Ned Posted May 11, 2021 Share Posted May 11, 2021 (edited) Here's the twin-turret Polish 7TP tank with the design copied from the Vickers Mark E. Bought for £7 from super-hobby.com in Poland in January just for this GB. I've got the single turret version as well, so might go for broke and build both. Panzer III moves in for an easy kill: Edited June 19, 2021 by Ned 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted May 12, 2021 Share Posted May 12, 2021 Hi Ned. Welcome to the GB! Wow! I like the look of your kit!! Two turrets! Mmmmm.....interesting idea! I'm looking forward to seeing this in progress. This is exactly why I like this GB - like the previous Less Than a Tenner GB - the range/type of kits being built looks like it's going to be fascinating! Kind regards, Stix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted Posted May 12, 2021 Share Posted May 12, 2021 Cool. I built their C7P gun tractor and enjoyed it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Posted May 15, 2021 Author Share Posted May 15, 2021 OK, time to kick the tyres... Three sprues, one with a LOT of wheels, one for the hull, one with the unique parts for the twin turrets version. There a bit of flash, but nothing too horrible. The painting instructions are all just one side view, shame they're not all in colour, I might need to get some crayons out before I can decide what I like. Choice of (I think) Vickers or Hotchkiss guns Rubber bands, a limited decal sheet, and some funny little signal flags to add to one of the turrets. No time to start anything today, maybe tomorrow. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted May 15, 2021 Share Posted May 15, 2021 Definitely looks like an interesting kit Ned. Kind regards, Stix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Posted May 19, 2021 Author Share Posted May 19, 2021 Here's my progress report. I'm not doing it just to bump myself up and out of the relegation zone, no sir! The hull is slowly going together, one piece at a time, but not needing too much fettling to get a reasonable fit. The turrets aren't so good and are a bit of a fight. The facis plates fit perfectly, but only when upside down The wheel bogies are fun little fellas, they look like octopus on iceskates (at the back near my snippers). Loving it so far, tempted to start on the single-turret-Panzer-IV-smashing-Bofors-gun version as well. One question - what's a nice easy way of replacing rivets? I'm going to lose a few on the turrets. Does dabs of PVA or CA glue work? I suppose I could always just slice them off and try to put them back afterwards. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted May 20, 2021 Share Posted May 20, 2021 Great to see you are underway Ned and I'm pleased you are enjoying the build so far. Not too sure what you want to use for the replacement rivets. I've used slices off thin plastic round rod from the spares box for the odd one I've had to replace. They are usually small enough not to be noticeable. Others may have better ideas. Kind regards, Stix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Posted May 21, 2021 Author Share Posted May 21, 2021 The sprues are empty and the box is in the bin. Just need to clean up the tools and put them on, drill out the ends of the suspension arms, and deal with those horrible mould lines that you can see around the vision slits on the turret sides. The droopy gun on one side looks like a dead dalek A few more days and it will be ready to defend the streets of Warsaw. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted May 22, 2021 Share Posted May 22, 2021 Wow! Very impressive progress Ned!! It really is looking excellent! I'm looking forward to seeing it with the paint going on. Kind regards, Stix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Posted May 23, 2021 Author Share Posted May 23, 2021 I had my 2nd COVID vaccination yesterday, so I've not felt like doing much. In the spirit of this GB I'm going to use the paint that I've bought for my Renault FT, so this is AK "French Milky Coffee". I haven't done any shading, so it's very flat, but once I decided how to do it, I'll be adding green and brown. It'll be my first camouflaged tank. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 On 23/05/2021 at 19:00, Ned said: I had my 2nd COVID vaccination yesterday Hi Ned. Had my second vaccination this afternoon......so we'll see what tomorrow brings! Hope you are feeling better today. Your 7TP looks great in it's paint coat! Kind regards, Stix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Posted May 25, 2021 Author Share Posted May 25, 2021 48 minutes ago, PlaStix said: Hi Ned. Had my second vaccination this afternoon......so we'll see what tomorrow brings! Hope you are feeling better today. Your 7TP looks great in it's paint coat! Kind regards, Stix It didn't really affect me much, I just felt a bit tired and had heavy legs over the weekend. I was sort of wanting to feel worse to justify having a day off work, but I was fine by monday morning so no luck there! Hope you recover quickly too. I've just been painting the roadwheels and bogies tonight, nothing exciting enough for a picture. Plucking up courage to try something for the first time - freehand airbrushing the camouflage colours. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Posted June 10, 2021 Author Share Posted June 10, 2021 Hello! Not had much time over the last few weeks what with half-term and all that. Plus my den/office became a store room for my son's stuff while his bedroom was getting a new carpet. This weekend I think it'll be time to get this finished. Not sure about the tracks though - do you think that this is a bit too much slack for it to be realistic? I should've tested them before I stuck them together 🤦♀️ 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted Posted June 11, 2021 Share Posted June 11, 2021 Nice camouflage. That is a lot of slack compared to photos of the tank. I seem to remember the kit tracks being very soft rubber with good detail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Posted June 11, 2021 Author Share Posted June 11, 2021 6 hours ago, Ted said: Nice camouflage. That is a lot of slack compared to photos of the tank. I seem to remember the kit tracks being very soft rubber with good detail. Did yours fit? I've had to cut