By Allon Kira | 04.21.2024 11:39
The U.S. Army, after berating the South Vietnamese for flouting battle doctrine, came out with their own ACAV version. This more or less standardized ACAV kit included shields and a circular turret for the .50-caliber M2 machine gun in the track commander (TC) position, two M60 machine guns with shields for the left and right rear positions, and "belly armor"—steel armor bolted from the front bottom extending 1/2 to 2/3 of the way towards the bottom rear of the M113. The two rear machine gunners could fire their weapons while standing inside the rectangular open cargo hatch. This transformed the M113 into a fighting vehicle, but the vehicle still suffered from its lightly armored configuration, having never been designed for such a role.
By Allon Kira | 02.25.2024 11:07
This is an excellent kit from AVF. I built it almost out of the box, and concentrated on the painting. Being a tank that operated in the desert, the weathering is based on natural wear and tear from use and pigments to represent the sand.
By Michael Mass | 06.01.2023 13:47
Here is my Hobby Boss, IDF, APC Puma in 1/35 + Legend detailing sets. Quickwheels tracks, Karaya cables, Accurate Armor fiber antenna, Uzi decals, Anti slip from VMS, Verlinden flexible harnesses, Acrylic paints and varnishes from Vallejo and AK Interactive. I Added orange flags. Also, I installed the antennas for the 2nd Platoon Commander, and added the ammo boxes and wiring harness for the projector.
By Michael Mandau | 03.01.2023 11:34
Because of the unbelievable size and the never completed prototype-phase, this vehicle was always on my wish list to build. But I just didn’t wanted to build a regular E-100 that have been seen plenty of times before I like dirty paper-panzer with unusual features. So I decided to create a 1947 E-100 Aus. C fantasy tank in a “what-if” scenario. Therefore I was able to get the early Dragon 1/35 #6011 quite a while ago. Due to the fact that this kit celebrated its 20th birthday this year, my expectations into detail and quality were not too high. Nevertheless, Dragon made a got job two decades ago, but some parts had to be exchanged and complemented.
By Kristof Pulinckx | 02.01.2023 11:54
I’ve always been a fan of WWI armour and was just waiting for a decent kit to arrive on the market. The Mark IV was high on my wish list and with recent releases from Tamiya and Takom we have plenty of choice in high quality kits. But which one to choose? After reading several reviews on the internet I opted for the Takom ‘Male’ kit as its detail is slightly better than the Tamiya one. Although the latter would be easier to built.
By Pablo Raggi | 11.01.2022 17:09
The BTM is a specialized vehicle of the engineering corps, based on the ATT artillery tractor, which in turn was built over the T-54 hull tank, using the cabin of the ZIS-150 truck. Not only did the BTM derive from this project, but there were at least 4 other designs, all for a specific use, including a version for Antarctic exploration.
By Allon Kira | 10.01.2022 11:37
Merkava (Chariot) is the name of a large series of Israeli battle tanks that form the basis of the Israeli armor corps. Manufacture of the Merkava tanks began in 1979 while more and more advanced models were developed over the years. The most advanced model is the Mark 4 that went into production starting in 2003. The tutorial I'm sharing is focused in the painting and weathering and based in the 1/35 Takom Merkava Mark 2. So I decided to build the model straight out of the box with no special extras.
By Michael Mandau | 09.01.2022 11:26
There is always this one kind of projects that you ever wanted to build and pops up in your mind once in a while. This was it for me: In my mind I saw a gantry style signal tower in a fighting scene and under which a panther is positioned. This kept me fascinated for a long time, until I finally decided to build it. I always had an inclination for railway scenes; probably back from the days when I played with the model railroad at my grandfather’s house. So, tracks need to be on the diorama, that’s for sure and as well as something track bound.
By Allon Kira | 11.18.2021 11:47
The kit released on 2011, as expected from a Tamiya's, has a very good parts fit and is easy to build, very accurate and requires almost no putty. Some aftermarket details slightly upgrade the overall look, but are not really necessary. It can certainly be built directly out of the box at the highest level. The only thing that seemed problematic to me were the vinyl tracks. I considered replacing them with metal ones, but after painting I decided that their level of detail was enough.
By Allon Kira | 08.18.2021 11:33
In the 1970s, the IDF equipped itself with a large amount of M-113 APCs, and since then they served in all of Israel's wars and operations, including the Yom Kippur War, Operation Peace for the Galilee, the First Intifada, the Second Intifada, the Second Lebanon War, Operation Cast Lead and Operation Protective Edge. This article goals to share with the reader the steps I followed to build a IDF M-113 Medivac from the Tamiya M-113 kit.
By Edwing E. Merlo Paredes | 05.19.2021 12:10
I built the Miniart kit in a civil version. It is a model started a few years ago and some of the images that show the assembly process, such as the stage where the interior of the vehicle is detailed, have been damaged and it was impossible to recover them. However, the rest of the process is explained in great detail, and it is my pleasure to share the work done with the readers.
By Steve Jones | 12.13.2020 11:13
The Bronco plastic kit of the Turan II is another addition to their WWII Hungarian Tank range of 1/35 scale kits. Parts were beautifully detailed with little need for cleaning of flash. There were 216 individual track links in brown plastic, two sheets of photo-etched parts and clear parts...
By Allon Kira | 10.29.2020 11:07
Here is my Tiger model, IDF, Nagmachon – early in 1/35.
Additions to the model:
- 1/35 droid by Legend
- different resin stowage parts
- Voyager Nagmachon lenses
- Some scratch build
- Paints and weathering effects by Ammo-Mig, Tamiya and AK.
By ByeongeoSoo Kim | 10.14.2019 12:49
There are lots of reviews of this Academy new kit and many of them include construction details, so I’ll focus myself on the paint and the weathering as aim for this tutorial, using images as visual guide.
By Matej Paluda | 07.01.2019 12:02
To build this model, I used the old Tamiya´s T-34/76, 1943 kit. Although its moulds are from the eighties of 20th century, it is still good and with nice detailing. This article is intended for newcomers to armor modelling showing how to make a winter camouflage.
By Eduardo Andreoli | 12.02.2018 12:40
When I decided that my next kit would be a M3A1 Stuart, there were not many available options so, I had to choose between purchasing an old Tamiya M3 (ref 35042) along with a resin conversion to convert it in a M3A1, or, this Academy kit. Comparing both kits, the Tamiya’s didn’t stand well the passage of time. The tracks are clearly in bad condition, so, they should have be replaced. The hull as well as the turret, have serious problems of size, and the details are nothing especial.
By Michael Mandau | 08.09.2018 11:06
Brach Models, who is known for their wide range of conversion sets and full resin kits of almost unknown variants and models of World War II tanks, recently released another great product. This time they brought up a set of Italian Assault Guns, one of them is the Semovente M42 75/18, which I am going to build here.
By Michael Mandau | 05.16.2018 11:10
I was always fascinated by those tiny tanks with their unique and compact design and I had planned to build one for quite a while. Recently I got an old 1/35 scale Dragon #6030 Hetzer early version. This kit is almost 13 years old and you can clearly see some missing details but in overall it’s a good model. For some additional details I bought the Eduard 35385 Hetzer photoetched set which would be used. For me it’s a big inducement to use the old despised kits with minor additional parts and show what still could be done out of it. Together with the etch-set the total price was below 20€ and therefore also something for modelers with an economical budget.
By David Guardia | 12.05.2017 14:52
My dear friend, J.J Aos, who is himself an encyclopedia, gave me all the necessary information to place it in Pakistan. Although it is common to find pictures of Chaffles of late production, the early ones were also seen, included in the last Pakistan's 1971 conflict with India. Of course, exactly when I finished my model painting, Bronco Models offer the final release, Have you heard of Murphy’s law…?
By Federico Collada | 08.03.2017 10:58
I received the ICM Opel Kapitän kit as soon as it was released as part of a batch that the producer sent me for reviewing but unfortunately I couldn’t get started with it until 10 months later. When I finally got my hands on it I started to think of a scene.
By Federico Collada | 06.18.2017 11:31
SKP is a polish manufacturer that begun some years ago making mainly resin figures and updates for AFVs. It was not until a few years ago that they started to produce their own full kits. Having the experience and the means they wisely thought that they could include all those nice resin and photoetched sets they know how to do so well in the boxes so we do not need to go any further to complete the model with a delicate finish.
