G: Looking good, I can't wait to see paint on that thing

Vlad: How long are you going to keep us waiting man!?

Getting really cool Wayne !!

The Cannoli seam to let creative plastic flow into a great build Wayne.

Keep posting the pasta updates !

Io amo il mio cannolis ma non sono più nella mia dieta.



G

:

That's sad, just send them over Wayne.

The ones Jeremy posted look tasty !!

I seriously can't remember the last time I had a cannoli

Phil.... looking really good, I like the look of that AAA 8X8!
G........ Your steaming along... great stuff



Progress has at last speed-ed up on my 'IDF Panther' things are where they are supposed to be, ... er sort of! (they might still move lol!) ... still plenty yet to do...

I'm now on turret MK4, but at least I'm happy with it now, tomorrow I plan on building the sighting system based on a Magach6B (M60) then some applique Armour for the turret sides.






The card on the front will be eventually an Achzarit style front, plus the mantlets getting altered when time allows.

Looking great Duncan !!
Can't wait to see it painted !!

What parts did you use for the turret ? M60 ?Merkava? looks really cool.

Bad news on the E-25..
The tracks were painted and weathered.

I had the same problem years ago on the first E-25 I build, the sprocket wheels are too close to the hull bottom and the first drive wheel. There is almost no space for the track.
Also the length of the track is too short when the idler and sprocket wheels are in place, so as you can imagine.. disaster happened.
I had to do some cosmetic surgery on the spot otherwise I could have a mad rage attack and scraped (again) the E-25...

Also the idler wheel arm broke off again... so here I rotate it a bit causing the idler wheel to be a few mm near the first wheel and under much less pressure .
It worked. it looks a bit odd because on the other side I left the idler arm as it should.

Problem nº2.. the sprocket wheels.
On both sides they don't fit on the sprocket hole, I had to sand down the cylindrical shape into a conical shape and enlarge the hole.. it doesn't fit very well . This was done on the same side that had the idler surgery...

On the other side I had to eat some cannolis and be more creative.. and cut cylindrical shape off the sprocket wheel and inserted some metal rope folded (from the KV Trumpeter..) added some CA glue and inserted this metal soft shape into the sprocket hole.

I'll let it dry and tomorrow I'll do some damage control.

Evening Guys!

I have seen some excellent stuff built here.
Wayne: absolute stunning what you've done with that armor. I wish I had that much time as You have.

Duncan: I love Your Panther. It's looks quite "could have been". Go on! Keep building!

As for me. Not much done. I started abusing my donor Merkava kit using the mudguards and some stowage boxes. I also added some extra details to the old Tamiya Chiety.







Thank for watching, happy modeling!
Andy

Duncan: She's really starting to get that IDF look

John: I have been struggling with that a bit myself, best of luck to you!

Andy: It's great to see your work, keep it coming!

Duncan and Andy, all I can say is WOW! Good stuff there mates.
John take a breath and walk away for a bit, we've all been there.

Andy even having retired once I became bored and went back to work full time. The best is I work 4 ten hour days so I always have 3 days off. During the week it's hard to make bench time though. I suppose that's why I build with such enthusiasm when I do sit down.

MrsG is retired from the casino for a year now, so things work well. Grown children is a plus also!



G

Thanks for all the kind words folks.
John.... just hang in there, have a rest and a think then get back into it!
Andy... Your Chieftain is looking great, are you going to put on any Reactive Armour or Tiles etc, on it ... or go for an earlier look?

John... here's what I used :-

Turret is the standard Tamiya Panther G Turret with an Academy M60 Blazer 105mm barrel and an 'Urdan Cupola'...I cut-up and scratch build a mirror image IDF loaders hatch next to it. The mantlet is off a Dragon Ersatz M10 the rest is styrene card!
I tried to copy the early Merkava turrets and a basket around the back of the turret will follow.

Wow, you lay low for a while and you miss lots of awesomeness.
Phil: Looks way cool! nice agressive look with those long barrels
Wanye: Love the cladding on the sides. You may want to tighten that up around the vision ports though.
Duncan: Mk.4 turret looks good. Captures the angular look of Israeli armor.
Andy: superb work on that hull. Keep it up.

As for me, not much really. I got my front arms in the end and measured out the friuls. This is what it looks like now.





