AdrianMF Posted August 12, 2017 Share Posted August 12, 2017 Hi I succumbed to the recent Airfix 17 Pounder for a fiver offer. I scratch built one of these in 1/72 in the 1970s and have a soft spot for it. The latest issue box: The crew is I believe the Airfix multipose Airfix infantry set: the gun is on three sprues: It's not a great moulding - loads of sink marks, distortion and flash. I spent this afternoon making up sub assemblies. The parts needed a fair bit of preparation before assembly, and I see a fair bit of filling and sanding in my future too. It's quite frustrating - all the rectangular parts are slightly trapezoidal to aid mould release. The multipose figures are well modelled, and someone at Airfix took some trouble to suggest how to assemble them to look more like a gun crew. They will need more work to look convincing. But it's a 200+ part kit fof a subject I like for a fiver! Thanks for looking, Adrian 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 I'll be keen to see what you can do with this Adrian, I bought one of these in the sale too but its waiting to come home with a mate. I've long had a fascination for these. maybe its the ability to take out Tigers that does it for me. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted August 13, 2017 Author Share Posted August 13, 2017 Well, several hours of scraping, filling and sanding followed by painting... After I finished the sanding I started to add the smaller parts and I have to confess I'm warming to the kit. Under a coat of green (Airfix suggest Humbrol 253 which is an RLM colour but it looks good to me) (not that I would know) it is starting to look the business. Painting would have been a lot faster with a spray gun, but the second coat was faster and easier than the first coat straight to plastic. Although I will have a sneaky test fit I will keep it in sub assemblies for weathering. I have picked up a bunch of tips from @PlaStixs epic build in the Russia GB and I will give them a try! Thanks for looking, Adrian 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyTiger66 Posted August 14, 2017 Share Posted August 14, 2017 There are a lot of parts there Adrian. It's the sort of kit I would have really liked when I was a young boy; lots of potential with the figures and nice and big. I'm looking forward to seeing the figure painting. It's an area of modelling I find particularly challenging. Great stuff TonyT 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted August 16, 2017 Share Posted August 16, 2017 Hi Adrian. Great idea for a project and I look forward to seeing more progress. You certainly got value for money with this kit too. Kind regards, Stix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted August 18, 2017 Author Share Posted August 18, 2017 Hello, A bit of a diversion while working from home today. The gun is done. Brush painted in acrylic Hu253 and washed with mixes of dark grey, black and rust. Dry brushed with original colour plus light grey, and some chipping, mainly on the spades, in Citadel gunmetal: It turned out all right despite my initial fears over moulding quality. I'm even using the kit-supplied plastic pins for the trail. And the breech works too: I will post a couple of pics to the gallery and make a start on the crew. Thanks for looking, Adrian 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted August 18, 2017 Share Posted August 18, 2017 Great build Adrian, I am tempted to pick one up and try to do a small diorama. I look forward to seeing the figures alongside it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted August 18, 2017 Author Share Posted August 18, 2017 1 hour ago, nimrod54 said: small diorama Erm, if "small" is "about 8 inches square or larger" then small it is! Its size has crept up on me but then I don't normally do 1/32... Regards, Adrian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted August 18, 2017 Share Posted August 18, 2017 1 hour ago, AdrianMF said: Erm, if "small" is "about 8 inches square or larger" then small it is! Its size has crept up on me but then I don't normally do 1/32... Regards, Adrian Err... so I should assume that there would be some difficulty trying to hide it from Mrs N then. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted August 19, 2017 Author Share Posted August 19, 2017 And we're off on the figures. First one is the standing guy with a left arm repositioned to hold binoculars. The set is a mix of poses, ranging from this guy, standing upright and still, to some pretty active poses - it will be a challenge to pull them all together into a coherent crew. Thanks for looking, Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Smith Posted August 19, 2017 Share Posted August 19, 2017 neat work Adrian I was curious about the Brit Infantry as gun crew, I found this (posed?) image as my idea of a gun crew is more this Turns out Bronco do a gun crew set So perhaps the gunners would unclip the ammo pouches? more searching, 17-pounder gun, three loaders standing by with AP ammunition during Operation Epsom, 27 June 1944. I was image searching as I was curious myself (I never got the 17pdr kit 'back then' ) I don't know what the current plastic is like, when these were first available in the late 70's, they were made of this lovely white plastic, which was both crisp but soft and carved/cut really well, so along with the mutipose format it was a very flexible for figure modelling. One final point, the 1/32 Airfix toy soldier range used to be in polythene, but is now in some kind of slightly flexible styrene, so you can mix and match these with multipose, as well as clean them up and paint them easily. HTH Cheers T 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted August 19, 2017 Author Share Posted August 19, 2017 Thanks Troy. While googling I too have noticed a range of dress, possibly partly influenced by temperature and location. I did a whole load of non-reversible trimming to get that figure's pouches to fit nicely