By Mario Gabas Ruiz | 04.06.2017 15:05
During the whole, the German Army captured and reused hundreds of T-34 Soviet tanks, in many cases the vehicles were used as they were captured with just only addition: the balkenkreuz on the sides. At times, the vehicles were sent to the workshops where the typical accessories of the German tanks such as Notek lights, German radios, lateral boxes for equipment and so, were added. The aim of this note is to share the work especially about painting, over a conversion of the old Tamiya kit.
By Pablo Raggi | 02.01.2017 10:50
DANA means Delo Automobilní Nabíjené Automaticky, in other words: self-propelled auto-loading gun., an innovator concept The DANA was one of the first truck or wheeled large calibre artillery pieces when it was designed in the 1970s by ZTS Bubnica nad Vahom. Based on a Tatra 8x8 truck the vehicle was, and is, quite advanced with a 152mm gun.
By Ramon Segarra Guerrero | 01.24.2017 15:54
The kit gives the option of building the model in the British, Belgium or Spanish versions and remembering my time in the Spain Marine Corps, I chose this version. The decals supplied with the kit for the Spanish version are not enough, so I had to get the decals of the Marine Corps from FC Modeltips.
The Spanish Scorpions: http://www.modelersite.com/en/737/the-spanish-scorpions
By Mario Gabas Ruiz | 01.08.2017 12:50
To reproduce this mythic vehicle, I used one of the first kits of this new brand Hero Model kits. It’s a very simple kit easy to build where the rear vent grilles stand out cause are very well machined. No doubt is a nice kit to enjoy with the painting stage which I’ll share with you in this article.
By Carlos Escobar | 12.08.2016 10:43
This is the Dragon kit probably packaged only by Italeri. There is no variation regarding to details, even plastic is the same color. There are no improvements and the same limited number of parts, what obliged me to work a lot to improve the model interior and exterior.
By Ramon Segarra Guerrero | 10.24.2016 11:19
The BMP-2 is a Soviet/Russian infantry fighting vehicle, its design belongs to the 70s and was introduced at the beginning of the 80s. BMP stands for Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty (Infantry fighting vehicle). It was developed to replace the BMP-1. The Zvezda model kit #3554 needs a lot of work to improve its details, since it’s poor and with several parts of the vehicle that don’t come represented.
By Federico Collada | 09.20.2016 11:18
I received a sample of the Mirror Models kit as soon as it was available, and I was anxious to put my hands on it, I already have made a couple of kits of this company and I was quite happy with them. But this time was a bit different as I already had in mind an idea of what to do with the kit, I had seen many pictures of long time abandoned trucks like this one heavily rusted in the middle of nowhere and I liked much that scenery. So when the model got home I put aside other projects I had running and I started with it immediately.
By Federico Collada | 08.09.2016 11:36
Nowadays it can be a bit reiterative to write an article about the Panzer III history as there is one in every model magazine from time to time, and the web is saturated with them in every language for everyone who desires to read them. So I will concentrate in telling how I built and painted the model.
By Alfonso Selva | 07.11.2016 11:47
The Dragon kit (Pz.I Ausf.A Modified Version w/Interior ref. 6356) offers very good detail and complete interiors, with no assembly difficulty. The fit parts are excellent and instructions are clear. The kit supplies a PE fret which I complemented with the Eduard PE#35722 and the Aber 35L-90 of 2 barrels for German machine guns to have more detailing options.
By Mario Covalski | 04.01.2016 11:03
Some year ago I built the large Italeri kit, an amazing piece. It's so big to be static and I converted to RC. I made some modifications to be able to remove a portion of the deck to maintenance and charge the battery. I painted grey as it was before to be fleet to the Pacific.
By Laurent Rolleri | 03.05.2016 12:06
The time that some companies started to gratify us with kits that represent vehicles of the Great War finally arrived; this is the case of Takon that began to offer the Saint Chamond in 1/35 scale.
By Federico Collada | 02.11.2016 10:57
From some time to now ICM is producing very interesting models from the Wehrmacht that were not available in plastic before; the Stoewer Kfz. 1 and 2, the Ford 3000s, the Mercedes G7 and the Henschel 33D1, a very typical truck from the WWII period.
By Michel Perez Blasco | 11.24.2015 11:22
There are only two options if you want to build a reproduction of this peculiar vehicle, the HaPM kit (Sd.Kfz.231) or this one from Italeri. Not much to think, Italeri win. Anyway, once the references were consulted, I found out that it also has errors, mainly due to the fact that the kit doesn’t represent any of the three types of six-wheel vehicles manufactured by Mercedes, Magirus and Busing Nag.
By Federico Collada | 11.17.2015 11:55
The Miniart´s model is accurate, complex and beautiful. A year ago Miniart surprised everybody placing in the stores the three versions of this vehicle in 1/35 scale, it was very good news as it was the first time that a plastic kit of the AECs was available. The first one was the Mk.I model which showed the “state of the art” engineering of the Ukraine firm that provided a kit so full of details and subtle parts that the model became a modellers trending topic at the forums for many days.
By Pablo Raggi | 11.17.2015 11:12
Since time ago, I’ve been thinking to add a wheeled vehicle to my Middle East vehicles collection. Looking for an interesting kit, I found the Revell Gaz-66 (ref.03051), which is also marketed by Eastern Express. However, after investigating, I realized that there were just a few versions to accomplish Quite apart from the soviet green, there was not much to play.
By Pablo Raggi | 11.17.2015 10:41
When I bought this kit, over two years ago, the IDF S’hot Centurion1967 version was not announced yet. Actually this was the model I wanted to build, perhaps I acted hastily and this was my first mistake. The Voyager 35110 etched set was excellent, it was thought for the Australian Centurion Mk 5/1 instead of the Mk 5/2 Nato, for which there was no specific PE available. This was the second mistake. To make things worse, I bought the etched set before purchasing the kit, so I didn’t know whether I would need it or not.
By Dario Risso | 10.28.2015 16:12
This kit is an excellent representation of this vehicle, moulded in Dragon Models Ltd’s traditional light grey coloured plastic including highly detailed parts and several sprues coming from other kits of the same brand, the Panzer I, the Panzerjäger I and the towed sIG 33.
By Ramon Segarra Guerrero | 09.22.2015 11:14
The new kit from Italeri offered in 2010 is a re-box of the Academy British Tank Destroyer Achilles #1392 released some years ago with the only differences being a new decal sheet and instruction sheet, to be distributed in Europe. Since time ago, I wanted to add the M10 to my collection of armoured vehicles and although there are other available brands such as AFV Cllub and the old Tamiya, The primary aim of this article is to share with the reader the work made on the kit, focusing myself on the showy livery I chose for it.
By Federico Collada | 08.31.2015 11:58
Contrary to the real vehicle, the kit is gratifying. It’s no surprising since Fine Molds have always produced full detailed kits and this is not the exception. The weak point is that instructions are in Japanese except for the color overviews. The kit includes a PE part, individual track links and two figures, besides of the plastic parts, of course. To take advantage of the detailed interior, I decided to leave all the hatches open so that everything could be visible.
By Eduardo Andreoli | 08.28.2015 11:38
After suffering so much trying to improve the Tamiya half-tracks; in the end Dragon offer us a series of best quality vehicles and good selection of subjects: from the early M2 to one of the last versions of the M3 chassis, the M16 with quad 12,7mm machine guns. Among all the available versions, the ones I liked best were: the M3 famous French 75mm gun and the M3 105mm. So, as soon as Dragon offered these kits, I purchased one and started its construction.
By Eduardo Andreoli | 08.28.2015 11:10
Over the last years, I did not build any Italeri kit and now I had a great expectation since the Sahariana is now featuring a completely new tooled mold, so looking inside the box, I found a detailed static display model depicting the model 42 Desert Vehicle including resin and etched parts, vinyl tires which look a little soft on tread detail, two resin crew figures and a highly detailed reference manual containing a brief history with black-and-white photos, full-color assembly guide for photo etched parts, and camouflage painting guide.
By Eduardo Andreoli | 08.28.2015 10:54
As soon as Dragon released this kit, I rushed to buy it, but when it was in my hands, I had a lot of doubts about how it would look once built. I wanted to build the African version , my mind visualized it yellow with no camo and I believed it would look like a toy and not real. Thinking the problem through, I considered the hairspray technique would be what I was looking for to get the finish that satisfied me…..and my model. Thus, I started with the construction.
By Federico Collada | 07.29.2015 10:38
It is very easy to find information about the M7 HMC, there many books, websites and articles everywhere for you to consult anytime so I will not extend on this part of the article, instead I will tell you about the model and the work I done with it. Up to some years ago the only M7 you could find in this scale was the old Italeri kit, even if it was not a bad kit, if suffered from the lack of the fine details that are the standard nowadays so if you wanted your M7 to reach the level you had to work a lot on it.
