Mk.1 Heavy and Whippet Medium Tanks - Great War

[Bertie McBoatface]

It's the summer of 1917. A Mk IV Heavy Tank is out on exercise with the later Whippet Medium Tank. It's summer, dry weather, dusty, chalky soil - perfect for tanks and this tank moddeller. None of that beastly mud!

 

 

Mk IV

 

 

Whippet

 

 

A sunken road does duty as a practice trench.

 

 

How far will the Whippet get with that oil leak?

 

 

The black lines painted on the side of the crew compartment were to disguise the location of the vision slots from German marksmen.

 

 

You would be surprised how much grease these machines needed to keep going. Most of it seems to have ended up on the outside of them.

 

 

More oil! Much of the weathering was done with oils.

 

 

Both tanks were a pleasure to put together and paint. I highly recommend them to you.

 

 

The unditching beam

 

 

And the grousers which attached to the tracks in slippery conditions. Getting 'ditched', or bogged down was awfully dangerous as the crews had to go outside under fire and try to fit these aids!

 

 

There's an associated WIP, mostly for the Whippet. 

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Please don't be shy, all your comments are welcome, good or bad. How can I improve if you hold back your thoughts on the parts that you didn't like?

 

 

 

 

 

[Stef N.]

Brilliant Bertie, both done to perfection. Great work all round. And in perfect time too for your GB.👍👏

[Bullbasket]

Nice work. You've done a great job on both of them.

 

John.

[echen]

All the excellent work that went into these shows in the excellent result. 

[sardaukar]

Fantastic work, I guess the recognition stripes are a dead give away but I've never been sure until now, which is the front on a whippet.

[Bertie McBoatface]

2 hours ago, Stef N. said:

Brilliant Bertie, both done to perfection. Great work all round. And in perfect time too for your GB.👍👏

 

1 hour ago, echen said:

All the excellent work that went into these shows in the excellent result. 

 

1 hour ago, Bullbasket said:

Nice work. You've done a great job on both of them.

 

John.

 

Oh that's really disappointing. I was thinking that the Whippet was much better than the MkIV, my first attempt at a WWI tank, a year ago. 😭

 

Only kidding! Im not disappointed really. I am still thinking that the Whippet is better though. 🤣 It's not the quality of the model in absolute terms that matters to me, but that I like it better and enjoyed it more. Progress! Progress is the thing.

 

And with your help, I certainly enjoyed it more. It's good to share apparently. And working for an audience also raises one's game somewhat!

 

 

[Bertie McBoatface]

1 minute ago, sardaukar said:

Fantastic work, I guess the recognition stripes are a dead give away but I've never been sure until now, which is the front on a whippet.

 

Thank you.

 

Yes, I know what you mean. Putting the engines in the front was a good thing from the crew's point of view, I suppose. As was putting the door at the back! All that machinery for only four MG's ( and two gunners).

[FrancisGL]

Hi Bertie,

Undoubtedly a couple of models very well finished, with some very cool little details (like the extras for the tracks ...),
One thing that could perhaps be improved is that the parts that touch the ground, were somewhat more "sunken" on it, unless that real ground in particular, was very compact ...
And if they are going to stay there are those two, the sides of the base could be "polished" something, I think that in this way the presentation would be more appropriate to the quality of the models.
Cheers and TC
Francis.👍

[Bertie McBoatface]

3 hours ago, FrancisGL said:

Hi Bertie,

Undoubtedly a couple of models very well finished, with some very cool little details (like the extras for the tracks ...),
One thing that could perhaps be improved is that the parts that touch the ground, were somewhat more "sunken" on it, unless that real ground in particular, was very compact ...
And if they are going to stay there are those two, the sides of the base could be "polished" something, I think that in this way the presentation would be more appropriate to the quality of the models.
Cheers and TC
Francis.👍

 

 

 

 

Thank you Francis.

