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Valenstitch

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  1. Sunny and fresh in Portsmouth, You know the score! Pot of coffee on and off down the shed! So this morning`s job! To correct the drivers roof issue I need to remove the detail on the roof and the weird blob in the episcope rebate. The rebate is a feature but it is too low, the production vehicles had slightly taller glacis plates, not by much, but they came up beyond the original roof height to allow for the lap join with the additional armour, hence the reason for the rebate anyway, its not there on the MK1. If you look at the left side you will see a rough pencil mark on the edge of the glacis plate, the bottom corner needs removing parallel with the front face of the glacis at a scale 5 inch depth, my mark is there to give you a rough idea. On the underside you can see the moulding steps out to accommodate this feature, in addition there is a cable conduit for the headlights that shouldn't be there. So I glued a couple of plasticard wedges in place, once they have gone off I can mark the glacis depth and cut the bottom corners off both sides. Here is the removal of detail underway, I have removed the headlight conduit where it bends over the top of the glacis plate, the vertical tube like conduit is going as well. The next job will be to fill the episcope rebate with scrap card and build up the height of the top of the glacis, then blend it in. The new roof panel will be the same width as the kits roof and will start at the edge of the turret ring, it will need a corrected drivers hatch, the kit hatch is the wrong shape, and the corresponding "coal hole" will need scratch building parallel with the horizontal, even in the MK1 the drivers hatch and associated optical devices were parallel with the horizontal and did not follow the slope of the roof. Naughty Dragon! Ta for lookin` Granto
  2. The autumn is upon us, Nights are drawing in, the garden needs tidying before winter, there are a score of household seasonal maintenance jobs that need doing before the weather breaks, but why waste ideal modeling weather! So what better to accompany those long dismal dark evenings staring at "the Leg Iron" over a plate of Findus crispy pancakes and pot noodle, than a build that`ll frustrate the bejesus out of you! I`m Granto, you may remember me from previous threads such as DML Saladin ++ and "first build in donkeys years", well don't let that put you off, here`s my remedy to Seasonal affected disorder, DML`s Conqueror Mk 2! (cue fanfare) No, trust me, I`m a doctor! So here it is.................I couldn't wait to get my hands on this when I first heard about it, and I spent hours trawling the interweb looking for news, and then came the reviews. I couldn't believe they had got it so wrong, but a part of me still wanted to believe, so I kept the faith, and Brothers and Sisters the good Lord of plastic spoke unto to me in a dream! And he said that my faith would show me the way and that I should show that way unto you, my good Brothers and Sisters, so here tiz`! So, we've all read the reviews about Dragon and their black label series, being a sceptic and believing everyone is selling something or can be bought I parted with my spondulicks for the kit as soon as it became available, I compared my kit with various "experts" opinion and I thought there was a build here, just as I believe there is a worthwhile build in their M103! ( yes, it`s a big job but are you a modeler or an assembler?) Dimensionally the kit is good apart from the main armament, there are a few items out of position by a couple of MM here and there, but the basics are there and as I go through the build I will show how I overcame those that are an issue, there was one review though that really got my back up, the reviewer categorically stated that one major flaw "couldn't be corrected without major surgery", well I got you there big man, because for once I am blessed with knowledge denied to lesser mortals! At that point I knew I could I could do a proper correction to this error and build a decent representation of a Conqueror Mk2! Conqueror has always been one of my favorite tanks, One sat as the gate guardian at the Junior Leaders Regiment at Stanley barracks, Bovington when I was there, I climbed all over and inside of it, and she`s still there to this day, a behemoth of the cold war battlefield. Conqueror was developed, as was the M103, to kill soviet tanks at extreme range with her 120mm gun whilst sitting one bound behind the more numerous Centurions with their 20 pounder guns. Conqueror was not designed to accompany the Cent`s and therefore was not given the same kit or design features, she didnt have a boat shaped hull to deflect mine explosions because she wasn't supposed to encounter mines by virtue of the fact her job was overwatch not patrolling, her gun kit didnt work