By Federico Collada | 06.28.2015 11:32
The recent Canadian firm Mirror Models have started their catalogue with the many vehicles based on the C15 truck in 1/35 scale, with a very high quality plastic, resin and photoetched parts models that includes the Otter Mk.I
By Federico Collada | 05.29.2015 11:10
In a short period of time, three companies have launched a kit of this tank into the market, the first one was Zvezda, next we could find the Meng’s version and lastly the Trumpeters’. Different articles have compared ones to the others regarding price, quality, complexity and fidelity, having each kit, defenders and detractors.
By Federico Collada | 03.31.2015 12:10
The Schneider CA-1 was the first operative combat tank of the world developed in France in 1916. In April 1917 it would be used in large number at Berry-au-Bac during the infamous Nivelle Offensive. This article shows how I built the late CA-1 which was used in Spain after the First World War ended. For this modification, I used the FCModeltips conversion and decals.
By Federico Collada | 03.01.2015 11:00
Hobby Boss is a producer that bets for constant surprising election of their models, far from other companies that provides us with every single version of the ubiquitous T-34, Panther, Sherman, etc. only distinguishable for the angle of that certain part. Hobby Boss may not be as popular but they surely are very original. This time they came up with this particular subject that has never been produced in plastic before, in any scale.
By Eduardo Andreoli | 01.16.2015 11:19
There are manufacturers that get better with every kit they introduce in the market, and each one is better than its predecessor in quality, detail, fit, etc. Of course, there are exceptions and sometimes a new kit can be worse than the previous one. In my personal thinking, this is what happened with the M706 Commando Armored Car from Hobby Boss (also known as V-100). Though it was released after the M4 Truck, its overall quality was lower. Something that we have to admit is that this company use to surprise us with different models and at reasonable prices.
By Eduardo Andreoli | 12.17.2014 19:16
Unfortunately, there are not many kits available to build a Gun Truck. The M35A1 Nancy from AFV Club is the only injection molded kit, though there are other versions of resin Gun Trucks. This kit is highly detailed and includes everything a Gun Truck needs, nevertheless, I found no picture of the Nancy as it comes to be built out of the box. All the reference pictures show the complete trailer-mounted quad .50 fitted into a steel box. Neither the trailer nor the steel box are given in this kit. eel box is easy to make from plastic card, a bit longer than the actual cargo...
By Federico Collada | 11.30.2014 12:49
I had this project on my mind for years, not this precise model but making a destroyed vehicle. I have seen many modellers do it with more or less skill and different results. I do not know when was the first time that I thought that it would be a nice challenge to make my own “scrap” but finally I realized that it would not be a single project but the first of many to come, this would be first and the testing for some techniques that I would have to improve, complete and combine with others along more destroyed tanks to come...
By Federico Collada | 10.30.2014 11:03
For many decades the only 1/35 model of the AMX-30 was the one produced by the French company Heller, which had some nice details but also some troublesome parts and what was evident, it lacked of subtle details so if you wanted to have a nicely detailed model of the French tank you surely had to work a lot. Few years ago, the Meng Models Company from China presented their new kit at the Scale Model World 2012 at Telford and they did it “the big way” placing the real AMX-30B from the Bovington tank museum aside so the modellers could compare and enjoy.
By Pablo Martelli | 10.17.2014 11:54
This vehicle represents a version of a 3 ton SdKfz 11 manufactured at the end of WWII. To save materials, the sheet cabin was replaced with a wooden one. So far, AFV is the only brand that markets this vehicle (a plastic injection release from 2002), though the Azimut resin kit is available. The instructions are easy-to- follow, with no mistakes. There are not too many available pictures of the real thing, anyway, as I didn’t detail my kit further than what was supplied with the box, it was not necessary to search for any kind of specific bibliography .Due to the lack of plans to scale, I compared the chassis to the ones from AFV Club and Dragon models. I took this as base and due to the dimensionally correct and well proportioned parts, no measurements were needed.
By Federico Collada | 10.01.2014 11:06
Meng Models is a relatively new manufacturer from China with very good and easy to assemble kits. The subject this article is about, is the M2A3 Bradley IFV, an infantry fighting vehicle used by US Army, designed to transport infantry with armor protection and BUSK III Urban Survivability kit which is the one deployed to Irak.
By Federico Collada | 08.28.2014 12:52
I think I may have built more than 20 models of the M3 and variants from many firms and each time I have a new one I feel very excited, so when I received this M5 tractor I felt like I recovered that same old excitement and I just could not wait to start with it. Although this was the first time that I had a kit from Hobby Fan I expected it to be as good as any other……or as bad.
By Federico Collada | 07.29.2014 11:50
The AEC Dorchester 4x4 was one of the most common ACV (Armoured Command Vehicle) that the British Associated Equipment Company produced during the World War II, based on the AEC 0853 Matador 4x4 chassis. It was a simple armoured bus with a lot of space inside which made it very popular within the army, so popular that even Edwin Rommel himself used a couple of these trucks captured during the African campaign and named Max and Moritz. As you know the guys of SKP were the first to release theirs and they did it in two different versions, a “normal” one with allied decorations and then this one I made, the Rommel´s captured ones. The painting section of this article will be also valid for the AFV club one.
By Patricio Delfosse | 07.23.2014 12:05
The Hotchkiss H39 first appeared in 1939 and was considered one of the better of the French tanks in 1940. It was intended for use by French cavalry formations. Despite production problems (common to all French tanks in the period before WWII) about 1000 were built. The tank gave a good account of itself in combat during the German invasion of France in 1940, but had too little firepower to compete with the German armor. In addition, French tactics at the time envisaged tanks being used as infantry support rather than in mass formations, diminishing its effectiveness.
By Federico Collada | 06.30.2014 11:23
Some years ago a friend of mine gifted me a resin kit, he had made, to convert the Tamiya Type 82 Kübelwagen into a Holzgas powered vehicle. Before that moment I have never seen a picture of such car and when I finally found one it seemed quite peculiar to me. The prominent hunch on the hood gave it a very different look from the normal Kübelwagen.
Editor note: The author refers to a garage kit made by a friend of him, the brand was XS-Project and is not available anymore. Nowadays you can find the Aires kit #3011 for the Tamiya or Hasegawa kits.
By Eduardo Andreoli | 06.24.2014 10:53
Since time ago, I’ve been building scale models, but I had never built an important artillery piece. This is why I decide to buy an AFV Flak 18 and face this new challenge. To find more motivation, I purchased the Voyager etched parts Ref. 35067.
By Federico Collada | 06.01.2014 12:31
So what can I say about this new model? It is another superb model, plenty of delicate details and perfectly finished pieces. If there is something that I would change in the box it would be including a separate links tracks and a metal turned barrel as an option to the plastic two-pieces one. The box includes a little decals sheet with options for two British vehicles and one Canadian but I used a Bison Decals option for a Canadian vehicle that I already had just to alter a little.
By Patricio Delfosse | 05.22.2014 12:16
The ICM kit allows us to build two T-28 versions, that only differ just for the kind of cannon mounted on the main turret.
These tanks production was very reduced, with only 503 units built. The manufacture was largely manual and in small batches distributed along eight years (1933-1949), with just small differences between each other. According to the vehicle we have as reference, we’ll see some differences with respect to this kit.
By Laurent Rolleri | 05.01.2014 11:41
I’m a great enthusiast of kits that represent French tanks from WWII to nowadays. After building the Somua S35 and the AMZ-30, I devoted my attention to a kit that had been waiting in my stash since time ago, the FCM36 from Azimt Productions.
By Pablo Raggi | 04.01.2014 12:12
I always liked the transport vehicles especially the IDF transport trucks. When I got the Leyland blueprint and knowing it was difficult that a manufacturer of plastic kits made a release, I thought it was time to build it from scratch. Though it’s not easy to copy a scratchbuilt work, this article aims at sharing with readers the work accomplished, encouraging them to face the process of building a scale model "from scratch".
By Pablo Martelli | 04.01.2014 11:34
The idea to build this truck came to my mind after looking at a picture. No sooner had I seen it, I knew that I needed to have this model among my collection of desert trucks. Regrettably, manufacturers don’t pay too much attention to trucks and even less if they are British ones. Fortunately, Tamiya make things easier, since this truck shares some parts with the 35045 Quad Gun Tractor. Starting from this kit, and, with some simple scratchbuilt tricks, we’ll get a scale reproduction of the model in the picture that kept me awake.
