flashlight Posted October 27, 2020 Share Posted October 27, 2020 Hi all, after finishing the Saracen I started a new project. I don't remember why I bought this kit, as I am not really interested in WW II vehicles, maybe it was the strange look of this light tank or I just wanted to see how a kit of this company builds, I don't know. Anyway, I looked at it and decided that it was about time to pull it out of the stash. I forgot to take pics of the sprues and started right away as the kit landed on the workbench. These are the main parts that make up the hull. The green plastic is on the softer side, but no problem at all. Hull put together plus the rear suspension. Fit is not so bad, better than I thought, only a little bit of filling and sanding will be needed. That's all for now, thanks for looking! Stay safe 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted October 28, 2020 Share Posted October 28, 2020 It's 1/72, so what's not to like. Always nice to see what can be done in this scale, gives you a chance to try new things like opening the odd hatch. Crack on Nick. Stuart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashlight Posted October 30, 2020 Author Share Posted October 30, 2020 @Courageous Hi Stuart, thanks for the comment. Opening a hatch would mean scratch building of interior. This build is intended to be a relatively fast and relaxing build, simply out of the box. Maybe I'll use it to improve my weathering skills. Stay safe 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashlight Posted October 30, 2020 Author Share Posted October 30, 2020 Hi all, I've made some progress with this project. Filling and sanding is done, front suspension is attached, and the big hole at the turret's position is closed. I also built the turret. During this process I've learned that the plastic is not only soft, but brittle too. While trying to put the gun mount into the mantlet, the mantlet broke in two. No big problem, easy to fix and hopefully not visible in the end, That's all for now. Thanks for looking! Stay safe 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edjbartos Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 it's looking good, really nice work done so far Ed 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BallsBuster Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 Hi, very interesting build. Will follow it. Just a suggestion- hope not too late, the height of the turret in this kit is slightly off. It is about 1mm too tall, roughly for the thickness of the "roof" part. Might be sensible to sand off a bit from the top of the walls. Also the armored patches on the sides are way too prominent. I would suggest to sand them off to about a half of its current thickness... 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashlight Posted October 31, 2020 Author Share Posted October 31, 2020 (edited) @edjbartos Hi Ed, thank your for the nice comment. @BallsBuster Thank you for the very good and interesting suggestions. If I'll ever build such a tank again, I will keep them in mind. Regarding this build now it is intended as a quick oob-relief build to gain back my sanity from the photo etch seat belt horror at my Kamaz Typhoon-K build and to improve my weathering skills. Therefore I won't care about details. So I won't tear up or sand down anything, sorry for that. Anyway thank you very much for the constructive and very useful input. Not much to show today as I didn't have much time at the workbench. Only managed to attach the fenders, which was quite tricky, especially to get the front parts over the front suspension. This is how it looks now. It's slowly starting to look like a tank. That's all I could do now. Next step will be some photo etch I'm afraid.. 🙄 But this seems to be quite simple, hopefully. Thanks for looking! Stay safe Edited October 31, 2020 by flashlight forgot something 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 That's a neat looking little tank Nick. It looks more like a 1/35th scale kit. John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashlight Posted November 1, 2020 Author Share Posted November 1, 2020 @Bullbasket Hi John, thank you for the comment. I hope it still looks a bit like this after it's finished. Stay safe 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashlight Posted November 10, 2020 Author Share Posted November 10, 2020 Hi all, just some small progress to show today. I had to bend some PE, the first two were easy to do. The next two parts were even easier, no bending necessary. Next step was to bend the grille according to the curvature of the two parts left and right of the big hole. I nearly broke this PE part and I nearly ripped the mesh out of the frame, but somehow I managed to get it in place, but it doesn't look very nice due to my clumsiness. After this I attached the two front hooks and the rear mudguards. With the PE parts finished the tank can now go to the paint shop. That's all for now, thanks for looking. Stay safe 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 4 hours ago, flashlight said: doesn't look very nice I don't know, with boots and stores coming and going, the dented look will give it worn look. Stick with it. Stuart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashlight Posted November 11, 2020 Author Share Posted November 11, 2020 @Courageous Hi Stuart, thanks for the comment. Yes, these were my thoughts too so I don't worry too much about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashlight Posted November 21, 2020 Author Share Posted November 21, 2020 Hello all, had some progress, the little tank has been in the paint shop and has got a coat of Gunze 4BO green. After the colour has dried up I painted the mesh at the rear black. I also painted the wheels, here they are, dryfit. Naturally I lost the rear right hand side mudguard,will scratch it from thin plasticard. That's all for now. Next steps will be gloss coat and decals. Thanks for looking, stay safe! