MRE Boxes... in 1:35 Scale!

[Ration Fan]

Hi!
Maybe some of you know that I´m a military modeller too.
I got a little kit by the brand "Tamiya"from Japan with lots of bags and stuff to put on a modern U.S. Army model in 1:35 scale.
And in this kit I found a little sheet made with carton paper.
On this sheet, there are printed lots of MRE Cartons that you have to fold and glue.
I tried this and I must say, THAT IT`S HARD!
The carton is very very tiny.
I gave my best to get it good.
This is the result:

Here in comparison with a glue bottle:


And here is the text from the kit that explains MRE´s:
In the early 80´s, the U.S. military adopted the ration called MRE(Meal Ready to eat) and it has been improved up to today.
Nowadays, there are as many as 24 different kinds of meals including vegetarian dishes.
Soldiers can have a warm meal even during operations thanks to chemical reactive heater attached to the rations.
This type of ration box contains 12 packs and is durable against airdrop impact and sever conditions.

[luis0449]

It sooooooo small!!!! It is really a hard job, indeed. Congratulations for the job. Me, I don`t have neither the skills nor the patience to do that kind of things.

Good luck people.

Luis0449

[Ration Fan]

Thanks but I have to do that better if I want to use some boxes for my models

[rationtin440]

Awesome Ration Fan! I finally see someone here who shares my favorite hobby ! Yes I can attest that those MRE boxes are a royal pain to put together and yours look alot better than mine. I've been doing this hobby since oh, about 1977, and although the quality and variety of Tamiya kits and accessories is light years from where it was then, those MRE boxes are still very frustrating. A possible solution, which I have yet to try myself, might be to fold and glue them around a tiny piece of wood, but then it would be necessary to be sure the folds are exact or it might look even worse. I build mainly cold-war era kits, usu. 1/35th scale, also Revell and DML modern armor when I can find it. My friends and I used to play "Twilight: 2000" game series about WW3 in Europe, and I enjoyed taking kits and converting them to match some of the vehicles I saw in the game modules. Wish I knew how to post pics here so I could show you my efforts, but my wife says I have no patience to learn stuff like that, and she's right, sooooooo..... Happy model-building!

[rationtin440]

Ration Fan, when I said "or it might look even worse" I was not referring to your pics, but to the general quality issues of that particular Tamiya product----your pics looked better than I'm able to do by far, just letting you know to avoid any mis-understanding. My problem is that I usually manage to either get too much Elmer's glue in the wrong spot, or else the folds are not sharp enough and the glue always manages to dry at a rate equal to how bad I screwed up; in other words, the more I screw up on the folding, the faster the glue seems to dry, and I'm left with an MRE box that looks like it was run over by a fully loaded M-1A1 Abrams tank!

[Ration Fan]

Thanks!
You are doing this hobby too?
Great!
I build almost everything in the sector Ground Armor(Tanks,armored vehicles,canons etc.).
I build mainly 1:35 or 1:48 scale model kits.
I think Tamiya is the best hobby company for these scales.
I can´t build this seperate track links as they are used in the most Dragon kits and by other manufacturs.
Yes, the Tamiya Vinyl tracks are not the best solution but I can handle with them.
Currently I build one "SDKFZ.222" by Tamiya in 1:48 scale and one "BJ2022JC Yongshi SUV"(Chinese Army) by Hobby Boss in 1:35 scale.
And I have more kits that wait for building like the good old Tamiya 1:35 "T-72M1" kit.

And what are you building currently?

[rationtin440]

Thanks for reply Ration Fan! I love this hobby and currently I'm building the T-72 M1 from Tamiya. I recently finished detailing a 1/35th scale Spahpanzer Lynx that I modified to an ambulance version, not by Tamiya but Revell I believe. Good details in the kit, but Tamiya is the best. Lately it has been very difficult to find DML modern Russian armor and I've pretty much given up hope that Tamiya will come out with a BMP-1, 2, or 3 kit at this point. Happy modeling! BTW mebbe housil can answer this; does the Bundeswehr still use a version of the Spahpanzer Lynx for an ambulance/evac vehicle? Somehow I always felt that they were safer for the occupants than the U.S. Army hummer ambulance, but as I'm a bit claustrophobic now-a-days, I'm not sure I'd like to be in the Lynx.

[housil]

BTW mebbe housil can answer this; does the Bundeswehr still use a version of the Spahpanzer Lynx for an ambulance/evac vehicle? Somehow I always felt that they were safer for the occupants than the U.S. Army hummer ambulance, but as I'm a bit claustrophobic now-a-days, I'm not sure I'd like to be in the Lynx.

Not the Lynx (Spähpanzer Luchs) as this one is a recon vehikle only but it´s brother the "Fuchs" (fox)


The equipment is the same like in a ACLS ambulance but we also always have an ER Doc with it, not medics only.

Another wheeled and armoured ambulance is the "Yak"

[Ration Fan]

Hi!
That´s you are building the model that I have in stock!
But I heard that this is only right for the east german NVA version because the turret is not right.
If you want to build an other version and you want it exactly than you have to fix this.
There is a Blast Models conversion with a new Turret to fix this.
About the Lynx:
In german it´s called "Luchs" and is a recon tank(Spähpanzer).
I don´t think that they´re used as MEDEVAC or something like that.
Anyways I think that the Ground Armor kits from Revell are not the best.
I had a few of them(Lynx too!)and I don´t liked them!
Then I sold the Lynx.
Revell´s airplane and ship kits are ok(even that I don´t build something like that)I think but Ground Armor?
I don´t think so!

I wish Tamiya come out with one BMP too!
There are nice!

[rationtin440]

Thanks for the clarification on the vehicle guys! If I'm not mistaken there was an NBC recon version of the Fuchs as well. I guess there is a reason why you don't see very many tall armored vehicle crew members; those vehicles look pretty crowded as it is, and for me with my claustrophobia that I first noticed in 1994, I'm thinking that I'd have a very difficult time in a Fuchs. Yes Ration Fan, I agree that Revell armor kits are not the best, but they seem to be the only source for certain cold-war era and beyond hard to get stuff. Cool video and pics housil, thanks!