By Eduardo Andreoli | 04.01.2014 11:33
The art of starting a model or project from scratch, is almost literally, the art of building from the bottom up. This is really exciting. Often a desired model is unavailable in some scale or entirely non-existent. Sometimes the hobbyist may be dissatisfied with the accuracy or detail of kits that are available. Other times a hobbyist will opt to scratchbuild simply for the challenge, which gives us the opportunity to give free rein to our imagination to solve problems of construction and once finished to complete our collection with a singular piece. My intention through this article is to share with you several tips of the scratchbuilding world and the way I solve the difficulties I have to face, in this case building the Ford C11 ADF.
By Pablo Raggi | 03.27.2014 10:49
Some time ago I took an interest in a particular vehicle, more specifically in the M-107/ M-110 series. Time ago, I had modified and detailed several kits, but on opening the box, I realized this one was different. The kits I had built before, have never given me so much work as I would have if I started one of these projects. Besides, the basic kit from Italeri was terrible, as if destiny had determined I should not do that. But of course, I didn’t become discouraged. Here you have a guide in order to plan, assemble and intend to finish a difficult kit without dying in the attempt.
By Laurent Rolleri | 03.24.2014 10:05
I spent several years waiting to build the Somua S35 from Heller #81134, for one reason or another I didn’t do it, probably due to the kit errors. I had to find a half built Tamiya Char B1 bis in a trash can around the corner from my house, perhaps thrown by a beginner scale modeler; that I finally started this mythical tank adopted by the French Army during the 30s.
By Pablo Raggi | 02.28.2014 10:45
The following article is about a very popular kit and subject but not very well known version. I think you’ll find it quite interesting. In spite that it was an export product sold to many countries, most of them used it with one-tone paint scheme: green. The Jordanian, according to their needs, changed the paint scheme and this is what makes the model so interesting. The M47 was used by Jordan in the Six Day War. The version is interesting not only due to its new paint scheme different from the usual Olive Green but also to other details: on the first hand the Jordan used a desert camouflage pattern similar to the British style, that’s to say sand with olive green zig zag patches; on the other hand: over this showy scheme, they applied their so particular markings with patriotic nature.
By Guy Golsteyn | 02.04.2014 10:59
I have been building model cars since the seventies, and amongst the hundreds of models I've built, there is exactly one single truck. About time I started building another truck, and in this case it will be a racetruck. It is the Mercedes 1450 LS in which Steve Parrish became European Champion Truckracing in 1990. The Revell kit is based on the truck as it raced during the Nürburgring GP in which Parrish came second, so that's the one I will be building. The scale of the truck is not 1/24, as you would expect, but 1/25.
By Eduardo Andreoli | 01.31.2014 10:24
Up to a few years ago, if you wanted to have a M10 in your showcase, the only possible option was the Tamiya kit in the M10A1 version. A very bad kit indeed that was almost impossible to correct. By that time, a resin option offered by Accurate Armor (Ref K26 in their catalogue) already existed, but it was much more expensive than any plastic kit.
Only when nearly at the same time, AFV (Ref: 35024) and Academy (Ref: 1393) decide to manufacture a M10, there we find an excellent value for money. Neither of these kits is absolutely outstanding, but at least they are a great step forward with respect to the old Tamiya´s mould.
By Pablo Raggi | 01.23.2014 11:04
This kit is one of those that you think you’ll never wish to build until some manufacturer introduce one injected in plastic, with good quality details and comparatively inexpensive…something nearly impossible. But Trumpeter made my wishes came true to perfection…In 1938 Henschet started to manufacture a VK30.01(H) prototype. But in 1941 the project was given up to start with the VK36.01 (H) which would give rise to the famous Tiger. By that moment there were several operational VK30.01 (H) chassis. It was decided that two of them, would take the 12,8 cm KL/61 Rheinmetall which was an adaptation of the 12,8 cm Flak Gërat 40. So, the hull of the VK30.01 (H) was lengthened and an eighth wheel was added besides of building a superstructure without roof to protect the crew. The unofficial name of these vehicles was Sturer Emil, though this name doesn’t appear in any official document.
By Eduardo Andreolli | 01.07.2014 19:39
The kit I’m referring to, is the old Panzer III N/M from Dragon with PE for the fenders from Eduard #35916 originally for the STuG III Ausf C/D. The aim of this article is to share with you the work to convert the Panzer III M late in an early version.
By Pablo Raggi | 01.01.2014 09:40
At the beginning of the 50s, Daimler Benz took over manufacture of the Unimog and means UNIversal MOtor Gerät, being Gerät the German word for machine or device. Its four-wheel drive and suspension design allowed the truck to comfortably drive not only on paved roads but over extremely uneven terrain. So much so that many armed forces purchased them in a variety of variants with an equally impressive number of uses: cargo/troop transport, communications vehicles, ambulance, fire engines etc. etc. One of these countries was Syrian that used them as cargo/troop transport and mounting them anti aircraft devices, created an armed version that would be used later by the South Lebanon Army.
By Pablo Raggi | 12.12.2013 19:40
At times being involved in the construction of complicated kits and very detailed projects means much time consuming and makes us lose fun or dispel enthusiasm. In order to recover those feelings, I decided to involve myself in the build of this IDF Dodge WC51. I’ll not speak a lot about this well known kit of excellent quality. Recommended not only for experienced modelers but also for beginners, an easy to build kit which really was built for pure fun.
By Patricio Delfosse | 11.28.2013 11:38
The M115 is the not very attractive brother of the M59 Long Tom. It’s not a kit we see every day, perhaps we, modelers choose to build the M59 Long Tom with which it shares everything but the gun barrel. Anyway, I was interested in building it for two reasons: first, I had already built the Long Tom when I built the M40, that is not more than a Long Tom but self propelled, and second, because the AFV Club Long Tom kit has serious problems with gun’s size. But that’s a topic for another article. To improve several kit parts, I decided to add the old Eduard PE set 35792, the only option available today for this kit.
By Pablo Raggi | 11.20.2013 19:58
There are two kinds of modelers: those who build all sorts of military vehicles and those who build vehicles from particular theatres, epoch or country. In my case after some time building any vehicle that came to my hands, I decided to devote basically to the Middle East conflicts, especially to the Arab-Israeli. Now well, looking at an old Churchill Mk.VII Crocodrile from Tamiya resting on my showcase, I asked myself what I would do with it. Searching for some information, I found out that there had been Churchills Mk.VII in Irak, and also I saw a picture of a Jordanian Churchill!!!. Shortly after, I knew that this kit would have a promising future in my hands, and not the sad end, the garbage dump...
By Michael Capell | 11.03.2013 10:36
I have been waiting years for a plastic version of this vehicle to appear . The Model Victoria version was simply beyond my means and I did not have the confidence to tackle an all resin kit at the time. Trumpeter to the rescue and their version with injection moulded plastic . I have my own theory concerning the design ; after all the engineers and planners had finished , they handed the project over to Ferrari to design the rest, it looks so good from every angle. That's Italian design for you. So now we have an English modeler, building a Chinese kit, of an Italian vehicle issued to the Spanish army, well this is an international magazine.
By Pablo Martelli | 10.30.2013 10:31
The Panther is one of the tanks which received most attention from the kits manufacturers. All operational versions were offered, injected in plastic, besides of some which didn’t go beyond the prototype stage. Here, you have a report of the 1/35 D, A and G versions, which can be easily purchased at shops around the world.
By Patricio Delfosse | 10.23.2013 12:02
The arrival of the Tamiya kit to the market was a partial surprise. Although, it’s true that outside of Japan this was not a subject that modelers were crying out for, due to their history Tamiya felt that it was almost a must to manufacture the most recent Japanese MBT. In spite that it is not an interesting vehicle for the occidental modeling world, the new Tamiya kit is always welcome.
By Patricio Delfosse | 10.17.2013 09:45
Impressive as is, this howitzer must be among the first places of an endless lists of classic weapons of Second World War. Its big caliber, strange tracks and its participation in the famous film about the fall of Berlin in 1945, are their letters of introduction. However, it went unnoticed for the most well known injected plastic kits manufacturers. Just the resin kit companies had it in their catalogue, but so pricey as the howitzer itself.
By Pablo Martelli | 10.11.2013 10:13
For this project, I used the Academy kit reference #13201 which is no more nor less than its old mould featuring new parts and including a new decal sheet. In this way, Academy is trying to improve this kit to let those modelers who want to accomplish this vehicle in the recent Iraq campaign theatre, can do this.
