Cheesey153

In the previous series there was a boxed Tamiya 1/48 P-38 on the office floor. That might suggest this aircraft could be on Airfix's radar as a future release. Or maybe they were just studying how another manufacturer engineers kits. I dunno.

I came to this tread to read other peoples' varied opinions of the AIRFIX 1/35 CROMWELL TANKS, not to read childish sniping about the number of exclamation marks in posts, not to read intolerant views of other modellers' motivations for participating in this hobby and certainly not to have it implied that there are better or more worthy things to concern myself with - in a thread about AIRFIX 1/35 CROMWELL TANKS. For those of you who have taken the time to share your opinions and photographs of this kit and the Tamiya one, and your experiences of them both, thank you; you have helped me make an informed decision.

"But because I have a very strong will, I have managed to defeat myself" That's the funniest thing I have read in a very long time!! 😂😂😂 I shall watch your build and enjoy learning from you.

There's a Facebook group for Wolfgang - 'Wolfgang - Legend of Soltau Training Area' What a guy! https://www.facebook.com/groups/56841388928

Darryl, first of all - lovely work, I'm enjoying your build! Secondly, Tamiya looked at one of the first +/- 60 production Challengers and based their kit turret bin on it.... and they got it absolutely 100% correct - entirely accurate! Those early back bins were, or course, a right pain in the bottom to use - you couldn't open them from the turret top because they opened towards you. That's why they were redesigned to open the other way. And for some reason made more square too!

May I give some additional info on the exhausts? The first batch of Challengers (I'm guessing approximately 70) were put into service with with, essentially, no shroud - the exhaust gasses just exited straight upwards through a slatted grate. From 70-ish onwards they were fitted with the shroud which threw the gasses out to sides of the vehicle. The primary reason for the change was indeed because of excessive heat, but not as as previously been mentioned because of risk of burn injuries to the crews. When Challenger was first issued the specified stowage locations specifically specified that the 2 jerrycan holders on the hull rear would be for oil cans and the ones on the turret rear (on the turret basket) would be for water cans. Makes perfect sense - you'd want the water jerry cans near the crew members at all times and the oil cans near the engine at all times. All well and good except that the water cans are made of plastic and when the turret is traversed off left or right by a few degrees (or several mils!) and the engine is running, those damn exhausts chuck out a heck of a lot of heat right under those plastic jerry cans, resulting in melted cans. The solution is simply to put the oil cans on the turret rear and the water cans on the hull rear and....then clean off tons of dirt from the water cans every time you need to refill the internal water tank, or have a wash. Or fit big ol'exhaust shrouds to divert the hot gasses away from the turret rear stowage location so you can put the plastic cans there gain. I suspect another reason for fitting those shrouds was to protect the turbochargers, which sit just a few inches inboard of the exhausts and, if not sufficiently protected, are vulnerable to the ingestion of rain and other stuff when they're not running. With the original exaust coverings you could put the powder from a smoke pot directly into the exhaust and then when the engine started the powder would ignite and give you a lovely big plume of orange smoke. Wouldn't be able to do that with the modifed exhausts :( I've read that the actual reason for fitting the shrouds was to eliminate the 'V' shaped plume of exhaust smoke, as a means of disguising the tank's presence/ hiding its location. I don't buy that one. It may be a very minor beneficiary side-effect of the above but I can't see it as a primary reason for fitting them.

They really look the part Jim! I appreciate the muted tones you've used - all too easy to make Zouaves look like circus clowns but you've done them justice.

Yes, all too easy to forget how young those old blokes were when they fought and died. This particular 50-something is humbled by them. And thank you Fred.

There's more imagination and creativity in this one project than I could muster in a lifetime.

Thanks gents! Any figure sculpted by Mike Good is going to look at least half decent when painted - he provides such a superb canvas and I have to say he's my favourite sculptor. I didn't know this was now oop - it's been sitting in my stash for years and I always felt it was too good to let go, and I'm now very glad I didn't!

I'm currently going through my stash of older figures and giving some attention to long neglected pieces. This is a figure from Pegaso sculpted by Mike Good of British WW1 Pilot Lanoe Hawker VC. Painted in Vallejo acrylics with the use of some inks to aid the leather effects of the rather fetching baggy trousers.

Thank you very much Geoff & Jim! You know, the more advice I listen to and the harder I try to take decent photos the more inconsistent my results are - but thanks again for your words, I'll bear them in mind next time around. Jon.

Well I'll be! Yes, very local to me - about 6 miles actually.

Thanks Giorgio. I had nothing else to do all weekend and, after all, it is only 1/35 I'm with you; I prefer the darker ones. Jon.

This is an older figure pulled from my stash and painted last weekend. Uncharacteristically for Hornet this one had quite a bit of pitting in the the metal casting (particularly over the trousers) but that didn't take long to address and it didn't detract from the appeal or the quality of the bare figure. I replaced the kit's metal PPSh with a plastic one from Miniart as the latter was rather more crisply defined - even if it is about 1mm longer overall. The sling is made from paper, and getting it made and attached to appear as though it is bearing the weight of the gun pushed me to my limit - I feel I've got better things to be bothering with at this stage in my life! Everything painted with Vallejo acrylics. For the life of me I still can't take photographs that please me.....