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Chieftain Mk.10 Berlin Brigade


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10 hours ago, ivan-o said:

Soviet mission in Germany😀 we had the same in the east. It was a team of Russians driving around keeping an eye on what NATO was up to. Our lot done exactly the same across the iron curtain. Of course what was really happening was trying to gather as much intelligence about the other side as possible. Whenever we spotted them we had to inform the RMP,s asp.

HTH 

Ivan

 

10 hours ago, Dads203 said:

It was legalised spying, all sides did it, Russians, French, Brits and the US.

it was to keep the balance, put teams into another’s country and let them observe to a degree. Some great books written on the the subject one which was a cracking read was called Brixmis. The British military mission into east Germany.

They really put themselves into firing line to gain intel on the latest Soviet kit and tactics. Proper unsung hero’s of the Cold War. 
 


 

https://coldwar.org.uk/soxmis-and-brixmis-legal-spying-on-the-front-lines-of-the-cold-war/

 

 

Thanks for the info Ivan and Dan. I watched the videos and it's fascinating stuff. I will watch the full one later. How were the Soviet guys dealt with if they "over stepped the mark"?

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39 minutes ago, diablo rsv said:

 

Thanks for the info Ivan and Dan. I watched the videos and it's fascinating stuff. I will watch the full one later. How were the Soviet guys dealt with if they "over stepped the mark"?


We could only restrict their movement and call the brigade or divisional liaison officer who would attend and sort out the Soxmis party. The reality was that we couldn’t do anything to them as they were effectively covered by diplomatic immunity. I only experienced blocking them in once during my time and as John mentioned they liked to get into a convoy and follow us around taking photos of the kit and crews. We blocked in the mission car with two 436 command vehicles and a Land Rover, taking care not to collide with their  Lada 4X4 car. 
 

All mission teams were supposed to be unarmed  and wearing no combat uniforms and all nations did this apart the US teams, they carried 9mm pistols and dressed in standard woodland camo. Several US mission team members were shot by the Russians and killed because of this, being caught by a trigger happy conscript in areas that they shouldn’t of been, yep the Russians carried live rounds on exercises. 
 

 Soxmis cars were seen quite regularly during the exercise season around the main exercise locations in BAOR. I think 1993 they stopped completely and our own mission was disbanded around that time when the Cold War ended. 
 

 

more on the Brit mission.

 

http://www.brixmis.co.uk/photos/

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On 20/12/2020 at 08:10, Bullbasket said:

As we approached a junction, the Pig in front of the Beetle stopped, but the Saracen behind it didn't, and made a very nasty mess of the Soxmis car.

I have got a Saracen in the stash, now you've got me thinking of a diorama.🤔 I need to check Scalemates to find a 1/35 Beetle or maybe even a Lada

 

Anyway, back to the Chieftain build. Just a little update. I've been working on the gun. I decided to go with the kit gun as the Accurate Armour one the I bought for a late Centurion build was somewhat disappointing. Although @Bish used one on his build and was pretty happy with it. Apart from the seam to deal with there is no riffling in the muzzle of the Takom one.

I added some tape to extend the ends of the straps and I can't tell, from photos that I have, what colour the buckles should be. I might add some steel pigment latter.

 

\vUPYufIh.jpg

 

 

 vjy0qlvh.jpg

 

PwWBAHnh.jpg

 

Now I have looked at the photos I can see a couple of bits that need tidying up but it looks better in reality. It's not the easiest thing to accurately photograph with a phone.

I need to do a little research on the stowage items next and start making/ purchasing them before I can think about how to tackle the remaining weathering.

But first I have a considerable amount of drinking and eating to do. So wishing you all a Merry Christmas and see you on the other side.:cheers:

 

Wayne

 

 

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11 hours ago, diablo rsv said:

So wishing you all a Merry Christmas and see you on the other side.

And the same to you and yours Wayne. That's a brilliant job that you've done on that 120mm. I had to check to see that it was the model and not the real thing. Maybe someone can say different, but I would go for black for the buckles. You don't want all those buckles reflecting sunlight.

 

John.

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This build is looking amazing, lovely work. I think you have really done a great job on the barrel, i can't make out any sign of a seam. For your info, the AA resin gun does not have any rifling either, so you have lost nothing in that respect.

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Outstanding sir!

Tremendous detail touches particularly like the engine deck mesh, grab handles and the gun barrel.

Of course the paintwork and masking is excellent too, great work!

 

As you've mentioned its difficult keeping up with so many excellent builds whilst trying to do a little modelling yourself!

 

Congratulations on the magazine article too, I have the mag sat in front of me now.

 

All the best for Christmas and the new year .

Stay safe and well

Darryl 

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On 25/12/2020 at 09:08, Bullbasket said:

And the same to you and yours Wayne. That's a brilliant job that you've done on that 120mm. I had to check to see that it was the model and not the real thing. Maybe someone can say different, but I would go for black for the buckles. You don't want all those buckles reflecting sunlight.

 

John.

 

Thanks John!, You're too kind. 

I hadn't thought of that re the buckles. I think black is the way to go then.

 

On 25/12/2020 at 11:01, FrancisGL said:

Hi Wayne,
excellent work so far, I see that you have also improved the 120 with extenders, as I did with my MK2, a very nice detail.
Cheers, MC and TC
Francis.

 

Thanks Francis, nice to see you back. 

I think it's a relatively straight forward upgrade but it makes quite an improvement to the look of the gun.

 

On 25/12/2020 at 13:05, Bish said:

This build is looking amazing, lovely work. I think you have really done a great job on the barrel, i can't make out any sign of a seam. For your info, the AA resin gun does not have any rifling either, so you have lost nothing in that respect.

 

Cheers Bish!

 

On 25/12/2020 at 13:31, edjbartos said:

Really nice work on the gun Wayne, the painting and detail is lovely...

 

Ed

 

Thanks Ed!

 

2 hours ago, Jasper dog said:

Outstanding sir!

Tremendous detail touches particularly like the engine deck mesh, grab handles and the gun barrel.

Of course the paintwork and masking is excellent too, great work!

 

As you've mentioned its difficult keeping up with so many excellent builds whilst trying to do a little modelling yourself!

 

Congratulations on the magazine article too, I have the mag sat in front of me now.

 

All the best for Christmas and the new year .

Stay safe and well

Darryl 

 

Thanks Darryl, that's very much appreciated.

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On 12/17/2020 at 7:11 PM, diablo rsv said:

I made some lifting handles from some .5mm brass rod and some .7mm tubing.

 

Hi Wayne, hope you don't mind me asking, but how you cut the small 0.7mm lengths mentioned above without crushing the tube?

 

CHeers

 

Nick

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5 hours ago, Nick Charnock said:

 

Hi Wayne, hope you don't mind me asking, but how you cut the small 0.7mm lengths mentioned above without crushing the tube?

 

CHeers

 

Nick

 

Hi Nick

I inserted .5mm brass rod into the tubing and then cut it by rolling a scalpel blade across it with slight downward pressure. It will cut through the tube fairly easily, and because they are on the rod they don't fly off never to be seen again.

 

Wayne

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I have been making up some stowage items to add some interest. 

The tent bag, and folded tarps are made from fine Milliput. The two rolls in the basket are rolled up lead sheet with tape straps, and the camo net is some old plasterers scrim tape with some herbs sprinkled on it. The net is greener in reality.

 

jnWZ3avh.jpg

 

Along the side of the vehicles that I am using for reference are what appears to be three rolled up tarps. I'm not sure what they are for, but what I can't tell is if they are on the other side as well.

I'm hoping that some of our veterans may be able to shed some light. @ivan-o @Dads203 @Scimitar F1 @redcap

 

v8ERxDWh.jpg

 

This was again from rolled up Milliput. I will add the straps once I know if I need to do the same on the other side.

The basket on the right of the turret will receive some Jerry cans etc. On the top of the rear turret ( NBC pack ) there are more items but I can't tell from the photos what they are likely to be.

 

Wayne

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The only thing that springs to mind is thermal camouflage. The tracks and wheels get warm -

easily visible on a thermal imager and this was to cover them. We never used it  on exercise on Salisbury plain but we had it in the stores. From memory it was a plasticised material with a couple of layers and slightly lighter than NATO IRR green. It also had a slight sheen. 
 

it would have been on both sides. Hope that helps

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On 28/12/2020 at 21:13, Longbow said:

That is some all around Outstanding work....

Excellent painting and masking !!

 

Thank you Lee!

