Airfix Cromwell - been a long time since I did a tank...

[Troy Smith]

well,  been working on this for a few weeks,  did a bit, stopped, worked on another tank, got stuck,  started up again....

Not many pics as it was a tester.

 

I have five more of these,  4 courtesy of @Beard  who was kind enough to get me them when The Works was selling them for £3 a go years ago,  a starter set from a Chairty shop, and this one, also from the same Charity shop, but had been started, not very well, hull joined and some wheels on.   Fortunately not very well glued, I was about to get all but one of the wheels off, so i ended up having to drill out and use some 1mm copper wire (mains cabling) 

 

50621083 by losethekibble, on Flickr

 

seen here held in with SG and talc.

 

  

this is an overview, I have started painting bits, this is Vallejo Model Color,  1:1 mix of Olive Grey and Russian Uniform,   a @Mike Starmer  mix for SCC 15 Olive drab.

https://alliedarmour1940.wordpress.com/2016/10/01/vallejo-paint-mixes/

Quote

SCC 15 (Olive Drab)

1pt 70888 Olive Grey [92] + 1pt 70924 Russian Uniform WWII [094] (Mike Starmer, 2009)

 

I did get a spare vallejo 17ml bottle, (Creative Models sell them)  and used a syringe to mix up a whole bottle, and added a shaker ball bearing.50621082 by losethekibble, on Flickr

 

Vallejo initial coat, brushed on with a #6 flat brush.   

 

I have been taking a tip from @PlaStix,  and use a pallete, I do like I can shake and squeeze out a drop or two from these bottles.

 

I now use a 1 ml syringe,  suck up 0.95ml of de-ionised water (distilled would be better, but this is what I have) and the suck up 0.05 ml of W&N flow improver, and shake.

then I can add a a drop by drop amount of the mix to the paint.  Works for Tamiya as well.  About the thickness of whole milk.  

Brushed on thinly and in many directions. You can recoat quickly as well if done thinly as it dries fast.

in this, the hull is patchy, but the wheels are a good solid colour, plus dark grey for the rubber rims.   Tracks are a WIP.  See Below. 

 

50621084 by losethekibble, on Flickr

 

told you I didn't do many pics.....

 

Vallejo i find very fragile, scratches easily,  I did have to strip and repaint the turret in the end.

 

the above is SCC15 mix, and the below ...

 

is after a coat of Kleer

 

Then a wash of burnt umber and black oil paint, diluted with lighter fuel, scrubbed off as need with a brush dipped and washed out in neat lighter fuel.  Works better on a gloss coat, as on a matt surface it does not flow as well.

 

this is indirect sunlight

50621172 by losethekibble, on Flickr

 

direct sunlight

50621171 by losethekibble, on Flickr

 

Then given a hard dry brushing with SCC15 mix, and then a  light dry brush with SCC15 mix plus a little Russian Uniform added, as this was the lighter of the two mix colours.

It's subtle, but lightens up after the oil wash, and the lighter one adds highlights.

 

this is a shot under the desk light after some decals.   Yet to matt varnished.  decals added onto kleer

 

50621173 by losethekibble, on Flickr

 

Not a fan of the Airfix plastic, I snapped the co-axial Besa,  and damaged the hull one (if you fit some plastic sheet behind the hull one, and trim, it can be added later) 

 

So I measured the Airfix guns, and made some new barrels out of Albion brass nesting tubing, main parts are 0.6 mm, collars of 0.8mm.

 

I was able to slightly flare the tubing ends, and am rather pleased with the result.    Actually, the close up looks even better than I had hoped. 

 

Yes, I should have looked up and worked out the correct barrel size,  but I was on a roll and it was working. 

cut by rolling tube with a scalpel.  flaring done by twirling a small nail in the end, having tried my 'needle in a pin vice' tool first.  

 

The little grey bit is the original barrel....

 

50621188 by losethekibble, on Flickr

 

Next, tracks, see next post.

 

I'm posting as tonight I added the tracks, outer wheels and track guards. 

 

Needs to set, have touch ups,  apply star to turret a a couple of small bit I'd have broken off, and a coat of matt varnish.   I'll get it to that stage, do some pics..

 

Then to ponder on weathering.... 

 

Years ago I got 3 built tank kits from the school jumble, and have been experimenting on them....

 

[Troy Smith]

 

 

Tracks.  a discussion here on track colour, with descriptions and photos by @Das Abteilung which were the first time I'd seen the actual track colour discussed.

 

led me to experimenting. 

The base colour is 2:1 mix of Tamiya  XF - red brown to XF-62 Olive Drab,  then kleer coated,  then oil wash using burnt umber and black thinned with lighter fuel, then drybrushed heavily with orig track mix, then added a little X16 titan gold to mix, and lightly drybrushed , i may have used a tiny amount of Titan Gold neat but very lightly drybrushed, as well, then matt varnish

 

These are in bright sunlight, and you may want to click on them, the lower section shows the effect better.  It's quite hard too see, even in sunlight, 

(I like the arty shadows as well    )

 

50621189 by losethekibble, on Flickr

 

 

 

Quote

On 28/11/2018 at 16:39, Das Abteilung said:

 

Ah. I seem to have stirred up some confusion.  I'm good at that.............  Part of the problem, as we're highlighting with these photos, is that the sheen makes the wear areas look silvery when they're actually not.

 

If you look at the extreme ends of the Tiger II spuds (the sticky-up worn bits) where they round over and the light doesn't catch them you can better see what the native colour looks like.  The Tiger 1 links are a bit dusty but again at the inside ends you can just see the basic colour.

 

Both Tiger tracks show what I meant about a grey-brown oxide rather than orange rust.  Yes, some of that is dust.  I might have expected the Tiger II tracks to be a bit darker brown oxide, based on the Bovington examples.

 

This is raw manganese, which gives the colour to the links.  Diluted somewhat when alloyed with steel.

The best pictures I have that shows the colour are these 2 of Tortoise and Churchill tracks.  You can really see the Manganese colour in the Tortoise links immediately below the Manganese picture. 

  

These T62 links on a Sherman aren't a bad example either, both of wear and oxidation.

 

[Beard]

Good to see you've got round to them. I should have got one for myself because I'm bored of Hurricanes at the moment.

 

PS. I've got an Airfix Fw190 and Bf110, and some paints for you. I'll get them to you sometime.

 

Edited April 17, 2020 by Beard

[Troy Smith]

and done,  up in RFI

yes, i didn't splatter it in mud...  later or next one...