Sweet Victory! Sweet Experience!

My winning entry(Tamiya Modelling Competition 14-19 Aug 2007).

Peace,

All praises and thanks to God, the Lord of the worlds. It was a gloomy and rainy day at Millenia Walk but it was a fun and exciting experience for me at the Tamiya Modelling Competition 2007. All because my entry was a winner at the dioramas section. It was even sweeter cause this is my first time taking part and second diorama I attempted since picking the hobby up again after many years.

I'm glad that I documented the WIP in pictures and be able to remember this sweet memory for years to come. Of course this will inspire me to go for more challenging projects ahead. God willing.

Here are photos of the 5-day event and some of the modelling winners. Enjoy! Hurray! More pics at the convention:http://www.outthere.info/tamiyacon07/page1.htm

Project Oct 1973 War: M-51 Super Sherman

Latest updated pics May01 2007

Peace to all,
In the 1973 Ramadhan war between Egypt, Syria and Israel, set the stage for biggest tank battles in history since WWII.One such scenario was the battle in the Sinai desert between Egyptian T-62 tanks and Israeli Centurion tanks.

History
One of the oldest tanks used by the IDF was the WWII upgraded version of the Sherman tank. It was renamed M-51 Super Sherman. This tank had better suspension system and the most obvious change was the new french made 105mm barrel. This gave it better firepower against more modern Russian T-55s and T-62s used by Egypt and Syria.

This tank was mainly utilised by IDF border units and reserve units. It shared limited success of engaging the Arab tanks but still lose out in matters of armour protection, design and movement . Though it had been put out of combat service for many years now, it still looks a pretty cool antique tank that has its own uniqueness.

Building the Model

(Thanks to my pal randomtask for the pictures taken using his new cybershot cam phone.)
The whole process of building this model I give it a moderate rating. The parts are good and do not break as easily as Trumpeter and Mini Hobby models. Actually I am beginning to like Academy products better now. Trumpeter tanks are the easiest to build except for the brittle parts.

The only setback is that I do not fancy are the static wheels that cannot turn like the M2 Bradley I build earlier. However the coolest things about this new models are that the level of detail such as textures on the surface of the turrets. They even beat more established and expensive Tamiya models.

This model comes with 3 tanks crew figures that wear the older IDF tank crew helmets. I have not finished painted them yet so no pictures yet.

Colours

I use vallejo acrylics, desert yellow and olive drab mixture as the base colour for the whole tank. The red colours on the tools handles make the whole colour scheme more interesting. The canvas near the barrel is a mixture of olive drab and khaki painted in different stage of darker shades. Below is a link to a video by the Egyptian army in the war. The Egypt army assault on Israel's Bar Lev Line across the Suez Canal.

An Israeli video montage of the war:

The Armour Revival

It's been many years since i last laid to rest a favourite pastime. And in that many years that had gone by, many things and changes have happened around the world( like wars and stuff) and one day i decided to research on what's been goin round in the middle east thru books and surfing the net, actually discovered many details that the common layman do not know about. So here I am learning history thru different accounts from different sides of the battlefield. It was until the advent of Lebanon war of August 2006, after the IDF(Israeli Defence Force) battered Southern Lebanon and at the same time seeing their most advanced tanks in the world blasted away by the Hezbollah on Youtube that made me finally made me come back to modelling(its all about details I guess). Hmm... the most advanced weaponry and army unable to overcome a small militia in this time and age...interesting. More like David versus Goliath(Jewish history) but ironically you have to reverse that equation (cause David is not on the side of the Jews). I became curious and ulimately hooked on armour in modern warfare eventually.


My first Project
The first thought on my mind was to find out more about the IDF MBT(Main Battle Tank) known as the Merkava. After seeing it in action on TV and internet, I decided to visit a local hobbyshop downtown. I picked up a 1/35 Merkava tank which reads Merkava Mk 2 with mine roller by a company called MiniHobby not knowing what to expect but because it cost just bout $20, I made the decision to get it as my first collection and study...wow. I also picked up a M2 Bradley along the way but I'll talk about it next time.

Disappointment and yet a Surprise...
Upon opening and admiring the new purchase out of the box, I checked out the Merkava with real pictures of IDF Merkava 2 on the net to see how close are the details with real stuff( you know what I discovered?). The supposedly Merkava Mk 2 is not actually a Merkava 2(that's the dissapointment part) it is actually a Merkava Mk 1 the first type of MBT that the IDF designed in their push to modernise their armour...well is'nt that a surprise. I got an earlier mark of the tank, I also realised that the company MiniHobby is a new China company and probably they are not interested in what the details are as long they make some money in their venture. Anyway the model looks good enuff although the small parts are very brittle(cheaper plastic I guess). After fixing I also discovered some parts are missing from the original box and certain things don't fit(like the mine roller). Eventually i decided not to fix the mine roller and replaced the 50 caliber machine gun handle from an old Hummer I had many years back. With some three layers of experimental airbrushing here you go.

I experimented with using diferent layers of colours for this project using 3 colours(black, Iraqi sand and desert yellow). Some drybrushing using metallic colours on the three MGs, some decaling and finally its done. I decided not to add highlights to keep track of which technique is best for future use. History lesson: The Merkava Mk1 was first used in the 1980 Lebanon war.

On with the next project!