 

I think you are right about sinking them into the ground a little more. This was the photograph that started it all, and as you see, this metal monster seems to be actually floating, but that's just reality. The art of the modeller is to enhance and exaggerate certain aspects of reality for the desired effect. My desired effect is clear in the title - Heavy Metal. If I'd sunk them into the ground by just a few scale centimetres, they would have been much 'heavier' to look at. It was better than my last attempt, but my next one will be better yet!

 

Your other point is valid too. I had planned to enclose the base with a horizontal balsa wood shuttering, supported at intervals with vertical stakes, like the side of a trench. Unfortunately, I just forgot all about it. I'm just too lazy at the moment.  The way we frame our models is very important to the feeling of the whole. One can do too little, but also too much. I've seen many splendid bases supporting tiny models. This is a matter of artistic imagination which needs more thought from me.

 

Thanks again for your critique, which has been very helpful. I kinda knew these things already but having them pointed out by another person makes them harder to close my eyes to. lol.

 

 

[Jasper dog]

Nice work Bertie, some really nice touches, particularly like the finish on the tracks, exhaust and the oil stains. 

Never had a fancy for WW1 stuff but the Whippet does have an appeal.

 

For my personal taste could possibly use a touch more contrast just to make them pop! (Could be down to the lighting).

 

That said, really nice models and a base I always think adds context.

 

Atb

Darry

[Bertie McBoatface]

1 hour ago, Jasper dog said:

possibly use a touch more contrast just to make them pop

 

Thanks Jasper.

 

That's what figure modellers are always saying - "More contrast!" I should have brought that principle back to armour with me. It's a complicated concept when it's taken in conjunction with 'subtle' colour modulation.

 

I must say I love the Spanish Style of model painting with lots of colour, lots of texture, lots of contrast, lots of everything. Do I love it because I can't do it? It really goes against my decades of scale modelling the English way, trying to replicate reality. Van Gogh didn't bother much with reality, did he? But then he was crazy. BUT THEN I@M CRAZY 2OO!! 🤪

 

OK. Ill write 'a touch more contrast' on my wall...................................................in blood! Mwahahaha!

 

(and yes, the lighting here in this cell doesn't help, it's those padded white walls.)

[PlaStix]

Hi Bertie. Two awesome builds and I like your presentation. Very well done all round.

Kind regards, 

Stix

[Bertie McBoatface]

34 minutes ago, PlaStix said:

Hi Bertie. Two awesome builds and I like your presentation. Very well done all round.

Kind regards, 

Stix

 

Thanks, Stix.

 

I'm increasingly dissatisfied with the end results, although the process was great fun.

 

The faults, as I see them, in the finished piece are mostly due to a general failure to plan ahead, but that was inevitable given that I blitzed the build in order to find out how to do a WIP. I didn't intend to make a diorama until the Whippet was just about finished, and then I simple plonked it down on an already abandoned project from last year! I just didn't want to spend too much time thinking, for fear of overcomplicating everything and grinding to a halt in a miasma of indecision. As has happened to me many times before!

 

So from my point of view I've learned a lot about:

• The need to have a plan
• Writing for an audience.
• Oil paint weathering
• Diorama groundwork
• Photography

My next armour project is an S-Tank for the forthcoming Nordic GB where I'll try to put this learning into practice.

 

 

[Longbow]

Very nice finish !!

[Dr. Quack]

I usually stick to subjects with wings but I occasionally sneak behind the barbed wire of the AFV front line to see what's what .    Glad I did and found this build Bertie. The result is excellent - really impressed by the weathering effects - oils are now my weathering agents of choice too.

Looking forward to more. 

 

Q 

[Bertie McBoatface]

On 8/16/2021 at 10:51 AM, Longbow said:

Very nice finish !!

 

Thank you.

 

On 8/16/2021 at 11:42 AM, Dr. Quack said:

I usually stick to subjects with wings but I occasionally sneak behind the barbed wire of the AFV front line to see what's what .    Glad I did and found this build Bertie. The result is excellent - really impressed by the weathering effects - oils are now my weathering agents of choice too.

Looking forward to more. 

 

Q 

 

Oils are brill. And I was scared to try them for years. Silly me.