Valentine Mk.IX.

[Bullbasket]

Strewth! It's catching. First Andy, now you. This speed building is becoming a pandemic! Two weeks from start to ready for paint. That's the time frame for me to open the box, and check the contents. But that aside, you've done a cracking job on this so far Wayne. Nice work.

 

John.

[Hamden]

 

Another great update, this will look stunning in paint although it does seem a shame to cover up all that great metal work!

 

       Stay safe           Roger 

[Cerberus]

7 hours ago, diablo rsv said:

Bronco have made an attempt at adding some texture to the turret surfaces but really it's not great. 

 

 Well your cast texture is a million times better than Bronco's poor effort that's for sure, and a beautiful looking little model btw 

 

 Matt

[diablo rsv]

Thanks @vytautas , Roger @Hamden  and Matt @Cerberus

7 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

Strewth! It's catching. First Andy, now you. This speed building is becoming a pandemic! Two weeks from start to ready for paint

 

Thanks John. To be fair I have been off work and the lovely lady indoors has allowed me plenty of time in the workshop, so in reality I have probably put in the equivalent of what would normally be two months work. I'm guessing around 80 hours so far including internet time. So you can see I'm a bit of a snail really.🐌

 

 

Wayne 

[Andy J]

12 minutes ago, diablo rsv said:

Thanks @vytautas , Roger @Hamden  and Matt @Cerberus

 

Thanks John. To be fair I have been off work and the lovely lady indoors has allowed me plenty of time in the workshop, so in reality I have probably put in the equivalent of what would normally be two months work. I'm guessing around 80 hours so far including internet time. So you can see I'm a bit of a snail really.🐌

 

 

Wayne 

Snail or not that is exceptional work Wayne and I've learnt a lot by following along...thanks mate 👍. 

[diablo rsv]

On 14/02/2021 at 20:39, Andy J said:

Snail or not that is exceptional work Wayne and I've learnt a lot by following along...thanks mate 👍. 

Cheers Andy I appreciate that , that's really nice to know. 

[diablo rsv]

I started the painting process as I did with the lower hull. First the model was wiped down with some IPA to get rid of greasy finger prints, residues and my nemesis dust and fibres. A coat of Mr. Finishing Surfacer black was then applied.

 

 

I then sprayed a some heavily thinned light coats of gloss white lacquer over the model as an undercoat coat for the MRP base coat. As MRP paints are fairly opaque I find this helps with their lighter colours. I sprayed the white from above creating a heavier layer on the upper surfaces and keeping some shadow on the lower surfaces. It's a sort of preshading I guess, but in reality by the time all of the other layers of paint are applied the effect is very subtle.

 

 

MRP's Desert Pink No.Z.I was then sprayed on, building up the layers to try and maintain some of the shadowing effects although it is difficult to see it in the photos.

Lacquer paints do dry quickly but I left it overnight before starting on the disruptive camouflage.

 

 

 

The colours and disruptive patterns of  British AFVs were set out in General Orders from the Camouflage Directorate and in the vast majority of cases these orders were strictly adhered to. A diagram for the scheme would be sent to workshops, however the diagrams weren't particularly detailed and some anomalies occurred, usually in the transition of the pattern from the sides to the top. Therefore some interpretation of the pattern was needed. 

Obviously best way to get an accurate model is to work from photos of the actual tank being modelled. It's hard to find photos from all angles though and very rare to find a photo of a top view. So along with the photos I had of the actual tank and some from similar vehicles  I used a copy of the scheme that was sent to the workshops taken from Mike Stammers book on the subject. The kits painting guide wasn't too bad but I wouldn't normally rely on kit manufactures interpretations. 

 

 

@Waynybob

To mask off the pink areas I used a masking putty. Mine is a combination of Silly Putty and Science Putty but it is essentially the same thing. I know that some people have had issues with the putties leaving a residue that paint won't adhere to but I haven't had an issue with it however I do make sure that I clean the model before applying the next paint layer. There are putties specifically made for modelling such as Panzer Putty and Ammo MiG's Camouflage Masking Putty and maybe theirs have a different composition to alleviate the problem, they cost a lot more than Silly Putty,  but I have no experience of them. 

Because the putty has  self levelling properties I try not to leave it on the model for too long and therefore worked on the turret and hull separately.

I started by rolling out some putty and then laying it on the model roughly in position. As I wanted a hard edged demarcation line I flattened it to the model as much as I could with my finger and a cocktail stick. I then fine tuned its positioning with a sharpened cocktail stick. 

 

I then tore off some putty and flattened it out before filling in the rest of the masked area.

