M109A6 Paladin

[Skinny_Mike]

Hello everyone! Here is my entry into this campaign.

This is the 1/35th scale AFV Club M109A6. I am a big fan of the Paladin, although I'm really not sure why, but I was excited to see the AFV kit hit the shelf. This campaign was the perfect excuse to pick one up. I also have the Riich T-154 track links, the Legend stowage set and the Live Resin M2 .50 Cal. machine gun. My plan is to build it in the sand yellow camo, I also have the AK productions paint/weathering set, and with the gun in firing position. Unfortunately the AFV club kit has absolutely no interior. While the Paladin is supposed to be able to fire with all the hatches closed up, I have yet to see a photo of it that way. Oh well - It'll still look cool!

Unfortunately I have been a little under the weather this weekend, so I didn't get any progress on this kit, plus I have a few other projects I am working on at the moment so this one will be a slow starter.

See you all when I have some progress!
Mike

 

[SA Dave]

Damn that is going to be nice

 

[moon puppy]

Hope you feel better Mike :zen

 

[jknaus]

This should be fun. I have wondered about this kit quite a bit. I dont know if uoi want to spend more but Black Dog just came out with an interior http://www.blackdog.cz/t35.html

James

 

[Sherman 18]

Get well and then get started. This will be fun to watch.

 

[Skinny_Mike]

Hey everyone!

Glad to see there is so much excitement for this build!

I finally have enough of this built to show some progress. I have been working on this kit during my IPMS club’s monthly meeting, while I am finishing up on some other things I have going on. Steps 1 and 2 are completed, which basically builds the tub for the lower hull. The lower hull is made up of 9 flat sides that are all assembled to create the hull. I took my time and lined everything up. Considering this is the foundation of the kit, it seems like this many pieces complicates things quite a bit as opposed to the single piece tub, but I suppose you get better detail this way.

There was a gap where the hull sides met the front plate on both sides. I filled in the right side with some super glue and the left side required some plastic card to fill the gap. Nothing that I couldn’t over come.

Overall things are looking good. There are a lot of ejector pin marks on this kit and some are quite pronounced, especially on the backs of the road wheels. Fortunately most of them are hidden in places that are not visible once the kit is completed. Here is a photo of the bottom of the hull, notice all the putty on the areas over the tracks. These would be hard to see. I cleaned them up because I would hate to find out later that they are visible…

That’s where I am today. Feels good to have it started, and I’ll slowly keep moving along on this build.

Thanks for watching
Mike

 

[Skinny_Mike]

This should be fun. I have wondered about this kit quite a bit. I dont know if uoi want to spend more but Black Dog just came out with an interior http://www.blackdog.cz/t35.html

James

Thanks for the heads up James. The Black Dog interior is for the M109A2 and from what I understand the interior on the A6 is a lot different. I wonder if they are planning to release an A6 interior. :hmmm But that all being said, 99.99% of the people that may ever see my build wouldn't know the difference anyway, so at least it would fill in the space. I have pretty much made up my mind though, that I am not going to worry about the interior on this on. I want to focus on a clean build and then really work on the weathering. Getting that good and dusty look to the kit.

Thanks again!
Mike

 

[lupanzer]

...interesting stuff,Mike

Luiz

 

[moon puppy]

That's one big ol' gun man...

 

[SA Dave]

Of course there is a lot of excitement That is one big A$$ gun there :drinks

 

[MrT]

Terry B)

 

[Skinny_Mike]

Wow its sure been a while since I last had any progress on this beast. Now that my MIG is on the shelf, I’ve started working on this again.

The build has continued with the suspension .All of the parts assembled without any drama. The kit is designed with the full torsion bars and if you glue just the end, the suspension actually works, well at least the 5 arms in the middle work. The wheel on each end is fixed in place. Once I get the road wheels in place I’ll end up fixing all the arms after I level it out.

Next up is the top. This continues with the build up of plastic plates. Nothing really exciting, but it is cool that all the engine panels and access hatches are separate pieces, too bad there isn’t an interior. So here are all the top plates added, without the access hatches.

I did have a little drama on this part. The left corner, where I had a gap on the side, also had a gap on the top. I figured out that the piece that makes the front sits to far out. This is because the floor above the tracks on this side appears to be too long and the other parts don’t fit properly. If I did it again I would sand that spot until everything align. In this case I just filled the gap with some Vallejo putty and sanded smooth. You also need to make sure that the parts are all settled into the hull, or the front hatches don’t sit right.

Next step was to add the access hatches, all closed, and the various handles and bits. I also added the non-slip texture at this point. AFV gives you a set of pre-cut stickers that represent the non-stick surface. The fit fine but the texture is pretty fine. I suspect it would be better to use the Rustoleum texture paint of some other method like that. I’ll let you know how it all looks when I get a coat of paint on it.

And here it is with the front part of the hull pretty much done.

Well next up in the instructions is that massive travel lock. I’ll get started on that and hopefully be done with the hull over the weekend.

Thanks for checking this out!
Mike

 

[moon puppy]

Neat looking stuff

 

[Skinny_Mike]

Hey guys! Obviously didn't get done in time to collect my ribbon. Just pulled this out of the box formally known as the shelf of doom so I can tinker with it. Would one of the moderators mind moving this thread over to armored fury? Should have some progress in a week or so!

Thanks.
Mike

 

[reconron]

Hey guys! Obviously didn't get done in time to collect my ribbon. Just pulled this out of the box formally known as the shelf of doom so I can tinker with it. Would one of the moderators mind moving this thread over to armored fury? Should have some progress in a week or so!

Thanks.
Mike

Moved it Mike,bummer about the ribbon.But with so many campaigns going on and coming up there is always a good chance to earn one in the future.

Looking forward to the next steps on the Paladin.


Gr,Ron.

 

[moon puppy]

Thanks Ron for moving this, now Mike

 

[lupanzer]

...

Luiz

 

[Sherman 18]

 

[Adam Baker]

Missed the start of this one, but definitely interested in watching.

One of the online retailers had AFV Club kits on sale last week, almost bought this kit but decided to hold off. Been a fan of the M109 ever since I got to see one when I was a teenager at a model contest. It was held at a NG Armory, and there was an M109 sitting in the middle of the contest room.

 

[Skinny_Mike]

Thanks for moving this thread guys. Travelling get for work right now but should have an update this weeked!