Hello everybody!

Movin' on with the turret! Takom has a quite strange build sequence in its instructions - they recommend to detail the top half of the turret and just then to put it on the lower half. For one all those details may get damaged in progress. the other thing is the top half has a slight tendency to warp, and this warp might get reinforced by glueing in all the hatches, reinforcements and so on. This is why I decided to first join the halves, do the filling and sanding, and just then to start detailing. To do this I first painted the parts that might be hard to do afterwards and then put it all together. Now my turret looks like this:

And the underside:

Thanks for looking and have a nice day!

Paweł

Wow, nice Pawel! 

Looks like you're about half-way done with the construction!!! 

Hello Gamera!

When I read your comment for the first time, I thought: "Nah, I'm way past the half now!"... But some weeks later I think you were quite close to the truth... So I've got most of the turret details on and it was a lot of fun. Here's what it looks like now:

Now in the second photo you can see the "pocket" into which the tracking radar retracts. I want to paint this space before I fix the outer armor in place, otherwise the access to it will be really problematic. So this is what I'm concentrating on now, and when it's painted then I'll finish the construction.

Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

Nice work on the turret. Sometimes those cramped places are a source of concern and need to be attended to. BTW did the tracks come with the kit, or are they AM? This is really looking good.

Hello TigerII! Thanks a lot for your comment and for your kind words.

Yes, those are the kit tracks and like I wrote I like them a lot. They are complicated and need attention to get right, but at the same time they are very well designed and made and in the end I enjoyed building them and I like the end result a lot.

Have a nice day!

Paweł

Okay, this time I'm just going to say 'close' to being done!

You've got a good thing going there! 

Hello Gamera!

Thanks a lot for your kind words, they mean a lot to me!

I've painted the "pocket" in order to move on with the construction. This was also a trial to see how the painting of MERDC will go. For this I used the "orange" Hataka paints - this was a "first" for me - and I can heartly recommend them.

This is how it looks right now:

So now I intend to finish building and start painting the whole thing. Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

Its coming along nicely.  The MERDC looks good as well.

She's coming along well Pawel! I like to just assemble the whole thing before painting but I know what you mean there about having to paint some parts before attaching others. 

Hello gentlemen!

Thanks a lot for your comments and your support, I'm sorry to get back to you so late!

Gamera - right, I like to paint when everything is built, too, but sometimes this created spaces that would be unnecessarily hard to tackle afterwards, right?

And my next update is also about painting. Like Rob already wrote, on a real tank painting anything below the fenders doesn't make much sense, but this is supposed to show a "presentation for generals" machine, so I painted a real-deal MERDC on the lower hull:

I have also painted the tracks and all those wheels:

The plan now is to add some shading and some minimal dust, then assemple the tracks and mask them off. Then I'll be able to paint the top of the machine.

Thanks for looking and have a nice day!

Paweł

Hi pawel!

 That sounds like Trumpeter, and the U.S.S.North Carolina. They tell you to detail the upper decks and then install the ships bottom afterwards!

Looking good.  The MERDC is shaping up nicely.  I would paint the whole hull and turret before adding the road wheels and tracks.  Makes it easier for me, but to each their own.

Yeah the MERDC looks great Pawel! She's coming along nicely!

Hello everybody! Thanks a lot for your comments!

TB - right, the build sequence in the Takom instructions doesn't make much sense, luckily there are no tickets/sentences/punishment for assemblying the kit in a different, better sequence.

Gino - usually I also like to paint in one go, when everything is build, or almost everything is built, but that's when I'm painting something to look "dirty". Here I'm going more for a "clean" look, and the paint job is more complicated than usual.

Gamera - good to hear from you, I've heard you've been on vacation - sure been missing you! :-)

OK, I got the tracks on and some interesting (I hope) details, so please stay tuned for some photos, hopefully soon!

Thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

Hello!

Aaand here are the photos I promised you.

First some turret details. The kits has some PE for the 7,62 Ammo baskets - I decided to show the baskets empty. This needed some mods using kit parts, but also some leftover PE mesh. Here's what the baskets look like before painting:

As for PE there is also some of it on the turret:

And I have also weathered and installed the tracks, here's what the lower hull looks like now:

Thanks for looking and have a nice day!

Paweł

Hey Pawel, it looks freakin' awesome so far.

Thanks Pawel, I had to get away for a little while. 

Great work there, I LOVE those ammo storage baskets! 

Inspiring. Thanks Pawel

Tiger II, Gamera, Mrchntmarine - Thanks a lot for your comments and for your kind words! I'm glad you like it, I hope I can post an update here soon!

Hello everybody!

I've got another update for you - I put some more paint on my baby. That's the first time I'm using Hataka orange paints and so far I like'em a lot, heartly recommended!

So here's what it looks like right now:

Now I want to put on the decals and apply some washes, let's see how this turns out!

Thanks for lookin' and have a nice day

Paweł

Nice.  The MERDC camo looks great.

That's so accurate a paint scheme it takes my breath away.

Yeah the MERDC is superb! 

Looking really godd Pawel, and it sounds like you're really enjoying the process too, even better.

Excellent MERDC camo. Truly accurate. BTW are those AM tracks? AFV Club I guess?

This is looking very good.

Hello everybody!

I'm sorry to reply this late - somehow this build got sidetracked and just recently I resumed working on it. Thank you all for your kind words, I'm so glad you like my work. I'm very happy with my MERDC myself, too! I wanted to build something like that for a long time and now I kinda got an appetite for more...

And recently I have built the towing cables using the kit supplied material - a length of copper line:

I have also made the antennae out of guitar string, the tie-down rope from a silk thread and the tip-balls out of white glue:

And that was it actually... After taking down the masking from lights and periscopes this thing is DONE!

Here is how it looks like:

We've got excellent weather today, so I took the pictures in full sun, which can be a good thing or a bad thing... I think I'll take some more photos when the light is more delicate...

Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

You did a really good job on that! The camo, tracks, everything!

S.H.

Excellent! The guitar wire antennas and tie down ropes really put this kit over the top. The PE is great and the MERDC is spot on and BTW it looks great in the full sun. Great work Pawell

Hello!

SH, Tiger II - thanks a lot for your comments and for your kind words! I'm glad you like my work! Honestly I have to say I like this one too. Wanted to do MERDEC for a long time now!

Have a nice day!

Paweł

Somehow I missed the finished photos!?!?! 

Fantastic job there Pawel!!! Love the camo and the antennas look perfect!