M151 Djapas (Shmira)

That is Academys israeli M151. An trusted old companion with all its flaws  

On a mountainbike trip in the Negev in Israel in the 90s we came across a dessert patrol on a Fort Mutt M151 A2. Being back into the hobby I chose this for my first serious project.
I never used PE before, I never scratched anything and I never did any conversion. I never soldered, I never airbrushed, I never used aftermarket. So - quite a few firsts for this little bugger.
 

I realized that the kit lacks parts of the suspension. I wanted to depict the wheels partly turned. Like this you will see the front suspension. So I acquainted myself with styrene. 

Unfortunately the base kit is a M151 A1 and not an A2. The most visible difference is the front fender, which is depressed at the A2. If I recall it right I took that part from CMKs engine for an M151. 

Eduard offers a decent PE set and I used wheels from another M151 kit or conversion (which one, I forgot).  

Academy calls the israeli M151 Shmira. My friends in Israel know it under the name of Djapas.  

The tank which is located under the drivers seat had to be modified a bit to accomodate the scratch build chair. 

I had an idea with the seats and thus closed the installation holes and modified the tank under the drivers seat to come closer to the original shape. 

The iso-mat was shaped with Milliput and draped over the roll over bar. 

The antenna base is homemade. To achieve the conical shape and keep it flexible to position the antenna later on according to my wishes was a bit of a challenge. In case your interessted how I managed, post me a note and I will add some more pics. 

Here you see it after its conversion to an A2 (check front fenders) 

ready for paint. 

The seats were scratch build from brass tube and copper wire. 

The iso-mat is made from milliput, the radio comes from a resin set from Verlinden. 

Here the base coat is on. I mixed Tamiya XF49, XF20, XF57 and XF27 in equal parts according to a recipe I found on idf-modelling.com. By adding lighter and darker tones to the mix I added lights and shades. 

to achieve a more used look I tried various methods. Using a 500g hammer finally did the trick and gave me the desired appearance (seriously!). Unter the fuel cap the hebrew word vor Benzin (Fuel) was handpainted. 

Color is on, washed, weathered, scratched and dusted.  

Looks a bit empty? Ok, lets fill it. 

stuff for a fill 

Calling that one done 

Seat belts are made from Tamiya tape and Pe parts from Legend conversion kit 

I am quite happy with the result.  

Was quite a long journey through often unknown territory.  

I wanted to depict a weatherbeaten vehicle at the dusk of its service. You judge whether this has been achieved.  

Now only a decent base is missing. I tried one but it did not work. But a new idea is in my mind... 

Yes, you are an old build, but we are not done yet. The release of Ammos set: IDF accessories was a motivation to tackle again the suspended project to build a diorama for that vehicle. So some of the accessories received their first coat of paint.