The Duke's Latest Armor

[Duke Maddog]

Here is two of the three vehicles I have added to my vehicle collection to date. It feels good to finally finish these after so many months of misfortune and distractions.

First up is the Zvezda 1/72 scale snap-together 40mm Bofors anti aircraft cannon. It was a fast and easy build that went together very well. I just built it out of the box. I can still place it on the included base and add the included figures, but for now this gun is done:

Next up is my Hobby Boss 1/72 scale Israeli Merkava IV. This was a very easy and fun model to assemble and the painting and weathering was a blast. Here she is:

Now I have the complete line of Merkava tanks from I to IV. Now I just need to fill them out with the Merkava IIID and Merkava III Baz.

Oh, and for those who are following the count, these two and my 1/72 scale civilian car bring my collection of vehicles up to 706 completed models.

That's all for now, feel free to check out my latest aircraft and civilian car.

Thanks for looking in, comments are welcome.

 

[moon puppy]

Looks good Mark.

 

[Jeeves]

Nice! I see this Merkava doesn't have the ball and chain skirt thingies...did your other models have them? They're small in 1/35...I can't imagine what they're like in 72!

 

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks h=guys! I'm glad you like them.

Mike, the old Revell of Germany kit had them finely molded in 1/72 scale plastic and I did install them on that tank. They were actually very easy to add to the turret:

I don't know why no other manufacturer has done these this way. I've seen kits of P/E ball and chain, but it is too flat and unrealistic looking. I wish I had been able to get more of these from that model.

Thanks again for the great comments guys!

 

[JamesOLeary]

Damn, Duke, you do awesome work in 1/72 scale! I am getting ready to do a few 1/72 scale models and I hope they look half as good as yours.

706 completed models! How long did it take you to do that many and where do you put them? Since I retired, I have done 7 figures/vignettes and two models and I am trying to figure out where I am going to put them if I keep this pase up.

Again, great work on these tiny pieces. I look forward to your future builds.

Cheers,
James

 

[razordws]

Looks great Duke.

 

[Rhino]

That Zvezda gun is really nice! A snap-fit too!

 

[Brokeneagle]

B) Nice finish in 1/72.... i'm looking for some inspiration for my su-85.

Ian.

 

[nsmekanik]

ecvellent build :drinks

 

[Duke Maddog]

Damn, Duke, you do awesome work in 1/72 scale! I am getting ready to do a few 1/72 scale models and I hope they look half as good as yours.

706 completed models! How long did it take you to do that many and where do you put them? Since I retired, I have done 7 figures/vignettes and two models and I am trying to figure out where I am going to put them if I keep this pase up.

Again, great work on these tiny pieces. I look forward to your future builds.

Cheers,
James

Thanks James! With your talent, you'll probably make mine look like toys. LOL! I'll be watching yours come together, it feels good to follwo someone else building in my preferred scale.

As for my count, right now all but the last six are packed away in tubs like so:

That's because I have no space anymore for placing them back on the shelves in my Hobby Room. How long did it take? 47 years all told. My first small scale armor model was built when I was seven years old and I still have it. The 700th model was finished in January.

James. I'm sure you'll find a space and I do hope you maintain your pace since your work is so magnificent to look at.

Thanks to everyone else as well. I appreciate your compliments very much.

The Zvezda Bofors was fun to build, more than I thought and very well detailed.

Ian, I hope I got you enough inspiration. I've built an Su-85 before; it was the Dragon one. Yours should look just as good given your skills.

 

[iambrb]

Man, that is some impressive work, 'specially in such small scale!

Duke, I too am a fan of the Merkava tank, it is flat-stinkin' awesome! Thanks to it's ability to hold 4 soldiers or medics or spare ammo via the double-doors int he rear, it has been used as everything from tank to APC to ambulance to resupply!

Look it up on Wikipedia, there is even a new version that has not only actively defended itself from RPG's and ATGMs, but the newest versions have multiple cameras mounted on the outside and a heads-up display for the operators, to they need not expose themselves to outside threats, the biggest killer in low intensity conflicts!

 

[iambrb]

Here is two of the three vehicles I have added to my vehicle collection to date. It feels good to finally finish these after so many months of misfortune and distractions.

