Duke Maddog's Armor Factory Now Open for Tours! WARNING! Lots of Pics!

Good day everyone and welcome to my Armor Factory! I shall be your tour guide as we start through to see what's been done, and what we've got going on.

In the parking lot here, you can see the three 1/72 scale German Panzer 700's that are finally complete. They look better than these pics suggest I think; in these pics you cannot see the detail and weathering as well as in person. Terrible camera I have!

The first one is the Panzer PzKpfw 753(r) that was captured and modified with a commander's cupola before going right back into action. That is why the cupola is a different color:



Next is the Panzer Pzkpfw 754(r). This one was sent to the captured tankworks that the Germans overran in Karkov(?) that they used to modify the captured Russian tanks they 'liberated' during 1942-43.



And the final one: the Panzer Pzkpfw 753(r) with a KwK 40 7.5cm gun. I felt that adding a gun like this most likely would have been installed at a place like the captured Russian tankworks mentioned above. After the installation of the gun and cupola, it would have received a fresh camo pattern.Thus it would look something like this:



Now, as we go into the Factory, we can see that three other tanks are being assembled. There are two Cromwell tanks in the works, and one Israeli Merkava III.

Let's look at the Cromwells as they move down the line. One is being made into the version 'acquired' by the israelis after the British pulled out of Palestine just before the 1948 War.

Here we see the two hulls constructed. They went together very smoothly. I almost made a mistake by forgetting to attach the outer panels to the sides. Fortunately, I read the instruction sheet and saw that I needed to.



Next we see the two tanks with the upper hull and assembled turrets being test fit n the lower hulls. You can see the preliminary painting has been started on the Israeli Cromwell. The tracks and wheels have been painted and are ready for the upper hulls to be attached.



Note: when applying the track links to the wheels, the instructions say to put length piece #53 on the bottom, and length piece #54 on the top of the wheels. One is longer than the other. #54 (the longer one) should be used on the bottom, and 53 on top. Otherwise, the links will not fit correctly

Here is a closer look at the Israeli Cromwell, showing to advantage the track links and wheels:



Now the two tanks are finished with most of the construction, and have the base coats of paint on. They are now ready for some final detailing before the last parts are mounted and the clearcoating applied in preparation for the decals.

First the Israeli Cromwell:



And then the British Cromwell:



Thank you for your participation in my Factory Tour! I hope you enjoyed what you saw today. Next, we'll walk through and watch the assembly of my Israeli Merkava III!

Till next time!