Is that an RBY next to the Merkava? A scratch build? Very impressive.
yes i used a Italeri Dodge WC51 for wheels and chassis
Outstanding effort!
Early 90’s first attempt at white wash, done with masking tape. Tamiya 1942 T-34-76. It was a fun build with all the junk Tamiya provided like the extra hull armor. Snow is “primitive pigments” aka sand papered pastel chalk dust. One of my first models on a craft base.
Really got carried away weathering too.
The above fun build Tamiya T-34-76, immediately inspired another one in the early 1990’s.
Tried to scratch build rear cover screen with plastic strip and bird seed net. White wash revised to paint the model white first and drybrushing the base color onto the model to simulate worn away white wash.
MB Models was a serious player in aftermarket resin’ locally back then so I purchased a defective turret out of “rejected 2nds bin” It had a few out gassing spots that needed filled with white glue. MB Models resin typically was outstanding with no bubbles. The owner of MB would help out modelers at local shows who didn’t have the cash for the best products by selling the 2nds at a very fair price. Ultimately MB Models products were the first serious aftermarket parts I bought. MB Models started producing resin for ship modelers and armor quickly fell by the wayside as ships proved far more profitable.
More extreme weathering:)
The old Tamiya 1942 kit was a very bad influence…I blame its fond memories for me paying a premium for this crappy Cyber-Hobby/Dragon kit.
2 Likes
This Tamiya SU-122 was part of my Tamiya T-34 flurry of builds in the early 1990’s. Painted white, drybrushed base color with lots of weathering. Tried a wash on the rear deck screen for the first time. Was happy enough with the result to still do a revised version with oil paints.
2 Likes
Jump to mid 1995, with DML’s Panther F. Not being mounted on a base has taken a toll on the model with broken tracks and other things. Purchased another copy of the kit several years ago because I felt like this model had too many basic construction flaws on my part.
Missed the punch mark in the middle of the track link 
2 Likes
Back to ~1994 give or take a year or so…normally I have nothing good to say about ESCI kits…because of their typical horrible engineering and lack of detail…I generally view them as close to the bottom of the barrel.
In anycase, this ESCI Israeli M60A1 Blazer was overall an excellent out of the box model. It was a fun build and totally different than all of the other ESCI kits I’d built. Tossed some items in the rear basket. While I had fun doing the model, my construction and painting skills were lacking. The base is balsa wood strip around Styrofoam with celluclay ground work.
2 Likes
DML BRDM-3 from 1991.
The kit hit the shelf as a new release at the local hobby shop…one week later…
Before internet seeing a new release when it just arrived in the hobby shop was an exciting event. In the early 90’s for modelers desperately seeking Soviet armor kits every new DML release was like Christmas 
Don’t think the road hazard plan covers this…
2 Likes
Dragon was doing bad “rubber” already back then, the current DS just continues this proud tradition.
The wheels in my kit were broken already in the box. I fixed them the best I could.
I’ll need to think about getting resin wheels instead …
1 Like
Well this poor Leo 2 from 1989 hasn’t faired well. Last time I recall it was on a base. The Italeri Leo 2 was a pretty decent build other than the terrible tracks from what I recall. The detail was excellent for its time frame and I remember being very impressed 30+ years ago.
In any case a new old Italeri Leo 2 is in the stash with some aftermarket goodies.
1 Like
Looking at your Dragon 6001 Nashorn brought back a few memories! I tried to graft on a resin “correction” set for the fighting compartment and got so frustrated I took the kit and a gallon of gas to our burn barrel, lit it off, and, watched that POS burn for a couple of hours! Thanks for the look into your past, Joel.
2 Likes
More junk from the late 1980’s. My references were very limited so in many ways this was a very FUN period of model building. There probably been less than five times out of 180+ builds a reference book has improved my enjoyment of the build experience:)
I’d read in some 80’s era reference book some of the early Flakpanzers were painted in Panzer Gray. The Möbelwagen was mentioned as an example. Floquil RailRoad Reefer Gray - I still think it’s OK as a starting basis for Panzer gray
It’s a pretty safe bet I will never paint figures again!
There were good things from the build. I started to develop doing fender springs from beading wire.
A few years later the beading wire spring was refined.
Black & white helps:)
@joelsmith Joel, I admire your courage trying to fix that #6001 Nashorn. A gallon of gas and a trip to the burn barrel is definitely that the kit deserves!
1 Like
The bad part was I ended up having to replace the barrel due to it collapsing :<(.
1 Like
Tamiya’s 1976 Brummbar in the mid 1990’s - The start of building models in a political landscape…
In model club, word leaked to The Panzer Police, this old Tamiya Brummbar was on the work table from one of my friends.
This was totally unacceptable as in 1994 the only Panzer Police approved Brummbar build was this new kit from DML/Dragon
You probably are chuckling that old Armor Buff is prone to exaggeration…not really…had probably about half dozen phone calls from different “concerned citizens…uh concerned aficionados” that I was wasting my time building “the wrong kit”
Concern turned to Panzer Police indignation when I explained I had the new DML Brummbar and after looking at it - preferred to build the old Tamiya Brummbar because it was a simple fast build perfect for testing Zimmerit techniques.
