Meng Merkara Mk3 BAZ with mine roller

[thug626]

Back at it with a ground crawly boomy thingy. I just finished an F-4C that was representative of Col Robin Olds bird. Now back to something grounded.
Here's the kit box....

The sprue attachment points were a bit of a shock at first...

But if you come at them with fine tipped sprue cutters...Xuron or the like...you get this....

Not too bad really!

The road wheels have wee numbers on them. Outstanding!


Hopefully primer tonight!

Dave

[Leon]

I'll be following along Dave! That is some nice detail on the wheels.

[wbill76]

Feet firmly back on the ground Dave, pulling up a chair!

[deafpanzer]

Hey bro! Glad you are back... only have heard great things about Meng kits! Count me in too... I am bringing the beer this time.

[thug626]

Good afternoon gentlemen.

Leon, Dang glad to have you along. I primed them a few days ago. I should be able to get a base coat on them this evening.

Bill, Feet firmly on ground? Agreed! Grounded? Depends on who you speak to.

Andy, Greeting Bro. Consider yourself counted! More beer is always better. Jim @ the LHS told my he was getting in the Meng M1A2 with TUSK armor in this week. I feel my wallet already getting lighter.

Dave

[Tojo72]

That's some kit,I know you'll give it the proper treatment.

[wbill76]

May 5, 2016 16:08:12 GMT -5 thug626 said:

Bill, Feet firmly on ground? Agreed! Grounded? Depends on who you speak to.

Dave

Or what you're working on/connected to at any given moment...

[deafpanzer]

May 5, 2016 16:08:12 GMT -5 thug626 said:

Andy, Greeting Bro. Consider yourself counted! More beer is always better. Jim @ the LHS told my he was getting in the Meng M1A2 with TUSK armor in this week. I feel my wallet already getting lighter.

NICE!!! That kit is probably #1 on my wish list... do you have any idea how much it will cost?

[thug626]

Good afternoon gentlemen.

Tojo72, Thank you kindly my good man. I'll do my darnedest.
Bill, I learned that lesson a long time ago due to someone (not me) who did not properly ground out a 110v circuit. Came close with a 220v experience, fortunately the "little voice" said the same individual worked on it as well. And wouldn't you know it....an electrocution waiting to happen was aborted. Suffice it to say the individual had a "come to Jesus" talk.
Andy, That kit is stunning. I picked it up for about $70. There's a lot of entertainment in that box. MONDO entertainment!

The build does indeed continue. There's been more building than posting of late. I needed to repaint the road wheels as the color that looked great on the test patch, ended up being too yellow in practical application. Ya gotta love stencils for that work.


For the primer I've used Vallejo Flat Black. It goes down like silk! You can get a better sense of the color of the road wheels in this pic. The close up pic was way out of balance.


A detail shot of the rear hatch and other goodies.



The barrel is a multi part assembly that builds up quite nicely. The seam line splits the barrel clamps. This was brilliant on Mengs part as, it gives relief to the clamp assemblies


Most of the detail has been added to the turret but, there are still a few parts to go.

The smoke launchers were just too good to cover up. So, I left them open.


Cheers
Dave

[deafpanzer]

Looking real good my friend!

[thug626]

Good evening Andy. Thank you for the compliment my friend.

Time to call it a day....The base color has been laid down on the lower hull. It's been a long time since I've laid down any base color this fast. You'll notice difference in color between some of the pics. Still working on balancing the digi cam.



I'm not sure how much of this detail will be visible once the side skirts are on. We shall see.

I am looking forward to when the hulls are joined and I can start on the detail painting....such as the canvas covers for the baskets.

A detail shot of the right idler mount.


Dave

[martslay]

Fine model and good work! Good luck. I will observe.

[Leon]

Nice progress Dave! A lot of nice detail there. What color did you use on this?

[wbill76]

You've been busy Dave! Merk's looking good.

[thug626]

Greetings Martslay, Thank you kindly for the compliment.

Good afternoon Leon, Thank you for the compliment. The color is LifeColor Dark Earth UA 092.
Good afternoon Bill, Lots of wee detail to this one. It was nice to lay some color down.

More later today.

Dave

[TRM]

Fantastic stuff there Dave!! Just picked up a MK3 not too long ago...without the Nochri though! This is making me want to crack right into it!! Keep up the great work!

[deafpanzer]

It always amaze me how color can changes using same camera! Base coat looking real good by the way...

[jsteinman]

[thug626]

Good morning T, Thank you kindly my good man. This kit will not disappoint. I would recommend dry fitting parts as some of the tolerances are very tight in places. That being said, it'll go together quite nicely.

Good morning Andy, No kidding! One of these days I would really like to get myself a nice SLR camera. Thank you my friend.

Good morning Jsteinman, Thank you for the humorous compliment.

The road wheels got mounted before my work stretch started. The springs were painted with Vallejo Dark Rust. Not a model air color but with the proper thinning I got it to run through the Iwata just fine.



The hull, turret and front skirts are mocked up at this point.


Now here's a lovely detail touch. All of the side skirts are sequentially numbered. So, if you forget which one goes where, they run sequentially around the tank. The kit comes with two options for skirts. A full solid run or individual skirts. I opted for the individual ones.


Dave

[TRM]

CLean work on the springs Dave! Nice to see the mock up...looking mighty fine from here!

[Leon]

Nice work on the springs Dave! The mock up looks good.

[Tojo72]

Certainly up to your normal outstanding standard of detailing.

[wbill76]

Some nice progress for sure Dave. Those springs look great!

[thug626]

Good evening Todd, Thank you. I didn't get too involved with them as they will largely be hidden with the side skirts on.

Good evening Leon, Thank you for the compliment.

Good evening Tojo72, Thank you kindly for the high praise.

Good evening Bill, Thank you. I may give them a bit of a highlighting...for the wee bit that'll be seen.

The rollers were completed today. The first one I had gotten some glue in where it shouldn't have been. It'll still work. As for the second one! Much more careful and, the whole thing articulates like you wouldn't believe.

Not much additional detail was needed. I added some Grandt Line bolts to cover up a divot. The chains are copper and treated with Blacken It.


Here's roughly what they'll look like. I can't mount them until the upper and lower hulls are joined.

The commanders gun.

The loaders/gunners gun

The coaxial Ma Deuce.

All of them mounted. Now to keep from snapping them off. The tooth pick is to keep the commanders gun steady while the glue dries.


Dave

[dierk]

Just playing ketchup tomato sauce catch-up on this one. Very, very nice! Injection moulding certainly has come a long way - the whole kit looks great, but those mine-rollers are really impressive!
Those MGs certainly look a bit snappy offy - I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

[wbill76]

Israelis believe in firepower! Looking good Dave.

[Leon]

MGS look really good Dave! I've snapped off the loaders gun twice already on the sho't Kal so careful handling is needed.

[thug626]

Thank you Dierk I couldn't agree more with you about injection moulding. There's not much of a mounting point for the MGs. Going to have to go easy with the paws.

More fire power is a good thing. Thank you Bill.

Thank you Leon. There's going to be a lot of angles to spray this turret. And, then there's the mine rollers....This is gonna be interesting.

Dave

[thug626]

Before the seven hour round trip to Portland and back today I was able to lay down the beginnings of the base coat. The primer coat was Vallejo Black.





A lot of detail painting to follow. It's a start though.

Dave

[dierk]

As starts go, this is a very nice one!