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Afghani Pickers

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The Meng ZSU-23-4 Shilka Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun kit is actually a decent production of the model. All of the parts are cleanly molded with very little in the way of seam lines and ejector pin marks to deal with. The build is relatively simple for the most part, and other than the a slew of holes that need to be drilled depending on what variant you actually build and of course the so called movable tracks supplied by the kit, the kit does kind of just fall together. The kit supplied 23mm barrels are more than adequate to use, however, I wanted to give RB Models replacement barrel set a run for its money. In addition, I chose a set of Master Club’s metal track link sets to replace the kit’s supplied links. This was due to the fact that the snap-together, while looking nice for a styrene version, don’t actually stay together very well without gluing all of the links.

What to do, what to do? Sometimes a project happens to fall onto the bench...for any number of reason. Then you stare at the box and think to yourself, “what am I going to do with this?”. Similarly this was the case with the Shilka ; however, it was the interior to upgrade the kit provided parts that landed first. I was presented with the interior from 3D In Scale, makers of 3D printed interiors and accessories in the 1/35 armor scale for review here on Armorama. As part of the review I was going to build and paint the interior to help show what it was all about. Fortunately for me, Meng sent the Kitmaker Network one of their ZSU-23-4 Shilka Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun kits. The perfect opportunity presents itself sometimes.

With the kit and some accessories out of the way, I decided I wanted to do a knocked out version of the Shilka, but nothing too far over the top; a little fire damage and sooty mess to the rear deck and turret would get the idea across and still allow me the luxury of using the interior without destroying that too. So with having a basic idea of what I wanted without a complete theme to go on, it was time to immerse myself in the painting end of the project. With the assistance of a few online pictures of some knocked out Shilka vehicles, I honed in a look I thought would work.
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About the Author

About Todd Michalak (TRM5150)
FROM: MASSACHUSETTS, UNITED STATES

I am building what I like, when I like and how I like it; having fun doing it. I have been building and finishing models on and off my whole life but the past ten years things really exploded. Just about anything goes when it comes to hitting the bench, but wrecked armor, rusted hulks, ships or ...


Comments

Regarding the words Afghan and Afghani... if you Google them and check the different dictionaries, like Miriam and Websters and others, you'll find that each word can be used for both.. an Afghan is used as either a soft rug or a person from Afghanistan.. and the word Afghani can be used as either money or a person from Afghanistan... I also remember Robert Skipper, who served in Afghanistan, said in one of his posts that an Afghan is a rug and and Afghani is a person from Afghanistan... I, personally, was taught in school that Afghani is the person and Afghan is the rug So, I think it's safe to say there's no absolute right or wrong on this one Hisham
OCT 13, 2016 - 12:57 AM
Saw this at the Danbury Show a few weeks ago. Incredible!
OCT 13, 2016 - 05:59 AM
Hirsham, thanks....I am liking the fact there could be a double meaning to it! Melende, Thank you my friend!
OCT 13, 2016 - 06:55 AM
Just a correction on the dictionaries.. it's Merriam-Webster and other dictionaries.. I don't know who on earth Miriam is That's what happens when you post a comment after a six-pack Hisham
OCT 13, 2016 - 08:34 AM
Nice work bro! I knew it looked familiar.
OCT 25, 2016 - 12:16 AM
Thanks Jody!!
OCT 25, 2016 - 02:26 AM
Very very Nice Work Great
FEB 18, 2017 - 09:42 AM
Thank you Marcus...much appreciated!
FEB 18, 2017 - 05:32 PM
Fabulous work! I plan to use this as a guide to the dragon version I have in my stash
FEB 20, 2017 - 08:23 AM
First ever model that SMELLED like burned out vehicle to me...... LOL
FEB 20, 2017 - 11:02 AM