By Eduardo Andreoli | 10.08.2013 17:55
Since time ago, I wanted to make an early version of M7 in North of Africa. I had kept one from Italeri waiting to get some good M3 bogies since the ones from the Tamiya Lee/Grant did not convince me at all. To correct these bogies, I had to make a homemade conversion which would take a lot of time) or buy an expensive resin aftermarket.
By Patricio Delfosse | 09.22.2013 11:15
The 15 cm Schwere Feldhaubitze 18 or sFH 18 (German: "heavy field howitzer, model 18") was the basic German division-level heavy howitzer during the Second World War. Until now to accomplish this model, you could only find resin or metal kits among the available brands. My intention was to assemble this sFH18 in combat mode without limber. Let’s see which surprises this kit will bring…
By Eduardo Andreoli | 09.19.2013 11:41
The DV ( Direct Vision) was always one of my favourite tanks but up to the Dragon release, the only options to build it were the conversion from Formations or the old one from Verlinden. As I don’t like to work with resin, I waited in the hope of getting a plastic injection kit. Fortunately, today is possible to assert that Tasca and Dragon offer nearly all the versions of the Sherman (with guns) that saw service during World War II.
By Patricio Delfosse | 09.09.2013 11:03
After 30 years of the Tamiya old mold, around 2002, and nearly by the time AFV Club and Skybow announced two new molds of this important light tank. Both kits (Skybow and AFV Club) are excellent, but the Skybow´s includes a mantlet cover made out of soft plastic, a similar material used for the tracks. Though this mantlet cover was not obligatory (in the real thing it was a dust cover and could be removed to leave the metal mantlet exposed), most of the pictures show it placed.
By Patricio Delfosse | 09.02.2013 11:30
Until the arrival of this Trumpeter Strv 103, we only had one available option of resin from Accurate Armour and I believe that one from S-Model too. Both kits are out of catalogue and difficult to build for nowadays standards. The 00309 reference (subject of this note) corresponds to the Strv 103 B, first version of this vehicle that saw service.
By Patricio Delfosse | 08.28.2013 19:54
For those fans of modern Soviet hardware, there are not many opportunities to be pleased about. There are just a few releases of this kind of vehicle and in general they are from brands which offer low quality products. This Gainful is an exception, since it’s quite a good kit (though not superb, as we’ll see later on) from Trumpeter, a company that since several years ago, have been offering quality products for a very reasonable price.
By Patricio Delfosse | 08.21.2013 09:23
The T-34 is one of the vehicles with longer operative life. Even, many are on service today in some third world countries, and until a few years ago, in Europe, they were seeing action in the former Yugoslavia. Among all the versions developed, this accomplished by the Egyptian, is the one that seems more attractive to me. In the ‘70s with the surplus of T-34 chassis, surpassed by more modern tanks, they decided to mount the Soviet 100mm BS-3 gun...
By Patricio Delfosse | 08.12.2013 10:57
The complete serie of LVT(s) had a complex evolution, with many versions called in different ways. It’s essential to gather good reference material not to make mistakes; I believe this will be the key to improve your model.
By Modeler Site | 07.28.2013 10:58
Tamiya offers us a prototype version of 1945 that had been manufactured before being mass produced, this vehicle had been revealed during the 1945 victory parade in Berlin, and shocked Western military authorities. As these vehicles saw nearly no action, I decided to base my model on a version of the 1946 production, recreating the atmosphere during the Hungarian uprising in 1956.
By Laurent Rolleri | 07.23.2013 11:41
The new kit from Meng is a AMX-30B, and the variant used by the French army in the Gulf War was the AMX-30B2, with some add-ons. Some time ago, Heller had released a limited edition of their AMX-30B kit which included the parts to convert it into a Gulf War tank. In this article, I’ll share with the reader how I built my AMX30-B2.
By Pablo Raggi | 07.19.2013 10:11
The M3 Scout Car(s) that Israel received from France and Italy together with the M2, M3, M5 and M9 half tracks in the early 50’s, would see service on several combats and also suffer many modifications.
By Patricio Delfosse | 07.13.2013 10:55
The Tamiya Leclerc’s arrival caused me conflicting feelings. On the one hand, it’s always a pleasure to purchase a new Tamiya kit. It’s not usual to find daily releases from this company, and modelers get excited when one is introduced. Besides the Leclerc, it’s an important vehicle in the world scene, that’s why having a good kit of that tank, means a joy indeed!. But, on the other hand, when opening the box, I found a couple of unpleasant surprises. Perhaps they are petty details, but an oversight of that kind is unforgivable if we speak about a company like Tamiya.
By Pablo Raggi | 07.02.2013 11:25
During some time I’ve been building standard quality kits (neither so good, nor so bad), until purchasing the Tamiya T-55 introduced in the market around the 2002. As I already knew it was an excellent kit, just to think it would need nearly no modifications made me feel pleased. Here, you’ll see that even an excellent kit may be improved, and why not, I'll show you that in this hobby the obsession for detailing is like an incurable disease. In my opinion, this kit is simply superb and pure Tamiya class.
By Patricio Delfosse | 06.14.2013 10:55
Until this Tamiya release, other companies offered us the Hetzer in 1/35 scale. The oldest mold comes from Italeri and leaves much to be desired Later Dragon flooded the market with different early and late versions among them the flamethrower and command ones which though they were a step ahead of Italeri, they still had details to be corrected. A few years ago, Eduard offered us a kit with complete interiors, but excessively pricey considering its quality. Now, I can say without a doubt that this new Tamiya kit in the ever popular 1/35 scale, is far superior to them all, a fantastic kit which includes many additional parts and markings to make it quite special.
By Juan Romero | 06.14.2013 10:53
A couple of years ago, my friend Patricio, and I started to build which was by that time, the Tamiya’s new kit . He finished the model and published an article at Modelersite and mine was under mid construction waiting for better time, you understand what I’m saying. Now it’s the moment to finish it and here’s the article with some changes, regarding especially to the improvements made on the kit and the materials used for the weathering.
By Patricio Delfosse | 06.10.2013 20:05
Since I am an artillery fan, this German heavy gun couldn’t miss in my collection not only due to its caliber and effectiveness but because once it’s built, it is 35cm long. Prepare the showcases!
By Keiichi Aoki | 05.27.2013 11:29
Usually, when we build a scale model of a motorcycle with wheels with wire spokes, we spend much time in details and painting, however, all this work lose realism if we don’t represent the wheels in a realistic way that in general have plastic spokes. Besides, there are other important areas that catch our attention when we appreciate the model once finished.
By Patricio Delfosse | 05.24.2013 11:42
By Patricio Delfosse | 05.24.2013 11:39
Sometimes a simple trick allows us to get a finishing that otherwise it would take us many hours of work. This is an easy technique that you can take on with excellent chances of success. Try it!
It's based on the use of salt as mask, and it allows you to give the appearance of the chipped paint over any flat surface of a vehicle. The idea is to let the base color ( which can be of any other color, priming or naked metal), show through the last coat applied.
By Eduardo Andreoli | 05.17.2013 10:57
I’ve always wanted to build a vehicle of this kind, unfortunately, there are not many available to choose. The only chance was to try the Verlinden conversion, a new reissue but somewhat old; this was what made me doubt about its quality. But as it always happens in this hobby, when we want to build a certain model, we don’t think about the consequences and then we’ve to face the problems. Luckily, this was not the case.
By Dario Risso | 05.10.2013 10:48
These new vehicles, designated StuH 42 (Sturmhaubitze 42, Sd.Kfz 142/2), were designed to provide infantry support with the increased number of StuG III Ausf. F/8 and Ausf. Gs being used in the anti-tank role. The StuH 42 mounted a variant of the 10.5 cm leFH 18 howitzer, modified to be electrically fired and fitted with a muzzle brake. Later models were built from StuG III Ausf. G chassis as well as StuG III Ausf. F and Ausf. F/8 chassis. 1,210 StuH 42 were produced from October 1942 to 1945.
By Pablo Martelli | 05.04.2013 10:46
Among all the existing versions of this halftrack, the /22 was loaded with the heaviest weaponry. AFV Club released a similar kit nearly at the same time Dragon released this one. Still today there are discussions about which one is better, but I can assert that Dragon’s is not bad at all.
