sunray

I might just do that Kris but the vinyl tracks are attached with CA glue. The reason I was looking for replacement track was because I snapped one piece of track dry fitting them. As I said I couldn't get a set so I brought another kit for £10 as I though the metal tracks are a bit over priced for what there are. I have bought and used metal track before a few times but they were for strip down and up grades of 1/16 scale R/C Heng Long tanks. http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234939637-my-heng-long-tiger-build/ http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234939758-my-heng-long-walker-bulldog-build/ http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234939972-my-heng-long-panther-build/ Anyway before I ordered the Bronco Track Set from Hannants as they had one in stock so I will have to build another one in a few months, which I don't mind doing at all.

Thanks chaps I am glad you like it and I would definitely recommend the kit, its a classic. Thanks mate. You are right about the track. It does look better on Kris's build. I did try to get hold of replacement track but when I wanted it, no one had it in-stock, so on went the vinyl ones. Oh well may be next time. The jerry can frame is part of the photo etch set and was easy to do which surprised me.

How have I missed this. Excellent job Kris. Cromwell put me on the your crack'n build. I love the tracks which look a lot more realistic. I couldn't get hold of replacement tracks as when I was looking, no one had them in-stock so I was stuck with the vinyl ones which to be honest are a bit too small. You have done an excellent job with your tracks though and the rest of the tank I might add.

What an excellent kit and photo set. Loved this build and I can see why Tamiya are still selling this kit. One of the best £10 I have spent. The full build is available at http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235018264-135-tamiya-panzer-kampfwagen-ii-ausf-fg/&page=1 Anyway here are the finished photo's.

Thanks chaps.

Thanks Kris. The primer was a bit too dark for me so after I sprayed the black I sprayed the centre of the panels with thinned white to lighten it up and hopefully make the paint more sun bleached. Anyway thats the plan.

Cromwell you are right there. I think I get more fun adding scratch made bits than I do making the rest of the kit. Anyway I have started the paintwork by applying the the primer coat and then I added a bit of pre-shading.

Thanks Colin. When you do yours I would recommend a book "The Pucara Story" as its an excellent reference. Its is available from Amazon UK for around £19 and is worth the money. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pucara-Story-White-MMP-Books/dp/8361421823

I have finally finished. This kit gave a few problems being fit issues on nearly everything but I have really enjoyed doing it as it gave me a chance to try a few new things. I am really pleased with the result and after reading references on the Pucara I can see why people loved it. Anyway here are the photo's and I am sorry there are a few. Before I forget thanks to everyone for their advice and support through the build which can be found at http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235018470-172-airfix-pucara/

Thanks Pete I have been going like the clappers to finish this today. One of the last jobs was to attach the antenna. To hold the model safely I used a car sponge with a few modifications.This did the job.Then using EZ Line I attached the antenna using CA glue.Then I just cut of the excess.I then made the stand as I have done a few times before from oak flooring and brass tube with a slight bend added. I joined everything together with CA glue and finally I added the props. Finished. Now I am off to do the final reveal which is at http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235021641-the-airfix-172-pucara-takes-flight/. Thanks everyone for your kind advice and encouragement through the build.

Nicely done Clive. You are doing an excellent job on this kit.

