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Introduction to 1/35 models


gruffy

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Hi, thinking of going into my first foray with 1/35 tanks and armoured vehicles. I want to either get into ww2 North Africa or Malta theatres. Can anyone recommend me a kit that not too scary as my first build?

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I was thinking same thing, you want something with a low road wheel count. A panzer IIc would also do for an early DAK vehicle.

On the British side, the Italeri boxing of the Crusader would be a good choice too.

regards,

Jack

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I was thinking same thing, you want something with a low road wheel count. A panzer IIc would also do for an early DAK vehicle.

On the British side, the Italeri boxing of the Crusader would be a good choice too.

regards,

Jack

It's a really good straight forward kit (issued in the late 1970's and was state of the art at the time) as it comes but some work is needed to resolve the forward mudguard/fender issue.

Italeri actually do 5 variants: the Original Crusader III, then the Crusader I, Crusader II, Crusader III AA MkII, Crusader III AA MkI all have the same basic fault with the mudguard/fender, all being on a common chassis.

  • The front idler is 1mm too large in diameter and in order to fix this Italeri introduced a 'step' in the mudguard/fender (so wrong!)
  • To fix this you need to put the Idler into a mini-drill on slow speed and spin-sand off 0.5mm from the diameter
  • this will then enable the mudguard/fender correction to occur (you can't fit the track without this) using some 10-15 thou card
  • or fork out for the etch set
  • The track is springy and will need to be fixed to the top of the centre 3 road wheels ONLY (a characteristic of Cruiser Tanks)
  • and the track does not glue easily

The 1/48th Tamiya Crusader series do not have this problem, but they do have a metal tub

WP_000017-1.jpg

Other than that, it's a FAB Kit even after nearly 40 years, and it's British!!!

For the shake & bake easy build go for the NEW Tamiya Panzer II (not the Old one!)

Edited by Shermaniac
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  • 2 weeks later...

You need to replace the jerry cans that come in the kit. They are of very poor in de-tale, lacking the three handles, and the filler caps don't look any thing like the real thing.

Italari, Tamiya, Acadamy, and at least one other company make replacements.

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Alan, if you are looking for a trouble free introduction to 1/35 armoured vehicles (WWII Nth Africa) then my recommendation would be the Tamiya Matilda, the new one. It is a brilliant kit that gives you the choice between glueable rubber band tracks or link and length tracks.

The only slightly sour note may be the Caunter scheme for painting which you may want to dump in favor of an overall Portland Stone finish.

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Alan, if you are looking for a trouble free introduction to 1/35 armoured vehicles (WWII Nth Africa) then my recommendation would be the Tamiya Matilda, the new one. It is a brilliant kit that gives you the choice between glueable rubber band tracks or link and length tracks.

The only slightly sour note may be the Caunter scheme for painting which you may want to dump in favor of an overall Portland Stone finish.

I also agree, the Matilda is a really good build.

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I absolutely loved building Tamiya's Matilda.

If you can airbrush, you can do the Caunter scheme.

DSCF4141_zps03c17dfd.jpg

DSCF4144_zps98375028.jpg

DSCF4143_zps2668ef45.jpg

I built this right after the kit was released. The paint is Floquil enamel mixed to get close to the correct shades.

G

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