K9 Thunder
Here is the K9 Thunder Moukari from Academy which is Finland's version of the South Korean self-propelled howitzer that have been exported to several countries. However, it can only be built as it was initially received by Finland's Army. Several modifications have later been made such as the headlights, stowage basket and boxes. A Browning heavy machine AA gun is included, but that is not used by the Finns, instead the use the Russian counterpart with a different mount. The model has been designed to be equipped with a motor, as there are gaps around the driving sprockets that needs to be filled using plastic card and putty. I used photo etch from Orange Hobby and a gun barrel from Modelbau, For those who are not satisfied with the one-piece vinyl tracks provided by Academy an alternative is available from Shapeways, but with shipping they will cost around 80 euro, which is twice as much as I paid for the model kit. With some weathering any advantages in details will probably be lost. There are a lot of details that have been omitted, probably because they would be broken off when treating the model as a toy when using the motorized version. DEF Model produced a resin set that replaced these details, but it has been discontinued. So, it is to study the photos on the internet and start scratchbuilding. Mostly locks and holders for the hatches and doors are missing. The turret baskets are wrongly depicted and over scaled. I replaced them using copper wire and parts from the model kit original baskets. Even the PE from Orange Hobby needs some correction, as can be seen on the back fenders where also copper wire was used. The rods on the sides comes as one plastic molding pieces that was replaced with 1 mm brass rod. The model was painted with Tamiya colors and weathered with AK products.