PANDA 1/35 Husky Mk III (VMMD)
My recently completed PANDA 1/35 Husky Mk III kit. This vehicle was developed in South Africa in the 1970's and was called the 'Meerkat' or 'Chubby'. Now it is use by the US Forces, Canadian army, Australian army, Kenyan army and the SANDF.
The only mod I have done on this kit is to add a fire extinguisher in the drivers cab and drilled out the hydraulic rams to enable the mine detection panniers to be raised or lowered.
Still need to weather it slightly and add the various hydraulic/vacuum hoses that are on the 1/1 vehicle. These have been supplied in the kit as 2 thin black PVC coated wire lengths which need to be cut to length. The down side is that there is no diagram on the kit instructions to show the routing of these.
Paints used are Vallejo Dark Sand for the main body and Alclad II Armoured glass paint for the windows.
Next challenge to complete this model is to build the 3 x mine detonation trailers as seen in the last two pics.
Then to make a diorama based on a scene in Afghanistan.
For those who are interested in making one of these vehicles there is an AFV Club kit available as well. Also I have included a photo of the drivers cab of a real vehicle for reference.
Don't think I've ever seen one of these beasts (real OR a model)...I like it - nice job!
Nice build of a very unique piece of equipment.
The Meerkat and Husky Mk III upgrades of the Rhodesian developed VMMD called a 'Pookie', which was developed in the 1970's. Here are a couple of photos of the 'Pookie' plus a data sheet.
It is a pity no-one has produced any kits of the Rhodesian developed vehicles which are unique in their own right. If they did I would definitely purchase them:
5 attached images. Click to enlarge.
An interesting looking vehicle. Nicely done.