out 4 links. Working with these rubber tracks is feeling a bit like a lost skill, the teeth on the sprockets don't fit very well either, and it never occurred to me to check the fit before fitting the sprockets to the hull and making alterations 10x more difficult. If I'd thought about it I would've thinned the teeth whereas now I'm trying to make the holes in the track a bit bigger. I don't remember having these issues 40 years ago, when almost every problem was solved with more glue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Posted June 12, 2021 Author Share Posted June 12, 2021 The only good thing to say about the tracks is that they're on. They don't fit the sprockets at all. I think that they've been stretched somehow, the holes are too far apart for the teeth, and I also had to cut out 4 links. The other side looks awful, I won't show it because I don't want to offend anyone I'll do some panel lining, maybe a filter, and then chuck some muck over it. There are no decals, these went into their final battle with no markings. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted June 13, 2021 Share Posted June 13, 2021 I always used to cut the teeth off the sprockets if there was any trouble fitting the most (which there usually was!). The side you are showing us looks really nice. Regards, Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Posted June 17, 2021 Author Share Posted June 17, 2021 A bit of pin washing has perked it up a bit. I bet that I forget to paint the headlights though... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Posted June 18, 2021 Author Share Posted June 18, 2021 Just had a semi-disaster I was adding some delicate, subtle weathering to the hull, and then sneezed and tipped an entire bottle of grime over the damn thing! Suffice to say that it's going to be a bit dirtier than I was intending. Some parts look quite good, but I don't think I'll try it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Posted June 19, 2021 Author Share Posted June 19, 2021 (edited) In the light of day it looks a bit rubbish, so I think I'm just going to call this one done and move on. From what I have read these twin-turret tanks were pulled from training schools and only used in the last week or so of fighting on the streets of Warsaw, so I was wanting something with a bit of street grime and dust, not caked in brown sludge. Oh well. My aftermarket addition of 1/2 bottle of Streaking Grime adds another £2.25 to my build, so it's come out at £9.25 On the plus side the mop-up took so long that I missed a big chunk of the England vs Scotland game. I was Googling to find out what all of the grilles on the rear deck were for and accidentally found an IBG Models kit of the single turret version with full interior that I'm going to find hard to resist... Edited June 19, 2021 by Ned 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Posted June 19, 2021 Author Share Posted June 19, 2021 Hooray, it's FINISHED. Thanks for the GB, Stix, and 'keep it up!' to everyone still building. I'll return with another before the GB ends, 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted June 19, 2021 Share Posted June 19, 2021 (edited) 6 hours ago, Ned said: I was Googling to find out what all of the grilles on the rear deck were for and accidentally found an IBG Models kit of the single turret version with full interior that I'm going to find hard to resist... Something like these? There is probably a gap of at least 20 years between the first and second pic in terms of my visits to the tank museum - one with Vickers MG ? and one with an MG and a 3 pdr gun - the latter is I think the Model E Type B - not sure about the right hand one in the first pic as seems to be a single turret version of the Type A? Of course some of the foreign Type A clones had a cannon in one turret and an mg in the other as I recall. The type B is apparently a late version somewhat modified and was being built for Siam (Thailand) when WWII broke out so was used by the Brits for training. If you have not seen it already this may be of interest. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVP2TPkcufs Pete Edited June 19, 2021 by PeterB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzy Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 Fantastic build Ned, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Posted June 20, 2021 Author Share Posted June 20, 2021 19 hours ago, PeterB said: Something like these? There is probably a gap of at least 20 years between the first and second pic in terms of my visits to the tank museum - one with Vickers MG ? and one with an MG and a 3 pdr gun - the latter is I think the Model E Type B - not sure about the right hand one in the first pic as seems to be a single turret version of the Type A? Of course some of the foreign Type A clones had a cannon in one turret and an mg in the other as I recall. The type B is apparently a late version somewhat modified and was being built for Siam (Thailand) when WWII broke out so was used by the Brits for training. If you have not seen it already this may be of interest. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVP2TPkcufs Pete Mirage Hobby do quite a few different Vickers versions as well as the 7TPs. I did enjoy the build bar the awful tracks and could've avoided that with a little forward planning. I need to build a single turret 7TP to fit in with my '1.Panzer Division and it's opponents' theme - they didn't fight in Warsaw and so didn't fight against the twin turret version. The single turret had a Bofors gun that was more than capable against the Panzer II and III in use at the time. They also captured a fair number and took them to France in 1940. I think I need to build another twin as well, with a figure in each turret to make it look even more comical The more of these oddities that I build, the more interested in them I become... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted June 22, 2021 Share Posted June 22, 2021 Hi Ned. Well despite the issues you had with the tracks and the "weathering" accident you had late on - I think it looks excellent in the Gallery! Very well done. Thank you very much for building it in this GB. Kind regards, Stix 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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