until she went over 1.5 mph, Centurion`s worked all the time whatever, despite being over twenty tons heavier she had the same meteor engine (albeit fuel injected) and a similar merit-brown crash gearbox. As far as the Army were concerned she was nothing more than a glorified mobile pillbox! There were 20 Mk1 vehicles built which were used for troop trials, these took place while the construction of the MK2`s were under way and the two marks differed in some respects, there were a host of internal changes but the most visible difference is to the front of the hull, and this is what wound me up in the review! Conqueror`s hull was constructed from armour plate, the thickest being the upper and lower glacis which was 5 inches thick and angled at 60 degrees. Behind this formidable armour sat the driver and a whole heap of ready rounds, however the design committee were not satisfied that the weld seam between the upper glacis and the roof plate was able to withstand an impact from an explosive or AT round, they also felt that the join to the roof plate was weakened further by it`s proximity to the three episcopes provided for the driver. Rather than a redesign, the most economical and practical solution was to reinforce the the join by an applique patch that was chamfered to the rear to resemble a very thin wedge and lapped at the front to engage with the top of the glacis plate in addition two of the episcopes were deleted as it was felt that the vehicle, being one bound behind, would not necessarily be driven closed down for long periods. these modifications were incorporated into the vehicle during construction of the hull giving the now characteristic crease across the hull roof, there was no internal difference due to this modification. This as you will see is probably the easiest fix in the history of modeling! An applique patch! Hardly major surgery is it? Anyway, enough of my ranting, in accordance with modeling law here are the guts! One sheet of manufacturers opinions, double sided! Hull top and bottom, Nice detail, big Dragon sprue gates! Turret and mantlet sleeve. DS tracks! Optics and headlight lenses. As is usual with Dragon, you get sprue duplication. There is some very nice detail on here, all apart from the big drainpipe on the left! Hideous .30cal! Again, it`s not all bad news! Plastic everywhere! Here`s the Conky next to Zero Echo! Hehehehehehe She`s a big old girl! Oh, I almost forgot the drainpipe.................................................... OMG! S`lush! But wont I need to solder the bits? No you Donkey! It all screws together! Sweeeeeet! Sooo Sweeeeet! So there you have it Brothers and Sisters, Conqueror coming! Shed first thing in the morning! Ta for lookin` no "G" Granto
  3. So much to do, laundry, scoff for work later, hoovering................ideal time to go down the shed and do some modeling! So here Is what I accomplished this morning! First shot of green! I tend to do multiple coats to build up a depth of colour, this is the first of em! Right , lunch! Ta for lookin` Granto.
  4. And now dear reader, I have restored all the missing photos! Thank you photobucket! Ta for lookin` no "g" Granto
  5. This Old girl has been sitting on the back burner for a few weeks now, but I haven't forgotten her, here is today`s progress! It`s not much I grant you, but here are the radio antenna! .04 brass tube with a tiny blob of dissolved sprue on the end, primed with stynylrez and given a shot of green, every little helps! Ta for lookin`no "G"
  6. Sunday, it`s sunny, cool and there is a whole list of chores that have my name on em here in Portsmouth, but it`s ideal modeling weather so off to the shed! Here is where we`re at this afternoon! I sanded the pour stubs on the wheels slightly to retain the toe in on the suspension, then stuck a blob of blutack in to the hole before giving them a shot of stynylrez! Then I got cracking with the pre shade, this is probably not going to make a lot of difference if I stick with my Bronze Green scheme, but better to do it now even if it is not seen than change my mind and then kick myself for not doing it! The .30 cal got a proper shot of black, that is it`s final colour other that weathering. So we`re back on track again, I`m on lates this week so an opportunity to make further progress while the "leg iron" is at work! (and just visible in all shots are Zero Echo`s antenna sitting in the corner of the spray booth, that`s my other thread on here!) Ta for lookin` no "G"! Granto
