So here are the box n sprue shots:






Not great photos, I know, but you get the general idea. It looks like a pretty easy build. Can't vouch for its accuracy, as I know even less about tanks, than I do about aircraft.

So these were taken on Sunday evening, and on Monday evening I built this far...

And last night, I had got so far...

Main body:


Sponsons:



Fuel tank:


It's gone to together pretty easily so far.

Bloody, kit-supplied tracks!!

problem ?

There are resin ones out there. see link I put in Mikes wish post for another

Anyway, after all it IS A Female Tank, you surely never expected it to be happy being shod first time out

No they drag you round all the shops, then take you back to the first shop they went in.

OK, I am an "armour virgin". So what is the correct way of getting the tracks glued and on the model? Do you bond the sections first, then pull the tracks over the sprockets? Or put the tracks, with the last joint unbonded, into place and then bond the last joint?

It could just be that the tracks are a bit cold and stiff being sat out in the garage most of the time. It's just the weld between track section is particualry obvious and seem very unflexible. Pictures later.



Sorry, can't find that post...

Hi, looks good so far I'd recommend a set of Accurate Armour resin tracks for this one I've got the male & the kit tracks are awful, tried some glue & they just wouldn't have it, one thing though the guns on the female are better then the male they're elliptical in shape.


Andy.

Am building the 'Male' version atm - using the Accurate Armour tracks as they really are a vast improvement!

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=43462

Iain

Found it for you, from this thread http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=42892

Linky you want is
http://www.panzershop.cz/inshop/scripts/pr...ist.asp?first=1

Scroll down though is a full conversion. Though not aufait as to how you sex a tank, so could be for either.

Thanks to Smuts, 32Sig and Tont. So if I go for the Acc Armour resin, that would mean cutting every link, right? I see elsewhere that they cost £17. That may be a deciding factor. I am afraid to say.

The Accurate Armour tracks come in strips for the long sections (will have to trim to length) & individual links for round the corners. I got some for my Mk IV & they look a damn sight better than the kit's tracks.

I know what you mean about buying a set of tracks that cost almost as much as the kit, I thought long & hard before digging into my sporran!

Pete

Having built an Emhar MlIV and using the tracks supplied, and with a Whippet still to be built I definately will be using resin tracks this time.

They sound great, but 17 quid! Sorry but modelling is a hobby for me, not a way of life. I will see what I can do with the kit-supplied tracks.

Thanks anyway, for your advice.

mud , mud mud mud mud , mud , mud - early operations were real bogfests . usually so much that only the ridges of the shoes were visible they had to carry extra self extractors it was so bad - 'unditching' beams , fascines , 'spuds' and modified tracks . tanks were just battering rams . the top brass , with it's old fixed mentality forgot their glorious cavalry , that would win the war , had to wade through it all too . not that there could be a machinegun about . . . . .

Indeed T. This might well be the first model I put onto a base and give it a good old spattering!! That should hide a multitude of sins. So here it is naked, sans tracks, sans paint:






Oh and no "roof rack" on yet. It looks a little delicate so I might leave it to near the end of the build.

Hi, looks good to me nice to see some early armour as well, & they never look overdone covered in mud due to the terrible conditions they fought in.

Andy.

The "roof rack" or Fascine Rail is quite delicate, but I managed to paint mine without knocking it off (too many times). The weakest points are the butt-joints, so you might want to considering pinning them with some fine brass wire - I know I would if I was building another one

Thanks Smuts and Mike. It's coming along. I didn't have any problems so far, but as you say the rail might require some strengthening.

It is now painted - the colour guide is vague, so I pre-shaded, and sprayed all over Hu155 Matt Olive drab, with a light overspray mid brown (forget which shade). To my eye it looks OK, though I am a bit at a loss how to chip/weather it. I will certainly try in some way to get some rust stains on it, and then muddy it up. Any suggestions as to which medium I should use for mud?

The decals are also on, but have silvered a bit, despite 4 coats of Klear.

Piccies later.

