First WiP - Takom Chieftain Mk 11 1/35

[Big_Bad_Bill]

Chores done - modelling time!

 

The gun mask has been painted khaki, pin washed, dry brushed with buff and maskol'd before putting in to the top of the turret

 

 

I then continued with the hull.  I've gone a bit off piste.  The front side lights were just moulded on (B30), whereas the rear are clear pieces, so I decided to drill them out.  I now need to raid the spares box to see if I have anything suitable.  I may have boo booed..

 

 

Upper hull is now complete.  No issues what so ever.  Time for the turret.

 

 

The instructions say to attach the turret bottom, then all the bins/basket on the right hand side of the turret, then attach the left hand side piece and the rear.  I found the fit of the bottom problematic, so I skipped the side bin/basket and attached the side and back along with the top.  I'm glad I did as the fit is not what I've learned to expect from Takom.

 

 

I've left it clamped to dry over night and see how I can fix it tomorrow.  I envisage lots of melted sprue and filing in my future.  I then cracked on with some good 'ol fashioned track bashing.

 

 

I'm assembling four lengths of thirty and a few lengths of five.  I find it easier to assemble in lengths of five.  I push them together and give a swipe of extra thin down both sides.As for wrapping them around the wheels - I was watching a youtube video of a Russian guy  building the same T-80 as I was.  He assembled the track as above and just pushed it around the idler using the crook of his thumb and fore finger.  I was 🤯 and had to rewind as, to that point, I had been laboriously assembling them one by one onto the tank and swearing, cursing and generally losing my temper as they kept falling apart. I even got to the stage of stick them onto masking tape and then trying to wrap them around.

 

That's it for tonight.  I have a curry in the oven and three Warsteiner sat in the fridge.  Mmmmm beer.

 

Bill

 

 

[Big_Bad_Bill]

Do you ever have one of those days when everything is a ball ache and it seems like nothing goes right?

 

Started sorting out the turret.  I melt sprue in extra thin cement in an old Tamiya paint jar and apply using a wooden stirrer fro Starbucks or Costa or one of them.

 

 

Despite my big words above, I went to push the tracks around and they wouldn't budge.  Nothing. Nada.  I assumed it was because I left them overnight and tried more glue to soften them.  Nada.  They started falling apart.  Eventually got them done.

 

About the only thing that did work today is the side light lenses.  I hunted through my spares and found nothing.  After a failed attempt at snding down a piece to fit I decided to stretch some sprue - success!

 

 

I managed to clean up the turret and fit the hanging off bit.

 

I obviously didn't clean the part properly as the Carpet Monster wanted a tribute:

 

 

I turned the room over - I even searched the bin and my spares box just in case, so I had to fabricate a replacement.  Hopefully it won't look too off once painted.

 

I left the wing mirrors to last as I've got a supernatural ability to break them.  Just fitted them and this happened:

 

 

Somehow it slide off the bottom hull and straight to the floor. Thankfully the only thing broke was the wing mirrors.

 

I should have called it quits then but I wanted to at least prime it today so I retired to my spray area in the shed.

 

 

I started off using Halford's rattle can primer and swapped to thinned down NATO Black after suggestion but it was crap on metal parts.  I'm now trying Mig One Shot.  Very good primer but sticks like the proverbial to my airbrush.  I've used it on my last two builds with no issues.  Today, as seems to be the trend, it kept gumming up my airbrush so I had to keep stopping and cleaning before I could continue.  I use black so I can straight on with the white shading but after today I thought I'd better not push my luck.

 

I have a bier left in the fridge and I'll be having it tonight.

 

Bill

[Jasper dog]

The joy's of modelling, as long as there's more good days than bad you're winning, that's  my theory at least!

 

Definitely taking shape,  I usually use Halfords bodyshop black primer, as opposed to the standard Halfords primer and it's worked fine on metal for me.  

 

Good idea with the clear sprue for the light lenses, I cheated with the Chally lamps and bought 650 diamantes/rhinestones in various sizes from Amazon, lot cheaper then the Ak ones even if not quite right and will last me years!. As a bonus, ideal for a Saturday night out in the Frog and Tapeworm, just don't tell the Mrs! 

 

Coming together really well,  I'm looking forward to seeing this painted. 

 

Good luck

Darryl 

 

 

 

[Big_Bad_Bill]

57 minutes ago, Jasper dog said:

The joy's of modelling, as long as there's more good days than bad you're winning, that's  my theory at least!

 

Definitely taking shape,  I usually use Halfords bodyshop black primer, as opposed to the standard Halfords primer and it's worked fine on metal for me.  

 

Good idea with the clear sprue for the light lenses, I cheated with the Chally lamps and bought 650 diamantes/rhinestones in various sizes from Amazon, lot cheaper then the Ak ones even if not quite right and will last me years!. As a bonus, ideal for a Saturday night out in the Frog and Tapeworm, just don't tell the Mrs! 

