Mark IV Male Tank

[Will Vale]

Hi folks,

I picked this eagerly-awaited arrival up at the weekend from my local model shop and started building it pretty much that evening. It's been a while since I put together a new-tool Tamiya kit and I'd forgotten what a delight they can be. I also like their tendency to make things that go - I know it's not the fashion, but it makes for a fun project.

I followed the instructions for a few steps to assemble the mechanism into the hull, and then try a dry fit of the side panels. That took all of an evening.

Then I attacked the roadwheels (54 in total - 30 2-part, 24 4-part) and 200-ish track links. These nearly all had a tiny divot where they've been removed from the sprue, so I had to fill them:

and sand them all back for a smoother result. The links and wheels took most of a day and night to get ready, and I spent the next evening on the armaments. The guns are very nice and will be totally invisible, so I haven't bothered to fill all the seams properly.

I primed the track links individually inside + out with Chaos Black spray and then went over the outsides with a bit of Tamiya Red Brown in a rattle can to get a tough base.

Then I mixed them all up and assembled the lengths:

The roadwheels and metal spockets were treated the same way since I wasn't sure exactly how much would be visible. I masked the insides of the sprockets, and also masked off various bits of the hull and axles, and primed the track wells with Alclad Black. Hopefully that way there won't be any chance of seeing plastic.

Having tried it with the tracks on I suspect I could've avoided most of that work, but there are visible recesses where the upper idlers sit, and a port on either side of the tail which shows the sprocket teeth, so it was good to do some of it at least.

I found the fit of the clip-on rear panels was a bit suspect on one side - probably my fault because the other side was OK. I reasoned that it's very unlikely I will be dismantling my painted + weathered model for maintenance, so I opted to glue it all together, including the top deck, excepting the sponsons which are how you get at the battery.

Since I took these pics I've done some driving over things on the table, and fitted all the remaining bits apart from the MGs and chains/tow loops/etc.

Next steps are filling the gun shield and unditching beam rail joins, and then getting some primer on ready for paint. I'm not sure whether to go for brown or khaki - I've seen the colour called out as chocolate, but the allegedly-in-original-paint example in Brussels looks green to me.

Cheers,

Will

[beefy66]

Looking good so far Will

Beefy

[Will Vale]

Thanks! Got it all masked up and primed today:

I could've sworn it was less patchy than this, but it'll be fine once pre-shaded.

I also filled the gun shields and primed all the other bits, but the only one I took a decent picture of is the unditching beam. This has plain surfaces so I had some fun carving the wood grain into it, I think it'll paint up OK now.

I also found some more pictures of the Brussels tank - definitely brown!

Cheers,

Will

[Fatboydim]

I've just purchased a New Vanguard book (Osprey publishing 133) on the British Mark IV Tank written by David Fletcher.

In this book, the camouflage is described as a medium brown, which looks a good match to the Brussels tank.

I also got a book called Beyond the Green Fields. The final memories of some of the first men of the Tank Corps

by Richard Pullen.

[Will Vale]

Thanks for that, more evidence for brown! I did some lacquer painting today - Alclad Steel and Jet Exhaust for the Hotchkiss guns and MGs, and Tamiya RAF Dark Earth for the tank. I then preshaded with Alclad black primer.

The idea is to use hairspray and acrylics in a lighter warmer brown over the top. I think the Dark Earth is a touch light so the chipping won't be very high contrast, but I suspect that will make it prettier and easier to keep scale-looking.

Not much done this weekend - we went to see Rocky Horror which took a fair bit of time Hopefully I'll be back on track this week and get the basic paint layers done.

Cheers,

Will

[Hamden]

I like this alot its really starting to come alive

Roger

[Will Vale]

Thanks Roger, it looks a lot better with the topcoat on though.

