Nenad Ilijic

Thank you. Thank you. Here's the model before painting in case you need a reference for the changes needed for these early Crusaders: Thank you, mate. I have this one on my Kindle but haven't started it yet. Do you recommend it? Thank you. Thank you John. I think I've seen your version (I think that's where I found out about these strange air filters). Good luck with your new project! Thank you. Thank you Milan. Thank you. Thank you Andy. Thank you. Thank you Stuart. Thank you Ed for your kind words. Thank you, Francis. Yeah, one of my favorites as well. I see it as a very important step for later more successful designs. Caunter is very tricky indeed, especially considering that they are almost always wrong in the manufacturer's instructions. That's why I always rely on Mike Starmer's drawings. Thank you Simon. I did Border's kit some time ago. It is a great kit, I highly recommend it. Thank you!

Beautiful work Roman. Inspiring.

Hello folks, Here's my latest build. It should represent an early Crusader Mk. I, from the time it was first used in combat, in Operation Battleaxe. It is based on a particular tank that belonged to 6th RTR, one of 52 Crusader tanks assigned to the regiment on May 17th, 1941, after arriving with the Tiger convoy, on May 12th (67 Crusader tanks arrived in total). This tank and its crew participated in several battles between the 15th and 17th of June and it is one of the tanks that was captured by the Germans (there were 16 Crusaders left on the battlefield). It is interesting to see in German reports after the battle. Their evaluation of Crusader Mk. Is, that they first encountered during the battle, was that it was thinly armored and very easy to knock out with a variety of weapons, but it was impossible to chase because it was very fast. The model is an old Italeri kit, No. 6432, with quite a lot of AM stuff added. 3D printed E.T. model tracks, two Royal Model upgrade kits (one for fenders and the other for the rest of the model detailing), Master BESA machine guns, Eureka XXL tow cables, and a mix of different stowage items from a spare box. There were some scratch building involved as well, like air filters, a version that is very specific for this particular batch, some changes on the fenders, antenna (?) mount on the side of the turret, rack on the back, and maybe few other changes here and there. It's painted in a Caunter camouflage scheme, based on the Mike Starmer drawings, with a combination of MRP, Vallejo, Gunze and AK Real Color, but mostly MRP. Masking was PITA (I hate masking Caunter camo), but not as close as my previous build (AEC Matador). Did just some subtle weathering. Chipping and pigments (first sprayed and then additionally rubbed on places). Here are some detailed shots of the stowage. And here is the reference photo I based this model on, although I wanted to depict it in its state before the capture (it has captured German jerry cans though :). I enjoyed this build a LOT. I prefer this type of build: simple kits, that involve some amount of scratch building and some AM parts. That is a perfect sweet spot for me regarding the fun involved. Now I have to build one more Crusader, Mk. II this time Cheers, Nenad

Congratulations on finishing this challenging kit But for some reason, I don't see photos. Both here and in WIP thread. Cheers, Nenad

Fantastic rework John! I like it a lot.

Hi John, I think I found the photo of this particular tank you would like to build (the one that the artwork in your first post is based on). At least to me census number looks like T15769 and the camouflage is quite similar. Mantlet should be a later (closed) one. Other than that it looks like Crusader Mk. I to me, but I am not an expert. Cheers, Nenad

Thank you guys, this is great!

Hello folks, How should Crusader Mk. I tow cables look like? Should they have this rod in the middle as Eureka XXL suggests? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/38550425493 I'm not seeing it on the photos, although I'm having trouble finding some photos where cables are clearly visible. Also, what should be the length? Thanks, Nenad

Fantastic work all around. Cheers, Nenad

Thank you mate! Thank you Darryl. Thank you MD for your kind words. Thank you Nico. My first time doing vegetation so it means a lot to get a confirmation that it makes sense. I was concerned a lot about how to make it to be in scale. Thank you Simon. Thank you. Thank you. I was also puzzled about the soldiers. And it seems like all of them are dressed differently. Would love it if someone could shed some light on this. If I woule ever try to make a diorame, this scene would be the first on the list.

Wow, this is so good! Amazingly realistic. Can't stop looking at it Nenad

Beautiful model. I love it! The weathering is fabulous. Nenad

Thank you @GStreet for your kind words. Thank you @VinBizz4786_. Thank you @evilbobthebob. Happy to hear.

Thank you Andrew. It means a lot to me.

Wonderful work! I wish I could do figures like this.

Wow, this is just superb! Great work all around. How did you make camouflage nets?

