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Evening all, Although I am primarily aircraft focused, I do like a good tank now and then for the fun of it! As with everyone else, I've been watching events in Eastern Europe with keen interest, including the deployment of a British Army battlegroup to Estonia under Operation Cabrit- including the Challenger 2. Having just built Tamiya's superlative 1/48 desertised CR2, I wanted to another in the more usual overall green and dressed up in foliage as seems to be the norm for ops in Estonia. The Trumpeter 1/72 kit was available at my local model shop (the Mecca that is Model Junction in Bury St Edmunds, run by David and Owen - all round top chaps!) and that seemed ideal. I think there is a Dragon kit around, but reviews indicated the Trumpeter kit was better without being perfect. Negative comment was made about the size of the front armour plates of the turret, but a quick vernier comparison and a couple of sums later showed them to be the same proportionate size as the Tamiya 1/48 - good enough for me! The build itself was straightforward and quick no cockpits or canopies to snarl things up! It was OOB aside from a chunk of roofing lead glued into the hull to get a sense of weightiness. I use Tamiya paints in the main...in the end I used a base shade of xf81 with overspray of Xf81 and xf67 mixed for to tonal variation. I applied xf57 buff for the running gear and side skirts...that gave a very close rendition of the light Estonian mud/dust judging from pics, and I finished with tamiya weathering powders in green and sand. I was keen to do the foliage that graces CR2 in most pics in Estonia...for this I used lawn moss! Sprayed green and applied with PVA, this looks to my eyes at least pretty convincing. I added the tank registration decals, but CR2s in Estonia mostly seem bereft of additional markings, which suited my purposes nicely. Trumpeter do give you a whole mass of decal options, but oddly only one scheme is alluded to in the instructions...I am sure that those much more knowledgeable about the CR2 could make good use of them! So, a nice addition to my AFV shelf...I was hoping that Tamiya would bring out a range of 1/48 CR2s, but the very specific way they have done their moulds for the desertised Op Telic machines seems to indicate they won't, which is a shame. I might well have a go at another one of these in BATUS green and sand colours; anyone know what their CR1s are like accuracy wise? In any case, the pics...

Leaves and Branches - Diorama Accessories 1:35 Eduard Eduard's foliage and fauna sets have been coming out in bunches for a while now, and we have the latest sets here, which deal mostly with small branches from various types of trees and plants. Oak Leaves Autumn (36218) and Spring (36205) Each of these sets contain 14 large "sprigs", two medium sized, and six small sections. They are all painted on both sides with shades of green for the Autumn set and a more brown shade for the Spring set. Each leaf is shaded and has delicately printed vein detail on both sides, and the April set have no acorns, while the Autumn set does. The branch sections have a more curved cross-section due to their paint covering, which stops them looking like a flat PE set. Careful arrangement and twisting of the leaves and branches to random angles will make for quite a believable appearance. Autumn (green) Spring (brown) Garden Flowers (36223) This fret, measuring 14cm x 8cm contains many different types of garden variety flowers, the names of most of which escape me, mainly because I'm not a gardener. Some of the flower types require a little bit of assembly to improve their 3D look, namely the tulips, gladioli (?) and daffodil, but there are a couple more that need petal manipulation to finish them off, and I have no clue as to what they are. With careful bending of the petals and leaves they should look quite realistic in the right surroundings. Palm Leaves - Coconut (36210), Desert Fan Palm (36206), Kentia Palm (36207) Each set contains pre-painted frets of palm leaves, with 9 leaves on the Coconut set spread over two large frets, 10 leaves on the Desert Fan Palm on one fret, and 6 leaves of the Kentia Palm on two large frets. Each set is given its official botanical name, which confuses simpletons like myself. Here is a quick run-down of their official and common names: Cocos Nuicfera - Coconut Palm present in most tropical areas. Washington Filifera - Desert Fan Palm, cotton palm, Arizona/California fan palm native to the West coast of the US. Howea Belmoreana - Kentia Palm, common in Austrailia. Grapevine (36204) This fret contains seven 13.3cm lengths of grapevine, with finely etched leaves and grape clusters, which are of the green "white wine" type and are folded into bunches from three sections so that they look a little more three-dimensional. The instructions recommend curling the leaves over by using a small ball-bearing on a soft surface, which could be quite time consuming due to the myriad of leaves present. Careful twisting and bending will result in some pretty realistic looking vines. Review sample courtesy of