By Pablo Raggi | 04.25.2013 18:58
This rarity among the armored world was for me a kind of an unreachable aim, I like to face this conversion projects with scratch, but this turret is a terrible point and it would take much more time consuming, thus I finally purchased the Accurate Armour's conversion kit. The aim of this article is to lead the reader through this building experience and share my view on how this vehicle should be painted.
By Patricio Delfosse | 04.20.2013 10:01
The Dragon Flak 36 is one of the last moulds from this company. Together with the initial and late versions of the Tiger(s) and the Panzer IV, make up a trilogy that shows a new tendency in modeling, where besides of offering plastic and metal parts, it involves something much more important: Research and Development (R&D).This article aims at guiding the modeler along the assembly stages. As it’s not a very common subject (you don’t mount guns every day, do you?...) it’s not possible to build it intuitively. Unfortunately, Dragon instructions are not a great help as they are not clear at all.
By Juan Romero | 04.01.2013 12:10
Unless you are a Japanese military vehicles enthusiast, the IJA (Imperial Japanese Army) tank destroyer type 2 is unknown for most of scale modelers. This article aims at sharing with the reader the construction of this model and my view of the weathering process, step by step.
By Eduardo Andreolli | 04.01.2013 12:09
The new manufacturers surprise us every day with new releases. Kits that we never thought would appear or capture someone's interest in being produced, are finally available in the market. This is the case of Bronco that delight us with this rarity, an anti tunk gun converted in campaign to be deployed in the North of Africa to tackle the Tigers that had just arrived in-theatre. The gun we are talking about is the 17/25 Pheasant.
By Patricio Delfosse | 04.01.2013 12:03
For years the only kit available to build this Howitzer was the old inaccurate Italeri kit, also a rebox of the old Peerless Max kit without its metal parts. This Italeri/Peerless kit, apart from being extremely simplified, offers many problems such as the incorrect wheels.
By Alvaro Bortoletto | 04.01.2013 11:09
This is one of those challenges that we keep us motived for make a model kit better. This a veteran T-40 Light Tank from STC Start from Russia probably from the long ago eighties............
By Patricio Delfosse | 03.10.2013 11:31
Up to the arrival of the Tamiya kit, the T-55 from Esci was the best we modelers had to hand to represent the tank most manufactured by Soviets after the WWII. I had one since time ago, but with the arrival of the Tamiya’s, it was condemned to obscurity until I got the Verlinden conversion for the Enigma’s. My doubts about the conversion turned my project in an experimentation platform and, so the T-55 Enigma was born, based on the Esci kit.
By Pablo Raggi | 02.28.2013 12:20
The version I chose to represent one of these vehicles, is the one I found in a picture of the book Soviet Armor Wheeled Vehicles from Concord Editorial. There, I could see two BTR-152 arrived at Syria during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. I guess they’re new since they don’t have the typical hand painted markings, as can be seen in others pictures from the ’73 and ’82. In the picture there is another BTR-152 captured which has two interesting markings: the numeral and the divisional marking painted on the mudguard. The idea was then to make a two tone vehicle belonging to the Syrian Army of the mid ‘70 but with the numerals placed as in the second picture of the book.
By Patricio Delfosse | 02.25.2013 11:31
The aim of this article is to share with the reader the work accomplished some years ago to build a model of a Russian tank KV-220 of the WWII. The modeler psyche is at times, curious, being so many kits available, some day we say “this is the model I want to have!” either because we saw pictures or read something about it in a book, a message in a forum... etc. No matter how, the only way to have it, is to get down to work, and I did so.
By Patricio Delfosse | 02.24.2013 11:44
This note aims at showing the corrections made from scratch, as well as pointing out the necessary modifications to include the Eduard's improvement set to the kit. Also, I focused on the painting aspects to get a weathered effect.
By Pablo Raggi | 02.21.2013 13:47
By Modeler Site | 02.07.2013 21:40
Another T-55 variant from Tamiya! This time it's the Israeli Tiran-5 tank, featuring parts and markings unique to the type. Includes two half-figures.
By Pablo Raggi | 02.03.2013 11:12
Some time ago, an old Dragon SA-9 Gaskin kit (ref 3515) came to my hands. It belongs to the epoch when Dragon surprised us with a series of vehicles of the Warsaw Pact before the disintegration of the USSR and the fall of the Berlin Wall. I decided to build it as in the Middle East theatre. But tired of the typical sand color and the usual Arabian inscriptions, that I had to handpaint so many times, I started to look for something different, and I thought of building a Syrian Gaskin though as can be seen in this article, this vehicle could have served in any other country.
By Patricio Delfosse | 02.03.2013 10:51
The Austin Tilly was a typical British wartime improvisation: the conversion of a standard saloon car into a Light Utility Pick-Up Truck. Austin were not the only manufacturer of Light Utility vehicles for the British Army: Hillman, Morris and Standard all produced militarized pick-ups from versions of their own cars. Soldiers called them affectionately by the nickname “Tilly.” The Tilly served throughout the war in many theatres of operation, and even soldiered on afterwards well into the 50s, though sadly few have survived.
By David Chou | 01.27.2013 08:59
These ones are both of the Stryker ICV I built. My latest work is the M1126 Stryker.
The AFV kits were built almost out of the box, but I added some storage accessories made of resin from Blast Model/Legend.
By Juan Romero | 01.19.2013 11:54
The T-70 kit from MiniArt is a “Special Edition” called in this way by the manufacturer because it includes good quality PE to detail areas such as the grilles for the engine compartment. The kit is wholly plastic, without metal or resin parts and offers markings for nine tanks. Most of the options are overall Soviet Armor Green with a couple in white winter camo.
By Eduardo Andreoli | 01.12.2013 18:59
When I face this type of project and there’s no commercial kit available, I try to gather as much information as possible, written information and references pictures with the purpose of giving myself the idea of the different parts I’ll need to build the puzzle. Later, I start looking for the kits from which I can take parts from. In this case, I took as base some parts from the Tamiya Ford Quad (Ref.#35045). Besides, I noticed that a feature of this Ford F30 is that it has Chevrolet axles, this was why I had to go to the Italeeri Chevrolet kit. (Ref.#6233)
By Patricio Delfosse | 01.12.2013 18:58
The T-80 was the last light tank used by the Soviet Union army during World War II. Though it nearly was not assigned to combat units (only 120 samples were manufactured), it is an interesting link in the series of light armored vehicles, this is why I was always interested in building one. The T-80 was based on T-70 chassis , so when Miniart announced the T-70, it was obvious that the T-80 would come soon.
By Juan Romero | 01.12.2013 18:57
This second variation of the T-62 that Trumpeter have released, this time the Model 1972 was great news for all those who like modern tanks. The T-62 was very important in the Soviet arsenal during the Cold War, and also saw service in the Army in many third World countries aligned with the Soviet bloc. The only option we had until this new release was the old and erroneous Tamiya kit, it not only suffered from great defects regarding the shape of the turret but also was a mix of different versions.
By Modeler Site | 01.01.2013 13:57
AFV Club's kit of the M109A2 Howitzer includes gun breech detail with a functioning suspension system. Includes photo-etched metal parts and a metal main gun barrel. Tracks are provided as one-piece flexible vinyl belts.
By Modeler Site | 01.01.2013 10:24
By Juan Romero | 11.30.2012 10:27
It was a pleasant surprise to discover this small tractor. Some time ago, Pit Road had offered the same kit but in white metal. At present, the only kits they produce are made from injection-molded plastic, having discontinued the white metal ones. Japanese Armor King, also manufactured some years ago, a resin kit of this same model.
By Patricio Delfosse | 04.01.2012 12:12
By Patricio Delfosse | 12.01.2011 11:30
The arrival of the Type 5 into the market was a real event for those who love Japanese tanks. No doubt this vehicle, the only prototype built, was worth to be represented in plastic due to its good shape, big size and visually powerful.
By Eduardo Andreoli | 01.01.2011 10:38
Vietnam war is one of my favorite scenarios, this is why in my boxes stock there was a LVTP 5 from AFV Club. It’s a model of considerable size for the scale and with flat shapes, it looks more like a shoebox than a military vehicle. In order to make it look attractive, I decided to make a laborious job of interior detailing.
By Eduardo Andreoli | 05.01.2010 11:26
Some time ago the 2.5 tons GMC Jimmy truck from Italeri, came to my hands. It’s a basic kit to which I thought I would add the Eduard ref#35068 and some homemade improvement. But I don’t know why, it still seemed to me it needed something else. Apart form its cab, just a few things of this truck caught my attention. It was one year later when I saw a picture of one of these trucks loading an old big boat.