Next I masked the canopy with masking tape and masking fluid.Once the fluid had cured I could start adding the paint. As always I primed, then sanded down and then I added some pre-shading.For the base coats all the references I could find mentioned that you needed 20% of this and 40% of another to get the right shade of brown, green and anodised metal. So I took my time and found matches for the colours I wanted already in my paint rack. They weren't exact matches but for me they were close enough and here they are.The colour scheme I am using is for a Pucara used in the Falklands War (A-529) and I am using Xtradecals from Hannants. Anyway once I had decided on the colours on went the paint. I was going to mask the camouflage but for speed I did it freehand. Once dry I added a coat of Tamiya X-22 varnish ready for the decals.There aren't a great deal of decals to go on but reading up about the Pucara as you do I found out the Argentine Air Force painted the camouflage on the aircraft once it arrived in the Falklands. To help show this I followed the instructions on the Xtradecal sheet to fade out the aircraft serial number. So I added the decals as normal.I didn't need to use any Micro-Sol as they went down a treat. I waited until they were all dry and I made washes of the camouflage colours so I could fade out the serial numbers as per the decal instructions using my airbrush. Then I just sprayed over the numbers.When I was happy with the affect I sprayed another coat of varnish to seal in the decals.While this was drying I turned my attention to the props. I masked them with tape and sprayed them. For the weathering I made up a wash from cheap oil paint and on it went.I then gave it a coat of satin varnish to seal in the weathering and tone the gloss down. Then off came the canopy mask.Just a few more jobs and it with be done.

Thanks for the advice John. What I am thinking of doing is incorporating the damaged decals in the weathering if you know what I mean. Thanks Clive. As you have seen its not hard to do and its cheap. The hardiest bit is getting the right size of grill but luckily I had a piece of grill from a T62 Tamiya kit. I find a good place to get small gauge grill is from an old dish washer filter, just in case you know someone who is throwing one away.

Thanks guys. Thanks John,I have just sprayed with primer and I have just got a few gaps to sort out that I missed. I will be doing an American livery mainly because the decal set has a bit of damage due to its age and the best decals are the US ones out of the set.

A last year I did Airfix's 1/32 Crusader Mk.III tank. http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234998810-132-airfix-crusader-mkiii/ Loved the build so I thought I would see if I could get hold of an Airfix 1/32 Grant but I couldn't find one but I did manage to get hold of Revell 1/32 Lee so here is how I am getting on.As you can see from the last photo this isn't a young kit but for a 42 year old kit it hides its years rather well. Though the figures are not the best nor are the decals and the vinyl tracks are a bit long but the rest of the kit passes muster. The plastic quality isn't bad, the ejector pins are not in any places to give too much trouble and the detail looks right to me. My first job was to make the six bogie's. The parts needed a bit of tiding up but not too much. To get read of the seam lines on the wheels. This was done using my Dremel, a cocktail stick and piece of wet and dry stuck on a flat piece of wood.The cocktail stick are cheap but I found the chuck of my drill wasn't too keen on them as every now and then one tried to escape. So looking around my bench I spied a mandrel from my Dremel which has a thin screw which easily fitted the wheel.This worked perfectly and made the job of sanding the road wheels a faster. I had a piece of wire grill which I got from my spares box and I decided to replace the grill between the filler caps.So using small drill bits I got to work.Using a file and skinny sticks I smoothed down the sides. I cut the grill to size and I used plastic rod to make the inner frame for the grill to sit on.I had a look at the vision slots and I decided to drill them out and used scrap plastic as backing. I did this to give them a bit of depth and used the backing as I wanted the hull light tight.I did this for the turret as well. Regarding the turret I drill out the main gun barrel and the coaxial machine gun adding cooling vent holes to the as well.As you can see from the previous photo, the side door has a grab handle above it. As a rule I always replace plastic handles with metal ones if I can just because I don't want them to snap off later on and I think the look better. So using a bit of copper wire roughly the same thickness as the kit part I cut it to a usable size.I used a metal ruler to straighten the wire by rolling it under the ruler.Now using a flat pair of pliers I put the first bend in.At this point I was going to use a nice piece of kit made by RP Tools for making handles.But just my luck, the size of handle I wanted was where the pin is, so on to plan "B" and I made them the old way.So I first fitted the wire into one of the handle holes.Then I roughly placed the flat pliers where I wanted the second bend to be. Keeping the pliers in place I removed the wire from the hull and then I put the second bend in. If I wasn't happy with the bend, as I am using copper I just straightened the wire with the steel ruler and tried again. Anyway when I was happy I trimmed the wire ends to make it easier to fit.I then fixed them in place with CA glue.For the upper machine gun I used a syringe needles which was the same diameter as the kit part and I cut to size using my Dremel and a cutting disc. Then I glued in place with CA glue.I filled the tool locating holes on the rear deck as I was going to add my own tow cable made from twist thin copper wire. The reason for filling all of the holes as it allows to slightly move the location of each tool if I have to.I used plastic rod glued in the holes and I sanded when the glue has cured. Here is the kit tow cable.And here is the homemade one. These are easy and cheap to make. All you need in a hand drill.A vice and a screw. You put the screw in the vice with the head of the screw and about an inch of the screw shaft sticking out of the top of the vice and tighten the vice. For this cable I used two pieces of thin wire bent in half. The loose ends of the wire are placed in the drill chuck and tightened. The two loops at the other end are placed over the head of the screw in the vice. Now pull back slightly on the drill to straighten the wire and just turn the handle of the drill and watch it braid the wire. Stop when you are happy and cut to size. For the loop I bent the end of the wire then I used a small strip of soft aluminium then I used a drop of CA glue to keep it in place. I use aluminium sheet but you could use the aluminium off the top of wine bottles.Next I tidied up the shovel by removing the mounting strips, etc and the plastic that filled in the gap in the handle.Then I started to add the tools, cable, tarps, etc.The tarpaulins where made by just rolling a piece of soft aluminium and the shovel and cable strips where made from the same using CA glue to attach.Even with all the homemade additions for me this is a fast build. There has been a bit of filling but not as much as I first though. For me the kit antenna was a touch too thick and I knew would snap off in the future so I again used thin copper wire rolled and straightened as before.So I just cut off the kit antenna from its mount and I drilled a hole in the mount to take the wire. I then attached the antenna mount to the tank hull.I am not going to attach the antenna to the mount until I have finished painting the M3.

