M151A2 with TOW – 1:35 / Tamiya 35125

I first built this kit at the age of 12. I guess because its price tag and size are a good fit for one’s pocket money. Recently I came across this kit again at some event and just felt like building it again. Obviously, the kit is not the newest Tamiya offering, but everything fit without issue. Of course, some details, like the front lights, are simplified and not up to recent standards. Construction progressed rapidly and after some hours I had everything together.

Then I airbrushed on the base paint. I did compare quiet some different colors that claim to be US Forest Green. In the end Vallejo 70.893 (US Dark Green) was the most convincing match in my eyes. The MERDC scheme was then hand painted with Vallejo 70.819 (Iraqui Sand), 70.873 (US Field Drab) and Black. After a coat of gloss the decals were applied. A dark pinwash helped to amplify small details. A thin coat of matte varnish sealed everything. The wheels were then given a light wash of some dust colored enamel wash and the whole lower body lightly sprayed in a dust color.

After all the dust and dirt, the lights were first painted in Silver and later in either Tamiya clear red or orange. For the windshield I cut my own masks covering the whipper areas and then gave them a light dust coat. Maybe a bit too heavy…

The nice thing about Tamiya, they often provide a decent figure, which is especially useful for this jeep, which would look just too empty without. The Figure was hand painted with the same colors as the jeep. As I did not feel like painting all the highlights and shadows on the BDU by hand, I tried something new. I took some gloss varnish and mixed in some dark brown and covered the figure heavily with this tinted, viscous mix. After that had dried, I gave it a light dry brushing with some beige oil color. The result may not be award winning but is convincing enough and much easier achieved.

The base is made from a picture frame and some of the shelve grass mat from MiniNature (713-24H late autumn grassland).

All in all, this quick build was a lot of fun an brought back some childhood memories. The most noticeable improvement to the kit would be new clear headlights. But besides from that the result is very nice.