 

Coming together really well,  I'm looking forward to seeing this painted. 

 

Good luck

Darryl 

 

 

 

Cheers mate. To be honest I couldn't face any yesterday after Sunday's debacle and I've got family around tonight. It'll probably be Friday before I can do any and then it's white shading and trying out your NATO green and fresh wood idea. 

 

Bill

[Jasper dog]

3 hours ago, Big_Bad_Bill said:

Cheers mate. To be honest I couldn't face any yesterday after Sunday's debacle and I've got family around tonight. It'll probably be Friday before I can do any and then it's white shading and trying out your NATO green and fresh wood idea. 

 

 

 

As for the NATO green and New wood I'd suggest anything yellow-ish would do the job. It came from something I'd read regarding lightning OD, apparently its not a good idea to use white. The suggestion was to use yellow to lighten the OD, a quick scan over the bench and the first thing to come to hand was the New wood, used it ever since. I just keep lightening until the very final highlights are applied with a fine brush or cocktail stick to bolt heads, bracket edges etc.

Tbh if doing a second colour, black or sand then you probably don't need as much manipulation as you would if doing a straight green.

 

Have fun!

[Longbow]

On 9/20/2020 at 1:32 PM, Big_Bad_Bill said:

I started off using Halford's rattle can primer and swapped to thinned down NATO Black after suggestion but it was crap on metal parts.  I'm now trying Mig One Shot.  Very good primer but sticks like the proverbial to my airbrush.  I've used it on my last two builds with no issues.  Today, as seems to be the trend, it kept gumming up my airbrush so I had to keep stopping and cleaning before I could continue.  I use black so I can straight on with the white shading but after today I thought I'd better not push my luck.

 

I have a bier left in the fridge and I'll be having it tonight.

 

Bill

One Shot is fantastic stuff, but yes, it is a PIG to clean afterwards. 

I have a pot of 95% IPA handy, spray what One Shot  I need to, and then spray some IPA through the brush, and then strip the brush, tossing everything into IPA.

 

I think I have a Guinness in the fridge

 

 

 

[Big_Bad_Bill]

8 hours ago, Longbow said:

One Shot is fantastic stuff, but yes, it is a PIG to clean afterwards. 

I have a pot of 95% IPA handy, spray what One Shot  I need to, and then spray some IPA through the brush, and then strip the brush, tossing everything into IPA.

 

I think I have a Guinness in the fridge

 

 

 

I ended up with a bottle of Vallejo airbrush cleaner to hand to flush it through with. I think I used more on Sunday than in the last 12 months combined.

[Big_Bad_Bill]

9 hours ago, Jasper dog said:

 

As for the NATO green and New wood I'd suggest anything yellow-ish would do the job. It came from something I'd read regarding lightning OD, apparently its not a good idea to use white. The suggestion was to use yellow to lighten the OD, a quick scan over the bench and the first thing to come to hand was the New wood, used it ever since. I just keep lightening until the very final highlights are applied with a fine brush or cocktail stick to bolt heads, bracket edges etc.

Tbh if doing a second colour, black or sand then you probably don't need as much manipulation as you would if doing a straight green.

 

Have fun!

I had a play last night and used mig yellow grey (which is more like stone) and it seems to work but I'll have a go with their oily ockre (which is more yellow) later. Thanks for the help. Knowing me I'll use too much and it'll look like something out of Billy Smart's!

 

Bill

[Jasper dog]

Sounds like a plan, probably all ready know this but I go lighter than you'd imagine as the clear coat and weathering will darken it.

I wouldn't get to hung up on it, it is a relaxing hobby after all,  isn't it....?

 

Atb

Darryl 

[Big_Bad_Bill]

Against all expectation I managed to get a couple of hours in tonight.

 

I think I've got away with my bluff job.

 

 

I've moved on to the shading.  The guide I copied said to do the white highlights last but it seems to work better for me to do them first.

 

 

followed by some spraying with white in random patterns to give the faded look on the base colour.  The effect I'm aiming for is it to look almost grey from a distance.  It's where I've gone wrong before by not doing enough and the base comes out too dark.

 

 

Leave that to harden until I get another chance.

 

I've been playing with Darryl's idea.  From top to bottom:  Top two are Mig NATO green with yellow grey in different strengths and bottom two are NATO green with oily ochre.  

 

 

To my eye, the oily ochre has it.  Cheers Daryl @Jasper dog.  I'm Sorry to hear about your dog. 

 

Bill

[Jasper dog]

Thanks Bill, looking good under primer.

You probably know but I start with first coat of NATO green with 2-3drops of the yellow of your choice, and work from there, successive layers of green have a drop or two more yellow but this is concentrated on panel centres and highlights and the area covered gets smaller with each lightened coat.

