Chieftain Mk10 - Tamiya 1:35 with Castoff Upgrade & Scratchbuliding

[C&WR]

I've been blogging this elsewhere, but thought I'd stick a few pictures up here. I've wanted to build a decent sized model of a Chieftain for some time, but was always aware that the Tamiya kit wasn't the same as the one I commanded many years ago.

On returning to modelling I discovered resin upgrade sets and what they could do. I decided the Accurate Armour kit was lovely, but just too expensive & I wanted to feel I was really building stuff. Therefore I set on the Castoff set and my trusty collection of plasticard and styrene strip.

I'll do this by part of the panzer rather than chronologically as I've jumped around a bit, especially while looking for inspiration or waiting for bits. First of all the little pile of goodies which had sat waiting for me to pluck up the courage to start:

[Mr Grumpylee]

Chair sorted, cushion plumped, coffee drinkable...ready when you are

Lee

[C&WR]

Road Wheels, Running Gear and Lower Hull

One of the earliest bits of work was to get on with the wheels. I remember from building things like a Tamiya M41 Walker Bulldog that getting these to look good was a devil of a job. I discovered the technique of using a circle stencil as a mask, so after a coat of Tamiya NATO Black spray for the tyres I then had a go at doing the wheels themselves:

These looked OK from a distance but close up not so good. The sprues forced the stencil too far away from the wheels and I got a lot of overspray:

I then decided to remove them from the sprues, stick them to some masking tape wrapped around a block of polystyrene & try again:

Still not brilliant, the paint was getting round yet. I then realised that if I embedded the wheels into the polystyrene the stencil could lie flat on the surface and the resistance of the block pushed them firm against it:

Even doing them one at a time and having to remove the just done wheel and then place the next one and re-clamp this was a really quick job. I was really pleased with the end result:

Here we go with the hubs in place:

The running gear was simplicity itself, especially as I don't want the wheels and tracks to rotate so I just glued it all in place:

And here we go with the wheels on. I decided not to mess with the seam lines as they would be all but invisible on the completed model:

The right way up, starting to look like a tank:

[C&WR]

Chair sorted, cushion plumped, coffee drinkable...ready when you are

Lee

Thanks, Lee. Hope it's worth viewing!

[Procopius]

I've been blogging this elsewhere, but thought I'd stick a few pictures up here. I've wanted to build a decent sized model of a Chieftain for some time, but was always aware that the Tamiya kit wasn't the same as the one I commanded many years ago.

I hope you'll favour us with some anecdotes of this period of your life throughout the course of the build.

[C&WR]

Upper Hull

The Castoff set includes quite a few bits of resin to upgrade the upper hull rather than replace it completely as the AA set does. I had considered an etch set but these were too expensive (I've been assembling bits for this over the course of months as cash was available) and I have a pretty good stock of styrene strip from my railway modelling hobby, so I'll be scratchbuilding quite a few bits.

First leap of faith was to take the razor saw to the back decks. The old engine hatches came out beautifully and the new ones fitted superbly. I'm afraid I have bottled putting in the louvered hatch to the front-offside as there wasn't a part for this int he set and while I think i could have made something out of the scrap part I wasn't confident. Only an expert would spot this:

The Stillbrew reinforcement round the turret ring fitted well with minimal clean up, although I did use a tiny bit of filler. The upgrade kit also includes a more accurate gun crutch, shown here for fitting before I cleaned it up very carefully:

Again a quick test fit:

I added some reinforcing moulds to the rear bins with half-round styrene, hand cut the dozer blade mounts to the bottom edge of the glacis, and made the splashguard into the proper shape with more styrene. I added from the Castoff set the dozer blade trunking inboard of the front-offside bins. You should also just be able to see that I've added padlock hasps to the rear bins:

I have also never been completely satisfied with the lights on vehicle kits. A trip to Hobbycraft found me these self-adhesive gems:

Having carefully drilled out the centres of the headlights I ended up with this:

The infra-red ones were treated to a spray of black gloss paint. I reckon these will do - the rear reflectors only test fitted as they need a small white part behind them. I also needed to drill out the light covers on the front trackguards:

More work included putting on more accurate skirt plate mountings, with little discs of rod for the bolt heads. At this point I was also struggling with the internal fire suppression system firing handles, of these more later:

I also needed to add wading rail hooks at various points on the hull. These were carved out like this:

The hooks were a bit too pronounced so I trimmed them down a bit. I also added the catch which retains the driver's hatch and started ont he more visible of the brackets which retain the front bins:

Finally having found a good reference picture I made up the fire suppresion system handles with bits of rod and the wire from bag ties:

Handles and hooks in place:

I also did the driver's vision block with a coat of silver paint overlaid with a coat of transparent green:

I then turned my attention to the exhaust system. I wasn't going to bother with this mod, but my reference pictures showed it really clearly and it proved, after a little head-scratching, to be pretty simple:

It was then just a case of hacking out the superfluous light housing on the nearside (the nearside and offside are not symmetrical) and adding a bracket for the rear ends of the tow ropes:

This is all pretty much ready for priming now.

[C&WR]

I hope you'll favour us with some anecdotes of this period of your life throughout the course of the build.

Sorry, I have an annoying habit of crayoning things not germane to the subject on my own and other people's threads. I will try and stick just to the modelling so as not to bore you!

[Procopius]

Alas!

[C&WR]

Alas!

Perhaps we are at cross-purposes - I thought you were teasing a bit about wanting to hear about the (very short) time I spent on these beasts!

In that case a couple of other pics sitting on the computer. First the very young me in command:

And essential Combat Service Support:

This blue van could go places armoured vehicles feared to drive and could find even a tactically concealed Troop hide for the dispensing of bratwurst, frikkadelle, pomme-frit, stickies and orange handbags of beer

Edited May 12, 2014 by C&WR

[beefy66]

This looks like it will be an interesting build

Beefy

[ivan-o]

Lovely job!been looking at this conversion on and off.looking forward to some more of your build.

Ivan

[Hamden]

This is very interesting with great attention to detail looking forward to more of the same

Roger

[Mr Grumpylee]

Looks like a great start...

Lee

[C&WR]

Thanks, chaps, here's some more. It's a bit of a cheat as I'm some way into the kit and am nearly at the painting stage!

Starting the Turret

The Castoff kit almost completely replaces the Tamiya one. Various parts are kept such as the bins, baskets, D10 wire drum and so on. While the turret is a superb mould which just shouted "my tank" at me it needed a few further scratchbuilt tweaks.

First thing I did was just test fit it with blobs of Blu-Tack holding the bits in place:

There is some superb detail on this, with the camouflage nets stuffed in as if the vehicle had left a hide in a real hurry, the top of the jerrycan and the really well represented sleeping bag. However this wasn't how I remembered the vehicles - we used to stow the nets wrapped in hessian or thermal sheeting like great big sausages round the turret and our sleeping bags (by then the new "bouncing bomb" type) wouldn't have been loose in a basket as that makes a wet bag, and a wet bag a grumpy crewman!

Therefore I intend to use the kit baskets. Thereby lies a problem, though, as technically speaking the basket on the Operator's side behind the searchlight is too narrow. It should be extended to the edge of the searchlight box, but I am going to live without this mod.

Here we are with more bits on. The Commander's bin requires a piece of plasticard behind it as with the Stillbrew it does not lie flat against the turret and therefore bits would drop out:

As I said, this is a great representation of the turret as I remember it. I don't think i could have built it up with Milliput so am glad I invested in the kit. However having looked at my reference photos there were bits that needed adding. Out with styrene, scalpels, files and pin vice, then!

Edited May 12, 2014 by C&WR

[C&WR]

Starting to Detail the Turret

First really evident bits were round the searchlight. I knew I had to replace the molded handle with a wire one, but I'd forgotten the stop on the door and the part on the turret next to it (sorry, this is over 20 years ago so I forget what it was for) so I had to make them up:

As you can just see in this picture of a kipping 2Lt Me there were also various lifting rings on the searchlight housing, I marked off the place for these in black on the pic above. You can also see the "sausage" of cam net over the smoke discharger and the hole in the lifting ring above the main armament which I drilled out having crossed my fingers about altering an expensive bit of resin:

A few more shots:

Should have had this one in the hull detailing section, but I added a wire handle to the Infantry-Tank Telephone box.

Here we go with an anecdote, although not sure if it's true. The handle used to lift back and up from the box, giving access to the telephone which we used to disconnect because it messed up the crew intercom & radios. Once one of our soldiers hid a can of coke or bottle of beer inside, then waited for an infanteer to pass by.

He then lifted the handle and the beer dropped out, explaining to the infantryman that tanks had a drinks dispenser which worked as part of the vehicle cooling system. Poor footsoldier then tried again and again to get another drink out before being told the dispenser must need a replen...

The NBC Pack needs to be glued to a piece of plasticard to sit correctly. I did that and then took this picture to get a real sense of where the model was going:

As you can see I added the tie-downs on the turret using florists' wire. They are a little overscale, but I wanted them to be robust and like all the other detailing bits they do stick out a lot more when they're in different colours!

Edited May 12, 2014 by C&WR

[C&WR]

Turret Stowage

As I mentioned I would be using the Tamiya baskets. However these needed lining with something & I had a bit of an hiatus while I waited for some modellers' mesh to be delivered.

It was incredibly tricky using the stuff, but well worth it:

The kit basket needs a bit of fettling to fit the resin, but it worked for me. I love the detail of the padlocks, and was warned elsewhere that the etched ones available are a bit too flat:

Quick shot showing how I made up the Commander's side basket, lining the thing with mesh once it was assembled rather than before I had put all the pieces of plastic together as I did the other side:

I put the smoke grenade box (which we tended to use to put tins of compo in) on the outside of the basket as that's what we did with some wagons. It's interesting to see in the reference photos the random places bins were put & oriented - I have a picture of one with a rear side bin bolted onto the glacis:

I had added a padlock hasp to the Operator's hatch:

With the hull primed:

As I mentioned I needed to put lifting rings on the searchlight. I had hoped to use some chain I had spare or my florists' wire, but this was just too thick so I ended up wrapping bag-tie wire round the blade of some nail scissors & then cutting it to shape:

I cheated here. The rings are supposed to be free within the loops holding them on but I superglued them in place. The retaining rings are more bag-tie wire slotted into holes drilled with one of my smaller bits in the pin vice:

Oh, and I know the support for the Commander's hatch when folded back is on the wrong side!

[C&WR]

Smoke Dischargers and Finishing the Turret

I wasn't going to bother with making brackets for the smoke dischargers, but then thought having looked at some pictures they would be relatively straightforward and would look much better than just gluing them on direct.

I took some 1.5mmx1.5mm microstrip and stuck it to the rear of the dischargers then let it set while I played a game with Sunray Minor. I then carved and filed out the back:

Stuck one in place:

Then the other:

Really quite pleased with this effect. It's not 100% correct, but no one I know personally would notice. Also not bad work as I'd been out on Cavalry Sunday & rather well lunched!

[crobinsonh]

Great build and I love the personal touch of your photographs.

[Vally G]

Interesting thread all round. Looking forward to more!

Kind regards,

Adam

[C&WR]

Thanks, both! Another quick update while I have a coffee break. This is a fun build as the only really little parts are scratchbuilt, so if one pings off to be devoured by the carpet monster I can just make another one...

Beginning to Paint

I hadn't bothered with priming the lower hull and was pleased with how it came out. However I was concerned, having tried to preshade the back deck louvres, that paint wasn't going to adhere well to the resin. Therefore I bought a tin of primer (I was going to get Halfords stuff, but there was Tamiya primer in a local Hobbycraft when I was there & buying that saved me a special journey) and set to. I showed the ghost hll above, here's the ghost turret:

I'm quite please how my scratchbuilt bits have toned down a bit. As I've seen before things that stuck out like a blancmange on a billiards table when unpainted loo much better when a uniform colour.

I then, thanks to a late night and then having a trip home during the daytime, managed to finish off the main coats of paint in NATO Green:

It isn't quite so alarmingly bright in the flesh, the colour is as a result of the lighting I used for the pictures. I was interested to note that the lower hull which wasn't primed is a darker, more matt colour than the rest. Perhaps this is because the Tamiya primer is a slightly glossy grey rather than the dark green of the kit parts.

[Greg B]

Perhaps we are at cross-purposes - I thought you were teasing a bit about wanting to hear about the (very short) time I spent on these beasts!

In that case a couple of other pics sitting on the computer. First the very young me in command:

And essential Combat Service Support:

This blue van could go places armoured vehicles feared to drive and could find even a tactically concealed Troop hide for the dispensing of bratwurst, frikkadelle, pomme-frit, stickies and orange handbags of beer

The Lovely Wolfgang. Purveyor of the finest pork products in Germany, easy repayment terms, diesel accepted in case of DM shortage .

[C&WR]

The Lovely Wolfgang. Purveyor of the finest pork products in Germany, easy repayment terms, diesel accepted in case of DM shortage .

Please don't tell me that! The SQMS would have had kittens, or perhaps he was in on the gig...

The stuff we got up to (aside from drinking while in charge of 50-something tons of Chieftain) would make modern day hair curl. I remember finding a couple of belts of ammunition in a banana bin on a panzer after the FFE chit had been signed. My kindly Troop Sergeant suggested that I didn't need to worry and perhaps I would like to go and have a cup of tea with the Troop Corporal. Once I was wrapping myself round a brew and a Regal the Troop Sergeant went off for a shovel recce in the nearby treeline with a large and clinking sandbag. When he came back he had no sandbag and funny old thing, the banana bins were empty...

[C&WR]

Camouflaging the Turret

It was with some trepidation I got to this stage. My last attempts at Blu-Tack masking were not a great success and went like this, requiring a clean up:

Now I know I could just brush paint the black on, but I really wanted to try the method & make it work. Therefore I got the mask in place, based on reference pictures and a bit of guesswork as I didn't have a good shot of the back of the turret:

Here are the two key pics:

I cannot tell you the delight and relief when, having given it three gentle mists of Tamiya NATO Black, it came out like this:

I think it looks OK from the back as well:

I did worry a bit about the texture, especially of the front portion of the turret. However it was quite rough as I remember and the referenc epictures bear out.

Now just hope the hull looks as good when I set to!

[Stashaholic Steve]

Great build! Love the personal element to it.

[Kallisti]

Been watching this "in the other place", superb work and has inspired me to plan on some Castoff stuff for my Tamiya Chieftain when I finally get round to it... wonder if it would look good with bar armour...