Zimmerit! ZIMMERIT! Zimmerit!!
How I dare think of doing Zimmerit without consulting the proper authorities!
Indignation transformed to outrage when advice to use Squadron’s crap-tac-ular Green Putty was ignored and I said I would be using Super Fine White Milliput
Wish I had written down all the reasons an epoxy putty COULD NOT be used on a plastic model. Much less some expensive foreign European imported voodoo putty. It wouldn’t adhere. It would melt the model. It would react with plastic. It would absorb paint. I would have to pay value added tax and wait six months for it to arrive Etc
Not an issue I said I have the Super Fine White Milliput on my desk…and it really is Super Fine! Soon I could hurle the words Super Fine and send a Panzer Policeman into a stupor.
I was happy with what I learned applying SuperFine White Milliput, roll out layer, use talc, a bit of water etc to the old Tamiya kit.
The model was just a fun learning project. None of the Panzer Police approved of the model or its English Milliput Zimmerit and made it a point to tell me so.
A few months later one of the Panzer Police paid me to Zimmerit his King Tiger using what else but…
3 Likes
My oldest kit that I can clearly remember is a original issue Dragon SCUD launcher 1/35 that I got through mail order while I was posted to Yellowknife, NWT some time between 1990 and 1994. I still haven’t opened the bags in the kit and it remains in my stash. I may have an older one but since being diagnosed with Parkinson’s a few years ago my memory has taken a pretty wicked hit. I remember the scud because I had to preorder it and it barely fit in the mail box compartment. I did have the 1/350 tamiya enterprise carrier that I finally started building after thinking I was settled in Puvirnituq, Quebec as a Regional police divisional supervisor only to end up packing it up for a move back to Ontario however when I got sick in 2010 and forced into very early medical retirement the enterprise and the New Jersey last refit for the gulf were to large to safely make the journey back to Umiujaq, Quebec in 2012 and I had to leave them behind. It was a sad day as I had gotten a fantastic deal on it when the only model shop in Yellowknife had to close and sell off everything. I was able to clear out a good number of Tamiya paints but I was to late to get the entire stock. The paints I got then are still with me today nearly 30 years later!
2 Likes
@Succubus Al,
Sorry to hear about the illness. I hope all goes as well as it possibly can for you.
Happy you scored some Tamiya paints at excellent prices. It’s always sad to see a hobby shop close. We used to have around ten hobby shops where I grew up with in a fifty mile radius. There’s only one left in that same area now. Where I live now there one seventy miles away.
The 1/350 Enterprise & New Jersey are definitely something else! I’ve seen a few completed at shows and it looks like a formidable build. Sorry they couldn’t make the return trip.
I’ve heard many things about the Dragon Scud…one that no tube of filler putty is safe from being used up if its in a five mile radius of the Scud assembly 
.
What your favorite sort of model project?
Flash Black - 1994 - hot new release right off of the hobby shop shelf # No. 6015 DML Panzer IV/70(A)
It was a fun but fiddly thrash of a slam together build. The Thoma screens proved annoying and hide a lot of the model. This was one of the models, I was so happy to see in 1/35 I just couldn’t wait to complete the model.
1 Like
Really neat to hear about how you have made a go at the hobby up north! Sorry to hear about the illness, from the sounds of things it won’t stop you from modelmaking 
What’s it like modelmaking in the north? How do you order kits and supplies?
1 Like
Well I think for me the most rewarding part of any build is learning about the subject wether it be armour, aircraft, ship, uniforms etc. The fun begins for me with painting and deciding on just what colour combinations to use in order to achieve the effect I’m after.
Having the illness I now have has just added a new challenge to how I complete the various tasks. I have also had to learn to recognize when I need to take a break for example decals are being much more challenging with my tremors. Can’t let it win taking away something I have enjoyed doing for the past 50 years that would be a travesty. My neurologist has been quite happy that I challenge myself in this way, she says it’s most important to stay active and positive. I am so fortunate to have a extremely supportive family standing with me so I don’t face these changes alone.
What makes me happiest is when my wife approves of the work I completed. For the past 24 years she’s actively encouraged and supported my plastic addiction.
Thanks so much for your thoughts and comments. I do have a few brutal beasts kicking around my stash because the topic appealed so much to me and there was only one way to be able to build one. I have a few resin kits that give you no more than a picture of the completed kit and a bunch of parts for you to figure out. I have 1/35 resin lynx recon vehicle from the Canadian military along with some weapons like a anti-tank missle and the SAW light machine gun that I’ve had to get a book showing the break down of the weapon it’s presently sitting in a drawer waiting for me to finish the other large scale military weapon systems that DML put out. Their glocks although highly detailed were a pain to assemble with all the springs included in some of their kits. I slowed on them because I didn’t like the stands they came with however I’ve decided to display the weapons with spent cartridges and blanks I had picked up during my time in the service. On my desk I have the container that the first grenade I ever threw came in alongside the pins from several of the ones I threw during training over the years. 
2 Likes