53 minutes ago, vytautas said:

Looks very good. I really liked the rolled up tarps.
How did you do it?

 

Vytautas

 

Thanks Vytautas.

 

Milliput is an epoxy putty, if you use the fine version it can be rolled out very thinly. You need to cover the work surface and roller with talc to prevent it from sticking. It can then be rolled up and modelled. It takes a few hours to harden so you have plenty of time to fiddle with it. 

 

1 hour ago, APA said:

Really excellent stuff here. Everything is beautifully crafted. Nice work indeed and the colour scheme really adds interest. keep it up 👍🏻

 

A

 

Thanks A. The end is in sight now. 

 

Wayne

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42 minutes ago, Scimitar F1 said:

The only thing that springs to mind is thermal camouflage. The tracks and wheels get warm -

easily visible on a thermal imager and this was to cover them. We never used it  on exercise on Salisbury plain but we had it in the stores. From memory it was a plasticised material with a couple of layers and slightly lighter than NATO IRR green. It also had a slight sheen. 
 

it would have been on both sides. Hope that helps

 

Thanks for the prompt reply! That makes perfect sense. I wonder if the sheets stacked on top of the NBC pack could be similar sheets for the engine deck then. In the photos they are definitely brown so I guess they were specially produced for the Berlin brigade.

 

Wayne

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The new cam system came out back in the early 1990’s which comprised of green thermal sheets and a new synthetic cam net with the fibreglass poles and tennis bat spreaders so it might just of made it into the Berlin Chieftains. I would have to say that they were probably still using black hessian to drape on the lower hull though. This was used to reduce any shadow from the running gear and to break up the overall shape from a distance. We did get back in the early 90’s a roll of plastic grey hessian type material, it was a light grey colour matched for the urban scene , it frayed like something that liked to fall apart and melted like a swine if it got close to the exhaust. This was also supposed to a thermal type of cam and generally we called it Urban cam, it was however very light weight 

and easy to deploy. 
 

In the field in a rural environment then you would use hessian over the vehicle with the nets pegged out and poled up, ideally like a garage so if you needed to bug out quick you would just drive out with minimal hassle.

 

Urban environments you would just drape the hessian, not uncommon for the crews to paint fake bricks onto the hessian just to add to it. 
 

I must say that the Chiefy build is probably one of the best I have seen Wayne, lovely work indeed mate, top quality :thumbsup:

 

Cam net would be dark green with green brown scrim patches for temperate deployments 

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19 hours ago, diablo rsv said:

 

Hi Nick

I inserted .5mm brass rod into the tubing and then cut it by rolling a scalpel blade across it with slight downward pressure. It will cut through the tube fairly easily, and because they are on the rod they don't fly off never to be seen again.

 

Wayne

Thanks Wayne, I’ll give that a try.

Cheers

Nick

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On 01/01/2021 at 08:56, Bullbasket said:

Great additions there Wayne. I especially like the plasterer's scrim. Nice work.

 

Thanks John. It does work well for making this style of camo net but I don't think it's exactly right for this time period. In the photos of the actual vehicle the net has a lot more tape on it, but it didn't look right when I tried to replicate it so I will leave as is..

 

On 01/01/2021 at 09:14, Dads203 said:

The new cam system came out back in the early 1990’s which comprised of green thermal sheets and a new synthetic cam net with the fibreglass poles and tennis bat spreaders so it might just of made it into the Berlin Chieftains.

 

Once again Dan thank you for the info, you have been very  helpful for this build and I really appreciate the compliment, I have seen some amazing builds of this kit so it's nice to here you think this one is up there.:blush:

 

Looking through my photos again I noticed that Takom have got the 'winky pot' thing far too high, so I have reduced the height of the pole to match the ones in the photos. I have also added a bit of stowage on top of the NBC pack but I think it lacks something so I will tinker with that later. I have also added the thermal sheets to the other side of the tank and tied them on with some rope although I think it is more likely they would have used bungee cords.

I have also been adding some dirt and dust. It's been difficult to get the balance of the weathering right I want it to look like it's had a hard day on the ranges but not caked in mud. I think I'm not too far off now. 

CRJ6ezHl.jpg

 

WyT3Nahh.jpg

 

I'm just waiting for some oil cans and water containers to arrive for the RH basket and then it will be a case of taking some proper photos for the RFI.

 

Wayne

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