I followed (for once) the kit instructions and used a mix of Flat Earth and Deck Tan, more-or-less 50-50 as suggested. It looks pretty close to both the Brussels tank and the description of "chocolate". I did spray some cloudy highlights of the same mix lightened with Desert Sand, which adds a bit more warmth.

Before applying the paint I gave it a couple of light coats of hairspray, and I was careful during painting not to let the surface become wet, or disturb it while the paint was flashing off. After all was dry it had a rub-down with a cloth and then I set about chipping away at the top layer.

I'm still very new at this - this is the first time I've tried the technique on an AFV - and it can be hard to control, but I ended up with more-or-less what I wanted. I tried to concentrate the wear around the track runs, the unditching beams, and places where it looked like rocks could be carried up and dropped by the tracks.

I also added lengthwise streaks low-down, and some sideways streaks to the sponsons since I believe those on the Mk. IV can be retracted for rail transport.

The wear areas on top look really big, but they're mostly covered by the tracks, or the chain in the chain box, so they won't be quite so glaring.

The underside got some scrapes and things too.

It's all a bit stark at the moment, which surprised me since I thought the two browns were quite close together, but I think a lot of the contrast will be covered in mud anyway.

I'm thinking about an ochre filter to warm up the paint further, plus I need to do the white/red/white stripes which I'm really looking forward to.

Cheers,

Will

[Will Vale]

Did a little bit more before bedtime:

Masking around the tensioners was tricky and I had to do some touch-ups afterwards. Hopefully the chipping (gouging?) hides the rest of the mess.

Also damaged a couple of spots of paint which will need tidying up later, or hiding. But I like the colours, and I finally got to unmask the track recesses and do another test fit.

Wondering about making a fascine for it after looking at some period photographs...

[edit] I forgot to ask - does anyone make brass Lewis gun barrels in 1/35? I found the kit ones hard to assemble centred, and hard to clean up. I'd rather have a one piece barrel that I have to drill out than two parts ones, unless the location pins are really accurate and sadly they had a tiny amount of slop.

Cheers,

Will

[Fatboydim]

Hi Will, I think the colour looks spot on. I used the mix of Tamiya paints when I built their Tiran 5 tank.

That worked out fine, and going by your build, it looks as if the suggested mix is correct.

I'm waiting for the kit (arriving in the shops soon hope). In the mean time, I've viewed the plans on line,

so know what paint colours and ratios are used.

Your model looks very good, and I'm looking forward to the finished article.

Thanks for sharing.

If you google '4th and 7th Royal Tank Regiment 1916 1918' you might find something of

interest as there are a few photos of the period.

[Shermaniac]

An inspired build of the world war 1 tank, well done!

This is a particularly good guide to anyone wanting to put it together

[Will Vale]

One thing I should've mentioned during the construction - it's really easy to put the Hotchkiss gun shields (thin banana shaped piece) on upside-down. They're keyed and only fit one way, but they nearly fit the other way. I didn't spot this until the glue had set and I didn't think I'd be able to remove and refit the part as it's quite delicate.

It means the shield ends up a couple of degrees off vertical.

Other than that, those Lewis gun barrels, and some filler on the unditching beam rail joints, the fit has been very good and the build process easy peasy.

Will

[Madhatter]

I'm going to throw my hand up for the ignorance award here, but why is this known as a "male" tank? What makes a tank a male - or female for that matter?

Is it because it is packing an extra large "gun" in it's side pockets? Does it have problems following maps or even asking for directions?

I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation for it.

Other than that - Will, this tank rocks! Love your weathering effects. Which method are you using for the chipping?

[Will Vale]

I used a lacquer basecoat, hairspray over that, and Tamiya acrylics over the top. Then wore away the top layer with water, brushes and pointy things.

The Male tanks have the Hotchkiss (naval) guns in the sponsons, the Female tanks have more machineguns (two per sponson IIRC) instead. I don't know which wag in the War Department came up with this.