Excellent work Paul and I would be interested in a PE stanchion set PM sent.

Thanks Rob. I haven't done much model making lately as I have been busy but here is an update. I attached the arms to the crew and painted them.I used Citadel paints and washes for the figures with a coat of Klear between them to seal the paint. Once dry they went straight into the cockpit.I dipped the canopy in Klear to add a bit more shine to it but I could of got away without it if I wanted to as it was that clear. I then proceeded to attach the canopy to the fuselage without any trouble using PVA. There were one or two very small gaps but the PVA sorted them out.For a 1/72 canopy it has got to be one of the clearest I have come across.

Thanks again chaps for all the kind comments and support. Well I am nearly there. All that needs to be done now is the stand as the tank is finished. The kit tracks are on and a touch more weathering was added to the rest of the tank, so here are a few more photo's for you to have a look at.

Thanks chaps. At the minute I am doing a touch of chipping and weathering of my poorly looked after tank. The look I am going for is a vehicle that has gone through the whole of the campaign from start to finish hence the badly chipped paint work, dents, battered wheels and with a bit of rust and dirt when I get round to it.The jerry can is from my spares box.The helmet is from the kit and was hollowed out so it would sit properly on the hull.

Thanks chaps. Here are a few photo's to show the overall look of the kit now.Anyway I moved on to painting the cockpit. This I thought would be a pain to do as it was assembled before I painted it but I was wrong and it didn't create too much trouble. It just took a bit longer to do which wasn't a problem. First I sprayed inside the cockpit grey and then hand painted the instrument panels black. I used a cocktail stick dipped in paint to add the detail for the dials and switches and then I gave them a wash with thinned white paint.I painted the seats and they were glues into place.

Thanks chaps. Well on with the paint. I primed the tank parts and left it over night to dry completely.Then I did a touch of pre-shading to add a bit of shadow and on with the base coat which was Tamiya Dark Yellow XF60. With that done and a small amount of paint left in the paint cup of my airbrush I added a drop of white XF1 and a bit of thinner then mixed it all. This with then sprayed on the upper facing surfaces mainly in the centre of panels to hopefully show sun bleaching of the paint (yet another handy tip picked up from Phil Flory and his team). I then painted the wheel rims by hand which didn't take too long and with that done I gave it all a coat of Klear to seal it all.Now on with the decals.Then another coat of Klear to seal the decals.

Thanks chaps. The pilot looks a bit short in the photo as the seat is too far back as I haven't fitted the rear instrument shroud but once its in he just fits nicely.

I have done this kit in a different order than I normally do as now I am going to add detail to the cockpit. When I tried the seat in the rear cockpit the gap between the seat and the side panels seemed a bit big to me.So I glued pieces of plasticard to the side panels to take up a bit more space.Once the glue had cured I removed the excess plastic. I then attached the side panels and control panels. The control panels required a bit of support, so for this I used scrap bits of plastic which did the trick. For the interior frame of the cockpit I used thin solder cut to length and glued in place with CA glue. To finish off I added the throttle levers made from pins and I added a bit of cabling made from copper wire attached again with CA glue.I checked reference photo's because the seat seemed to be a little low and as I am using Revell pilots I needed to make the seat slightly larger. All that I did to do this was cut the seat and add a strip of plastic which was an easy fix.I also made the ejection seat pull from a piece of copper wire wound around a drill bit of roughly the right size.The copper pull was then cut to size and glued in the pre-drilled holes.I used the same method for the antenna in the tail plane.The antenna's on the engine nacelles were made from photo etch sprue cut to size and glued in position.For the aerial under the rear fuselage I just used pins glued in pre-drilled holes.As were the control columns.As I was doing all this I would test fit as I went.For the props I had to peg each blade into position into the hub to align them then I glued them into their final position using Tamiya glue.Now it is starting to come together.

Thanks chaps for the comments and excellent advice. The reason why I put in a smaller pin in was also to give the first elevator more support while the glue cures and to keep the elevator as the right angle. You don't need two pins in the second elevator as the long pin is enough to support the second elevator but also allows a bit of movement while the glue cures to enable me to align both together. (If that makes sense?)So I glued the first elevator (the one with 2 pins) in position first using CA glue to tack it in position. I trimmed down the long pin as it was a bit too long and I marked the second elevator and drilled the hole for the pin. Then test fitted and adjusted the alignment and I glue the second one in position using CA glue. When I was happy and checked the alignment I used the homemade Tamiya Extra Thin filler to fill any gaps and to give a good bond on both elevators. I left it over night and sanded the joints down.

Thanks John. I am not going to add figures as I will be using them on another kit. Thanks chaps. While building this kit I can understand why it is still in production, its just loving building this. Anyway I have been busy doing the photo etch and I am really enjoying do this as well.As you can see that I have left out a few tools out of their holder just because I have saw missing tools in photo's but I am going to add the shovel to a different part of the tank. As if the shovel has been used but they didn't have time to put it back in its holder. I looked at the kit part and I thought I would try something different. You get a flat shovel head in the photo etch set so I used that and using the kit part as a template I cut a piece of brass rod to size for the shaft. First I added a bend in the shovel head. Then I thought about using CA glue to join the parts but I decided to solder them together instead. Using a piece of MDF with right angles and straight lines drawn on I temporary stuck the shovel parts in place.Then I just soldered them together.Then on with the rest.The turret was straightforward like the rest of this kit and I drilled out the two gun barrels.As per the Eduard photo etch instructions I removed what I think is the main gun barrel cleaning rod detail from one of the boxes and now its time to put it back. The Eduard instructions tell you to use plastic rod but I decided to use copper wire instead. First I cut and straightened the copper wire. Then I added the photo etch clamps to the box lid.Then I just added the copper wire and then the handles for the photo etch clamps.I also added the jerry can holder.Thats all the photo etch on.