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Tamiya 1:35 chieftain


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Hi

 

In new to this hobby though I did build a few kits when I was a kid. I recently found 3 old 1:35 tanks in the attic I built as a kid about 20 years ago. 

A chieftain, an artillery gun? (Not sure what model) And a Cromwell tank (not in the picture)

 

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I've decided to rebuild these tanks and do them properly(or at least as well as I can) using weathering techniques and paint with an airbrush. 

 

Starting with the chieftain

 

 

Edited by Onezonedrone
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Started by stripping the paint using detol and carefully prising apart as many bits as possible to dis assemble the model

 

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Paint came off very easily with an old tooth brush after leaving over night to soak in the detol.

 

Then dis assembled.

 

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Then I started sanding all the bits and removing any spru. When I built these models as a kid I made no attempt at any sending or filing. 

 

So far so good

Edited by Onezonedrone
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Successfully stripped all parts,filed and filled them next I assembled the hull and turret. After this I sprayed the whole model in Mr surfacer

 

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Using a car board box as a spraybooth I think after Christmas I'll invest in some better equipment.

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The model so far. I made sure to fill all gaps and smooth out joins with putty before the primer. So far I'm really pleased. 

 

I'm missing some small parts namely one of the granade launchers a "tow hook" from the front hull and the spot light for the commander's hatch. At some stage I'll have to scratch build these.

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Aye up. 

 

I believe that the overalls were black and a black beret for Royal Tank Regiment crews. Hussars wore a beret that was a deep cherry red in colour. The RTR wore a coloured cravat that identified which squradron. Cant remember what the colours were though. Im sure someone with more knowledge than me will provide the right answer. Nice work so far.

 

Regards.

 

Steve

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No expert but I do know the Royal Tank Regiment wear black berets and can wear black overalls. Other tank regiments have their own regimental colour berets and wear whatever colour overalls were current at the time you're depicting. 

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21 minutes ago, noelh said:

No expert but I do know the Royal Tank Regiment wear black berets and can wear black overalls. Other tank regiments have their own regimental colour berets and wear whatever colour overalls were current at the time you're depicting. 

Thanks for all the suggestions. Im not sure which period it would be the model is apparently a mk 5 so whenever that version was in service would be the time I'm aiming for. 

 

I have no idea about military units or insingia at some point thought I'm going to have to source a aftermatket decals set. I'd prefer to paint the crew figures with green or camo uniforms if there is a historical option for this rather than black.

 

I don't think i'll be able to paint them black and perserve the details of the little figures. I was hoping to pre shade the creases in the clothes with black and apply a thin coat in top to make the detail stand out.

 

Plus their radios and equipment is probably black too so it would contrast against green. I'm hoping to do a good job on the pilot figures as I feel they will make or break the finished model.

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Only the RTR ,I think, wore black so any other unit would be green or DPM depending on the time period. My total guess is that the RTR probably don't always wear black. Particularly in the field. 

So in the absence of information to the contrary. You can choose what you like. Maybe some ex tanker will turn up an advise.

I built the same kit many years ago but mine is lost now. Same with the 1/25th version complete with remote control. 

Memories!

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Personally I would find some suitable aftermarket decals for the tank first and then worry about matching the figures to those. Painting black uniforms is much easier than you'd think, I can give you some tips if you go down that route. 

 

Roger.

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Look at this build by @Dads203 www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234962150-tamiya-chieftain-converted-into-a-mk11/&page=16&tab=comments#comment-1871113

This may answer your questions

 

  Roger

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  • 3 weeks later...

Re the uniforms, the crew are clearly wearing Coveralls, only a single breast pocket. As previous posters have said RTR were issued black coveralls, the rest of the Army were issued green. Berets colour are subject to the regiment who depict, black for RTR, very dark blue almost black for the rest. Cavalry regiments had a few variations on beret colour e.g. Scots Dragoons was a pale grey colour, 5th Inniskillians was green. The belt is a depiction of a 37 pattern web belt which would be green, the clips would of been brass originally, which is not very tactical so were usually blacked.