  7. Saturday morning, dry, sunny, fresh and the grass needs cutting here in Portsmouth.............ideal modeling weather! Here is what I accomplished this morning while the "Leg Iron" was getting her Barnet cut! Ok sit rep, All the main parts of the build are complete, resin corrections/improvements are fitted, I have decided to go without a local mod turret basket, looking at the images I have found featuring the Saladin the vast majority are vehicles without this feature, especially UK/NATO based vehicles. Going by the date of the images again the vast majority of vehicles in european theatre use are without baskets until early/mid 70`s, which is almost the end of their use by front line regiments, although they remained in use in Cypress I believe until the 1990`s because CVRT would rip the shoddy roads up! So, I think I`m going firm on a "Bronzy minter" early 60`s, basic stowage, light weathering with the crew in 60 pattern green combats......................at least that's what I`m thinking right now! I still have to fettle in the tyres, once that is done they`ll get a priming. The Stynylrez is already showing a few areas that will need touching up, so the job list isn't shrinking as fast as I would like, but any progress is good! Well, the "Leg iron" has breezed in, time to pretend I can tell the difference between old haircut and new haircut! Ta for lookin` no "G"! Granto
  8. I could be wrong, but I think the CVRT boys on Scorpion had to end their lay in depression because the main armament was breech heavy? They were always gobbing off about it in the NAFFI, going on about "Recce" and all that guff, they all went a bit quiet when we went down range and looked at the old Conqueror`s shot to bits by 120mm DS Prac! Ah the good old days!
  9. Right then lets give this new format a go! No update for a few days , things got in the way Now for the serious stuff! I think we`re ready for the paint booth! There are some bits of stowage that I will leave until after the paint job, other than the six wheels these are the three components that will get the stynylrez treatment. I think it`s an excellent product and with a bit of luck it should neatly fill the tiny voids around the turret stowage loops! I used some scrap brass and plastic card and rod to correct the .30 cal mount to the No.5 mount that allowed the commander to fire the MG from under cover without exposing himself! Yeah, until he had a stoppage, then he had to stand up and try to clear it in full view of the fella`s he was previously trying to upset with his well aimed burst of "Three oh"! A disastrous bit of kit that was still to be seen on MK1 Ferret scout cars when I was in the Green machine in the late 70`s (the mounting and the gun!) I gave the turret ring a quick wipe with a skinny stick to loosen it up, the paint will tighten the mating gap. It would also appear that the gunner will have to end his lay in elevation! My main and co-ax have got a case of droop, I`ll have a gander at that as well later! So there`s a few more snaps of current progress, paint next! Ta for lookin` no "G"! Granto
  10. Well, here is another installment of "Shed time"! Spot the obvious mistake............... Yes, I`ve had to shorten the axle stubs! I was so excited about how good these replacement wheels looked from the front compared to the kit items that I forgot to have a good butchers hook at the other side Bugger! The hole is only 3mm deep on the resin wheels, while the kit parts are much deeper, you cant drill out the resin because the stub axle is the same diameter as the hub, the only thing for it was to take a razor saw to the axle!!!! So a deep breath and off I went, faint hearts and all that............... Three down and all is well, my reinforced suspension stood up to the saw drag without a murmur! Bargain! I have also got most of the stowage, mudguards, bins, exhausts and so forth on now There's some filler to clean up on the torsion bar end covers, these were a shocking fit! And there are a couple of bits of plastic that intrude into the drivers compartment that`ll have to go as well to make room for the driver, but it is almost there...........still the commanders MG to finish and mud flaps and maybe a basket....................but progress, definite progress! Currywurst for tea! Ta for lookin` Granto
  11. Lovely day here in Portsmouth, sunny yet fresh........Ideal modeling weather! So I`ve been in me shed, and this is where I`m at now............. Antenna bases are on, these are the resin ones from MR Modellbau, yet again the parts are fragile and small, so there is still some cleanup to do once everything has gone off! But they are a marked improvement on the kit items. I also made up a couple of bent brackets from an old piece of photo etch fret, these went on to the outer face of the smoke grenade dischargers. Again a marked improvement on the kit parts, or should I say blocks? This was followed by the barrels themselves, so they are almost complete now. Then I glued the left set of mudguards and bins on, the right side will go on once I have fettled the upper exhaust brackets, they are currently too short by 1-2mm so I skinned the mating surface with a small strip of plastic strip, once that goes off I can shape it to fit the curve of the exhaust, the bottom bracket is accessible even with the guards and everything in place so I`ll