Third workshop – Toyota Tacoma + operators. The setting is Tora Bora. The vehicle is from Meng Models, and the figures are from Blacksnake Models and Evolution Models
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Do show us the setup and the models you have before you actually start with them. I presume I know which Evolution figures you have, BlackSnake has some new Tora Bora figures as well.
Looking forward to this one.
Mario
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Four miniatures from BlackSnake and two (the only ones ever produced) from Evolution. I’ll post the photos this evening.
BTW-This complex was a former school building, built by the UN, in the village of Agam. Agam is about 10km north of the foothills of Tora Bora, but with the roads in that area that’s a looong drive (an hour or more). In 2001 it had been abandoned and occupied by Hazrat Ali, the CIA’s primary contact, as his HQ, and was built out first by the CIA team that got to the area in late November 2001, and then by Delta when they arrived.
I’m no Bellingcat, and geolocation in this area is very tricky. But between this image, a handful of other images and some other descriptions of the place in Dalton Fury’s book Kill Bin Laden, and also some comments on various podcasts, I believe it’s this complex here (at 34.191141°, 70.274990°). I see from Google Maps that it is once again a school.
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Will you convert the Meng Toyota to a Tacoma??? From photos of the period, there’s some work to build an “accurate” Tacoma (lights, grille, hood, front wings….)
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The question is this: is it a Tacoma or a Hilux? I don’t know which vehicle the MENG model is more like. I’m not going to write a PhD thesis on it, so let’s just say it’s… a Toyota used by Delta Force 
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The Meng pickup is a late '90s (about '97) Hilux crew cab 4x4. I don’t believe there is a 1/35 Tacoma kit.
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This is a Tacoma. USSF brought fifty brand new ones to Afghanistan in '02. The suspension was not built for the rugged terrain like the Hilux’s solid axle suspension was:
And this is the Hilux. We ourselves didn’t drive them on missions (we drove the Tacoma because it had a CD player and A/C) 
but they were useful for other tasks. Our AMF also used them on missions with us. As depicted in the Meng kit:
Bad guys favored them as well. I"ve got great video of us chasing them with helicopters.
There’s a few 3D printed ones that are quite good. Here’s one:
There are earlier ones as well.
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@Maki - all staff
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Whoa, I didn’t know that there was a 3D printed Tacoma. What scale is that and where did you find it?
3D printers have gotten so good that 3D print lines on the highest resolution printers don’t show. @18bravo
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Just do a search. They’re out there in 1/35, possibly others.
Don’t forget these guys by Master Box in 1/35:
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Yes, I see some…some are 3D digital downloads of Tacoma pickups and not kits…scale not established.
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Thanks for the photo. How do Evolution figures compare to BlackSnake in size? Can they be combined in the same diorama?
Mario
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