Mark Deliduka

Just trying to keep this Thread alive. I just finished five more small scale armor models so feel free to check out my latest post!

Wow! Yeah, that is a bit expensive! Oh man, I guess I'd better start saving my ducats! Thanks for the compliment too. I do appreciate it. I'm hoping to have these finished ones posted soon. Thanks for this link. This is great info. In looking at my stash, I see that I already have the ZiL157 Command Truck and the Ural 4320 Command Truck as well. Cool. I'm that much closer than I thought. Thanks again for these links. Okay, here it is: Finished H-21

Thanks Chris! Good to know I'm keeping up the ratio. I'll have more to post later. Reminds me of a friend who also builds exclusively small scale armor. He builds much slower, but then he has a steady job, four girls to raise, and an active social life. One year he made a new Years resolution: To build one model for every ten I finish. He broke that resolution by February when I completed 28 by the end of the month.

Well, after doing a couple jobs out there, I managed to squeeze in some time to get more progress done on my latest models. I also buckled down and started the Revell of Germany 1/72 scale MAN 10 ton Truck to go with my MAN 7 ton truck. Anyway, here's the Dragon 1/72 scale Italian AAVP 7 finally painted with the basecoat. The next time you see this one, it'll be finished: Here's my other 1/72 scale Dragon model, the AAV7R; this one is the recovery variant for my Marine Corps: This one will most likely be done next time you see it too. Next is the 1/72 scale IBG Bedford QLT Troop Carrier. I got the internal cab painted, the windows installed and the cab assembled. I also painted the chassis below, which isn't too visible here: While that was drying, I painted up the camo pattern on my Revell of Germany 1/72 scale MAN 7-ton truck, as well as painted the lower chassis: Now I figured, as long as I am building this; I may as well buckle down and build the Revell of Germany MAN 10-ton truck as well. So, I got it all assembled to this point: After that, I needed to paint the interior of the cabin before closing it up. So, I painted the interior cabin; closed it up and proceeded to shoot a basecoat of paint on it. Later on, I added the camo pattern at the same time I was painting the camo pattern on the 7-ton truck. Here is where it stands now: Depending on how things go, I may have these two German trucks fully completed by the time I post again, along with the two AAV7's. Here's hoping. That's all I managed to get done in the last couple days. Thanks all for looking in, comments are welcome.

Thanks Ron! It was all freehanded.

I'm glad I never pre-order. I just wait till it's i stock. That's when I ever have any money to buy anything anyway.

Now that I finished those other five armor models; I have managed to get two models ready for paint and started four more during yesterday's St. Crispin's Irregulars Hobby Monday. Here they are, starting with the closest ones to being finished: This is my 1/72 scale Dragon AAVP7R I'm building for my Marine Corps. I got all the photo-etch on it so now it is ready for the rest of the basecoat and the camo pattern: While I was at it, I went ahead and started this other model of an AAVP7 that I'm doing for my Italian Forces since I already have two other ones in my Marine Corps. I got it all assembled and added the photo-etch as well. Now this one is ready for it's basecoat of paint: And now for the rest of the models I started. Two more trucks have been started for my British and German Forces. This first one is the Revell of Germany 1/72 scale MAN 7-ton cargo truck. I had hesitated to start this for awhile now because of the complexity of the over-engineered suspension, but finally decided to dive right in: I wanted to start his bigger brother, the MAN 10-ton truck, but one look at all the suspension I had to build made me put it all back in the box for another day. The 7-tonner burned me out on Revell of Germany suspensions for the day. The other truck is this 1/72 scale IBG British Bedford QLT Troop Carrier. It has it's own issues, not least of which is ELEVEN sprue attachment points for an inch-and-a-half-long muffler and exhaust pipe, to give one example! Still, it was much simpler to assemble than the MAN: Wow, after all that, I was ready for a simple throw-down easy kit to build. Found this in my box and got it started. This is the Gran Models 1/72 scale SA-2 Guideline SAM Missile and Launcher: I already have one of these built. Four more after this one, a Fan Song radar set and a command truck and I'll be able to complete my SAM battery! Anyone got a spare 1/72 scale Fan Song radar laying about? :D And finally, somewhere among all of this I also started this 1/72 scale Mi-4 helicopter for my Russian Forces: After this one is built, I'll have only to get the Mi-26 and I will have one of every type of Russian MiL helicopters that ever entered service with the Russian Military! Well, that's all for now. I hope to have more to show later on this week. Meanwhile keep checking in; and as always, comments are welcome.

