Congratulations to this weeks Modeller of the Week! Kody Kuczynski sent in his Takom M114A1. The weathering is great in my opinion as well and the base for the build. Its ability to be simple yet still have the amount of detail to bring it all to life is really nice. Of course who can’t not love the Cold War era. Congrats Kody looking forward to more from you!

Here’s what Kody had to say about his build,“Inspiration: always been a fan of Cold War armor, especially stuff that has fallen by the wayside of recognition. Also wanted to build another Takom M114 because its a fun kit to build with little in the way of headaches and to take lessons learned from a previous M114 build in 2022 when the kit first came out.

Scope of work: only minor modifications such as replacing plastic grab handles with bent wire, modifying the commanders .50 to an elevated position to keep from hitting the driver, adding an antenna.

The figures are modified from the Dragon Operation Desert Storm set with the heads replaced with ones from Royal Model that had the period correct CVC helmet. Decals on the figures came from Peddinghaus.

Decals for the vehicle came from the previous M114 build as for whatever reason Takom on gives one side per kit. I don’t know if this is per the referenced vehicle used or an oversight, to me it makes sense to have both sides be the same.

spray with Ammo by Mig and detail with Vallejos. Weathering was focused around Ammo washes, oil brushes and wet effects. Vallejo acrylic mud was used as was a small amount of pigments.

The base started from a simple wood plank from Hobby Lobby and sealed to prevent warpage, a lesson learned from a previous base. The ground work started first with DAS air drying clay topped with Ammo terrain mud and then VMS dirt. Next came static grass followed by Ammo bushes and twigs I found in the backyard. Ammo enamel ground effects colors were used to add variation of tone and some of the larger stone picked out with various Vallejo colors. Finally the sides were painted with a craft store olive drab color.

Overall I enjoyed building Takom’s M114 a second time and will build more in the future. Learned lessons for the future which is always important as well.”

Completed June 2024.