Big_Bad_Bill

Excellent work, apart from the glaring omission - where's the crates of beer? Herforder handbags usually lined the floor of the 432, unless this near endex and they had run out. Spookily I left Sennelager this very morning to head back to UK.

Good start Neil. I didn't realise it waa the one with the Death Star base.

Cheers Luke.

Cheers Pete.

Thanks Maddoxx

It's a nice kit and cheaper than the Meng version, although it's the wrong version if you want a "Z" one. I would advise using the Meng instructions for a painting guide - the Zvesda ones are black and white and only show two elevations whereas Meng's are full colour and all five.

Thanks Milan

Cheers Stu.

Folks, I've skipped a couple of steps and went straight for the RFI Thanks to all that stayed with the build. Hope you enjoy the finished article. Bill

Folks, I've finished the BMPT and Tim is happy for me to publish the RFI. I hope you enjoy it. The WiP is here It was a fun build although copying the camouflage and getting modulation got a bit tedious. Tim wanted it dusty, which does kind of go with the paint scheme. The paints were a mixture of Mig and Tamiya. The Mig expo paint set was totally off (for this scheme anyways). I used the Mig Warm Sand for the desert yellow and NATO Brown for the dark red/brown. The dark sand I mixed Tamiya XF-59 and XF-72 until it looked right, because it was what I had to hand. I used Quick Shine for the gloss coat, Mig desert wash for the pin wash, Vallejo Matt varnish and finished with Mig dust pigment and thinners to stabilise. Bill

Mine is still stalled - I got side-lined by the BMTP and the Mark IV tadpole paint job. It was such a slog I need to summon some enthusiasm to finish the painting. I've done some tape baskets, and plan to add some tissue paper and PVA covers. The water jerrycans on mine are definitely British ones - although they are missing the second smaller cap on the other side. As for posting, there is a thread in the FAQs. Why not start your own WIP? The only model I can remember that had decals for the fire extinguishers was the Meng Warrior. I long ago gave up trying to find any and made my own. If you print out the design on normal paper, give it four coats of varnish, you can soak the back, gently scrap off the excess paper once it softens and use decal fix to attach. I've made green and red for which era I'm doing. Here's one on my Academy 510. Bill

I've wondered that myself - it looks really handy for handing the solar shower from. Maybe @Das Abteilung may know?

After the hundred days offensive, the Imperial German Army doesn't collapse as expected and the Kaiser vowed to fight on, retreating into Prussia. The German Navy was recalled at the last minute from their suicidal attack on the Royal Navy, forestalling an imminent mutiny by the rank and file and retreated to Danzig. Lessons learned from the Duesseldorf campaign identified the requirement for close support mortars in urban combat and some method of protecting the crew from sniper fire. A pragmatic solution was to use the tadpole tails, that were already built and sat in France, to make Close Support Vehicles (CSVs) where the tails would provide armour for the Stokes Mortar crew, especially as rough terrain wouldn't be an issue. After seeing the CSVs trundle into the outskirts of Berlin, a young RE Major, Percy Hobart, comments to their Company Commander how the brown vehicles stick out like a sore thumb and suggest painting white and grey boxes on them to camouflage them better. The paint was found in a factory in Spandau and quickly applied. A General later commented on it's effectiveness "I couldn't see your bloody tank!". The model The model isn't actually a model - it's a toy: The scale is 1/32 or 1/35 or somewhere in-between. It's meant to go with 54mm figures. Tim, my benefactor, was given it in it's natural green plastic and asked me to paint it for him. The only stipulation about the scheme was "enjoy yourself". Knowing how much he liked: I went from there and proceed to enjoy myself. It was nice not having to follow a guide and just do what I thought looked right for a change. After picking a scheme I idly mulled over how such a scheme on this tank could come about, which led me to my first "what-if". I'm not an historian or WW1 buff but it seemed plausible enough. A bit of a change from my normal genre of Cold War AFVs. Percy Hobart just came to me - anyone crazy enough to think up swimming tanks and his other "funnies" would have been the man to think up Berlin camouflage in the 20s. The quote from the General is allegedly what the GOC of Berlin Infantry Brigade said after the Chieftains were first painted in this scheme. He went to Smuts Barracks for a demonstration and was taken to the street outside. After chatting with the OC for a few minutes commented on when the tank was being bought around, only for them to point out it had been sat at the end of the road the whole time. Hope you enjoyed it. Bill

Back to regular programming.... Painting finished and tracks attached Gloss coated and wash applied I've got a couple more bits to attach, then matt coat and then weathering. Bill

Right, I tried it out. Tamiya flat base seems to work with Quick Shine I tried it out on my guinea pig AMX 13. From left to right, Quick Shine with flat base, straight Quick Shine, Vallejo matt varnish and Tamiya gloss with flat base above the exhaust. Here I tried the wash. On the straight gloss it flowed into the crevices whereas on the other's it stayed put. I left it overnight and tried to clean it up with a Q-Tip Again on the gloss it cleaned up nicely, but on the matt and satin it wouldn't budge. Depending on how you do your washes would depend on the best option. Personally, I prefer the gloss so I'll stick with that.