Thanks Dave! I do remember your Kubel from a few years ago. That was very well done. As for getting more prizes; I appreciate the vote of confidence, but the pics don't always show the flaws that would knock these out in the first cut. I am happy with them though. I do the local/regional shows and have won a few awards in them. In fact, a couple years ago was the first time in the ten years I'd been entering our own Orangecon that I placed! I have been to two Nationals: The first in Anaheim, where I set the unofficial record for Most Entries in a Nationals with 133 entries. I took six OOB awards at that one, before they had OOB as separate categories. The second nationals was in Phoenix, where I entered 101 models and took a Second Place in Small Scale Wheeled Vehicles.

Thanks Dave! I'm looking forward to seeing your jeeps and truck. I just started two more trucks myself while making more progress on two AAVP7's. I also started a new Russian helicopter. I'm hoping to have pics up later.

Thanks Bob. I appreciate it. Good eye! Yes, this plane was used by the USAAF 1st Air Commando Group out of Calcutta India in 1945.

Thanks Bob! The instructions gave me a totally different scheme to use on that M-113, but I didn't like it and freehanded that one instead. Thanks again for posting!

Thanks for the compliment Gil, I appreciate it. I think you can still do this scheme Gil, yours will probably turn out better. This is by no means an award winner here! I am still very happy with it. If the opportunity arises to get another one for the price I paid, I'll pick it up to make the Japanese version. If it is a short run kit, it was a very well done one; compared to short run kits I've built from ACE for instance. I didn't really have any real fit issues and the seams I had to fill weren't that bad on the fuselage and engine nacelles. The decals were a challenge when I added the red stripes, otherwise they went on pretty well. I had coated them with a few coats of liquid decal film before using though, as I didn't know what quality they were. There were some white patches that showed up on the decals from the film, but when I coated the plane with a final clearcoat, the white went away. Aside from all that, the only annoyance I had was that the landing gear kept snapping. Overall, I'm quite pleased with this one, especially since I got it from the local Brewer Brothers Model Expo for about a buck.

Hey everyone, Just got done with this today. It's the 1/72 scale Pioneer Models Beech C-45 Expeditor twin engined aircraft. Done with Tamiya Gloss Aluminum for the Bare Metal Finish. I used the kit decals: Not much else to say about this. So, I hope you enjoy and thanks for looking in. Comments as always are welcome.

Here's my latest to keep this Thread alive! These are my five latest small scale armor models all completed. This brings me up to 574 completed armor models. This first one is my 1/72 scale IBG Canadian Chevy 15CWT troop truck: Next up is one of my three ACE kits. This is the 1/72 scale Marine Corps LAV AD Air Defense variant of the LAV-25: The wheels all rotate, and the front suspension also turns on these LAV's. It was tricky, but I got them all to work. Here's the second ACE kit: The 1/72 scale LAV M Mortar Carrier: The one headlight assembly disappeared, so this one was damaged in combat. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. The mortar inside rotates as well on this one. I really like this model. If I ever find the headlight Ill put it back on, but for now, I'm calling this one done. This next model is the Trumpeter 1/72 scale M-113 A3 APC. Now I have the whole line of them from A-nothing to A-3 as well as several variants: Finally, this last one is the third ACE kit. This is a cool little 1/72 scale model of the GAZ M-1 Russian Army Staff Car: This model is only about an inch and three-quarters long. No, it is not still wet. This is supposed to be a shiny car so I shot it with Gloss Black. It took a bit of filling and sanding to get it to look this solid, but I'm pleased with the results. Okay, that's all my latest models finished. I also posted this separately too.

Hey everyone. I'm back with more pics to post. These are my five latest small scale armor models all completed. This brings me up to 574 completed armor models. This first one is my 1/72 scale IBG Canadian Chevy 15CWT troop truck: Next up is one of my three ACE kits. This is the 1/72 scale Marine Corps LAV AD Air Defense variant of the LAV-25: The wheels all rotate, and the front suspension also turns on these LAV's. It was tricky, but I got them all to work. Here's the second ACE kit: The 1/72 scale LAV M Mortar Carrier: The one headlight assembly disappeared, so this one was damaged in combat. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. The mortar inside rotates as well on this one. I really like this model. If I ever find the headlight Ill put it back on, but for now, I'm calling this one done. This next model is the Trumpeter 1/72 scale M-113 A3 APC. Now I have the whole line of them from A-nothing to A-3 as well as several variants: Finally, this last one is the third ACE kit. This is a cool little 1/72 scale model of the GAZ M-1 Russian Army Staff Car: This model is only about an inch and three-quarters long. No, it is not still wet. This is supposed to be a shiny car so I shot it with Gloss Black. It took a bit of filling and sanding to get it to look this solid, but I'm pleased with the results. Okay, that's all my latest models finished, feel free to leave comments. Meanwhile, thanks all for looking in!

Thanks Christopher for the compliment and the info. I never knew that about them. I wish I had been able to break away from our booth to go give a little now. Thanks Bob! I love doing the interesting subjects. Then again, I've already done everything else!