Will

[Madhatter]

Ha! So I wasn't too far off the mark then about it being a gun thing

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Gorgeous build Will, but I think your base colour is much too pale and yellow (at present at least).....The colour was described as resembling milk chocolate, although 'Lodestar' looks a little redder than that to me:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=mk.iv+lodestar&client=firefox-a&hs=Zlj&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&channel=nts&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=aYgRVOLfBOaO7AbFmIHQDw&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1920&bih=875

As this tank has been preserved in its original paint scheme, it's pretty authorative.

[JasonC]

As this tank has been preserved in its original paint scheme, it's pretty authorative.

Unless the colour has altered in the course of 97 years.

regards,

J.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Are you implying then that in another 100 years it will be taupe?

Dunno if you are familiar with the (resurrected) Landships site, it's mostly a Braille thing, but it has lots of useful references: http://www.landships.info/landships/index.html

[JasonC]

If reading Nick Millmans posts has taught me anything, it's that how paint looks today isn't necessarily "authoritative" about how it looked back then. It could be lighter, darker, or yes, even change hue.

J.

[Will Vale]

Thanks for the comments and the link to the Landships site - I keep seeing references to it but all the links were dead!

My tank is probably a little bit darker in real life than in the pictures, so it may be OK. I've put the decals on so I'm not going to be doing any gross colour changes, but a filter or two might be good.

By the way not only time but photography can change colours a whole lot - I've seen pictures of Lodestar where I was *convinced* that the paint was olive green, as well as others where it looks like a rich red-brown.

Cheers,

W

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Good point Will.....I was reading over my previous posts on the subject and noted I'd used a green filter on my own model. I'm sure suitable filters will get you into the ball-park and a dust coat too can hide many sins.

IIRC the landships site was relaunched after the death of the previous owner, hence the Landships II title and the odd dead link.

[Will Vale]

It's been a slow week, I'm not sure why (oh no wait, I know - Destiny got released!) but I did eventually manage to apply all four decals, spot varnish over them, and add some filters.

I used the brown on the sides (I like the ochre warmth, and some pictures of Lodestar are very warm...) plus pink on the top and grey-green underneath as well as along the run of roadwheel bearings.

Quite pleased with the decals, they're usually my bete noire, but they came out beautifully with set & sol, no silvering I can see. There are the faintest ghosts of the edges of the film as they're quite thick, but they'll disappear as things progress.

Cheers,

Will

[Will Vale]

Footnote on today: I fitted the Lewis guns and sponson roofs. Don't do what I did and leave the Lewis guns separate to paint because they're a pain to fit. It'd have been much easier to glue them solidly in place during construction and just brush-paint the barrels later.

Yours hindsightedly,

Will

[Spookytooth]

Looks great Will, Tamiya do make some well fitting kits.

Nice work there.

Simon.

[Will Vale]

Thanks! It does fit really well, very easy to build.

I washed the tracks with AK track wash - I hadn't tried this before and it was rather thick and sticky - still hasn't dried after a day and a half, but it does seem to be drying so I'll just leave it. The colour is quite good.

This evening I pin-washed the rivets and other details with MIG brown:

I was very careful to apply the minimum possible since I'm working on a matt surface - very time-consuming dotting in each rivet. Thankfully this made cleaning the wash up pretty easy - I just stabbed over the whole side with a big round brush damp with enamel thinner, wiped up and mainly down with a big flat brush, and cleaned up any other bits I could find with a smaller one.

I've done a bit more since I took the photo since I could see some tidemarks on the panels by the serial number, and a few blotchy rivets. For the panels I buffed out the tidemark with a bit of kitchen paper, I'll see how it looks in daylight.

I've done the underneath and far side as well, just the top (and between the horns front + rear) to finish. Which will be tomorrow by which time my brush hand will hopefully have un-cramped

Cheers,

Will

[fatfingers]

Aye up Will,

Great job on what looks to be a very nice kit.

This is currently on my wish list... How may weeks til Christmas?

Regards,

Steve