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Rubicon Models 1/56th A15 Crusader


John

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Having enjoyed building the Rubicon CMP truck I decided to try one of their armour kits and settled on the Crusader, which has long been one of my favourite tanks.

 

Crus1

 

You get a load of options in this kit, late MkI, MkII, MkIII, MkI/II close support or MkII/III anti-aircraft so there's a lot of parts in the box:

 

Crus2

 

Crus3

 

Crus4

 

Lovely well produced instruction leaflet:

 

Crus6

 

Crus7

 

Crus8

 

Finally there's a generic British armour decal sheet:

 

Crus5

 

What to build?  Decisions, decisions...

 

I might do some minor conversion work and try to build a first batch MkI with the open mantlet and Caunter camouflage.

 

John

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The kit goes together nicely, with a few additions. I've plated the underside of the hull toolboxes with plastic card and added a piece of Contrail tube to the rear vent that will be trimmed down to represent the exhaust pipe. The bottom of the hull was painted brown when I was thinking about building it as a SCC2 finished MkIII :

 

Crus10

 

Crus11

 

Crus12

 

There's no interior and no commander figure so the turret is finished closed up:

 

Crus14

 

The outer wheels and tracks are moulded as one piece. The inner wheels are also one piece with alignment tabs between the wheels to maintain the spacing. After gluing the inner wheels to the tracks and inner wheels, I trimmed off the alignment tabs.

 

Crus13

 

I used Tamiya Extra Thin Cement for the CMP but I used something with a bit more bite for the Crusader's larger parts:

 

Crus9

 

John

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An overall base coat of Light Stone, mixed to match the chip in Mike Starmer's "Alamein and Beyond" booklet:

 

Crus19

 

Crus20

 

Crus21

 

I've added the exhaust to the rear of the tank:

 

Crus22

 

John

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  • 2 weeks later...

The green dried a bit glossier than I expected so the model has had a couple of shots of aerosol matt varnish:

 

Crus32

 

The census number is cobbled together from the kit and CMP decal sheets.

 

John

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  • 2 weeks later...

Calling this one done:

 

Crus37

 

Crus38

 

Crus39

 

Crus40

 

The kit is pretty much out of the box, the only additions are metal brush guards, radio aerial and some stowage.

The colours are all Humbrol enamels. The main camouflage colours are Light Stone BS381c/61 mixed 50/50 74 Linen and 237 Desert Tan and Dark Olive Green PFI, which is 158 Interior Green.

Countershading is 34 Matt White and tyres are 79 Matt Blue Grey.

Weathering is Enamel Wash Dust AV0208 thinned a bit with white spirit, followed by a well thinned coat Enamel Wash Sand AV0207. The area around the filler on the rear fuel tank is treated with Enamel Wash Oil Stain AV0209. The exhaust and the bottom of the fuel tank is shaded with ground graphite dust.

Tracks are 173 Matt Track Colour, washed with 186 Brown. When dry the tracks were polished with graphite dust using a cotton bud.

Stowage consists of 2 tarps made from screen wipes, PVA glue and acrylic paint and a couple of jerry cans on the rear plate. One can is painted in SCC2 and the other is in Eau-de-Nil.

The gun muzzle is drilled out and a touch of 33 Matt Black is added. The aerial is 56 Aluminium.

Markings are restricted to the census number, cut-and-pasted from the kit sheet and the CMP sheet, and the air identification roundel which is from the kit sheet but applied to a tarp.

 

John

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