Weathering desertised Challenger 2

[sanfrandragon]

This is the Tamiya 1/35 desertised version.  So far just finished in base Tamiya TS-46 light sand.m with VMS hull tex cement for the non-slip finish although this is so fine it’s hardly noticeable.

 

 

There are some wonderful finished examples on here so I’m looking for advice on weathering.

 

So far my plan is (in order)

MIG filter brown for desert yellow

Gloss varnish for decals

Apply decals

MIG wash for desert sand base

Matt varnish

Sand pigments.

 

Any suggestions greatfully received, this is my first MBT.

 

 

 

[Yeoman1942]

if you are doing an Op Telic Challenger 2 then you should chip with green as the desert yellow was pretty fragile and weathered quite rapidly

 

[Hamden]

12 hours ago, Yeoman1942 said:

if you are doing an Op Telic Challenger 2 then you should chip with green as the desert yellow was pretty fragile and weathered quite rapidly

 

 

Don't know if this is any help here's a link to my CR2 Desert

/www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235043723-trumpeter-challenger-2-desert/page/2/

 

Your CR2 is looking good so far will follow on to see how it turns out

 

                      Roger

[sanfrandragon]

Thanks for the input!

 

I'm definitely thinking about trying to represent the paint worn back to the underlying green though probably not using chipping fluid as I don’t want to respray.

 

A few questions to those in the know:

Why are the gun barrels sometimes green, sometimes desert sand?

Should the caps on the smoke generators be black or sand?

I think the inside of the hatches should be green, but how about inside the turret (what can be seen of it)?

What colour should the sand skirts be?

Should the extra fuel barrels be the same colour as the tank?

Should the crew uniform be MTP or the earlier desert cam?

 

Thanks for your help!

[Hamden]

 

I;ll try answer your queries 

The barrel itself is painted black, the thermal covers either side of the fume extractor are moulded in a fibreglass type material which is impregnated with green. These wear and get damaged so are replaced. These are supplied green and it's unlikely they would be painted in the field.

The smoke grenade discharger caps would be black rubber unless the vehicle has just come out of the paint shop when they may have been used as masks.

Inside the hatches are green with green padding and red handles. The turret interior is painted white with detail items in green, black and white depending on what they are.

The rubberized part of the sand skirts are a canvasy fawn sort of colour.

Fuel barrels could be either camo colour or black if replacements.

Crew uniform would be MTP desert 

 

I'm sure someone with more knowledge such as @Dads203 will be along shortly and expand or correct the above.

Hope this helps a bit

 

  Roger

[Dads203]

37 minutes ago, Hamden said:

 

I;ll try answer your queries 

The barrel itself is painted black, the thermal covers either side of the fume extractor are moulded in a fibreglass type material which is impregnated with green. These wear and get damaged so are replaced. These are supplied green and it's unlikely they would be painted in the field.

The smoke grenade discharger caps would be black rubber unless the vehicle has just come out of the paint shop when they may have been used as masks.

Inside the hatches are green with green padding and red handles. The turret interior is painted white with detail items in green, black and white depending on what they are.

The rubberized part of the sand skirts are a canvasy fawn sort of colour.

Fuel barrels could be either camo colour or black if replacements.

Crew uniform would be MTP desert 

 

I'm sure someone with more knowledge such as @Dads203 will be along shortly and expand or correct the above.

Hope this helps a bit

 

  Roger

Roger,  I’m no chally 2 expert but what you have mentioned is a fair assumption basing it on my own experiences with other kit. Unlikely the crew would of painted the hatch insides sand so olive green would of been right, padding would be a dark green or olive green, they varied slightly. Smoke grenade covers would of been removed for painting most likely, the tubes would of had rags or grease stuffed down them to stop them from being painted up by accident,they need to be bare metal for the firing circuit to work. 

 

Of course there are exceptions to every rule so check ref material.