Personally I am not sure whether I like the track tension. One additional link might make em look more sagged, but they are nor super tight as they are now, so one more link might just cause them to fall off easily. This will also be my last update for a while as I will be off to Israel come sunday. Four weeks of digging holes and collecting pottery shards

Benjamin... I quite like the track the way it is! the E-10 had adjustable suspension (so the tank could go into a hull down position)... you'd get slack in different setting.

Have a good trip to Israel, you've got to visit Yad La'Shiryon and get some photo's .... come on you know you must!
Regards Duncan.

Thanks guys, I will concentrate on my Mobelwagen for the AA Campaign and the almost finished M46 for the Korean Camp.
So far the tracks hanged and the suspension didn't break... and I missed painting the track teeth showing off the metal wear & tear.. too bad I won't touch those tracks again...

Great work on that Pantherkava turret !! it would be nice adding those chains in the back of the turret .

I will follow these builds closely !

G - good thinking on all those details. That's going to be an awesome machine.
Duncan - I agree with the comments above that your Pantherkava (is that what we're calling it now?) is very believable and has an IDF feel to it.
John - that's frustrating. I've been there before, but don't let it get you down.
Benjamin - (if you're still reading this) Enjoy your trip. Sounds like one in a lifetime!
As for the track slack, it looks like a realistic sag-- I'm no track authority, but I wouldn't change it. What I notice is the large blank area above the track. Will that become something?

Anyway, here's where mine stands as of last night...

You can't see that I painted some of the seat and interior details. I added more detail to the rear and I'm finalizing the doors before paint, because once I close up the roof, I don't think I'll be able to do any more inside the cab. Summer activities and housework have slowed me here, but progress is still coming along.
cheers!
-Sean.

Aloha All,

Wow! Miss a week on this thread and all kinds of stuff happens. I'm still in Beijing but thought I'd check in. It appears the chinese government has blocked most of the photos so I can't see much, but the discussions seem good.

Duncan: that's a wicked looking panther. I like it better than the original.
Benjamin: I think the track sag looks good.
Sean: the UPS van is looking great. I like that the hummer bits still show through.

Happy Modelling, -zon

Hi All!

Thanks for the good words on my project.

Duncan : I am going to build reactive tiles and some blocks too. Basically I intend to build a heavily up-armored Chiefty turret just like the IDF did with the Magach 6B Gal and Gal Batash.

Wayne : Now I understand why are You so rich in time. I am in my early 30's and my children just started growing

I finally figured out the name of the vehicle because I am more creative than call it Magach something. The IDF officially would call it Shomer (שומר‎) which means guardian. This vehicle (mk.5) would be the final production of this very successful and popular AFV's before the IDF introduced the Merkavas.

Thanks.
Andy
‎

John: Track sag looks good the way it is in those photos. I wouldn't change it.

Sean: About all that van needs now is a roof! Keep it up

Zon: That sounds odd, but I'm glad you can at least see something

Andy: I like it! I can already see your tank next to a proper Merkava, it's going to look even better with that additional armor

I did a little more work on this...

Here I thought someone might be interested to see how I scratched some door handles. Steve Stone, the Chicago Cubs broadcaster used to say "here's a tip for those youngsters out there..."
Here's the interior complete (okay, I have to detail the dashboard yet, but done from this angle)...

cheers!
-Sean.

Thanks for the kind words fellas

Sean: I will add a mix of schurzen and thoma-shields eventually. The left side of the vehicle will even feature a blackboard with (if I can pull it off) some drawings explaining tactics to the incompletely trained recruits.

Duncan: Chances are slim but I will try. We only have one long weekend off and if I must choose between Yad La'Shiryon and the Dome of the Rock, the art historian will win from the armor enthusiast.

Sean: Great tip! What material did you use? It looks like orange styrene, but I may be mistaken.

Benjamin: Whatever way you go, make sure you share some photos with us when you get back

yep. orange styrene. It's thicker than the store-bought white that I have on hand, but I'm sure it's available that thick (I just got up to measure it-- about 1 mm).
Benjamin, that sounds cool. We'll see it when you get back to it!
-Sean.

Just joined up (thought I had ages ago) now I just have to figure out the mechanics of my new project (which I think fits the rules), since I haven't built anything with an internal combustion engine in about 30 years or work the bugs out of the original plan.