save that job until later. You can also see the replacement MG tripod here awaiting cleanup and part of the commanders MG mounting, this is one area where there is going to be some work despite my earlier optimism! The wheels have their hub endcaps on now as well, these still need cleaning up and the correct toe in sanding in, its only a gnats knacker of a wee bawhair in terms of an adjustment but it still needs doing.......once I figure out the "how" Here`s the other side, exhaust and replacement fire extinguisher in place...........there really isn't much left to do, Even the commanders MG barrel clamp is in place! I might just slope off and have a go at making some mud flaps....................................or a turret basket................ Ta for lookin` Granto
  12. 11:31 sunday morning, two mugs of very strong black coffee done and my images are restored to my thread!I feel better now, better than James Brown, I feel good, I knew that I would now! Normal service has been resumed! Granto!
  13. Bugger! I suppose I will have to rewrite my WIP for history to judge me fairly!
  14. I appear to have lost half me photos! Cheers photobucket!
  15. You`ve made a good job of that! One of the nicest Italeri kits, still going strong after what? thirty five years? I`ve got one in my stash somewhere!
  16. Righto, here we go with today's installment from the shed! Perfect modeling weather here in Portsmouth, it`s raining, Girly is off out, there`s a pot of coffee on Woooooohoooooo! First issue was to correct the smoke grenade discharger! It would appear that the cable I fitted has pushed the item off true before it had properly gone off! Bugger! So that was job No.1. And before anyone comments I am aware the hatches wont close, they were not engineered by DML to sit on a coaming but flat on the turret roof, once you put your plastic strip down you`ve upset their geometry and that's it, there`s no going back, but I made that decision at the start of the build, hatches open, crewed up! Just need to find some crew now! Next up was removing the tools from their pour stubs, pick helve, head and spade, these will replace the poor items in the kit. I also gave the exhaust a clean up And fitted three missing bolt heads These are the Dogs Dusters! They are from Meng, they come in various sizes, bolt heads one side of the strip and threads and nuts the other side, fantastic idea, just shave them off with a chisel blade scalpel and put them on a tiny drop of extra thin and Bobbins! You`re done! Although I had to secure these three with CA, and this time it stuck in a second! So on to job three, unsticking my tweezers from the exhaust! Typical of DML and this kit in particular is the way they seem to have divvied up the jobs, it`s like first fella gets the turret, off he goes and makes all the tie down points individually, fella two gets the tools and stuff, so he goes and copies a Lego shovel and leaves the third leg off the MG tripod and decides that the fire extinguishers ought to look like aqualungs and that's him happy, off down the pub, fella three his job is mudguards, does a cracking job on the triangular bins and the mudguards them selves, then he sees fella two has updated his facebook status from the pub while he waits for fella three to join him, so he rushes the top bins, then fella two messages fella three from the pub to let him know there`s already two pints "in" for him so he does a blob for each of the eight tie down points on the mudguards and slopes off! Leaving me with this.............. Well, not exactly this, this is after I had removed the blob and drilled some holes for this! Wire tie down points! They will all need tidying up and a wee fettle, but you should get the idea! And just sneaking into shot is the turret again! With it`s mantlet! There, that`s better! This is the second fitting of the mantlet, yet again I have been caught out by the unpredictable nature of the resin, this piece stuck like Detritus to a blanket! Unfortunately not where I wanted it! I had to prise it off with bayonet! A quick rubdown and attempt two succeeded! However, I am sure the eagle eyed amongst you have spotted the dolop of filler. The Co-ax holes don't line up, so I have drilled the resin mantlet hole to match the kit one and will tidy that up later! Last job of the morning was this............. Drilling out some holes for the tool tie downs and bending up a bit of old brass fret for the spade handle stop, still lot`s to do though, mainly cleaning up the over exuberant use of CA glue! I feel a Kebab coming on! Ta for lookin` Granto
  17. Sweet Baby Moses.................I`m speechless, I've been following this build from the start, every time I log on I hope there`s going to be another update, and it never disappoints! This is jaw droppingly brilliant, I`m sitting here mouth open in astonishment, kind of grinning and laughing out loud at the same time! Today is a good day!