 

HTH

 

Dan 

[John_W]

On 06/07/2019 at 22:53, Yeoman1942 said:

if you are doing an Op Telic Challenger 2 then you should chip with green as the desert yellow was pretty fragile and weathered quite rapidly

 

My Nephew told me that the depot in Germany wasn't warm enough for the paint to cure properly on some of the vehicles they painted and it wore off quite quickly.

[ivan-o]

On 7/6/2019 at 6:18 PM, sanfrandragon said:

This is the Tamiya 1/35 desertised version.  So far just finished in base Tamiya TS-46 light sand.m with VMS hull tex cement for the non-slip finish although this is so fine it’s hardly noticeable.

 

 

There are some wonderful finished examples on here so I’m looking for advice on weathering.

 

So far my plan is (in order)

MIG filter brown for desert yellow

Gloss varnish for decals

Apply decals

MIG wash for desert sand base

Matt varnish

Sand pigments.

 

Any suggestions greatfully received, this is my first MBT.

 

 

 

Hi, 

I have a Chally 1 in the stash and was looking at VMS for the anti slip but that does look very fine indeed!

Is it actually worth the money?

[Yeoman1942]

Some were done in Germany before Saif Sahriah and the rest of the vehicles were painted locally just before crossing the border. Both were pretty quick jobs, and I think it was an acrylic paint that was designed to come off once the vehicles left the gulf.

 

i had heard the story about the cold hangers in Germany stopping the paint from curing. We had to stop decontamination exercises before we crossed the border as the karchers were blasting the paint off.

 

Early Telics were desert or normal DPM as MTP was only issued much later in about 2010 or so

hope this helps.

[sanfrandragon]

3 hours ago, ivan-o said:

Hi, 

I have a Chally 1 in the stash and was looking at VMS for the anti slip but that does look very fine indeed!

Is it actually worth the money?

I think VMS do 2 levels of coarseness for the anti-slip.  The finest is specifically for the Challenger, whilst the coarser is described as being for the Abrams, so you might be better going with that.

[sanfrandragon]

A quick update; some detail painted on the turret and an initial crack at representing the paint worn back to the underlying green.  I’m not sure about it at this stage, mostly dry-brushing the green has just caught on the ant-slip coating.  Maybe it should be more defined and deeper in places, it looks a bit random at present?

 

 

 

[adphill]

Nice work so far - I might try the sponge method for adding the green chips as well.  

[sanfrandragon]

Latest progress: added some worn paint to the hull.

 

 

[John_W]

On 14/07/2019 at 08:18, Yeoman1942 said:

Early Telics were desert or normal DPM as MTP was only issued much later in about 2010 or so

hope this helps.

My Nephew was on Telic 1, and went in as battlefield recovery for the Scots DG.

He got issued desert DPM at the airport on the way home just for the cameras in the UK...

[Yeoman1942]

😀 I was on Telic 1 as well, we got our desert DPM for the Regimental photo we had taken in Saddams palace in Basra about a week before we came home. Mind you my CS 95 was so bleached and full of sand they were pretty much desertised  by the end

[Kingsman]

Wouldn't some of the worn paint areas be black as the tanks were in green/black before repainting, not overall green.

 

Wear on the anti slip areas is to be expected as that's where the crew walked. So I wouldn't worry about that.

[sanfrandragon]

Any advice on how to weather the tracks?  I’m thinking just a light airbrushing with a sand colour.  Should the pads be different from the links?

[RAFP8911]

My last tour in Iraq was in 2007, it was all desert DPM then.

 

Hopefully if this works, then below should be a picture of a Chally 2, coming out of Basrah Airport in 2007.

 

 

[Bear Paw]

Hello and this is a big coincidence as I have just bought this kit for £10 at a charity shop whilst on holiday in the islands of Scotland! 

It is my first 1/35 scale Tamika tank and so will be following this topic with great interest. 

Thanks Andrew

[ancientmariner]

VMS do three types of anti-slip texture, airbrushed type ,standard type and scattered type. The scattered type ŵould be used on an Abrams,but I would think a Challenger would have the standard type applied.

martin