The Model Box

I dug up my WIP of Dragon Model's 1:35 Delta Force (Somalia 1993) and prepped them again for painting. I'm hoping to do a better paint job this time around and not surrender to lethargy:) DML's kit features four US soldiers as they would have appeared in operations during the Battle of Mogadishu '93 during the events chronicled in Mark Bowden's "Blackhawk Down: A Story of Modern War" and Ridley Scott's film of the same name. Here's a helpful review of this 1994 kit by Peter Ong at TRACK-LINK.  As an aside, the reviewer notes that the M24 sniper rifle shown in the box art and supplied with one of the figures was probably not used during the said events. Instead, the figure would have been more probably armed with an M14 or a shotgun instead. In addition, there is also doubt on the use of  the H&K MP5SD3 in Somalia. Since I have four more boxes of the same kit in storage, I may use some of the weapons there ...

Missing-Lynx has a useful article on AFV Desert Finishes and Weathering Techniques written by Ron Puttee. check it out here . I plan to try these out soon.

I picked up a bag of these old plastic tanks. Each is around 60cm in length -- hull only and excluding the gun. They're a bit bigger than my 1/144 Merkavas.  I've always thought they were AMX-30s but a friend is insisting they're T-54s. Help in identifying these would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

In between work, I've been surfing some reference materials for my recent model projects and found these really nifty entries including a parts/name diagram and a list of modern MBTs. I hope this is helpful to other scale modellers. Wikipedia's entry on Tanks Wikipedia's entry on Tanks in World War 2 Wikipedia's List of Main Battle Tanks by Country Modern Armoured Combat Vehicles of the British Army Tank diagram from Wikipedia

WIP pics of this model. Very weird proportions but I'm not familiar with this genre so I may be in the minority in feeling that the proportions are a bit off. Fast, no-nonsense assembly. And no glue! Very minor fitting issues. The Japanese really know how to design their kits! I'm setting this aside for painting some other day. Time to try out another mech kit!

Seriously contemplating trying out a gundam model. Or whatever robot kit I have. Just to break away from figures and armor for awhile...

The family spent the whole day at home so I cracked open this kit for a fast build. Assembly was fast but I discovered that I was missing a grill for the hull. The part must have detached from the sprue some time ago and was misplaced. So I left out attaching the grill that I have, maybe until I find a replacement or make one. Trumpeter's casting is a bit light on detail. I didn't like that fact that parts such as hatches, cables and tools were molded on the hull instead of being separate parts. I refrained from gluing the soft rubber tracks together and instead joined the ends using thread. Putting them on was a chore though. Happily, I didn't break and idler when I fitted them on as I inevitably did with my old ESCI kits. Attaching the hull posed some problems because of how the hull was designed to attach to the lower chassis. Pegs on both sides should snap on the lower lips of the chassis but doing so would prevent me from disassemb...