Chariots of Firepower

The Merkava or ”Chariot” is Israel’s first domestically designed and produced main battle tank. It was developed in the late 1970’s after Israel was unable to procure the British Chieftain. Incorporating the lessons learned by the IDF during their past wars.

The Merkava was first used in combat during the 1982 Lebanon War, where Israel deployed 180 units.  The wartime experience brought to light some vehicle shortcomings. These shortcomings were noted and adjustments were designed into the MkII production models. The Mk.I tanks were retrofitted with some of the new Mk.II features – such as the installation of chain netting to the rear of the turret in order to eliminate a shot trap.  The results became known as the Mk.I Hybrid, which is the subject of this article.

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Puddle Jumper

The echo of a buzzing engine reverberates off of the steep mountain slopes while a small plane begins a quick descent towards a small, sparkling wilderness lake below.  A muffled thump and a splash announce the craft’s touchdown on the cold, crystal clear Alaskan waters.  The Puddle Jumper has arrived signaling another day’s adventure.  Whether you are making a small puddle, a stream or a deep clear water lake, using a two-part urethane resin can be a useful option when creating water effects.  In this article, we will see how to combine urethane resin along with some easily available water making products to make a clear water lake.

Building and painting aircraft is a bit outside my usual zone.  Building and painting civilian aircraft, especially a seaplane is, really outside my zone.  But, I gotta say I was pretty excited for the challenge.  Not only would the model subject be new and exciting, but creating a watery scene would certainly be a fun adventure.

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End of the Line

 

Retired from the tracks, many old locomotives find themselves left to decay in forgotten graveyards of steel and rust.   Once proud and powerful, the crippled Iron Horse is put out to pasture to await its fate with the cutting torch.  This HO scene portrays such a graveyard, the Last Stop for locomotives. 

This project began with a trip to my local train store to purchase an HO scale locomotive, which I did.  However, while talking with the store owner about my upcoming project he suggested that take a look at the Bachman scale train website were they offer replacement parts for those wishing to customize their trains.  A few mouse clicks later and I was awash in all sorts of extra locomotive goodies that would be perfect for adding to my scene.  And then without hesitation or remorse, I  proceeded to ruin a perfectly good HO scale engine by cutting off the front boiler hatch and removing all of the visible “guts”.  The purpose, of course, for this Iron Horse sacrifice is to portray an engine that looks as though it’s been abandoned, and scavenged for usable parts and scrap metal. 

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God is Great

God is GoodDispatch Report by John Cantlie (Independent Reporter) – The Telegraph.

The sound of the caterpillar tracks could be felt as much as heard, a deep rumble that sent a rattle through windows and a tremble of fear through the guts. Then we saw them. Huge Soviet-made T72s, accompanied by troop carriers driving slowly into town, extra plates welded onto the sides to deflect rocket-propelled grenades. It was just after 9.30am, and the tanks were coming to Saraqeb.

“Light the tires!

The rebels of the Free Syrian Army in Saraqeb, a farming town of 30,000 in northern Syria, are better organized than many in the surrounding Idlib province. Squaring themselves away into formation around the central marketplace, they poured petrol on to truck tires and lit them sending plumes of thick black smoke into the air, obscuring the sun and – hopefully – the tank gunners’ visibility.

 

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“Before the Leaves Have Fallen”

It is almost unimaginable to comprehend the extreme level of discomfort and suffering the average foot soldier endured during World War I.  Fear and death his constant companions; the only refuge was to be found within a shallow ribbon of earth carved into the apocalyptic landscape.  Filth and dampness become his home; a daily routine of misery with no escape.  Here we find a lone Stormtrooper standing in the mire of the trenches, quietly awaiting the next onslaught.

The setting for this small vignette is a small section of German trench on the Western Front, 1918.  Creating mud in a scene such as this requires careful observation of the interaction between dirt and water.  In broad terms our goal here is to portray mud in some of its many guises; fresh mud, dried mud, dirt, water and splatters.   

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Asphalt Machine

It is a hot, summer’s day – you are in your car, traffic has come to a halt and your patience is at its end.  Ahead you can see the hustle and bustle of the heavy equipment repairing the nation’s highways and byways – never ending.  Among these specialized machines is the subject of this article; the Paver – or Asphalt Finisher.  A machine whose purpose is to receive a dump truck loads of a hot, sticky, black, petroleum based product  into one side of the machine and distribute it evenly out the other side in order to create the roadways for our Sunday drives.   In this article I will show some of the products and techniques that can be used to create the severe staining and discoloration caused by the extreme conditions found on road construction sites.  Specifically the paving machine, whose constant contact with asphalt, grease and grime make it the perfect choice for weathering.

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Diamond Reo – In the Rough

The following article is excerpted from Issue 3 and Issue 4 of The Weathering Magazine.  Issue 3 was my first collaboration with the magazine – The Chipping Issue.  The feature article was this Diamond Rio truck on which I demonstrated techniques and thought about how to simulate wear and tear on newer, composite type vehicles.

Many newer vehicles have bodies made from composite materials that do not rust, yet the paint may still wear and chip.  In this article we will apply our chipping techniques to a modern Big-Rig tractor in order to achieve a worn, well weathered appearance.  For our demonstration we can imagine a long-haul truck that has driven many thousands of highway miles.  Over time the effects of road grime, sun, road salts and weather have taken a heavy toll on the finish of our truck.  Eventually a mechanical problem has caused our truck to be retired off of the road where it sits forgotten, parked behind the mechanics shop.

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