So the Meng technical and Zu-23 is a sweet little kit and falls together like a dream. The Italeri 20ft container is an ok kit and a ubiquitous accessory in modern war.
Had both out last night and the idea of unloading one in someplace sandy with the title "Who ordered the can of whup ass?"

With the idea being the truck just being unloaded.


The truck fits, the truck with the gun would probably not ship that way, but would fit w barrels elevated and rotated forwards.

Thoughts?
Mike

Hi Mike,

Easy delivery in any hot spot across the world - I like the idea.

Go for it!

Regards,
Kobus

I can already see this in the next Expendables movie

I've got some Trumpeter PMC figures, but nobody as muscular as those guys...The guy from the Meng pick up kit, maybe..

I like the sound of this. it's title sounds kind of funny.

Hyder,
I take it "Open up a can of whup (whip) ass" is not a English colloquialism?
It's a southern/western US saying for 'you are about to to get beat up'. As in "Leave my sister alone before I have to open up can of whup ass on you."
I had to go look, but apparently it is a wrestling thing too. (TV silliness, not Greco-Roman)

Canadian friends describe the shipping containers as 'sea cans' so the two seemed to go together pretty well.

Man.. the sight assembly on the ZU is fiddly as hell!
I did not go as far as Terry Ashley over on Perth and articulate the sight, but I would recommend changing the build order.
I did not, but when I build the ones in the AA gun set, I will.

Build the sight base from step 25 and attach it to the gun (step 27).
Mount H23 from step 25 onto the base.

Then go back to step 25 and put H11 onto the bottom of G12
and mount this on top of H23


Get the H7 arm from step 28 lined up and installed.



Then finish it off be adding the fiddly bits. The fit of H36 and H26 from step 25 is not very positive. There is not a lot of gluing surface. Add these last.

Hi Mike,

Really like the I-beam frame you built for the gun to rest on - is this par of the Meng kit or did you scratch it?

Also, the ZSU 23-2 really looks good - nice detail and excellent colour - is that your own blend or a standard colour you used on the gun?

Looking forward to the next update.

Regards,
Kobus

The beam comes in the kit and had tiny part numbers molded into the inner (vertical) faces of the beams, in case you are clumsy , like me, and cut all the parts from the tree at once..
Actually, the kit has very fine locator lines molded onto the upper truck bed walls for positioning the beams.




I used the Vallejo Air Russian color modulation set
Olive Green/Fieldgrau Ral 6006 and painted the gun overall

As the cup nearly empty, I added the next lightest color to the paint already in the cup, Dark Green and a couple of drops of their airbrush thinner,mixed it well and sprayed the upper and outer surfaces from the horizontal plane only. Out of the bottle, this color is close to the bronze green color of the sight assembly in many pictures. I will probably go back and pick out sight components in this color.

Then again as the color cup got close to empty, I added the next color in the set, which is an odd one, Vinc Chromate green to the cup with more airbrush thinner making a really thin mixture. This I sprayed only from overhead on the gun. By itself the chromate green is a VERY large tone difference from the dk green, but mixed it is ok.

I have seen pro modelers use this 'color modulation' and the post-paint/pre-weathering effect looks like you have wrecked the kit!
The differences from shadow to highlight is too stark, but the weathering process brings it back to balance.

Butme, I am not that brave.. the Vallejo set has an even lighter bright yellow green to brushpaint onto highlights and such, but I do not think I will use it.

You can get some sense of the shading I was going for in that first picture.

Semi-gloss coat this morning and weathering starts tonight...

Hi Mike,

Thank you very much for the feedback - I really do appreciate it.

The gun looks great and I believe you achieved a realistic effect.

Looking forward to the next update.

Regards,
Kobus

more progress, nearly finished with the Meng gun.

The ammo box end seams have been sorted out and weathering, other than the final pigment/dust has been done.
Still needs the PE ammo box end handles, the tow arm end, and the elevation wheel between the gunners seats.



I've also started a build comparison blog here in the modern Russian group.
http://armorama.com/forums/249422&page=1#2108246

I hope to highlight the positives and negatives of both kits there, and have referred to the sight build mods in this thread.