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AFV Club M109A6 Paladin (Modern Armor Campaign)

Skinny_Mike

Skinny_Mike

Well-known member
Hey Everybody!

I pulled out the M109A6 that I originally started for the Modern Armor Campaign and had worked on quite a bit over the last few months and decided that this would be the perfect place to finish up, and get the campaign ribbon!

In case you forgot where we are, here’s a link to the build topic over in Armor Fury:

M109A6 WIP Link

Not much new to show, but here is some quick progress I made tonight. First a picture of the beast.

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I’ve been doing some research on the Paladin and learned that the fume extractor on the barrel has a weld seam that runs along each side. I had originally filled the seam and sanded it smooth. To replicate the weld bead, I used the Archer resin decals for weld seams. I had them laying around and was curious how they would turn out.

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For those that haven’t seen these yet, they are raised resin affixed to a waterslide backing that are applied just like decals. Turned out pretty good. All I had to do was cut the appropriate length. I applied some Solveset once they had dried a bit, as recommended in the instructions.

I also added the Combat ID Panel from the Legend stowage set to the back of the turret. Nothing too complicated here, just cleaned of the resin and attached with some super glue.

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I was going to also add CID panels to the hull sides, but I’m not sure if I should. I have some left over from the Accurate Armor set and they would fit, but I haven’t seen many reference photos with the panels on the M109A6. Anyone have any thoughts?
Here is a shot of the panels. They really are quite good.

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Well there we go, hopefully I’ll start picking up some momentum here on this and a few other builds because I really want to get the bench cleared for some of these campaigns that are coming.

Thanks for looking and as always comments are welcome!
Mike
 
Hi Folks!

I set myself a small goal for this weekend, to get this paladin in the paint booth, at least get it primered. I didn’t really have much to do to get there, just needed to spend a little time on this kit. Well here is the update.
First up I wanted to get the cable built and installed for this device, I’m not 100% sure what it is but I assume its some sort of radar system.

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Unfortunately I had already installed it to the kit before I realized I need to add the cables to it. I drilled out the two connectors on the front of the unit but I couldn’t get a drilled on the connector in the back. Just not enough room. I ended up building the Y cable off the tank, using a piece of plastic rod, drilled out to accept the wire, as the rear connector and then I trimmed off the molded on connector end and attached my home made cable, connecting the wire to the front two connectors. I used 0.2mm lead wire for the cables. Its not perfect, but it does look the part.

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Next up was the huge muzzle brake. It comes as three pieces, a left and right half and the inner baffle. I painted the interior parts Tamiya NATO Black and then assembled them around the end of the barrel. Then I cleaned up the top and bottom seams with some ZAP CA glue.

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Next was the range finder assembly. The interior was painted, and the whole thin was assembled. I used Alclad armored glass for the green window. It seemed to turn out pretty well, and you can adjust the tint depending on the number of layers you spray on.

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I‘ve seen pictures of Paladins with the tow cable strapped to the side of the hull using some makeshift brackets. These tanks always have a pile of stowage on top of the turret, which would make the tow cable inaccessible. I’m going to have the Legend stowage set on mine so I figured why not add the cable to the side. I took a couple of the left over tow cable brackets from the turret and I glued then straight onto the side of the hull. Pretty simple mod. The ends will use the standard tie downs and it should look pretty good in the end. Here are the added brackets.

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That gets me to the point of priming the beast. I got the first primer session in. Unfortunately it wasn’t the epic build day I hoped for today, but I least I got close to my goal… :soldier

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Thanks for looking everyone
Mike
 
Hi guys!

Short update on the big gun today, basically got the base color on. My favorite paint for the sand color has been Polly-S US Desert Storm Sand. Polly-S was bought by Testors and then discontinued a few years ago. While they were still available I bought up all the Polly-S paints I could from my local hobby shop. But I ran into a problem with this paint. I just couldn’t get the thinning ratios right using distilled water. It was either to wet or it clogged up the airbrush. I’m afraid the paint is just old and not very shelf stable. Oddly enough I used the same paint for the road wheels, way back when, and had no issues. :idonno Fortunately I have found a couple of alternatives that will work for future projects.

After the struggle with the paint, here are the results.

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The muzzle break is Tamiya Nato Black. Next up is some detail painting and filters and washes. Focusing on a some other things right now so this one will continue to be a little slow.

Thanks for looking
Mike
 
Looking fantastic! I envy you being able to build one of these. No one makes them in my scale.

And no, I'm not moving up to 1/35th; I have too many small scale to do that and besides, I love full consistency.

Can't wait to see more.
 
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