Ray_W

Pretty much calling the Valentine complete. I'll save the aerials until I finish the crew/troops/display base which is the next part of this project. I'll also add some tow ropes and a couple of C167 ammo boxes. I suppose, if nothing else, I have something to post in the gallery. Ray

Excellent work with the Lifecolor paints. Exceptional finish. I have to agree about recent'ish Tamiya as mojo restorers.

And add to that electronic books.

There are worse vices in life than polystyrene in the attic. Buy and enjoy and if we're so lucky to complete one we can rejoice. I have tried to cut out the multiple buys of the same kit. I weakened with the Arma Hurricane though.

I'm loving it. I had no plan to build a Valentine and knew very little about it. I had some spare time. Was I feeling deserted? Not really. But, so glad I picked up this kit. Sherman, Matilda, Valentine and a Honey in next year's Stuart STGB. Seems a good plan.

More progress. Decals complete with no issues using Micro Set and Sol. Detail painting is advancing. All the pioneer tools were painted in place, my preferred if I can get way with it. Detail paints are water based acrylic - Vallejo Model Color and AK 3G, while the metallics are Citadel. I painted the water cans in colours ranging from an off-white to a very light khaki to provide variation to the main tank scheme. Any edge and handle wear was represented with Citadel Stormhost Silver. A select pin wash and chipping and wear coming up next. I also think it time I painted the exhaust pipe. Ray

Craig, excellent weathering. Looking good. Ray

Great minds think alike. Havng both kits and swapping parts it just seems too good an opportunity to waste. Time to broaden my research.

I've taken the confidence to another level. I did some preliminary research and discovered I needed the earlier turret so just ordered the Airfix/Academy re-box. Might be a pure Academy build or a mix and match with the latest Tamiya kit. Amazing how quickly you can build the stash.

Thanks Gordon, Yes, you are right about it being an improvement .... The tools of trade Pre-drill and slowly work out using a new scalpel blade. I sometimes use the sharp stainless centre punch as a scraper in tight spots. And, most important, a Donegan OptiVISOR. I also have some other stainless scrapers I find useful, although not used on this occasion. Oh, and I should mention, thankfully, no blood on the parts this time around. For the clean up, I'll glue a little 600 wet/dry to a toothpick (using CA) and sand the cavity and/or a small amount of Tamiya extra thin to dissolve the "fur". Ray

I've started the figures. MiniArt 35299, nicely detailed, although plenty of flash to clean up. It will take some time. The figures are also big bruisers especially when compared to the slender Tamiya crew. I have not measured the figures although they certainly seem oversize and definitely so for British WW2 troops. Not many options though for a number of 1/35 8th Army tank riders. These will have to do. Firstly though the heads, noting I want to swap out the MiniArt helmets to ToS. Some options: MiniArt as supplied - big head, big nose, chin strap to remove. Tamiya for comparison - nicely crafted. Well done Tamiya. Armour35 - I really like these heads. Good fine detail not captured in the image. Good selection of different options. FC Model Bundeswehr set- Soft detail, big nose, advantage of a beret to build up the ToS. Good variety of different faces. I've decided to use the FC Model heads. I will need to do some rhinoplasty and trust I can breath some life into the face with careful paint shading. Here is the first figure underway. Head blu-tacked in position. I thinned the sides of the nose, opened up the shorts, made the ToS with Milliput. I was worried about the better sized, but smaller head stuck on the big MiniArt body. I think it will be OK. Lot of cleaning up to do. Ray

Well I have confidence in us making the cut. Ordered the Tamiya 1/35 kit yesterday. Should have it by the end of the week, all in anticipation. I'll be finishing mine in green and mud.

Thanks Arthur, looking forward to putting those decals in place. Ray

The main colours are now done. Interesting how in these images the hull colour does not look as pink as the wheels. Everything is out of the same bottle of pre-mix. Not to worry. Goodness knows what colour it will be by the time I finish with it, You will notice some post shading. The darker shade is a very thin mix of the Desert Pink with a little of the SCC.2 mix added. Some more to come, although this will be after the decals and detail painting and will be the lighter shades. I also did some post-weathering variation in the Dark Olive Green (Mike Starmer mix 3 parts Olive Green XF-58, 2 parts Red Brown XF-64 and 2 parts Yellow XF-3) with some Tamiya Deck Tan added to a very thin mix. Did I use the hairspray technique? The answer is yes, although I was going for such subtle effects I thought easier to just leave it and use a brush and paint the detail. The chipping you see in the above images was done working with the hairspray like so: The camo pattern was masked with original "Silly Putty". I just did a section at a time - position, spray, remove, and onto the next section - turret, RH side, LH side, front deck and rear deck. I find this the easiest way with rapid drying paints like Tamiya thinned with MCLT, Detail painting and decals up next. Ray

Wonderful smooth paint finish. I like it.

