SaintsPhil Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 (edited) Good Morning BMers, My efforts to avoid joining group builds this year, so I could get all my part builds finished and not buying anything else, failed with the Lesser built GB, so I might as well go all out and do this one too! This will be the first AFV kit I have built in nearly 20 years but I always enjoyed them. To ease me back in I wanted a nice simple kit and the Tamiya Cromwell ticks that box! It looks a nice kit in the box and judging by the other builds I've seen, including in this GB, it builds very nicely! To add some extra complication I thought if add some figures too so I got these I may well get some etch for the tank too, there's an inexpensive Eduard set I noticed plus the metal barrel looks nice and reasonably priced, although I may build the kit one first and see how that looks. Wife's on a late shift tonight so I plan to crack on! Phil Edited March 20, 2015 by SaintsPhil 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Great kit and great set of figures - I used the guy with the moustache in my D-Day GB dio Road Hogs, bags of character! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintsPhil Posted February 9, 2015 Author Share Posted February 9, 2015 Great kit and great set of figures - I used the guy with the moustache in my D-Day GB dio Road Hogs, bags of character! They look nice through the plastic, one thing I might try is adding the netting and Camo strips to the helmets, if anyone's got any tips... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfpack Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Yeah. Don't..! W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintsPhil Posted February 9, 2015 Author Share Posted February 9, 2015 Not accurate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Another Cromwell! Excellent! Good luck! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintsPhil Posted February 16, 2015 Author Share Posted February 16, 2015 Update time! Well I bought this kit because the reputation is that it builds it's self, turned my back for 5 mins and not only that but it's primed too... Since these snaps I've also base coated with my attempt at SCC15.. Phil 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Well the detail on that Cromwell certainly looks excellent and good to know it's a straightforward build. Great stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintsPhil Posted February 16, 2015 Author Share Posted February 16, 2015 It is a lovely kit with great detail OOB, I did buy the eduard etch set for it but I only used the grilles as the rest is supurflus really, which is handy as my dog intercepted the etch when it arrived and gave it a bit of a chewing!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MADMUSKY Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Etch grilles and a good paint job is all the Tamiya kit needs really Darren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 This is looking nice,surface and details look superb should be a dream to wash and weather. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintsPhil Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 Thanks chaps, it is a really nice kit, hopefully I can do it justice... Speaking of which, base colour is on I followed a mix of vallejo suggested in another thread for the SCC15, given I don't really know what it's supposed to look like it looks ok to me! As you can see in the second shot it went a touch washed out in a few places, I don't spray vallejo much so my ratios were obviously a touch off. I'm not going to worry as it'll be ok for a base to weather on. Before I gloss coat for decals I wanted to try out some weathering products I got for this build. So apparently according to the bottle you can get effects similar to this Which is interesting as the contents appears just to be thinned enamel paint... A quick test on the underside.. Obviously still wet but I can't see how, from this bottle alone, you can get the effect in the picture! Very misleading I think, for £4.50 a bottle for essentially thinned brown enamel I'm not sure I'll invest in many more of these! Instead I'm going to try to make my own mud, based on some YouTube videos I've seen! Phil 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dads203 Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Phil, the AK mud is best sprayed on fella but very carefully and as you have said you need other items to replicate what's shown on the bottle. Its a bit misleading. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Its a wash... to get that photo you need pigments. Used sparingly in specific places it will give the appearance of liquid mud splashes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintsPhil Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 Thanks chaps With the dedicated 'mud' products about I have to admit I found the picture in this bottle very misleading as it implied it was one of those. I'm sure I will find a use for it, interesting idea to spray it I'd not thought of that..I'm sure I can use it to change the colour of whatever I use a base mud in places or something. I had also seen videos of people doing an 'upside down' version of streaking to make mud splatter going up the sides of fenders etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dads203 Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Phil, I use the textured mud from MIG which gives you a nice base to work on, in comes in different textures and you can go for dry or wet effect. Its more like the photo on the bottle of AK mud you have above, once dry you can set about giving more depth and colour with pigments. I used it to good effect on the Chieftain build. The AK mud you have does have its place and I prefer to spray it on the textured mud. A shot from the chiefy build showing what you can do with what you have a few other products. HTH Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintsPhil Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 Cheers Dan, I watched your build for inspiration, you got a nice realistic finish. I'm Going to experiment with making mud then I'll probably give up and buy some!! Thanks for the tips it all helps the learning process! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintsPhil Posted February 21, 2015 Author Share Posted February 21, 2015 Next update, gloss coat then decals I was pleasantly surprised by the Tamiya decals, they responded well to boiling water and decal set and sol. While they dry I decided to have a crack at making some mud... I found a recipe online that consisted of Step 1 A good mix And stipple on One thing I did find is that it dries quite a bit lighter than the colour in the pot You don't get very long to work either as it dries quickly, a bit of water does revive it a bit... What do you think? I was pretty pleased with the results. Phil 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smuts Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 nice weathering looks good... Andy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintsPhil Posted March 20, 2015 Author Share Posted March 20, 2015 (edited) Sorry to anyone watching my build, I have been making good progress on the build but got lost in trying various weathering techniques and the photos and updates got forgotten!! Anyway here's a finished shot Rest in gallery In the spirit of the GB I won't put any pictures of the figures and base I've made in the gallery so here's a teaser, the rest will end up in RFI... RFI added http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234978756-135-tamiya-cromwell/ Edited March 20, 2015 by SaintsPhil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 Beautiful job all round! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wimbledon99 Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 Just seen this in the gallery. Lovely build Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 A fantastic build Phil (especially the mud!). Cliff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyC Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 Good grief - blink and I missed it! Excellent work Phil! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintsPhil Posted March 27, 2015 Author Share Posted March 27, 2015 Thanks guys, really enjoyed building this kit, all thanks to this GB I already have a small and expanding stash of AFV kits... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts