T-30 U.S. Heavy Tank

This is one of those monster Tank Prototypes being developed at the end of WWII to combat the King Tiger etc. I believe a handful were built and tested.  This is the Takom kit. Very nicely detailed from my perspective.


There were of course some fidley bits which required tweezers and patience. Though I am pretty happy with it, I believe our club Target expert can find the flaws in my work.


For me the greatest challenge is the basic Olive Drab, what color is it really?  From various photos it changes with the light.  Also It is difficult to bring some depth to a single color, so I washed and weathered it to bring out more details.


I have an open question regarding what looks like a large view port alongside the barrel. Is it a scope with a lens?



The kit comes with 3 variations of the mantlet and barrels.  I selected the Short one which I believe made it the T-30 version rather than the T-34. In case you cant tell, that turret rear end was huge.

That completes the 5th ARMOR model this year so far,








Vince B. 2-28-18

Fist of War by ModelCollect

Yes, this is one of the new series of 1/72 scale German Sci Fi Tanks from Model Collect. These are cool and based on actual German Armor with a twist.

I only added a few detail parts and some resin Stowage from Black Dog. There are lots of great details built inside the pose able leg structures.



I didn't realize until I was building it that there was another turret beneath the hull.  Once I looked at the other kits of the same series, I see that they are all based on the same lower structure with different upper turrets as the only discerning feature.


I have a few more of these to do and some aren't available yet. In case you haven't noticed, I am in a winter scene rut. In reality I hate snow.

Vince B. 2-26-18

Wirbelwind

This is the Tamiya 1/48 scale Wirbelwind kit. It came with the steel cast lower hull. Nice easy build. The figures were OK as well.




I added some resin stowage from BlackDog. Really detailed stuff.
I combined it with accessories from the Tamiya figure set.





Vince B   Feb 21-2018

This is the MENG Merkava IIID Late LIC. This is my first Meng kit and while I found the quality to be high, there are a lot of fiddly bits on this one. And in some places the instructions were not very clear. I got some aftermarket stuff for this kit i.e. crew equipment, tow cables, and metal tracks. I also experimented heavily with pastels. There are no washes on this and 100% of the weathering is done with regular pastels. I really did the way this vehicle looks so she makes a great subject to model. I will DEFINITELY be doing an IDF diorama later this year so stay tuned.

NVA T-54b

This my first post, so bear with me.

The model featured in this spread is the Takom T-54b done up in NVA (North Vietnamese Army) colors. I decided to put her on a base with some groundwork as I have not done a diorama in quite some time and was trying to get a feel for it again. This was my second Takom kit and I was impressed with the quality of the molds an the amount of detail. I will definitely be looking into another Takom kit in the future after I clear out my backlog. Enjoy!

King Tiger

This is the basic MENG King Tiger kit.  There is a full interior add on supplement and the basic kit is set up for this. Unless you plan on doing an exploded view, the interior supplement would be a waste.



Everything fits well as expected from MENG. The tracks are length and link. There are photo etch screens for the engine vents.



My paint was a combination of Testors and Humbrol enamels. Gloss coated several times with J & J (formerly Future) floor wax.  Several washes of oils and dullcoated.



I added some personal equipment hanging from the spare track links.