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Description
Ok, here is a progress report on my pride and joy project, the revised Merric Mk 2 Main Battle Tank. Apologies on the very long description, feel free to skip to the line if you want to hear me talk just about the model.

Here are the alternative views:
Front from above: [link]
right: [link]
Left: [link]
Rear: [link]
Front no turret: [link]
Right no turret: [link]
Left no turret: [link]
Rear no turret: [link]
Engine rear: [link]
Engine top: [link]
Size comparison 1: [link]
Size comparison 2: [link]
Size comparison 3: [link]

This is the first "re-envisioned" model for my future US military themed army. Oddly that was the same army which I had been playing for about 5 years now with these vehicles:
5 Merric Mk 1 MBTs: [link]
7 Pyces IFVs: [link]
100+ Heavily converted Grenadiers: [link]

The thing is that while I loved that army, and it was very well received by nearly everyone who saw it (Barring idiots who in the middle of tournament games would say things like "What do you mean thats I leman russ, I thought it was a predator!!!" They would then throw hissy fits about it having armor 14 and being able to fire on the move, this after they already knew that I was playing Imperial Guard (So no predators...) and after I explained to them at the beginning of the game what everything was.) I have grown unsatisfied with it over time. She just ain't as hot as she used to be. So I sold the entire army to a friend for $600...

Now over the next year I'm going to be rebuilding the entire army from the ground up, really can't wait for it as the new version with fully converted infantry and far better looking vehicles, not to mention better painting skills, will look INCREDIBLE. MwaHahahahahahahah!!!!

___________________________________________________________________________________

Turret:

Ok, maniacle schemes aside, I'm very please with how this thing is coming along so far. While it still needs to be builked out a bit in a few places, notably the back and rear sides, the turret is really looking great. As it stands the gun tube is too long, but I am holding off on adjusting it until I see what it looks like with the turret fully bulked out. The cupolas are looking really good I think and I'm very happy with the fact that there is finally a 40k tank with 2 turret cupolas like nearly ALL modern main battle tanks (both Nato and Soviet). I think that I might build out the gun mantle a bit with another telescoping piece as it currently looks oversized a bit compaired to the gun tube, but that is a minor detail. Note that the dog house was removed just for a redo, given that that bit deformed due to heat exposure and needed to be replaced.

Hull:

Ok, the hull has come really far since the early parts of the design, in fact is was entirely rebuilt. The turret well was REALLY hard to get to look right, but I think that I finally have it pretty close to done now. A method that I've been testing out with some success with this model is to glue a sheet of plasticard down at the desired final angle of a surface, in this case the front slope of the hull in front of the turret well, and then filling in the space underneath and around it with green stuff. Its challenging but the final results are better than a pure plasicard build I've found.

The very front of the hull is from a land raider Achilles, it looks WAY better then the front of a normal land raider with its substantially smaller sponson well, and the driver's viewport is a neat touch which I'm debating on whether or not to keep in the final build (Looks great, but its not smart to place a weak point on the second most likely to be hit part of the tank.).

The top of the track guards look great, while it looks simple given that I used the track guards from a land raider it was actually a total bitch to do given that I had to ensure that each part was level with the one on the opposite end and the ones on the opposite side of the vehicle. Really not hard. Oh, and removing the cupola mounts from the land raider hull is a bitch too.

The mounts for the road wheels (what the tracks ride on, the tan parts) came from an actual M1 Abrams model, just chopped up to fit (WAY easier than making my own...).

Engine:

Ok the engine was an interesting challenge. I had an M1 model to use as a reference and my own experiences with the M1 (Did stuff with them for 4 years early in my military career.), so I managed to fit in all of the major parts of the engine pack (Battery box, engine intake grates, and of course the engine. Transmisison too.). Really I made each of these components commically oversized to make them look cool and be visible, the engine itself is WAY bigger than an actual M1 Engine (Which is rather surprisingly small, the big parts are the transmission really.). The rear of it with the exhaust vents (Angled up to minimize dust spawling) come from various forgeworld kits, notably a whirlwind.

Oh, and the warped piece of the intake vent on the top is a great example of why we should all be glad that GW has improved the quality of its plastic components over the last 5 years.

Whats left to do?:
In no particular order:
-Finish the hull details
-Finish the engine details
-Finish the turret details
-Make the bottom of the vehicle and the rear sides of the hull actually work.
-Build side skirts, haven't started them at all yet.

Eventually once I have this thing done I'm going to make a resin mold of it and cast copies of it for myself, that's why I'm willing to spend 100+ hours working on a single vehicle. Currently about 50+ hours into it and its only 60% of the way done.

Please comment and critique, after you go get a snack and a drink from reading all of that...

