Thank you Hard Stripe. Don't be afraid to experiment with new ideas. These simple kits are perfect for learning new things or, in my case, proving a combination of effects will work as you want them to. lol

Go boldly forward. :D

In this case, about the stars, I was going for an "Army Men" theme with the markings since I have relatively none to work with in this scale. So I decorated it as one of my favorite childhood toys lol.

Excellent job mike, I trained on the 48 @ knox in 1970. the star on the front glasis was refered to as an

aiming point. I have the same shade & quake. The best I could do was OD green & black road wheels.

Very low skill level here. (none) I have the AFTERSHOCK on the way.  thanks for sharing the build

Sorry for not commenting sooner guys. I'm just not sure what to say lol.

Um sure. When I can get one lol.

They do. Dragon makes an A3, and are promising an A nothing soon. Oh please, please, please...

All the time when we are at CVS or Walgreens, I'll wander into the toy collection and look at all of the G.I. Joe (sadly nothing like the original) and other stuff like this, and wonder if its possible. I saw a 1/24 Tomcat the other day, but it was just too weird. The kid in me.

Mike you did a great job, now what about that Pzkpfw 4?

I thought you were NUTS to even attempt to make something of this when I read the first page, Mike, but darned if you didn't make a nice looking model out of this toy. The paint is particularly good--I do like the shading on it, Cool.

I think Monogram makes a good model of the A2. That was the first model I ever built--it has "Love Bug" decals on the model box. :)

So ;

You took this here toy and did what ? You turned it into a very bad looking machine . I usually do this when I improve Metal cars and trucks . I'll find one that looks the part and make it Look the Part ! Good job and great development of your skills .

    You just happened to pick one of my favorite pieces of armor too !

Hey ! Those guys are blue ! How long have they been holding their breath ? LOL-LOL

Holy Cow Mike,, I just read this thread from start to finish and all I can say is WOW. I just helped my grandson with a snap together Ford Mustang and found myself going,, wow I could fix that with a little scrapping here,, a little putty here, but then I realized it was my grandson and thought better of it.

Mike you did a great job transforming this thing definitely will look good on the shelf.  

Lots of nice work here, Mike.  Looks like you had a lot of fun with it.

Thank you for the compliments. :D

It is really cool what you can do when you're just playing around with ideas. This was, as stated before, just a proof of concept for the M-103. I really do like the way it turned out and I will continue to bring such fun to my builds.

It was you guys that inspired me and I hope that continues always. You guys keep me humble. :)

Thank YOU!

Hey Mr.Brindos,

Great kit, I really like the color modulation and the stowage looks very good. Even without the weathering, I would say it is complete.

Thanks for sharing your progress, and build.

Finished up real nice.

Bump. Just talked this up over in General Modeling.

Thank you Jetmaker!  SO many compliments from some of the best modellers on FSM. I'm feeling on top of the world guys lol.

GMorrison; I recently found out the these are only sold here in the U.S./N. America. Stefan (He runs their Fb page) at Revell had no idea about this thing and asked if it was a Monogram kit lol. So even Revell doesn't consider this a model kit lol.

Thank you guys. I am still continuing to bring my best.  :)

To ditto what was said before, this was not a legitimate kit in 1974. It's a toy for sure.

But I bring that up to point out that you did a really swell job here of upping it's game. nice!

That paint is exquisite!!

Thanks Tojo! Not accounting for all of the glaring inaccuracies of this kit (and those I made myself), it turned out pretty cool looking. :)

It looks good next to my zim-less Tiger II, although I thought the Tiger would be bigger even in this scale.

Really coming along great,all your detailing is fantastic.

Thank you Gamera.  :)

Very cool Mike, I love how the paint and storage came out!

I know you guys are tired of looking at this one so I'll wrap it up. I'm finished with the model, but I have not weathered it yet. I want to save that for when I weather the base so they match up.

Until then, some finished pictures of a little ol' toy turned into something a little more.

Thank you guys for the kind comments and the whitty banter. I've enjoyed every bit of it.  :D

I've done a lot of those bed rolls and tents in 1/72. I've not done it with packs and straps though and I've always thought it was pretty tricky, but if you do I'd love to see how well it worked.  :)

But these do work wonderfully in 1/48.  :)

Thank you for you kind words. I'm having a lot of good old memories returning to me with this build. It has been a pleasure to build it.

Edit: Thanks G.  :)  I had to conquer the fear first lol. That first trembling step towards "what if this ef's it up?"  lol. But I think this is going to make it just a bit more believable. ...I hope lol.

The tracks were base caoted in Flat black and then a dark grey-brown wash to keep the tone uneven. That's as far as I've made it right now. I cleared it with dull cote and it's just a matter of layering on the dirt.  :)

Thanks for looking guys. :)

Nice goin' on the tracks!

Like what your doing with this kit and appreciate why your doing it.  Great tutorial as well, I might give it a try in 1/72.

Defining the tracks is super easy. A Dremel with a cutting disk works perfectly with some really careful cuts.

If I get my hands on it you bet I'll give it a try lol.

Thanks guys. I really appreciate the banter lol. :D

Mike looking great! That's awesome that you've managed to go beyond the test bed for india ink and dot filters, to now scratching a few backpacks and ammo cans as well, too cool! I really like the tarp rolls too. haha now that ^^ Panzer IV could use this kind of help!

It's own mother wouldn't recognize it!

It is a good looking model of a good looking tank.

I woulda firecrakered the b ast ard  in it's original form.

Next, this one?

Thanks Gamera  :D

I painted the headlights.


Made an Ammo box.




And she's looking the business. 


I'm really loving how this build is turning out. Thanks for looking guys! 

Almost done.