Maybe this one? This one is quite unusual I am wondering what it is. Crusader is Mark I with later sandshield I would say. Nenad

Thank you. Thank you for your kind words. Thank you Homer. Thank you Toryu. Yes, this was quite refreshing for me, I haven't built many wheeled vehicles, so it was a nice opportunity to learn some new techniques and to learn about artillery units. Will have to to that more often Thank you. Not only high part count but also very overengineered, combined with errors in instructions, makes kits a bit challenging. Appealing for masochistic types But again, I must say that the bottom line is that kits can be built into nice models, and I like them for that fact.

This is some serious modeling! Real masterpiece. Good that you made the panels removable. I hate interior kits for the fact that you have to close your hard work at the end. Cheers, Nenad

Loving it! Great work John. Especially suspension. Cheers, Nenad

@Carius, @Richard E, @Foghorn Leghorn, @Bullbasket, @Pig of the Week, @Retired Bob, @Nigeyboy, @Pauly Block, @Andy H, @Longbow, @Model Mate, @Keeff, @Armorrich, @IanC, @Stef N., @StuartH, @Milan Mynar, @vaoinas, @JeroenS thank you guys, you are very kind.

What a brilliant little model. You did fantastic work, I love it!

Nice model Cesar. Great work with zimmeritt.

Hello folks, Finally finished this one. It was my most challenging build so far, and I must say I am happy I can call it done. The model should represent an early version of the AEC Matador, used as an artillery tractor, towing a 6-inch Howitzer. It's based on a reference photo taken in February 1941, near Giovanni Berta, Lybia. It probably belonged to the 234th Battery, 68th Medium Regiment, HQ Middle East Command. However, at the time the photo was taken, the battery was temporarily attached to the 64th or 7th Medium Regiment under the XIII Corps, while the rest of the 68th was deployed in Sudan. It was taken during the opening stages of Operation Sonnenblume in some godforsaken place in Libya. Having no experience with artillery units it took me quite some time to figure out the unit, marking, etc. More info here. AEC Matador kit is AFV Club No. AF35236. I can say the same about all the AFV kits I built so far. They are all very quirky, but they can be built into nice-looking models, and there's always some amount of frustration involved. Instruction errors, and fit issues (which vary from perfect fit to no fit at all on the same model), are usually over-engineered... However, the details are generally fantastic. This kit had all of that and more. On top of everything, the plastic was a bit brittle, which combined with fiddly parts meant a lot of time spent on fixing broken parts. Despite all the issues, it is still a great kit, and I can recommend it. The 6-inch howitzer is a resin kit from Resicast. Never built a resin kit before, so it was a challenge of its own. But the kit is relatively simple so I think it's a good choice for a first resin kit. Here's the model: Only the wheels were replaced with the AM Panzer Art resin version. The wheels included in this kit are vinyl ones, which I hate. I was considering scratch-building all canvas sheets, but in the end, I only replaced rolled sheets and kept the plastic version for the rest. The reason for this is that I had to mask the Caunter camo, and I am quite sure that paper canvas sheets wouldn't survive this. The plastic sheets included in this kit are almost completely flat, which is a pity because everything else is super detailed. So it will be something left to be desired. The rolled canvas and canvas cover used on the howitzer are made of paper using a VMS paper shaper. The camouflage net was made from medical gauze, impregnated with paper shaper as well. This was my first try to do a vegetation. The result could be better, but it is what it is. It's made from Green Stuff World Seafoam trees and leaf litter. Decals are coming from 3 different sets. I was struggling a lot to make the model fit isometric photos. The model is painted mainly with MRP paints, although I used Real Colors for canvas (cause it's easier to do chipping), and Vallejo, Gunze, and Hataka for brush and detail painting. Masking it for Caunter camo was a project itself. Including an incident in the middle of painting when I dropped the model and spent a few days fixing it I did just some basic weathering with washes and pigments. And here are some detail shots. And the reference photo I used. Overall, this was an adventure. Cheers, Nenad

Regarding accuracy, the only brand that is consistently good (from all the brands I tried) is MRP. Compared to Mike Starmer's chips for British colors, and Tomas Chory's chips for German ww2 colors, they match almost perfectly (at least to my eye). The only issue I had with MRP was one bottle of Light Stone, but I think that it was filled with the wrong paint. Every subsequent Light Stone bottle I got was a match. Also, Hataka is mostly accurate. For example, in their British AFV paint set, all of the colors except G3 are quite a good match. Other than that, all other brands were hit and miss, some more on the miss side (LifeColor Caunter scheme set, for example, all colors are completely inaccurate). Pitty Vallejo is not accurate, they are great for brush painting.