By Pablo Raggi | 04.01.2010 12:00
Several years ago when MIG Productions introduced into the market the first Land Cruiser(s) and they shattered the preconception that a 1/35 is a military vehicle to a 1/35 vehicle which could be used either as a civil vehicle or for military purposes, I was desperate to get a couple. I purchased the BJ44 (ref # MP35-138) with the recoilless gun (ref #MP 35-141). When opening the boxes, I found beautiful and well represented kits, however as it always happens, these resin projects use to rest on the shelves for some time without being touched. I was recently taking a look at my list of kits (yes, I’m so nerd that I’ve an Excel list with the status of each kit) and I discovered the technicals in the column of “ unbuilt kits”
By Pablo Scordo | 04.01.2010 11:15
The M113, received within its vast history, numerous camouflages, being, the one I’m going to show you along this article perhaps, the most atypical. During the O.N.U mission, UNTAES (United Nations transitory administration for east Slovakia), six M113 A2, given by the Canadian government, were assigned to the Argentine Army Combat Forces 1, which together with six Kurassier SK105, joined the Belbat (Belgian battalion), as armoured reserve. From January 1996, and during 14 months, reconnaissance missions, control and protection of engineer equipments developing tasks of terrestrial mines removal were carried out, in Brod Pustara at the North of Croacia. Once the mission was accomplished, they were transported to Argentina where they received the later traditional Argentine Army scheme.
By Pablo Raggi | 01.01.2010 11:13
Looking for new variants of Sherman used in the Middle East and reading the book “Israeli Sherman” by Thomas Gannon, I found out that my next challenge was to make an Israelí Super Sherman. Called by the Israelis Sherman M1 (as all their early Shermans), this is the most well known M4A1 big batch. Actually, in current days is quite simple to make a worthy M4A1, just by choosing among the versions from Tasca or improving the ones from Dragon or Italeri. As I had one from Italeri waiting for me, I decided to start my project and, of course, I was not going to build it straight from the box.
By Eduardo Andreoli | 10.01.2009 10:36
Going on with the saga of vehicles used in the African front during the Second World War, finally, it was the turn of the SdKfz 253, a small command tank that coordinated the actions in the battle front. To accomplish this project, I used the only kit available on the market, a Dragon release which original mold was manufactured by Gunze. (Ref.#G-744)
By Dario Risso | 09.01.2009 11:12
The options of Panzer IV in 1/35 scale is wide and to fit all budgets. This Dragon kit (Ref#6080) is among the average price. Being neither an excellent nor a very expensive kit, it’s not one of the worst ones and it’s not difficult to build, of course, with the addition of some improvements which will be described in this note.
By Patricio Delfosse | 04.01.2009 12:10
As Tamiya always do, once again they greatly surprised us all with a Char B, unexpectedly They provided us as usual, an easy to build kit, highly detailed, the right combination and therefore, a good choice for the average modeler. In spite of being one of the most important tanks of the early stage of WWII, to date there was no other option for the modeler than getting one of those expensive resin kits from MB Models (discontinued, of course) that needed a lot of work to get and acceptable replica.
By Pablo Raggi | 04.01.2009 11:49
This is a typical Skif kit, bad fit, poorly detailed, too thick plastic. However, Skif offer a catalogue with vehicles that are not marketed by any other brand and this deserves some recognition and effort on the part of us, the modelers, since in the end, we will have something exclusive in our display cabinet.
By Pablo Raggi | 02.01.2009 12:03
A technical is a type of improvised fighting vehicle, typically a civilian or military non-combat vehicle, modified to provide an offensive capability. It is usually an open-backed civilian pickup truck or 4x4 on which is mounted a recoilless rifle, a machine gun, a light anti-aircraft gun, or another relatively small weapons system. Since time ago, a technical fever which started with the Toyota Land Cruiser release from MIG Productions, lives around the world of modeling...
By Karl-Heinz Pfarr | 08.09.2008 12:28
This model was born as a modeling project to show a tank’s interior. A kind of a museum sample to appreciate the interior of an armored vehicle. My intention was not to build an operative and worn out vehicle, on the contrary to stand out and show the vehicles’ interior that on very few occasions we have the opportunity to see in real life.
By Pablo Raggi | 04.01.2008 11:20
When thinking about the projects of Sherman(s) I had in mind, I decided not to start with complicated versions but to build standard kits easily available around the market. The different versions would be built by changing parts (turret, hulls, guns, suspensions, etc). When a Sherman Firefly from Dragon came to my hands, I found out that it had a hull from a M4A4 which was really good, though the turret would be of no use for my purposes. So, I had two options: building an Egyptian M4A4 with 75HB turret (High Bustle) or a post war Israeli M50.
By Eduardo Andreoli | 02.01.2008 10:45
I’ve always had the intention of building a Tamiya SdKfz 7, even knowing it was a very old kit, and like many old items produced by this and other companies, they were not so detailed and accurate kits. I knew this project would take me several months of hard work ahead, besides of a lot of aftermarket and scratch to finish it to my liking. Anyway, I decided to take it on, since today this is the only kit available on the market and also there are detail sets to correct the main mistakes. So, I started to gather the things I would need.
By Pablo Martelli | 11.01.2007 12:03
When I decided to build a late King Tiger (final version), I chose the King Tiger “late production” from Dragon (Ref #6232). It’s one of the last releases from Dragon with this mould. This box includes late style drive sprocket and also the new pattern track.
By Eduardo Andreoli | 11.01.2007 11:41
The only Churchill kit in injection molded plastic is the old mold coming from Tamiya.. Nowadays not only IMA from Hong Kong, offer excellent conversion kits for this model but also Cromwell Models offer new complete resin kits for the great many variants but, both options are more expensive than the Tamiya kit. If we want to face a straightforward project, we may try converting a Churchill Mk VII into an early model with little effort and some plastic.
By Eduardo Andreoli | 09.01.2007 11:41
Since time ago, I’ve spent my free time building exclusively models from the Vietnam War (just American and Australians) and vehicles that saw service in North Africa during WWII (allied and axis). After so many years devoting to this subject, there are just a few models I’ve not built yet, this is why I’m always searching for new information about kit conversions of vehicles which there is no commercial kit available around the market. And, if I find a picture of a vehicle that doesn’t exist in my collection, I start to think about facing that project.
By David Guardia | 07.01.2007 11:35
The AFV kit is the old Skybow mold; it’s an excellent plastic kit easy to work with, featuring some fragile parts, any kind of glue may be used here. It offers nearly no flash, and though there’s a little problem of fit with the chassis and body, it’s easy to solve.
By Grant M Vogl | 11.01.2006 11:19
When it came to deciding on a base kit for my Canadian Vc Sherman, there was only really one option for me; the new offering from DML/Dragon. I have long been a fan of Dragon’s high-quality and low price, and its newer kits are especially appealing. While the kit isn’t exactly new, more of a re-tooling of a previously released kit, it does represent the best, and to my knowledge, one of the only injection Firefly kits available in 1/35.
By Pablo Martelli | 08.01.2006 10:51
By Carlos Massuh | 06.01.2006 14:31
The kit I used for this project is the Merkava III from Academy. It’s a good one, with no problems of fit or dimensions, this saved me time and effort that was devoted to modify the turret. The PE from Eduard (Ref #35243) allowed me to detail critical areas such as the rear stowage basket .
By Pablo Raggi | 06.01.2005 09:51
Towards the mid of the 90s, Tamiya introduced to the market their JS-3 (Ref. 35211), which since it was coming from the first manufacturing batches, could not be painted in other way than the classic soviet green. Jaguar tried a resin kit to convert the JS-3 from Tamiya in the JS-3M post-war version, however it was nothing but a failure owing to the great deal of mistakes it featured. We had to wait for the new century to see a real JS-3M, and this time from Trumpeter (Ref.316).
By Patricio Delfosse | 05.01.2004 14:10
Here below, you’ll find not only a list with the most common and useful options for the average skill modeller, but also some brief comments about every kit manufactured by Tamiya and other brands. This article aims at offering the modeller, a clear vision about these vehicles, the availability of the kits, and two building reports, beginning the first part, with the Type 90, and the second with the Type 74.
By Patricio Delfosse | 04.01.2004 14:05
By Patricio Delfosse | 04.01.2003 14:49
Hey, webmaster! Something's wrong with the scale! This model should be a 1/72... Is it possible for a 1/35 armored vehicle to measure only 9 cm. long? Well… yes! And in the case of this model it must be added that the space is very well distributed. The model is simple and with minimum efforts and a tidy painting we can add an attractive and rare piece. After seeing many Panzers and Shermans, visitors will surely be attracted to this small armored vehicle that looks closer to a bug than a military vehicle. "What is this?" they will ask. And here is the answer.
