Blastvader Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 (edited) Hello all. Now that my Mustang STGB entry is finished and I cannot find a suitable model for the D-Day GB I thought I would throw my hat in to the ring with Emhar's MkA Medium Tank.I've never done armour before (apart from the odd Rhino Transport from when I played 40k) so this will be a new experience for me, also on the off chance that you've seen either of the other two builds I've done recently you'll see that I'm just returning to the hobby. So don't be expecting anything spectacular. Still armed with this walk around and this book I'm going to gove it a damn good try.I'll be modelling the vehicle after the one featured in the walk around which was commanded by C.H.Sewell who was awarded the VC for rescuing the crew of an overturned tank and being killed in that action. This vehicle is currently on display at Bovington Tank Museum.I'm not going to super-detail the thing or anything, for one thing I'm nit up to the task, but I will be adding and subtracting things to make it look more like the one at Bovington. Which i think is only going to involve some very slight modifications such as adding fuse wire grab handles and the like.Anyway, on to the pictures:Messy workbench. With my Mustang STGB hanging out on the corner of the desk begging to be knocked off. Box shot. (blurry) Sprue shots Construction started but...I forgot to take any pictures. So here's some of the little bits I'm adding.This flappy thing was about 12" wide at scale so I chopped it off and added some thin plasticard that was formed around the original piece. It should look like this:Though looking at that thing below...I realise I've left it as the kit intended which is wrong as they have a weird stand off behind them. I'm not sure if I can just pull it off or I might have to fill the gap. If I do remove the piece though the 'flappy thing' will hang over far too much. The fit of the top deck was also wuite poor and will require a lot of sanding and filling. Which means I'll have to add the rivets back. I've heard PVA glue and a cocktail stick can be used for this? I also had to add a shim of plasticard under the cabin.Anyway, that's where I'm up to now. I just need to decide what to do with the 'flappy bit' area.Cheers for looking. Edited September 30, 2014 by Blastvader 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazdot Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 Interesting choice. Look forward to seeing this come together . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blastvader Posted August 25, 2014 Author Share Posted August 25, 2014 Cheers Daz. I'm nothing if not interesting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blastvader Posted August 25, 2014 Author Share Posted August 25, 2014 Well, a little bit more progress has been made (literally tiny bits...my eyes hurt) over the last few hours whilst SWMBO was watching some pap film. Here's the rear of the tank now: I've boxed that plate thing under the flappy thing in with card and added the strappy thing too. That was an exercise in frustration and required a steady hand and a good straight edge, neither of which I posses so I did the best with what I had available. As you can see I added the fillets that were missing from the kit too: I've also started with some grab handles. These were made in two sizes from twist-ties stripped of their plastic as can be seen below: Tiny! First one in situ...after half an hour of shouting. I chose 1/72 because I'm cheap and I thought it would be a quick build. And if it was completely OOB it would have been. There's only 4 steps in the instructions. Two more added. These are a little over scale but they will be bent at about a 75o angle once the cheap nasty CA has cured. Then the third one will be added. Started adding the rivets with PVA. They look a bit crap to be honest but I'm not sure what other solutions there are. Any suggestions BM'ers? The last thing I did was add some masking tape roughly around the exhaust. As the actual thing seems to have some kind of canvas cover ove it. This was then coated with watered PVA. I also cut down the little brackets either side of the exhause outlet as they were too big. So that's me for today I think. Cheers, Paul 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazdot Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 Good progress there far too small for my fingers or eyes! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 Looks fiddly, nice work 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 For your rivets you could drill out the locations and add tiny pieces of stretched sprue before trimming to length and sanding down, or there's always Archer Dry Transfers? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blastvader Posted August 26, 2014 Author Share Posted August 26, 2014 Cheers. I had thought about drilling them out. The reference book I have suggests the use of the plastic balls inside water filters. But that's for 28mm not 20mm stuff. The only problem I have now is the fact that my smallest drill bit is 0.5mm :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 Small drills are a worthy addition to your toolbox.....Driling out the barrels of MGs etc. really improves the look of a model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazdot Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 Local model shop sells em separately good job because I broke 2 drilling out the albatross 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blastvader Posted August 26, 2014 Author Share Posted August 26, 2014 Well. I've ordered some. £2.50 delivered so I'm dubious of their quality but for that money I'll take the punt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murdo Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 For your rivets you could drill out the locations and add tiny pieces of stretched sprue before trimming to length and sanding down, or there's always Archer Dry Transfers? "...or there's always Archer Dry Transfers". Superb products I'd recommend to anyone. They would be invaluable for this kind of job and are simple to use. They don't take long to arrive by post either. Here's an example of some of the larger ones on a 1/32 Bang Seat and there are various different sizes, I hope they are clear enough to see. They also make them in HO/OO scale for model railway stuff. Definitely worth getting! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 Blimey ejector seats in a tank, now that's advanced thinking 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazdot Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 hope they thought to have a removable top hatch or a couple of squaddies are going to have sore heads lol 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murdo Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 (edited) Blimey ejector seats in a tank, now that's advanced thinking Hi Mish, It was one of those major innovations WW1 was famous for. The tank crews weren't too happy at the thought of being fired straight up into a thick tree or barn roof so the idea of tank ejector seats was quietly dropped. However, the newly fledged whippersnapper Crabs heard about it, stole the concept and began quietly working on the idea for their planes. It took them around 40 years to develop aircraft strong enough to use them though. hope they thought to have a removable top hatch or a couple of squaddies are going to have sore heads lol Hi Dazdot, yes mate, they did think of that: I'm afraid the seat is scratchbuilt for a vacform BAE Hawk and won't quite fit... At the moment. I'm not really inclined to make it fit by messing up either the seat or the Whippet. You have given me some interesting thought for a future build though... I've also unintentionally hijacked Blastvader's post more than enough. Blastvader. Edited August 27, 2014 by Murdo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 Cheers. I had thought about drilling them out. The reference book I have suggests the use of the plastic balls inside water filters. But that's for 28mm not 20mm stuff. The only problem I have now is the fact that my smallest drill bit is 0.5mm :/ The little plastic/ceramic balls in a Brita water filter cartridge come in a wide variety of sizes. They have a gazillion modelling uses. Fortunately, there are a gazillion and more balls in each cartridge so you only ever need buy/scrounge one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blastvader Posted August 27, 2014 Author Share Posted August 27, 2014 I've also unintentionally hijacked Blastvader's post more than enough. Blastvader. Don't worry about it. But, eh...please tell me that's not a 1/72 Whippet. Because this experiment in armour modelling isn't likely to come out too spiffingly as it stands. I don't need someone showing me up in me ow thread (great work by the way, did you do a build thread?) The little plastic/ceramic balls in a Brita water filter cartridge come in a wide variety of sizes. They have a gazillion modelling uses. Fortunately, there are a gazillion and more balls in each cartridge so you only ever need buy/scrounge one. Well...you don't happen to have a spare one kicking about do you? *cheek* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blastvader Posted August 28, 2014 Author Share Posted August 28, 2014 Did a little more today. Got it undercoated and badly pre-shaded. My pre-shade mix was too thin and pressure possibly too high. Then got the first coat on. Paint for scale. It really is tiny and testing my somewhat limited modelling skills. Unfortunately the paint has not hidden the hideous gaps that were left behind by what I found to be quite a fussy little kit. But they are less noticable in person. So that's a bonus. I painted the tracs on the sprue as they had some internal bits that would have been hard to reach with an airbrush when constructed. Cheers for looking. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray S Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 Hello, some really nice work there. Oh boy, it is small isn't it? No wonder your grab handles were tricky to place earlier on in the thread. Sometimes I do not see really what you are up against until I see something for size reference. Cheers, Ray 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blastvader Posted August 28, 2014 Author Share Posted August 28, 2014 Yes. Tis' raher small. Had to steal the lasses smallest tweezers for this as my tamiya ones were too big. She's not getting them back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazdot Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 Wow that's small yep I'm with you on there teeezers I really need a self gripping pair Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blastvader Posted August 28, 2014 Author Share Posted August 28, 2014 I got a pair of Tamiya ones but I can't quite get the hang of using them. I tend to knock the piece I'm attempting to affix when I release the tension. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 Some nice work with the airbrush there.....As for the gappiness of the kit, it's not really visible as such, so I figure it all just adds a bit of 'character' to the finished model, these are old tanks after all! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murdo Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 (edited) Don't worry about it. But, eh...please tell me that's not a 1/72 Whippet. Because this experiment in armour modelling isn't likely to come out too spiffingly as it stands. I don't need someone showing me up in me ow thread (great work by the way, did you do a build thread?) No mate, it's 1/35 and yours is looking great so far, keep at it! I must admit that until I saw the model next to the paint bottle I didn't realise how small it was. It looks quite big in 1/35. I did start a build thread a long time ago. I'll maybe try and do a new one if I can't find the old one... Which wasn't completed anyway. It was called "Whippet with guts". Edited August 28, 2014 by Murdo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted August 29, 2014 Share Posted August 29, 2014 Looks good, don't worry about untidy preshading the untidier the better in my opinion, makes for a better finished effect. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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