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Another lightning build while I summon the courage to get on with my scratchbuild figures. My kit builds seem to be getting quicker and quicker. Whilst my plan was to move to smaller scales to save display space, the rate I’m popping them out kind of defeats this idea. Ho-hum…. This Rubicon kit is a mixed bag really - nice moulding and very hard plastic which is identified on the box as being ABS, but I’m not so sure. I’ve had no luck in the past gluing ABS with Tamiya extra thin, but this stuff glued really nicely with it. Detail wise, it looks pretty good, but there are some oddities. For instance, the tracks (moulded in one piece with wheels attached) only have the finer detail included on the front run around the idler wheel. The rest of the track has the basic pads/links, but no fine detail. Odd. With only a few parts, it didn’t take long to get together so I didn’t bother with a WIP. I elected to replace all the handles with thin wire, drilled out the floodlight to replace with my usual Molotow liquid chrome and clear glue lens, and added a homemade tow rope to the front. Parts are included to make early and late wartime machines as well as a post war version. I went for the post war, because I liked the fishtail exhausts (which I drilled out) over the wartime cowls. I also wanted to do a bronze green finish. This was done using a 50/50 mix of Tamiya XF-5 and XF-67 over a bit of black preshading. I followed up with a Klearcoat, decals (very nice, and including lots of options; even individual numbers to make up your own registrations), and a black oil pinwash. I wanted to keep this one fairly tidy, with no heavy chipping or dents and rust, so just ground up pastels for dirt. I really struggled to get the canvas mantle cover Matt - I tried Tamiya flat and then Humbrol Mattcote varnishes, but there was still a sheen. Now I recall why I’ve used W&N Matt varnish in the past…. I had a failed attempt to remake the little lantern sight on the turret, but it was just too fiddly, so came up with the idea of a draped camo net to cover it up. The net was made from a piece of elasticated bandage which I teased out a little, soaked in diluted PVA and painted a variety of brown and green shades and sprinkled some dried parsley onto – yum. Although a bit overscale for this one, I think it looks ok, and should certainly look reasonable on 1/35 scale. I made a second, rolled one for the back deck too. The little commander figure is pretty nice and fun to paint. So all-in-all, whilst not exactly challenging miniart detail wise, a super quick build, and a pretty nice result. I may do some more of these kits.

This is my first entry for the Group Build. It is the fairly recent Vespid kit of the A34 Comet tank. I have not built a tank kit for fifty years, and the last one was the Matchbox kit of the Comet. IT is out of my comfort zone as it is: a) a tank, not an aircraft. b) it doesn't go together like an aircraft kit, and isn't finished in MAP colours c) it has far too many wheels than a respectable vehicle should have, as well as tracks Having said all that, the kit is well moulded with the use of slide moulds to make life a bit easier. For example, the return rollers (note use of armour terminology her, I have been reading up), do not have an obvious mould line, which is going to help with cleaning up. There is a small fret of PE, for some items that look sensible to use this medium for, and a turned brass barrel that looks nice. I am going to use some aftermarket decals for a post-war tank in bronze green, as it may be cleaner. Building a tank will be traumatic enough without covering it in loads of muck. There are some alternative parts for use with later variants of the tank. The Comet tank was designed as an up gunned Cromwell with a newly designed 77 mm gun that was smaller than the 17pdr Anti tank gun, but offered similar performance. A new turret was needed, but the turret ring diameter was the same as the Cromwell. The Comet entered British Army service in 1945 and remained as a gun tank in British service until 1959 in Hong Kong. It also survived quite a while with other countries including Ireland, Finland and South Africa.

HI Everyone, I have finally finished my first diorama, as above I have called it NAAFI Break I had no plan and no idea really, Started with a Comet my first model for well over 20 years and then a Firefly my favourite WW2 battle wagons, then decided on a diorama, and found the base by accident I liked, and without any planning just added as I went along, lots of first for me on this, so overall I am chuffed to bits with it, few areas could be better especially the figures, but thanks to some great tips received and with practice the next ones will be better. Enough Waffle 😂 The Pics Well there it is, It has been a great stress reliever if not for COVID I may not have got back into the hobby. Cheers Mark

Dear fellow Britmodellers, this is the brand-new 1/72 Vespid Models A34 Comet tank, in markings of 3rd Royal Tank Regiment, 29th Armoured Brigade, 11th Armoured Division (from the box). I added a towing cable from my spares box and antenna on the turret. The model was painted with Gunze/Mr.Hobby acrylics, weathering with artist's oils and pastel chalks. Photographs by Wolfgang Rabel. For the first time, the A34 is available as an injection-moulded kit in 1/72. I had never heard of Vespid Models before, and was pleasantly surprised by the quality and fit of parts. Even the link & length tracks, which often cause me troubles, were relatively easy to assemble. My boxing contained a metal gun barrel and photo-etch parts. Thank you for your interest, best greetings from Vienna! Roman .