Wow!

I love it. Brings back memories. I had this kit as a kid. Is it still available? I'd love to have it again.

Stick - Thanks

Jim - Yep it is currently on re-issue and you should be able to find it.. Thanks

Rounds Complete!!

It came out great Mike.  Sometimes the old kits can become real gems with a bit of work.

She's a gem!  Great job!

Brian

Gino - Thanks. It is a good exercise in practice of putty skills!! Also except for snow, most armor modelers don't get a chance to finish coat in white!!

Brian - Thanks

Rounds Complete!!

That is awesome! This may sound weird, but I miss the Cold War

Bravo Battery! Stand By! -Ready- Launcher up- down range ready! Standing by for launch authorization!  

AH heady stuff in the mid 60's as we sat in our berm  and watched the missiles rise on the mobile launchers shut the blast "proof" doors. Waiting for the go/no go from the old man.....or was it another, NATO drill?- ya never really knew.

 Though outside of CONUS the Nike was OD as was the Herc booster

.  (that way nobody could see 'em---shhhh)

 & Nuke warheads?!? what? "nuc-u-lar" warheads?? we never had no nukes there 

in wes girm-man-eeNo Sireee -nope 

Thanks Redleg for the memories. 

Missile secure, Launcher Secure- all clear down range

Jet - Thanks, I know what you mean, it is not as weird as you think

Steve - I love it...yep, the units deployed here in CONUS with nuclear warheads and no one knew or complained... ahhh,  the good old days when people were grateful for their freedom and did not question how it came!!

Thanks for stopping by

Rounds Complete!!

Hey Mike, that's wickedly-cool! Nice looking model!

Believe it or not, they stil have one of these at the Danville, Virginia American Armored Foundation Museum! It looks exactly like your model there!

A suggestion---get out to AC Moore's and get yourself some black poster board for tricky photo subjects like this. You just can't shoot white against that light blue---I've tried it myself with primed models or car models.. I keep a piece of it around for situations like this.

I can't wait to see what you do with the M110A2!!!

Karl - As always many thanks for stopping in and for your comments. Yep, I need to pick up a dark background. Usually photographing my favorite color....Green! Thanks again

Rounds Complete!!

 Outside of the science fiction genre this was/is my favorite missle...... pretty hot looking like Marilyn Monroe of that same era.

 I used to have that kit at some point a  lonnng time ago but I lost track of it........

it somehow got "wasted along the way".

  You've captured the look and as usual presented a first class piece of work here

MM would be proud.

Steve - I am always happy to have you stop by.

This kit does bring back memories of a time long past.

As for Marilyn.... it think of it with a little more class, like Sophia Loren. Comparisons between the two are for another forum!! LOL...Like the two of us, two classics!

Thanks

Rounds Complete!!

Nice work!  How was that thing transported, or was it a hard-mount?

Looks great as always!

I have that kit, the reissue from 1994 still in the stash.

My grandfather served in the AD Artillery in the 1960's and assigned to these in NY.

RBaer - They were hard mounted, most in silos which the whole launch platform, as I did in the model, would rise up out of the ground. There was some experimentation with a transporter...here is an interesting transporter using an M520 Goer

http://ed-thelen.org/HerkTransporterModern-.jpg

Chris - Thanks, seem like everyone knows someone or a family who served on these!! Build it, it will be fun!

Rounds Complete!!

Mike, that's just amazing!  Awesome work sir!   Thanks for posting unusual and obscure weaponry builds on this forum!   BTW, I was going to ask just how big this Nike Hercules was, but that last photo you posted answers my question!  Its smaller than I originally thought... when looking at your previous photos I perceived them being much larger!

My friend thanks. I always try to keep everyone up to date on the different and strange. It is not huge but for armor modelers a 13 inch long model is big.... if you model ships, its a destroyer!

Thanks again

Rounds Complete!!

Beautiful work there, Mike, as always. My sincere compliments.

Lee

Lee - Thanks for the peek and for the comment. Always a pleasure to have you stop in

Rounds Complete!!

There's one in the headlands in Marin that is raised out of the ground and made launch ready, once a month. There's the remains of the complexes all over the area, the most creative use of one silo which is really a big rectangular room; is the Marine Mammal Centers seal hospital.

Ahhhh.....

Mike I agree, although the thought of nuclear warheads going off ten miles down range from San Francisco is only slightly better than the ones dropping out of those incoming Bears.

Very happy to have survived that era.

GMorrison

There's one in the headlands in Marin that is raised out of the ground and made launch ready, once a month. There's the remains of the complexes all over the area, the most creative use of one silo which is really a big rectangular room; is the Marine Mammal Centers seal hospital.

West of downtown Dallas, on the west side of the Trinity river, there was a battery complex for Nike-Ajax, which was upgraded to Hercules.  About due for yet another marginally-useful  renovation/adaptive reuse of the complex.  This remains complicated due to compliance with one or more of the STARTs (which is a different discussion for another forum).

redleg12

http://ed-thelen.org/HerkTransporterModern-.jpg

Yet another reason we need a 1/35 GOER kit.
First kit manufacturer to get one out reaps great rewards, since, if memory serves, there's the cargo, tank, recovery, and the missile carrier variants that could be made.

G - I agree, the idea of a nuclear warhead going off that close!!! Then again we all survived and considering all the strange thing we did in the 50s and 60s, that's amazing.

Capt - The M520 would be interesting. I do have the Commanders Models 1//35 resin kit. Yep there was a cargo version and a tanker version for fuel as standard built versions. Like the picture above, there were many other one offs and special uses.

Thanks guys for stopping in.

Rounds Complete!!

Excellent job on your Nike.  Here in Alaska, they were mounted under a steel clamshell launcher.  There are several sites that still exist here.  One is C battery outside of Eielson AFB, and another is close to JBER (Elmendorf, Ft Richardson).  I have gone through C battery many times.  There is a picture of it on Wikipedia.

Richs - Thanks. Many of the were in those type of launchers were also down here in NJ.

Ahhh...Ft Richardson....Northern Warfare School....memories!!

Rounds Complete!!

Hey wow, another winner there! I love seeing those old kits we slammed together as kids built by someone as skilled as you, real demonstration what you can do with one of these gems in the rough.

Funny, I'd always assumed the missile was a lot bigger too.

Gamera - Thanks, I love the old kits. Yes the take some TLC but can turn out to be a nice finished build.

Rounds Complete!!

redleg12

RBaer - They were hard mounted, most in silos which the whole launch platform, as I did in the model, would rise up out of the ground. There was some experimentation with a transporter...here is an interesting transporter using an M520 Goer

http://ed-thelen.org/HerkTransporterModern-.jpg

 

Rounds Complete!!

Of course the army was able to move rounds (missiles) even whole Batteries, this was (mid 60 s) as part of our  shoot and scoot theory.

Re transporting: Technically   Nike herc was mobile;  in  Germany we had "mobile" launchers and "round ready transporters" .  for in battery movement .

for movement inside the launcher area (down range)

 For open road everything was put into their proper containers and shipped  using several 5 ton and 2.5 ton trucks  

Think of moving your house, possible but you don't like to do it too often.