By Patricio Delfosse | 04.01.2003 11:55
In January 1945, 20 T26E3 experimental heavy tanks that were developed to go against German's Panthers and Tigers, were shipped to Antwerp in Belgium for testing in the battle field. After arrival, they were issued to the 3rd and 9th Armored Divisions. In March 1945, the T26E3 was standardized as the Heavy Tank M26, and named "General Pershing", while tank crews called it "Pershing".
By Pablo Scordo | 08.01.2001 11:48
By Carlos Pfarr
The SdKfz 11 (Sonderkraftfahrzeug 11) was a half-track military vehicle used by the German Wehrmacht during the Second World War. This vehicle played a critical role in the German war effort and served from the beginning until the end of World War II when several variants were produced and also from 1939, some 16000 of the chassis produced were used for Sd.Kfz.251. Nowadays there are four different AFV kits available to build this vehicle, the SdKfz 11/4 Ref 35051: 3-ton Ammunition Carrier Halftrack for Nebelwerfer units, subject of this article.
By Grant M Vogl
By Pablo Martelli
Tamiya, Dragon and AFV Club (in chronological order) have not only a reference for this vehicle but also for the different versions of the 251. Dragon moulds have been improved version after version, correcting some errors the first editions of this kit featured. Anyway, as they’re not big mistakes, perhaps, we’d rather ignore them, unless we aim to do the “perfect model”.
By Patricio Delfosse
Until this Dragon release, the only alternative to do a Panzer I Ausf B was the old Italeri kit, that though being dimensionally correct, it lacked of certain refinement with regard to details. On the other hand, the tracks from Italeri were a weak point of their kits. All this was easily solved by Dragon. Excellent details, very good tracks and a top-level fit. The Dragon Panzer I is undoubtedly, a XXI century pure class kit due to its quality. In this model in particular, the addition of the Voyager PE improve highly the mudguards and all the tool sets...
By Dave Foster
By Pablo Raggi
By Carlos Massuh
By Pablo Martelli
There are several ways to build a Sturmtiger, but undoubtedly trying one from a Tamiya kit will be easier. In spite of being somewhat old (the first and only release is the one from 1994), keeps a high level of details and excellent fit. Other possible options are the Sturmtiger from Italeri and the Royal Model conversion designed to convert the Late Tiger from Italeri.
By Carlos Pfarr
By Patricio Delfosse
In 2000, Dragon announced new references among their variety of vehicles mounted on the SdKfz chassis: this time was turn for the closed roof variants, the SdKfz 252 and SdKfz 253. A year later, this last one was released as a kit, but nothing was ever heard about the 252. Today, we’re waiting for it to be released as it’s still being announced but….there’s no news to this respect. Tired of waiting, I decided make this conversion from scratch since in point of fact, it would not mean a lot of trouble. I took as base this old kit from Tamiya, the SdKfz 250/9, simply because I had it handy. I could have chosen any Dragon kit that are comparatively better in quality than the Tamiya’s and would have been a good option.
By Carlos Massuh
By Pablo Morfu
By Modeler Site
By Eduardo Andreoli
By Patricio Delfosse
By David Guardia
By Modeler Site
By Alfredo Casciani
By Pablo Scordo
By Nicolas Perez Fiorentini
Although the Tamiya kit is brilliant there are some interesting adds or modifications you could do. In my case I used, for details, a PE set from PART. This kit contains two PE sheets, one to detail the truck itself and the other one is a tools set to give the model more realism.
By Carlos Massuh
By Pablo Raggi
By Pablo Scordo
By Patricio Delfosse
By Patricio Delfosse
By Pablo Martelli
By Patricio Delfosse
It's long time since manufacturers have been making attempts to offer us a good T-55. The first one was from Esci which seemed to be a good kit. But as time goes on, modelers demands have been increasing, and that kit was only used as base guide for corrections and superdetailing purposes. At least, it was an improvement considering the earliest attempts Tamiya intended by the end of the 60´s.
By Kelly Zak
By Patricio Delfosse
By Patricio Delfosse
By Javier Rubio Capella
By Pablo Raggi
By Diego Rojas photos and text by Patricio Delfosse
By Patricio Delfosse
By Fabian Vera
By Eduardo Andreoli
By Patricio Delfosse
Working with resin kits calls for certain precautions and techniques somewhat different than the ones used for the plastic kits we’re used to building. These kits comprise fewer parts but are more difficult to build. Resin kits technology is suited to short runs, and we could say that they are not pure commercial kits but collection pieces even before being built.
By Carlos Pfarr
By Carlos Massuh
By David Guardia
By Patricio Delfosse
By Kelly Zak
By Modeler Site
By Patricio Delfosse
By Patricio Delfosse
By Pablo Scordo
By Diego Rojas photos and text Patricio Delfosse
By Patricio Delfosse
The BS-3 100mm antitank gun was designed and successfully employed in the late stages of World War II, remained in service into the 1950s and was also sold to a number of other countries and in some of these countries the gun is still in service. A number of BS-3 pieces are still stored in Russian Army arsenals.
By Kelly Zak
By Russ Sharp
By Kelly Zak
By Pablo Raggi
I can’t remember exactly when I started to build middle-east models. But I’m sure that nowadays there are many more options available to choose. Recently, Trumpeter released three versions of the PT-76, among them, the PT-76B (kit #00381) which fits perfect for the Middle East theatre.
By Dario Risso
The kit represents a KV-2 as a "beutepanzer" (literally "trophy tank," meaning a captured vehicle). Modified by the Germans with a Panzer III cupola, Bosch light, convoy light, horns, tools, and rear storage racks for additional 152mm main gun ammo and fuel cans, this version makes an interesting comparison piece to the original Russian version, particularly in its German standard three-tone camo.
By Patricio Delfosse
The PaK 43 is the natural evolution of the Flak 36 adapted for its anti tank role. A number of armored vehicles also carried versions of this gun, under different designations, including: heavy tank Tiger II (KwK 43 L/71), self-propelled gun Nashorn (PaK 43/1), as well as tank destroyers Ferdinand/Elefant (PaK 43/2) and Jagdpanther (PaK 43/3 and 43/4).
By Nicolas Perez Fiorentini
By Pablo Raggi
As I usually build vehicles used in Middle East conflicts, when I purchased this SU-100, I chose to build the Egyptian version captured by the British forces during the Operation Musketeer, headed by British Army General Charles Keightley, it was conducted in October 1956 in coordination with the Israeli armored thrust into the Sinai, which was called Operation Kadesh.. Egypt's government, led by President Nasser, was seeking political control over the Suez canal. This Egyptian decision produced a conflict of interests with the British French allies who sent troops towards Port Said and saw combat with the few Egyptian armored units. The Egyptian vehicles were T-34/85, SU-100 and JS-3M, all of them were almost new.....
By Eduardo Andreoli
For some modelers, this kind of vehicles are not attractive at all, it’s small, with limited firepower, besides of being full of rivets. But for others, among I’m included in, are these features the ones that make it so attractive. It’s something different, fresh ( rare exception!!) it’s not German. Since several years ago, I’ve been searching information about this tank, with the idea of building it from scratch but luckily and to my surprise Italeri have just released a 1/35 scale plastic kit of the Italian Carro Armato.
By Pablo Raggi
I always liked the Walker Bulldog and I think that the AFV release is a good representation of this American tank. If I haven’t built it before, is because I like vehicles that in one way or another, saw service in the Middle East.
By Pablo Martelli
To represent this model, I used the reference # 6221 from Dragon in 1/35 scale. Overall this is a superior kit to the older Italeri one especially regarding the interiors. This is an important detail considering this vehicle has no roof.
By Alvaro Bortoletto
By Grant M Vogl
By Kelly Zak
By Pablo Morfu
By Kelly Zak
By Patricio Delfosse
The kit represents a 1943 version of the T-70 with its turret armor thicker than the 1942 version and broader link tracks too.
Even though I bought the kit knowing that it would not have Tamiya or Dragon's quality, I never thought I would encounter so many failures. The details are almost inexistent and very little beyond the basic hull's shape and the undercarriage is usable. The turret is the worst part of the kit. The shape simply does not coincide at all with the 1943 T-70....
By Patricio Delfosse
By Patricio Delfosse