Hope this makes sense and I'm not trying to teach the proverbial grandparent what to do with an egg...

 

Atb

 

 

[Big_Bad_Bill]

7 hours ago, Jasper dog said:

Thanks Bill, looking good under primer.

You probably know but I start with first coat of NATO green with 2-3drops of the yellow of your choice, and work from there, successive layers of green have a drop or two more yellow but this is concentrated on panel centres and highlights and the area covered gets smaller with each lightened coat.

Hope this makes sense and I'm not trying to teach the proverbial grandparent what to do with an egg...

 

Atb

 

 

Cheers Darryl, I usually find that with black shading one thin coat of the base does the trick to give the faded look. It's what I did on the Chaffee, Centurion and Comet but I'll definitely try that way in the future. I'm always up for new techniques. Actually they were all one colour, so your method maybe the way ahead for camouflage. I'll have a ponder.

 

Bill

[Big_Bad_Bill]

I started tonight by a coat of grey to tone down the wheels and the track pads

 

 

I did the main body and then did the hubs using my trusty circle template stencil.

 

 

 

As I've said before, it makes it easy as pie and I've used it from everything from a Chaffee to T-72 to Chally 2.  Of interest is every British tank from Comet to Chally 2 has the same size road wheels.

 

Since I with the black shading so I thought I'd continue.

 

 

I'm very happy with the way it came out - cheers Darryl @Jasper dog.

 

Next stage once dry is assembly of the lower hull, wheels and tracks and then onto the NATO black and khaki for the barrel sleeve.

 

Bill

[Dads203]

Starting to come together now with a touch of paint 

waiting to see more. 

[Jasper dog]

Looking really good,  be nice to see with the black.

Always thought the Chieftain a stylish little number particularly the late ones with the stillbrew armour upgrade.

 

Be interested to see how the tracks work out, funnily enough my least favourite part of a build..

 

Atb

[Big_Bad_Bill]

6 hours ago, Jasper dog said:

Looking really good,  be nice to see with the black.

Always thought the Chieftain a stylish little number particularly the late ones with the stillbrew armour upgrade.

 

Be interested to see how the tracks work out, funnily enough my least favourite part of a build..

 

Atb

The chieftain definitely had an elegance about it. It's just a pity about the L60. It's what let it down.

 

The tracks were primed and have had a wash with watered down brown. I've got dry brush them with gun metal and attach the track pads but I need to weather them first. I may leave the odd one off as it wasn't uncommon to lose them.  The rumours that lost track pads were used to make rat pack treacle pudding may not be completely false 😉

[Hamden]

 

This one is coming on in leaps and bounds great work so far.

Looking forward to the next instalment now!

 

          Roger

[Big_Bad_Bill]

31 minutes ago, Hamden said:

 

Looking forward to the next instalment now!

 

          Roger

Roger, you mean you weren't before?   You cut me to the quick you do 😀

 

Hopefully I'll get a chance to do more this afternoon.

 

Bill

[Jasper dog]

15 minutes ago, Big_Bad_Bill said:

Roger, you mean you weren't before?   You cut me to the quick you do 😀

 

Hopefully I'll get a chance to do more this afternoon.

 

Bill

Perhaps Roger just missed a comma and was demanding the next installment urgently...

 

Some folk just can't wait!

[Big_Bad_Bill]

17 minutes ago, Jasper dog said:

Perhaps Roger just missed a comma and was demanding the next installment urgently...

 

Some folk just can't wait!

That did occur to me but it was funnier the other way 😃

[Jasper dog]

12 minutes ago, Big_Bad_Bill said:

That did occur to me but it was funnier the other way 😃

Always go for the funny.....

 

At least that's what I told the constable after running over the clown. 

[Big_Bad_Bill]

1 hour ago, Jasper dog said:

Always go for the funny.....

 

At least that's what I told the constable after running over the clown. 

Boom tish 😃

[Big_Bad_Bill]

Quire a lot accomplished today.  For a start, I dry brushed the track pads and got the tracks assembled.

 

 

 

Spot the missing pads!  I'm a bit worried about the bottom and top matching.  That the problem with doing them separately.  I may have to go over them to help them gel.

 

Once the track were on I could finish the assembly.

 

 

 

Followed by a trip to the shed with a bit of blue-tack and a spot of black.

 

 

With the blue-tack removed.

 

 

There's a little bit of over-spray to sort but it is definitely a tank.  Next will be painting the barrel straps, fire extinguishers and a few touch ups followed by a coat of quick shine finish ready for decals.

 

All in all I'm happy how the days gone.  The Mk 10 has been ordered along with a Conqueror so the stash is growing.  

 

Bill

 

 

[diablo rsv]

Coming along nicely Bill.

[Bullbasket]

Nice work Bill. The green and black look perfect.

 

John.