to be returned with the majority of the expended ammunition components? 

What ever the reason, I like your enthusiasm for capturing these little details and making them part of your very nice modeling projects. 

Thanks! I still need to find a way to represent the straps around the wooden crate. I think I will just use some thin strips of tape.

Regarding the wooden box, I was told by a US Marine that served in Iraq in the opening days of OIF that the wooden boxes were carried to use to sit on as a toilet when in the field so they didn't have to squat when no latrines were available.

Here is a photo on a USMC M1046 during the opening days of OIF with the wooden box on the side.


Here is a photo of a USMC M1A1 in Afghanistan also with the wooden box on the right side DUKE antenna.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

@Ramba - A crapper you say?  Makes sense considering the lack of trees to lean against and a necessity in trying to squeeze one out without soiling the insides of your trousers in the process.  Ingenuity and necessity being the catalyst for this problem that needed a very quick solution to the problem. 

[Ramba]

@Ramba - A crapper you say?  Makes sense considering the lack of trees to lean against and a necessity in trying to squeeze one out without soiling the insides of your trousers in the process.  Ingenuity and necessity being the catalyst for this problem that needed a very quick solution to the problem.

Yes, a crapper from what I was told. It makes for a great replacement when necessary. I wouldn't want to be the guy handling it afterwards though hahahahahaha!

[Ramba]

Working on another Tamiya M1025 converted to a US Army Special Forces DUMVEE operated in Iraq. I got this kit in a trade that was already started. There were huge gobs of glue, both CA and regular all over the kit. I had to scrape and sand the gobs of glue off. Lots of broken parts too that I had to either try to salvage or replace. Anyway, been working on this on and off since 2018 and finally decided to try to finish it since I am currently working on a few other HMMWV's at the moment.

The white plastic ammo can holder is scratch built by me. The .50cal and gun mount are from Legend. The rear shelf is 3D printed from Samofalov. The rear stowage is from a friend and I think it was from Black Dog. The turret ring, roof, cargo bed side fences, stowage and rear doors are only dry fitted. I am using the rear doors on mine as I am too lazy to scratch build the webbing to hold the gear in when the rear doors are removed. I found a few photos of the rear doors still installed so I am doing mine with them installed as well.






Here are some examples with the rear doors installed. I will heavily weather the windows too as seen in the photos.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

@Ramba - A crapper you say?  Makes sense considering the lack of trees to lean against and a necessity in trying to squeeze one out without soiling the insides of your trousers in the process.  Ingenuity and necessity being the catalyst for this problem that needed a very quick solution to the problem.

Yes, a crapper from what I was told. It makes for a great replacement when necessary. I wouldn't want to be the guy handling it afterwards though hahahahahaha!

@Ramba - Apparently there was a requirement for something like this and the end result was an actual fold-up cardboard crapper developed and subsequently made available through the supply chain to perform the same function but now with a price tag and NSN...

[apophenia]

... I wouldn't want to be the guy handling it afterwards though hahahahahaha!

No! Especially if it gets slung back over that hot exhaust pipe after 'use'