First up is the Zvezda 1/72 scale snap-together 40mm Bofors anti aircraft cannon. It was a fast and easy build that went together very well. I just built it out of the box. I can still place it on the included base and add the included figures, but for now this gun is done:

Thanks for looking in, comments are welcome.

Oh forgot to mention in the earlier post - if you read the excellent book STUKA PILOT about the exploits of Hans Rudel, you will see that he got his leg removed by one of these. Not only did he fly and land the plane back in a safe area...some months later he ended the war flying an FW190 with only one leg!

 

[JamesOLeary]

Damn, Duke, you do awesome work in 1/72 scale! I am getting ready to do a few 1/72 scale models and I hope they look half as good as yours.

706 completed models! How long did it take you to do that many and where do you put them? Since I retired, I have done 7 figures/vignettes and two models and I am trying to figure out where I am going to put them if I keep this pase up.

Again, great work on these tiny pieces. I look forward to your future builds.

Cheers,
James

Thanks James! With your talent, you'll probably make mine look like toys. LOL! I'll be watching yours come together, it feels good to follwo someone else building in my preferred scale.

As for my count, right now all but the last six are packed away in tubs like so:

That's because I have no space anymore for placing them back on the shelves in my Hobby Room. How long did it take? 47 years all told. My first small scale armor model was built when I was seven years old and I still have it. The 700th model was finished in January.

James. I'm sure you'll find a space and I do hope you maintain your pace since your work is so magnificent to look at.

Thanks to everyone else as well. I appreciate your compliments very much.

The Zvezda Bofors was fun to build, more than I thought and very well detailed.

Ian, I hope I got you enough inspiration. I've built an Su-85 before; it was the Dragon one. Yours should look just as good given your skills.

Thanks for showing me how you are storing your builds. I have been using a similar means but I have to use larger and taller containers due to the size of the figures and the length of the antennas on the vehicles. I secure the bases to the lid and then use the main body of the container as a cover. I have a bunch stacked up and they take up quite a bit of room because the containers never come in the exact size you need. Now that I've done the 1/76th scale M113 FSV, I plan on building a few 1/72 scale M113 ACAVs. For those I'll be able to use your type of containers.

Also, thanks for the encouragement towards the braile scale endeavors.

Cheers,
James

 

[Frank]

Nice work Mark.
Since joining the local IPMS club,9 years ago, the dark forces of armor have been forced on me.
:fencing :fencing
I have only finished 5 armor kits during this time frame.
The latest is a ERTL M48A2.
Frank

 

[Duke Maddog]

Thanks for the great replies guys!

Iambrb, I appreciate the comments on the Merkava; I agree, it is one Bad*ss tank. Thanks for the info on the newest upgrades to this tank. Thanks as well for the info on Hans Rudel. That guy was one incredible pilot. I do need to read more about him. Did you know he was also instrumental in the development of the A-10 Thunderbolt II? They consulted him a a lot when designing that aircraft; this I think has added to the effectiveness of it.

Thanks James. When I bought those containers I had hoped they would only be temporary; but I have no space to bring everything back out again on the shelves so there they sit. These are the larger ones so they hold between 70 and 80 models in each one. The tallest one contains all my railroad models and the smaller ones have my artillery and some of the larger vehicles from my Russian Army. The wood box is where Dora sleeps.

I'll be watching for your 1/72 scale ACAVs; they should look great!


Frank, welcome to my world! I'm glad to see you come to the "Dark Side"! :woohoo: After all, we have cookies! I'll go looking for your armor soon.

Thanks again for the great replies guys!

 

[Dave wahl]

Duke, Those are a couple of interesting looking pieces. With that sloped frontal armor, the Mercava looks a lot like the Swedish S tank from earlier on. That AA gun looks real good as well. I'm sorry I haven't been on for so long, but life gets in the way at times.Be good and enjoy your hobby.

Dave

 

[Duke Maddog]

Dave, I'm sorry I didn't see this sooner. I guess I didn't get the E-mail notice that you had replied. Thank you for your comments and don't worry; life has been throwing me a few curves too. Interesting observation on the Merkava, it does look somewhat like an S-tank. I just finished another version of the Merkava recently, I'm going to try and get it posted sometime soon. Stay tuned.