Thanks guys! Yeah, it kinda feels good to toot my horn once in a while. I do appreciate all the great comments. Chris, to be honest, competition was stiff! I'm surprised I won this many! There were some incredible models on those showcases!

Thanks John! I agree, it is an odd bird, but somehow that's what makes it so amazing watching it fly.

Thanks Gil! I also have a Fonderie Miniatures 1/72 scale helicopter (can't remember the name). I had started it, but then, set it aside until I was ready to deal with it again. Not sure where it went.... Thanks again for the great compliment!

Okay, this isn't as big a deal as maybe a regional contest or something like that, but I was thrilled to have entered and placed anyway! I rarely do this so I'd like to do a little horn blowing! One of the IPMS members in my Orange County IPMS chapter owns a Hobby Shop called Military Hobbies. Many people here know him: Jim Woody. Every quarter He and Lindy run a themed contest in the shop in which winners get a certificate and prizes. This quarter, the theme was "1/72 scale Models". Anything in 1/72 scale could be entered. There were 14 categories and due to limited space in the store, everyone who entered was limited to one entry per category. I entered eight categories. Four armor and four aircraft. I took home five awards. These are my winners: Third Place, Multi-Engined Propeller: Italeri C-130 Hercules in British colors: Third Place, Multi-Engined Jet: Hasegawa Su-24 Fencer C (Note: I built that over 14 years ago.) Third Place, Soft Skinned Vehicles: Academy M-1117 Stryker: Third Place, Closed Top Armored Fighting Vehicles: Pegasus Hobbies Marine Corps M-26 Pershing And my final award: First Place, Open Top Armored Fighting Vehicles: Trumpeter Sturer Emil: I got four 20% off coupons for those Third Place winners, and one 40% off coupon for the First Place winner. Looks like my stash is gonna grow again! Like I said, it ain't like it was a big, serious contest, but it was a great little contest that was a ton of fun to enter! Not to mention, the camaraderie and laughs were the best! It was a regular party! Anyway, that is my little brag for the year. Thanks all for looking in!

Well, now that the helicopter is finished, I have started on a few more models and made some progress on a couple more. I'll start this with the models I've been working on. These are two LAV variants from ACE that I got a final basecoat of paint on. This one is the LAV-M Mortar Carrier all painted up: I now need to do the camouflage pattern on this before clearcoating and decaling. This is my LAV-AD Air Defense Variant: This one is just a solid green, so the next thing to do is clearcoat, decal, then dullcoat and weather. The next time you see this one, it will be completed. Next is the little Chevy 15CWT truck from IBG I've built: This one just needs decals, then dullcoat and final finishing. The next time you see this one, it'll be finished. Now on to the three projects I started. this first one is the Trumpeter 1/72 scale M-113 A3. I have it fully assembled and ready for the camouflage pattern: I should be able to get this done in a few days. Next is a Dragon 1/72 scale model of the AAV7R recovery vehicle version of the AAV7P. I got it mostly assembled and shot some color on parts of it: The part next to it is the recovery crane that goes on top. That will be one of the last things I install. There are some places to sand and some refinements to make. I'm making good progress on this so far. And finally, I started a Revell of Germany 1/72 scale MAN 7ton cargo truck. So far, all I have is most of the cabin assembled: I'm going to have to paint the interior and then add the window glass to this before I can close it up. Then I get to start on the wonderfully over-engineered chassis and suspension! Yay! That's all my progress for today. Monday morning I'll be at Hobby Day again and be able to get alot more done. Stay tuned for more and remember, comments are welcome.

And the Duke finishes another one! Back in May a friend and I were manning the IPMS booth at the Chino Air Show. Further down the flightline was sitting a Piasecki H-21 Flying Banana that we both thought was an unflyable static display. Well, as we were packing up after the airshow, we heard an interesting sound and looked up to see the Piasecki sitting on the taxiway firing up it's engines. We stopped what we were doing and watched as it fired up, taxi'd out and did a rolling takeoff. What a sight! As soon as I got home I dug through my stash to find this Hobbycraft kit and got started. Now, a couple weeks later, here it is all completed: I added the extra large insignia and "army" on the side from my spare decals to make it look more like the one that was at the airshow. Other than that, it's built OOB. I hand painted the canopy rails too. Thanks all for looking in. I have more projects under construction in the individual workbench area. Feel free to go check them out. Comments are always welcome.

Thanks Dave!

No. actually. I'm not sure how that happened. Thanks for catching it; I'll get that fixed.

Thanks guys! I appreciate the great comments. Gil, that handle is hardly worth having a new blade. The collet is plastic, and semi-soft plastic at that. It barely holds a blade well enough to use. That's why it is my 'example' blade.