 

 

 

I find the thicker the putty is applied the more it will be will be affected by gravity so it's best to keep it as thin as possible. The only way to pull the putty apart is to give it a sharp tug or to cut it so if I do put too much on I trim it off with small scissors.

Once the masking was done I intended to put a couple of layers hairspray on …. but I forgot.  Anyway, I sprayed the turret with MRP Dark Green No. PFI. and then moved onto the hull where I did remember the hairspray layer. When painting I start by spraying a mist coat, making sure I run along the edges of the masking and allowing it to tack off . If you apply the paint too heavily, apart from getting a ridge along the demarcation line, I have found that the paint sometimes creeps away from the putty slightly.  I then build up the colour in thin layers.

 

 

I only leave the paint long enough to be touch dry before removing the putty, if left too long the paint can tear along the edge.

I'm always slightly nervous about what I will find when the putty is removed but this time I was pretty pleased with the result with only a little touching up to do.

 

 

 

I'm struggling to find an image of the left hand side. The image I have of a similarly painted tank conflicts with the official drawings and a couple of profiles that I have seen where the green on the side skirt transitions to the upper hull further forwards. I also cant find out if the auxiliary fuel tank had disruptive camouflage on it as it is missing in the photo. I have gone with the photo for now but I will try to find a reference photo.

 

 

Next up I will do some chipping, apply decals and markings and some paint effects.

 

Wayne

 

 

 

 

 

[APA]

Very nice indeed. Enjoying following this thread. This scheme is one I have on my list to do and will watch with interest as you get to the real fun bit of weathering.

 

Crack on 👍🏻😉

 

A

[diablo rsv]

23 hours ago, APA said:

Very nice indeed. Enjoying following this thread. This scheme is one I have on my list to do and will watch with interest as you get to the real fun bit of weathering.

 

Crack on 👍🏻😉

 

A

 

Thanks A,  I'm pleased you're enjoying the thread. 

Have you a subject in mind?

Wayne

[Jasper dog]

Look really good Wayne,  the Valentine is a trick blighter to mask as well, nice work.

I've some Ak putty and that works fine with no residue btw, otherwise very similar to what you're using.

 

Cheers

Darryl 

[Nenad Ilijic]

Impressive work with PE!

Paintwork turned out great. I am using AK putty and there is no residue. However, as you mentioned, if you leave it too long, it will be pulled down and can create some mess. Especially if it is too tick. It is especially annoying if you have to apply multiple layers of paint, the edge can move a bit between layers if you are not careful and instead of nice hard edge you end up with kind of blurry one. Didn't found any tips how to overcome this except using thin layers of putty and helping it to level by applying some pressure and then, acting quickly. If someone has some additional tips, that would be great.

 

Cheers,

Nenad

[APA]

On 2/17/2021 at 6:30 PM, diablo rsv said:

 

Thanks A,  I'm pleased you're enjoying the thread. 

Have you a subject in mind?

Wayne

We'll I do have a crusader which would be the classic choice. 🤔

 

Andrew 

[edjbartos]

Really nice work Wayne, it's good to see a detailed tutorial like this, lots of things to learn, keep it up...

 

Ed

[Dads203]

Gotta agree with what others have said Wayne, this is top notch work 

[Bullbasket]

The cammo has gone on really well. I've never tried using these putties before. I've always replied on brush painting. I'll give it a go when I can lay my hands on some of the stuff. 

 

John.

[diablo rsv]

On 17/02/2021 at 19:36, Jasper dog said:

Look really good Wayne,  the Valentine is a trick blighter to mask as well, nice work.

I've some Ak putty and that works fine with no residue btw, otherwise very similar to what you're using.

 

Cheers

Darryl 

 

Thanks Darryl. It does have lots of awkward areas but putty makes it a fairly straight forward job. I think all of these putties are probably the same thing, just different branding.

Wayne 

On 18/02/2021 at 17:26, Nenad Ilijic said:

Impressive work with PE!

Paintwork turned out great. I am using AK putty and there is no residue. However, as you mentioned, if you leave it too long, it will be pulled down and can create some mess. Especially if it is too tick. It is especially annoying if you have to apply multiple layers of paint, the edge can move a bit between layers if you are not careful and instead of nice hard edge you end up with kind of blurry one. Didn't found any tips how to overcome this except using thin layers of putty and helping it to level by applying some pressure and then, acting quickly. If someone has some additional tips, that would be great.

 

Cheers,

Nenad

 

Thanks Nenad. It does complicate thing a bit when try to mask more than two colours. I find it helps if I mask and paint small areas of the vehicle at a time, there is less chance of dislodging previously applied putty. The fact that the putty loves to stick to itself more than anything else can be annoying sometimes.