 

The coveralls were never issued in DPM (camo) if you want the crews to have DPM they would need to wear combat kit which would require to add breast pockets. The radio equipment the crew are using is Larkspur which would clearly put the crew in the late 60's/70's. The kit is an early Chiefy so it limits your uniform colour choice.

 

Hope that helps.

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Further to Wogga's reply, in the mid 70's most armoured regiments wore the midnight blue beret. The exceptions to this were the Royal Tank Regiment (black beret and black coveralls. And black belts and gaiters too!), the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (pale grey beret), and the Royal Hussars whose beret was chocolate brown. The Queen's Royal Irish Hussars and the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards both changed to a dark rifle green beret in the mid 80's. Royal Tank Regiment scarves were red (1 RTR), yellow (2 RTR), green (3 RTR), and blue (4 RTR). I think the box art shows a vehicle from A Sqn 1 RTR so you could give them red scarves for a splash of colour! The Larkspur headsets were dark green rubber with a brown leather strap over the beret.

 

Hope this helps a bit!

 

Windy

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks wogga and windy miller for the great info 

 

Done a bit more, I've painted the base coat green and added some streaky weathering I've also tried a mottled look on the flat areas. now just need to add the black camo.

 

 

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Edited by Onezonedrone
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No dramas mate. Glad to help. Thinking about it, and trawling through the mists of time to when I was a kid living in BAOR, the RTR scarves were only worn for parades. For everyday working dress they just wore coloured tapes on their epaulettes. Not certain about 1, 3 and 4, but 2 RTR had the regimental colours of brown/red/green through the middle. 

 

I can't figure out how to insert an image but here's a link:

 

https://picclick.co.uk/WW2-2nd-Royal-Tank-Regiment-2-RTR-Shoulder-253723440384.html

 

 

Edited by Windy Miller
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did you manage to source decals? i have a complete set of the original tamiya ones if you want them, and any spare parts you need too (apart from running gear which i used on a conversion)

as for the vision blocks, afaik the chieftain just used clear glass with a bluish "anti reflection" coating or something. i painted mine tamiya clear blue, cut small pieces of 0.005" clear acetate and stuck them on with watered down crystal clear, then if they looked too blue overcoated with tamiya smoke clear to dull it down.

 

 

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3 hours ago, noeyedears said:

did you manage to source decals? i have a complete set of the original tamiya ones if you want them, and any spare parts you need too (apart from running gear which i used on a conversion)

as for the vision blocks, afaik the chieftain just used clear glass with a bluish "anti reflection" coating or something. i painted mine tamiya clear blue, cut small pieces of 0.005" clear acetate and stuck them on with watered down crystal clear, then if they looked too blue overcoated with tamiya smoke clear to dull it down.

 

 

Thanks I'll see if I can get some acetate and have a go at that. Definitely would be interestrd in the decals and I could definitely use some parts so that would be much appreciated. I'll post a list of the spares I'm looking for. 

Thanks 

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no probs, just pm me the list and an address.

got the acetate from evergeen if that helps. i can always post a bit at the same time if you wish. you wont need much. 

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Scopes would have a greenish hue to them on the Chiefy not blue, the laminations involved in making Armoured glass give it a transparent green look.  Best way in achieving that is to paint the scope face with silver and then spray tamiya clear green in thin layers to build it up.

 

Later on with more modern MBTs they used an anti laser coating which had an orange hue to it which again you can replicate with silver and tamiya clear orange.

 

 

Regards

 

Dan 

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19 hours ago, Gav G said:

Your artillery gun is the M109; probably the Italeri kit built as an E4 variant.

 

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/italeri-246-m-109-self-propelled-gun-e4-g-a1-a2--141754

 

 

141754-11491-pristine.jpg

Thanks that looks like it is the same vehicle. I think this one will be the next one I strip and re-do 

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