Not long to wait. I had everything set up to start the painting, so it was a simple decision to launch into it this evening. I masked the running gear with post it labels and worked a section at a time. First a coat of Black Mr Finishing Surfacer 1500 (MFS) thinned with Mr Color Leveling Thinner (MCLT). I set it aside for 30 minutes and then returned with a "Service Colour" SCC. 2 mix thinned with MCLT. The SCC.2 is Mike Starmer's Tamiya mix of 5 parts XF68 NATO Brown, 4 parts XF3 Flat Yellow and 1 part XF1 Flat Black. The reason for the SCC.2 is that I wanted to show some wear in heavy traffic areas with minimal chipping where the subject's photos show it. The SCC.2 will be the base coat for the planned hairspray technique. I need to keep this subtle as Mike Starmer mentioned "it is likely that the original colour was SCC.2 but don't overdo the wear since the desert colour overcoat was quite good quality enamel paint. The disruptive colour was less so." I also added some gloss clear to mix. Hence the shine. This was to provide a slight sheen to the paint. I prefer this under the hairspray. I also like the smoothness of Tamiya when sprayed this way. I think I must be influenced by Gunze Semi-gloss lacquer paints. I will now leave this till Monday. Busy day with other matters tomorrow. This will work well as I like to leave plenty of drying time when using thinned Tamiya aqueous paints with MCLT. I find if you spray the next colour within a few hours (easy to do as the surface appears dry) the MCLT tends to reactivate the base colour and you find you need more top coats. A phenomenon I do not find when spraying with just lacquer paints. Best to leave for the moment. Anyway, some good progress today. Ray

I'm planning to build an Australian Buna subject using the same latest 1/35 Tamiya kit. I see FC Model Trend make a conversion set to an Australian M3. Pricey little conversion. Still deciding if I'll go for that or fabricate the parts myself. An M3 in a Jungle setting will make a nice change. Ray

Thanks Craig & James, I think we are ready for some paint. I popped the turret hatches in place and fixed the manifold guard with Blu-tac. I'll shield the running gear during painting. I thinned the left rear guard where I show the fender removed, and then noted I had missed some wires to the tail lights. I'll need to add those. It would have been nice to build up the driver's internal position. I could have left the left-hand side hatch open, as shown in the original tank's image, to give him some air. However, I decided not to. It would reveal a lot inside. I suspect it would become one of those projects that would develop into something much larger. In this case we'll keep it simple. Ray

With the HP-CS the O-ring should do the sealing. The HP-CS nozzle self-centres within the air cap by taking up on the tapered nozzle shoulder. It needs an O-ring to seal the air cap while providing a little variation, a little give, for variation taking up on the shoulder. I find hand tight is good enough. The beeswax on the thread (do not apply to the taper) will give you an indication if the problem does lie with the O-Ring. Possibly a temporary fix while you get a new O ring. Also, all air brushes are not the same. For example the HP-B Plus does not have the CS's self-centring. It has a nozzle rigidly screwed into the body of the airbrush. No taper and no requirement for an O-Ring as an air cap seal. It relies on a sealant on the aircap/main body thread. When you receive it new, Iwata provide a red sealant. This soon goes the first time you break the seal. Beeswax does a great job of providing a sealant. It is worth noting that Iwata-Medea now offer beeswax as a thread sealant. Ray

Thanks Craig. I am happy with the result. Should come up quite OK under a coat of paint.

More time consuming stuff. This time I was laying electrical conduit for the front end electrics. Getting close to painting. Ray

Really not too bad once you get into the swing of things. I've had good practice from making my own aircraft pilot harnesses. Just be sure you make plenty of the wire loops for the inevitable one or three that fly off the tweezers, never to be found. Actually, ""never to be found" is not correct. After this build is done and dusted, I'll be finding them for 6 months at least.

It looks lovely Arthur. You have convinced me to buy one. Looking at the Pakistani Tempests, they may not have the clear section. For example: https://pdf.defence.pk/media/d-jpg.18470/ There are a number of images all with drop tanks without the clear section. Not saying that there is not an image of your chosen subject with the clear section, just not seen it yet. Certainly the early Tempest drop tanks of this type did have. Here are some images of Tempest drop tanks with the clear section: And a variation. Obviously clear at the rear. Nice to see Eduard provided clear parts so you can duplicate the clear section. However, if not required, it should make the masking a little easier. Ray

I'm sure Craig has just run out of film with so many P-40 builds happening at once. Hold on a minute ... it's 2023. OK, run out of memory.

Looking very good Craig. Good advertisement for the AMT kit. Looks the part. Ray