Description
Ok, here is a progress report on my pride and joy project, the revised Merric Mk 2 Main Battle Tank. Apologies on the very long description, feel free to skip to the line if you want to hear me talk just about the model.

Here are the alternative views:
Front from above: [link]
right: [link]
Left: [link]
Rear: [link]
Front no turret: [link]
Right no turret: [link]
Left no turret: [link]
Rear no turret: [link]
Engine rear: [link]
Engine top: [link]
Size comparison 1: [link]
Size comparison 2: [link]
Size comparison 3: [link]

This is the first "re-envisioned" model for my future US military themed army. Oddly that was the same army which I had been playing for about 5 years now with these vehicles:
5 Merric Mk 1 MBTs: [link]
7 Pyces IFVs: [link]
100+ Heavily converted Grenadiers: [link]

The thing is that while I loved that army, and it was very well received by nearly everyone who saw it (Barring idiots who in the middle of tournament games would say things like "What do you mean thats I leman russ, I thought it was a predator!!!" They would then throw hissy fits about it having armor 14 and being able to fire on the move, this after they already knew that I was playing Imperial Guard (So no predators...) and after I explained to them at the beginning of the game what everything was.) I have grown unsatisfied with it over time. She just ain't as hot as she used to be. So I sold the entire army to a friend for $600...

Now over the next year I'm going to be rebuilding the entire army from the ground up, really can't wait for it as the new version with fully converted infantry and far better looking vehicles, not to mention better painting skills, will look INCREDIBLE. MwaHahahahahahahah!!!!

___________________________________________________________________________________

Turret:

Ok, maniacle schemes aside, I'm very please with how this thing is coming along so far. While it still needs to be builked out a bit in a few places, notably the back and rear sides, the turret is really looking great. As it stands the gun tube is too long, but I am holding off on adjusting it until I see what it looks like with the turret fully bulked out. The cupolas are looking really good I think and I'm very happy with the fact that there is finally a 40k tank with 2 turret cupolas like nearly ALL modern main battle tanks (both Nato and Soviet). I think that I might build out the gun mantle a bit with another telescoping piece as it currently looks oversized a bit compaired to the gun tube, but that is a minor detail. Note that the dog house was removed just for a redo, given that that bit deformed due to heat exposure and needed to be replaced.

Hull:

Ok, the hull has come really far since the early parts of the design, in fact is was entirely rebuilt. The turret well was REALLY hard to get to look right, but I think that I finally have it pretty close to done now. A method that I've been testing out with some success with this model is to glue a sheet of plasticard down at the desired final angle of a surface, in this case the front slope of the hull in front of the turret well, and then filling in the space underneath and around it with green stuff. Its challenging but the final results are better than a pure plasicard build I've found.

The very front of the hull is from a land raider Achilles, it looks WAY better then the front of a normal land raider with its substantially smaller sponson well, and the driver's viewport is a neat touch which I'm debating on whether or not to keep in the final build (Looks great, but its not smart to place a weak point on the second most likely to be hit part of the tank.).

The top of the track guards look great, while it looks simple given that I used the track guards from a land raider it was actually a total bitch to do given that I had to ensure that each part was level with the one on the opposite end and the ones on the opposite side of the vehicle. Really not hard. Oh, and removing the cupola mounts from the land raider hull is a bitch too.

The mounts for the road wheels (what the tracks ride on, the tan parts) came from an actual M1 Abrams model, just chopped up to fit (WAY easier than making my own...).

Engine:

Ok the engine was an interesting challenge. I had an M1 model to use as a reference and my own experiences with the M1 (Did stuff with them for 4 years early in my military career.), so I managed to fit in all of the major parts of the engine pack (Battery box, engine intake grates, and of course the engine. Transmisison too.). Really I made each of these components commically oversized to make them look cool and be visible, the engine itself is WAY bigger than an actual M1 Engine (Which is rather surprisingly small, the big parts are the transmission really.). The rear of it with the exhaust vents (Angled up to minimize dust spawling) come from various forgeworld kits, notably a whirlwind.

Oh, and the warped piece of the intake vent on the top is a great example of why we should all be glad that GW has improved the quality of its plastic components over the last 5 years.

Whats left to do?:
In no particular order:
-Finish the hull details
-Finish the engine details
-Finish the turret details
-Make the bottom of the vehicle and the rear sides of the hull actually work.
-Build side skirts, haven't started them at all yet.

Eventually once I have this thing done I'm going to make a resin mold of it and cast copies of it for myself, that's why I'm willing to spend 100+ hours working on a single vehicle. Currently about 50+ hours into it and its only 60% of the way done.

Please comment and critique, after you go get a snack and a drink from reading all of that...