  18. 3 2 1 you`re back in the room! Here`s todays update, The hatches are done, I put a thin lip on the edge of each of the hatches using styrene strip, it was a bit of a pain because the resin had very different properties to previous stuff I had used, there was no grip at all, I was expecting the resin to suck up the CA for instant grab but nothing happened for ages I had to keep re positioning the strip and applying pressure with the tweezers which only ensured that the strip stuck to the tweezers not the hatch! But it eventually went off, so a quick once round with a skinny stick and that was that! Job jobbed! I cleaned off the last of the filler I used to sort out the heavy seam between the back decks and the hull side, fitted the drivers episcopes, a small strip of channel on the Don 10 reel, and cracked on with the turret. The smoke grenade discharger bodies have been fitted and their associated cables, I`ll fit the individual barrels once I`ve replaced the hefty moulded strap on the side with a bit of etch brass, I also fitted the inboard hatch hinges and the gunners sight hood, there is a clear window and wiper blade to fit to this but that will happen after I have painted the interior of the sight hood. I have also filed the front of the inner mantlet flat prior to attaching the replacement resin part. And finally for today I`ve been adding all the junk to the mudguards, the drivers sight episcope, and filling the exhaust where there was a bubble in the resin, a very productive morning even if I do say so myself! There is still a lot to do before I can get some primer on it, but I think it`ll be in the paint booth by the weekend! Ta for lookin` Granto
  19. Here`s todays installment from "I have a shed and don't get out much!" Onwards and upwards with the Saladin`s suspension! It`s done! I had a quick fettle of the shims I glued in place yesterday, just a quick scrape with a scalpel blade and a swift rub with a half round rat tail file and I was done, the axles are now held snug against the top of the hub carrier. Here is the before And here is the after They are still there, you just cant see them, a quick drop of the thin stuff and it was all done, The suspension is now solid and should be resistant to normal wear and tear! So there is a little tidying up to do but this job goes in the win column! All six wheels touch the ground! And I`ve got toe in! BOOM! After all that excitement I got some resin on the turret. The sight guard withstood my clean up effort and went on without any drama. I got the bins on my mud guards! And my cut down side and tail lights. And started putting a lip on the turret hatches! There`s a bit of clean up to do on these, handles to fit and so forth but it`s coming together now! Bang tidy! Ta for lookin` Granto
  20. Next up was the suspension again! This is "The" weak point in the kit in my opinion. Although it is only a plastic model I am concerned about the fragility of the suspension, none of this gubbins above is in contact with the wheels! Six of these drive shafts are all that stands between success and disaster! Six little 1.2mm plastic rods! Put a hefty resin wheel one end and an armoured car t`other and there`s gonna` be tears before bedtime! So I have put six little semicircular shims in place inside the hub carriers which will need to be fettled to fit but these should make the axles solid enough. The downside is there is no way to put any steering lock on, which would have looked nice on the six wheeled beast! With just a little thought DML could have engineered the ability into this kit to enable that feature, there are some delightful features and some lovely individual parts, but then they go and drop the bundle! All but one version out of the six available in box are mid 1960`s vehicles, the kit is a very late production or mid 1970`s modified vehicle, Duh! If you want an early one you have to put a lot of hours in!There is no .30 cal commanders machine gun included and no mounting yet the barrel clamp mounting is! Despite the hatches being articulated they are devoid of detail on their inner faces and the hatch coaming is missing altogether. It is also crying out for a crew although given the options you would need them to be in shorts, denims, combats you name it! A good proportion of these vehicles were fitted with local mod turret baskets, especially in the middle east, so that would have