Most of these tanks were 1-use disposable, as attrition was high through either enemy action, terminal bogging down or mechanical failure leading to capture... I put a bit of weathering of the paint finish on mine during the airbrushing process, added a couple of Mig filters to harmonise the color, then gloss coated it and put some Mig dark wash around panel lines and rivets. After that I just did a little fading with some oils, and added some paint chips with dark grey Vallejo and a fine brush. The tracks were airbrushed Vallejo Tracks Primer, then given a treatment of artists' pencil on the high points. I didn't bother adding any mud, as it would have hidden all the detail.

I believe that in action, the tanks soon got muddy up to their half way mark, and got accretions of mud on top of the weapons panniers and even on top of the guns, both from shell fire and the action of the track shedding mud as they went over the top. I've got a few pictures of tanks post action, and they're a right mess! I might put some more effort into weathering when I do my Mk.V, but I hope those pointers help a bit

Pity about the crew...

Thanks for your weathering tips. I don't have any Mig products. It's weathering powders right? I have some couple of chalk pastels I sometimes use - I was thinking of mixing these with "something" (water?, thinners?, alcohol?, Klear?) to make a muddy sludge for mud spattering and general griminess. Am I off the mark here?

No, I suspect you're not far off. I've heard people using chalk pastels with thinners to make mud, along with very fine sand & sometimes acrylic gel if you decide to thin with water instead. Have a fiddle, and see how you get on.

The washes are enamel based liquids though, which you could probably replicate yourself with some thinners & a daub of enamel paint of the correct color. Filters are an even thinner mix so that you lay down almost no color at all, just subtly toning the base color.

Not really, most got out and enjoyed a nice long walk home once the action had moved elsewhere, or if the Germans were still somewhat 'local' they surrendered. I believe casualties were relatively light and the tanks were relatively easy to put out of action by driving into the wrong shell hole, knocking of a track, mechanical breakdown etc; things that don't involve shelles penetrating the hull.

The two biggest dangers to the crew were fumes from having the engine in the same open compartment as the crew, and 'splash' caused by non-penetrating impacts. Essentially this is where shells and even MGs hitting the ouside warm up the armour through transferrence of kinetic energy, then successive hits cause small flakes of red hot metal to come off the inside of the armour and fly around the inside of the tank. This is why WWI tank crews wore chainmail masks



As for weathering, Mike is of course spot on. I use good quality artists chalk pastels and grind them up for pigments. They work out a lot cheaper and I find they stick to the model better, and retain their colour better when matted down later on. To apply them I dilute them with Humbrol enamel thinners. Don't use water, you can end up with a watercolour effect that stays when dry and you can see that its been applied with a brush. The less thinner to powder, the thicker the 'mud' for a nive variation in tone I let the bulk of it dry, then dust once or twice with different tones, finally I apply Klear selectively with a small brush for wet dark bits

Chris

mix some acrylic artists paint with some talc and plaster that on, or use salt or the like for coarser some with fine brush hair mixed in for grass

Just saw the last two posts; both of which are very interesting - thanks a lot guys.

Well here we are:
basic painting and decalling done. Then a clear coat on top.

As you can see the decals didn't perform too well, despite klear case coat and Microsol/set.





Still quite a bit to do, including the struggle with the tracks.

like the colours, what did you use? those decals did silver slightly didn't they!

The decals are horrible, aren't they? It's like they're printed on transparent leather I managed to get mine to settle with Gunze Mr Sol (the green one), but unless you drown the thing in successive coats of Klear, you'll be hard pushed to ever make the carrier film disappear.

You might want to try pricking the decal with a pin/blade tip, then brush on some more decal solution to try & reduce the silvering. A couple of applications should help

Hi Sniper, the paint is Humbrol 155, preshaded with black, with a light spray of Hu 62.

Mike, the decals got "pricked and sliced" when applying the but it didn't make much difference. I haven't matt coated yet, so it might calm it doen a bit.

Also remeber the camera is on macro setting, it's larger in the pictures than in real life.

cheers mate nice colour that

I've got this one in the stash, looks good hope mine comes out as good when I get around to it.

You're kind Mish, but despite a good start this one ain't gonna make the finishing line.
I've been battling to keep my company going, but I think it'll go belly up pretty soon. As you can imagine, I am a bit pre-occupied at the moment.