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted November 22, 2020 Share Posted November 22, 2020 It's really looking good Nick, but please tell me that you are going to tone down the black on those mesh intakes. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashlight Posted November 22, 2020 Author Share Posted November 22, 2020 Hi John, of course it will be toned down, I think this will happen automatically after treatment with matte coat and washing. Stay safe! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashlight Posted November 24, 2020 Author Share Posted November 24, 2020 Hi all, some progress here. Gloss coat is on... ...and I scratch built the lost mudguard (right hand side) and painted the rims of the drive wheels in steel colour... ...then I painted the exhaust in steel... ...and drybrushed it with Floquil Rust... ...attached it... ...and put on the decals, which I think are way too big (the "Stalin"-letters)... ...the white cross was treated with much decal softener to get it into the panel lines. I plan to treat it somehow to make it look worn and torn. Next will be another clear coat to blend in the decals, After this I will start the weathering process. Thanks for looking! Stay safe 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 Just picked up on this little build Nick. It's a fascinating tank in this scale and yours is coming along very nicely. The shade of green looks pretty good. I bet this will look the biz after a bit of weathering! Terry 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashlight Posted November 25, 2020 Author Share Posted November 25, 2020 @Terry1954 Hi Terry, thank you very much for the nice comment. I use this build to improve my weathering skills (in fact - no skill at all!) so we'll see how it'll turn out. Stay safe 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashlight Posted November 26, 2020 Author Share Posted November 26, 2020 Hi everybody, some progress here. First I gave the wheels a dark brown wash... then the decals were scratched to give them a worn look... After the next clear coat I modulated the green colour by slightly drybrushing some very light grey and then the tank received a dark brown wash and a little sand wash here and there... This is the current status. Next will be some mud. Thanks for looking! Stay safe 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashlight Posted November 29, 2020 Author Share Posted November 29, 2020 Hi all, I'm back with some progress, this time I had been playing about with mud. I tried not to do too much and keep it restrained. This is the result. The wheels were also treated. I am quite happy with the result. Next will be the tracks. They are link and lenght, I hope they'll fit. Thanks for looking! Stay safe 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashlight Posted December 6, 2020 Author Share Posted December 6, 2020 Hi all, the tracks were trickier than I thought. First I realized that the idler wheels were way out of line and stood too far out. Whatever I did, nothing helped. In the last consequence I clipped off the locating pins and sanded down the arms until the wheels were in line with all the rest of the wheels. After this the tracks were painted in steel colour. The next problem occurred during the mounting of the tracks - by using all individual links they were too long, by leaving one link out they were too short. So I had to do some surgery - I cut out a piece in the middle of the one link, glued it together again, much shorter than it was before, and with a lot of luck the tracks could be connected. The same procedure had to be done with the second track too. This is the result, after the weathering of the tracks: Unfortunately I lost both headlights, maybe someday the tank will get some spare ones, but for now I'll leave it as is, I consider this little beastie finished. Next pictures will be posted in the RFI section. Thank you all for looking and for the incouraging comments, much appreciated! Stay safe 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted December 6, 2020 Share Posted December 6, 2020 Nice work Nick. I'll see it in the RFI. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted December 28, 2020 Share Posted December 28, 2020 That is a lovely build of a tricky little kit.....These are probably the L&L tracks that I fear the most and having around a dozen assorted UM BTs in the stash it's a fear I really need to overcome! Do you think the issue could be dealt with by very slightly shortening each length & indy link individually or perhaps by shortening the long run under the roadwheels (where it's easier to hide)? I'd rather not shorten the indy links or one of the shorter lengths as they are always more visible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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