been a nice inclusion as well. Anyhoo, that's enough ranting for now, so now I`m waiting for Tamiya and their finest to do their thing and go off so I can finish the hull! In the meantime I have butchered the side lights, well, more correctly, butchered the indicators leaving the side lights intact and fitted them to the mudguards, again, letting the thin stuff go off! So there`s some binnage to fit, and a pile of this stuff to rub away at! I`m not going to apologise for the photo, it`s samsung's fault! The resin is nice and crisp although the commanders sight guard is a bit fragile! I`m not convinced that the sight guard is an improvement over the kit part, but if I bugger it up I can always just chop the mounting for the MG off and fit that to the kit part! Right I`m off down me shed, Slaters Dudes! Ta for lookin` Granto
  21. Saturday, september, no sun, Oh well shed time then! So, here`s the turret as of this morning, the hatch coaming is on and awaiting clean up, the resin hatches are a spot on fit although they also need a styrene strip fitting around the edge, so I`ll be cracking on with that later. I have fitted two of the antenna base units and filled the hole for the third since I`m building an early example not a post 72 one, that location now has a blob of filler in it! I also filled all the seams in the rear deck/side wall join as it looked a bit over scale.
  22. I`ve been into re-enactment for over twenty years now Julian, I`ve always been into military history but the kit, weapons, technology drill rather than the dry history of where and when, started off in WWII due to a friend from work who knew I was ex Army and thought I would find it interesting, did WWI from there, RN, then Napoleonic and finally ACW, I don't class myself as a battle re-enactor, I wouldn't care if I never fired my gun again on the field, I much prefer living history, living the daily life of a soldier and the public interaction side. We try and do it properly, there`s a wealth of knowledge in every society, it`s just a case of putting the pieces together and seeing if it works! And yes, the wool uniforms are a trifle warm! It was that humid last weekend that when I went to put my shirt on in the morning it was still wet with sweat from the previous evening! Mmmmmmm........moist! Just like Jungle training, dry kit off, wet kit back on!
  23. Well it`s been a few days since I got any bench time, mainly because of this! A weekend in the woods at Military Odyssey! Heaps of fun! But back to work again and so to the shed................ I put a cut with a razorsaw into each of the drive shafts for the six wheels, only about 1mm deep, this was followed with a drop of extra thin to soften the styrene, a couple of minutes and I was able to tease the angle into it, this enabled the six shafts to fit neatly into their stations without straining Like that! I am going to leave them to go off overnight so that tomorrow I can fill any remaining gap with some dissolved sprue because this is the weak link in the suspension. I also started to put a lip around the two hatches with strip, something completely ignored by DML! You would have thought that a basic and very visible detail like that might not be left out, but then again............... I also removed the cable run for the indicators since I intend to build an early example, I was surprised that it wasn't too difficult although a little tedious, but the plastic is very forgiving "Goldilocks" zone stuff! And finally for the afternoon, on with the gimp mask and out with the saw to take off some resin pour tabs! Wheels, hatches, mantlet, commanders sight guard and exhaust! Oh, and the postman left this...................... Ta for lookin` No "G"! Granto
  24. Well prowler, I was tending towards an early to mid sixties example, I found a nice image of an 11th Hussars vehicle which I quite like, and being ex Royal Hussars myself I've been quite swayed by that, but I haven't gone firm, There were a lot of these around and they were in use for a long time, so there's a lot of choice. I personally don't much like the sand/green or sand/sand middle east camouflage, and I don't like the later faded green/black that you see a lot of. I like the idea of doing a mint bronze green one, possibly a Yeomanry or TA one, I`ve got time to have a ponder and a scratch now I`m back to work!
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