SimonL Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 (edited) Inspired by Plastix's build in the Made in Britain Group Build (here), and as I had it in the stash I thought I would do the Tamiya 1/48 scale Crusader Mk III. It will be a purely out of the box build as I have not built an AFV on a larger scale before. Stix has already given great photos of the sprues and instructions, so I won't repeat them here. I decided on the markings on the box top. First thing was to sort out the colour, and thanks to advice from Troy, I have a recipe for Tamiya Acrylics for Khaki Green 3: 3 pts XF62 + 2 pts XF59. Luckily I happened to have both of those in my paint collection. For some reason I keep hearing Baldric in my head muttering something about "Purest green my lord". First task was to glue the plastic parts to the metal lower hull with CA glue - which was easy enough after I stopped trying to use CA debonder as glue (there was a tube of it in the multi-packet of CA I purchased - and it looked just like a tube of glue, sigh). I then painted the wheels with the khaki green 3 mix and the tracks with Tamiya XF84 Dark iron, which has nice brownish tinge to it. The green paint is very close to the colour of the plastic so its kind of hard to see in the photo - but believe me they are painted. I then got on with gluing the upper hull parts - so easy to do, it just slotted perfectly together. Only parts I had some problem were the shorted storage boxes that needed a little convincing with some pegs. Comments and advice welcomed. Edited January 30, 2016 by SimonL 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfoot Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 Nice start, I do like those Tamiya 1/48 kits, got together well. Interesting to see how this goes on, I do love British tanks! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bull-nut Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 Good start. They do slot together nicely don't they? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plasto Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 Nice work and good choice of kit. I built the Mk1 / Mk2 and it went together really nicely. There are images in the RFI sub forum. Cheers Plasto 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted January 31, 2016 Author Share Posted January 31, 2016 Just had a look, very nice Plasto! Given me some ideas on presentation. How did you make the base? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScanmanDan Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 A very good start Simon Beware though, I have found these Tamiya 1/48th scale kits are such fun that it is hard to stop at just one Very much like eating peanuts. Before you know it you are going back for more. Look forward to seeing how you go. Dan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted January 31, 2016 Author Share Posted January 31, 2016 Dan, I think you may be right..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plasto Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 Hi, The base was a bit of hardboard with the terrain shaped on DAS air drying clay. Once dry it got painted with future PVA mix to seal it then airbrushed a buff colour. I used finely seived garden dirt applied with PVA as a terrain 'sprinkle'. Once dry I added some ground pastels and sealed those with Iso pro mount in a frame and job done.. HTH... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bull-nut Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 Speaking of display ideas, you can find mine for the Mk3 Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted January 31, 2016 Author Share Posted January 31, 2016 Thanks Plasto and Bull-nut - very helpful. Well today's progress focussed on weathering the tracks, wheels and lower hull. The tracks I gave a wash with well diluted Italeri Acryl Flat Rust, followed by Italeri Flat Earth and then dry brushing with Tamiya XF56 Dark Metallic Grey. Also in shot are the wheels, I painted the tires with Tamiya Nato Black. Rust wash: Flat earth wash: Dry brushing with metallic grey: With the wheels I gave them several light washes of Italeri Acryl flat earth that gives nice dusty look. The lower hull got a wash of flat earth followed by dry brushing with Tamiya Flat Earth and then Buff. That's it for the weekend. Comments and advice welcomed. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted February 1, 2016 Author Share Posted February 1, 2016 Now the part I was a little fearful of - the tracks. They are a bit fiddly for an AFV newbie like me, and there is a bit of crookedness (which will be hidden by the side skirts thankfully), but they went on OK eventually. Not sure I am so keen on the metal hull, had a few issues with gluing the main wheels on. Tried a dry fit of the top part of the hull and the turret. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 Wow! You are storming ahead with this one and it's looking great! Sorry I'm late to the party - I was thinking you were going to do it in the MiB GB! Lovely job so far. I'm thoroughly enjoying building mine - I'll post some photos in a bit of the stuff I did on it this weekend. Looking forward to seeing more of your build. Kind regards, Stix 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robw_uk Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 nice work..... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Henry Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 I like it a lot. Thanks for posting. Bob H. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 Any more progress Simon? The speed you were building this at you must have it finished by now? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted February 9, 2016 Author Share Posted February 9, 2016 Had a bit of a hiccup over the last week. Last Wednesday my 13 year old son was hit by a car on the way home from school, which needed a stay in the local hospital and some surgery. Thankfully his injuries were not severe (no broken bones or concussion), but it was a close call. I am home alone at the moment as his mum is overseas on a well earned visit back to Blighty so I have been rather distracted! Add to that the heatwave we are having (third day in a row over 40 Celsius, and it doesn't drop to much less than 25 C at night), I am taking an enforced break from modelling. Hopefully get back to it soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 Hi Simon. I am sorry to hear the news about your son and glad that he is doing okay. I'm also sorry to hear about the weather......that kind of heat would not suit me. Take care and I will watch out for when you manage to get this going again. Kind regards, Stix 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Henry Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 My thoughts and prayers are with your son. Hopefully all will turn out well. Bob H. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bull-nut Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 Sorry to hear about your son Simon, I hope his stay isn't too long and he's back to his usual self quickly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted February 20, 2016 Author Share Posted February 20, 2016 Thanks for the kind comments, the lad is back to normal thankfully. Hopefully I will be getting back to this soon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted February 12, 2017 Author Share Posted February 12, 2017 A year after downing tools on this project, I've summoned up the energy to have a go at finishing it. Â This is where I was at 12 months ago. Â Â I just needed to glue on a final few items and then it was time for a couple of coats of my pre-mixed green. On drying it looked a little patchy, probably as there are only a few dregs left of the paint. However I figured it was going to get weathered anyway, and the patchiness did disappear once I added a thin wash of a mixture of well diluted Italeri Acryl black and dark earth. Â Â Â Â I then added a couple of coats of floor polish. Â Â Decaling was over quickly, the decals are typical Tamiya in that they need some convincing to snuggle down over the detail. I find this process is helped by brushing on some Tamiya Acrylic Thinner. Â Â Sorry for the bad last couple of photos, light isn't great in the kitchen. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Henry Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 It looks pretty good to me.        Bob H. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 Good to see this one back underway Simon and it looks like you have made some impressive progress. Looking very good! Kind regards, Stix 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bull-nut Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 Also glad to see this back, good job on the nice smooth paint job. Crusader looks good in overall green, it's not a scheme I'd considered doing until now. Maybe I should pick up another one  1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted June 3, 2017 Author Share Posted June 3, 2017 Another long break away from the model bench. This time my car got written off after a collision just a day or so after my last past. No injuries and no issues with getting my insurance pay out. New car was sorted within a couple of weeks - but then the last few months have been flat out. Sigh. Anyway, long weekend here so picked up where I left off. I made the glossed paintwork grubby with a dirty dark watercolour wash, which I wiped most off before sealing with a brushed on coat of Humbrol Mattcote. I then applied a wash of Italeri Acryl Dark Earth.   4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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