Tuesday, July 24, 2012

M1117 Guardian


This is Trumpeter's 1/35 Armored Sentry Vehicle (ASV) M1117 Guardian. I finished this model in the winter of 2010-2011. It's not really up to my current standards, but I felt like sharing it anyways. I built this without modification, aside from the addition of a few custom decals. I also added a towing limber from my spares box... I think it came from DML's M1A2 SEP kit.


I built this kit for a veteran of OIF that I know. He's really a big fan of radio-control boat racing, so I made a bumper sticker decal for the back, and a sticker for one of the gas cans that looks like a model boat fuel brand. He survived multiple IED explosions in Iraq while in one of these vehicles, and he said that if he were in a Hummvee, "... I wouldn't be here today."


I used Tamiya Buff for the entire vehicle, and I dry-brushed a mixture of Vallejo white and Iraqi Sand to bring out the texture in the anti-skid panels. I used several thin pinwashes of Burnt Umber to bring out the details, and to create subtle streaking effects. I also used some pigments to create some dust. I wanted the vehicle to be mostly clean, so I used less than I usually do. I used Alclad prismatic paints for the periscopes, and this backfired on me... they look like plastic, and next time I think I'll just paint 'em by hand like I did on my Abrams. However, I am pretty happy with how the headlights turned out.





Just something I noticed with the kit... There are numerous incorrect spellings on the stencils. For example, one reads "TIE DONN TOK EIE." Just thought I'd mention it.


Those of you with a sharp eye might have noticed that there are no side rear-view mirrors... I managed to misplace one of them and I haven't seen them since.
Thanks for looking!

3 comments:

  1. I like this a lot! Great weathering effects, especially on the front end.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kyle - your work continues to amaze!!!

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