 

23 hours ago, APA said:

We'll I do have a crusader which would be the classic choice. 🤔

 

Andrew 

 

Good choice Andrew. I have the Border Models one which will most likely be my next build.

 

22 hours ago, edjbartos said:

Really nice work Wayne, it's good to see a detailed tutorial like this, lots of things to learn, keep it up...

 

Ed

 

Many thanks Ed, I appreciate the feed back.

 

9 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

The cammo has gone on really well. I've never tried using these putties before. I've always replied on brush painting. I'll give it a go when I can lay my hands on some of the stuff. 

 

John.

 

Cheers John. They are well worth getting especially for this type of vehicle where you get lots of nooks and crannies. There is always a little touching up to do with the brush but generally I think I get a better finish with the putty. The Silly Putty I use is quite cheap and should be available on eBay and Amazon etc. I'm sure that Panzer and AK will say different but I doubt there is any difference between them all.   

 

[diablo rsv]

A little bit of progress.

I have applied some chipping effects to the green paint. The base colour would have received a couple of coats and should be fairly durable but as far as I'm aware the disruptive colour would only have one coat of paint so some wear would be inevitable. I didn't want to go over board with it though and tried to keep it in arears that would have received the most wear such as the bottom of the sand shields and areas that I thought crew and soldiers would tread. Looking at the photo of my subject its difficult to tell how worn the paint work was.

I wet the area I wanted to work on to reactivate the hair spray and then worked at getting the paint to chip with a sharpened cocktail stick, an old cut down brush and a fine sanding sponge. I also used a needle for fine scratches.

 

 

 

 

After a little tidying up of the paint work I sprayed a fine mist coat of the pink base colour over the whole model to take down the contrast between the colours. It helps to blend the camouflage and also gives a slightly dusty appearance which helps with the weathering.  I also made a start on painting some of the details.

I then put on the decals however the WD numbers were somewhat smaller than the one that you can see in the photo of Buccaneer, so I used my vinyl cutting machine to make a stencil. I prefer to use a stencil and paint markings where possible, that way there is no risk of silvering.

 

 

I took a chance that the painters would have used the same stencils to put on the rear WD number. I'm not sure though if the number was also applied to the left hand side of the turret.

The flimsy cans were painted Light Stone just to give a bit of contrast. 

 

 

Following some advice from Mike Starmer that the tank in the photo showing the left side had been retouched I decided to alter the disruptive pattern on the model to match the official  October 1942 pattern for Valentines.

 

 

Next up I will start to apply washes and a clear coat before I make a start on weathering.

 

Wayne

 

 

 

 

 

[Bullbasket]

Wayne, you've been hit by the "New York" syndrome........so good they named it twice.

That aside, great work on the scratches and chipping. Very realistic.

 

John.

[diablo rsv]

18 minutes ago, Bullbasket said:

Wayne, you've been hit by the "New York" syndrome

Not sure what happened there. 🤔 I've hidden the other one.

Wayne

[vytautas]

Hi Wayne, tremendous work!

 

Vytautas

[Jasper dog]

The chipped and scuffed paintwork looks really good as does the painted markings. 

Entirely agree, painted markings always look so much better than decals.

 

Nice work

Darryl 

[diablo rsv]

Does anyone know what the pipe from the external fuel tank is likely to be made of and where it might enter the tank? It looks quite stiff so I am guessing metal and painted. I can't find a photo that makes it clear.

 

 

 

On 22/02/2021 at 09:29, Jasper dog said:

Entirely agree, painted markings always look so much better than decals.

 

The Buccaneer on the front is pushing the limits, at 1.4mm high,  of what my cutter and eyesight can achieve though. I may need to tinker with the settings to see if I can get smaller but in 1/35 I doubt I would need to very often.

I wish I had painted the Arm of Service sign now that I look at the photo as there is a darker red border on the decal. A bit of weathering will have cover it up a bit. Or then again OCD kicks in and I remove it and paint it.

 

 

 

I still haven't decided how to approach the weathering yet. Tunisian vehicles could be quite dirty or just dusty. I wanted to try something different to my other builds but I will probably stick with what I know for this one.

 

Wayne

 

 

[Dads203]

That’s looking brilliant Wayne, some lovely touches with the weathering fella and another excellent build 

[Hamden]

13 hours ago, Dads203 said:

That’s looking brilliant Wayne, some lovely touches with the weathering fella and another excellent build 

 

What he said!

 

Stay safe         Roger

[Nenad Ilijic]

Great work Wayne!

Which vinyl cutting machine are you using to make a stencils?

 

Nenad