but I think I'm going to leave them off the more active figures (they would be a pain to fit on a bent figure anyhow). The big challenge is to get the seated gun layer in a good pose, and then the rest should be OK. I'm doing this figure first to check out colours and do a bit of large figure painting revision! The plastic for both gun and figures is the softish modern Airfix styrene. Regards, Adrian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted August 19, 2017 Author Share Posted August 19, 2017 Well, I've just finished the flesh bits. He's staring a bit but I think I've remembered how to do 54mm faces - the last one I did was around 40 years ago! Thanks for looking, Adrian 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted August 19, 2017 Author Share Posted August 19, 2017 ...And the uniform. On top of the colours used again: I will need a bit of gunmetal for buckles at some point. Thanks for looking, Adrian 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Smith Posted August 19, 2017 Share Posted August 19, 2017 14 minutes ago, AdrianMF said: will need a bit of gunmetal for buckles at some point. Hi Adrian AFAIK, the belt clip and uniform studs were brass. this looks to be natural colour webbing, but it was often green tinted with (green) blanco my quick google is turning up this! http://www.antheads.co.uk/catguide/webbing which has answered some questions I'd not even known to ask, like different blancos... HTH T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted August 19, 2017 Author Share Posted August 19, 2017 Thanks again Troy! I have a dim memory of using an army surplus rucksack for cubs/scouts, and brass furniture rings a faint bell. I prefer the look I get when I add a touch of Hu78, so I will assume they blancoed! I have been playing with the running figure that Airfix tell you to put in the gun layer's seat. After a fair amount of major surgery and component swapping, I've now got him to fit in the seat and look like he's in conversation with the first figure. I've managed to reproduce the pose myself without pulling anything! Lots of filling and reworking of the clothing, but I think it will work. I may well tighten up the vignette I had planned to just have these two and a loader or two, rather than a full crew. Thanks for looking, Adrian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Smith Posted August 19, 2017 Share Posted August 19, 2017 I do like the gun layer, great pose ! .... ah, the 'holding the sten magazine' arm... I did a load of these in my youth, me and a friend did military for a while, I had the allies, he did axis.... and there really was not a much allied, especially British. 'back then' A set of 8th Army figures crossed with the Infantry set would be good for an "in action" crew as they have shirt sleeves. One oddity about the British Infantry set was they are late war in uniform and equipment, but the battledress is the 1937 pattern with pocket pleats and concealed buttons, as opposed to the 1940 economy pattern, no pleats and exposed buttons. I used to have a great Marine battledress jacket when I was ta school, but a 'a friend' borrowed it for a while and knackered a bit. I do still have the cloth badges somewhere though. I digress, very neat bit of figure painting as well cheers T PS from the thread on the new Tamiya Archer kit http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235024947-archer/&do=findComment&comment=2789346 On 07/08/2017 at 17:45, SleeperService said: Further to earlier comments. In the Kew Archives there is a report compiled by the Royal Artillery of user comments on equipment. The towed 17pdr gets a hammering as it's 'a bloody coastal defence gun not a field piece'. The Valentine 17pdr is universally praised for the speed it could get into and out of action and also for the fact that the vehicle wasn't 'tank-like' and so crews weren't always being asked to do tank work as was the case with the M10. PPS here's a 'more than you ever suspected' on an aspect of webbing http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/equipment-field-gear/brace-yourselves-comparison-pattern-1937-webbing-braces-across-empire-603321/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted September 24, 2017 Author Share Posted September 24, 2017 Hello All, I finally got to the bench after weeks away, and I've finished the crew: Sadly postimage is down for maintenance so I've started a new Flikr account. Hope these all work for people... It's surprisingly hard to make "multipose" figures look as if they are doing anything except exactly what the designer originally posed them as doing without much more work than I had time or inclination or skill to put in. So purpose-built gun crew sets are worth the money! You wouldn't believe it to look at them, but the netted helmets have masses of lighter dry brushing and dark washes to try to bring out he net effect. No dice! Also, my painting standards dropped a bit for the two loaders, and plummeted for the poor guy on the left. However, it's hard to see his face... This cries out for a diorama (or at least a background that isn't aircraft-background-blue!) - I was hoping for another vignette GB but this thing is huu-uuge by my standards and wouldn't fit a 6x6 base. It would need at least a 6 by 8 inch base, and even then the barrel would be hanging off into space. Thanks for looking, and thanks for an interesting and varied GB! Regards, Adrian 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted September 24, 2017 Share Posted September 24, 2017 Very Nice Adrian, excellent work on the figures they look great, even though you feel that it isn't your best work. 5 hours ago, AdrianMF said: ... and even then the barrel would be hanging off into space. Under the rules of the last Vignette GB that would have been acceptable, but I guess that it is the trails that give the 8 inch requirement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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