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Tamiya 1/35 Valentine Mk II - 40th Royal Tank Regiment, Egypt, July 1942.


IanC

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British 8th Armoured Division was shipped off from the UK in 1942 as a floating reserve, not knowing if they were going to be deployed to the Far East or the Middle East. It was a time when just about everything was going wrong, with the Japanese threatening Australia and the Germans winning in North Africa. In the end, the division was disembarked at Suez and broken up. Its two Valentine equipped armoured brigades (23rd and 24th) were strengthened and formed into separate brigade groups, to be allocated as required.  23rd Armoured Brigade was given little chance to acclimatise and immediately thrown into action against Rommel during the 1st Battle of Alamein in July 1942. In a gallant but futile assault on Ruweisat Ridge (Operation 'Splendour') the brigade was destroyed, losing almost a hundred tanks to mines and anti-tank gun fire. Half their crews were killed or wounded.

 

My model depicts one of the Brigade's tanks - 'Mohawk', which was part of 'C' Squadron, 40 RTR. The division's tanks arrived already painted in Light Stone. It wears the 'GO' formation sign for the 8th Division, although I've employed a bit of artistic licence as the badge was overpainted on most tanks, including this one. Tamiya's kit is an absolute gem and a delight to build. The crew figures are excellent too. I just added some aerials from stretched sprue. The decals are from a set by Echelon. I used Tamiya paints throughout, and weathering was carried out with oils, pigments and pencils. The effect is subtle but, sadly, most of these tanks didn't survive long enough to get really knocked about.  

 

 

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1 hour ago, NIK122 said:

The figures are excellent too. It looks like you have the knack of knowing when to stop when painting them. Less is definitely more 

 

Thank you very much. I've finally worked out a method and a style which I'm happy with and, although by no means perfect, I think fits in with the vehicles. I use Vallejo acrylics, with oils used only occasionally for shadows and highlights on the faces. I don't bother picking out eyes as I really don't think they should be visible in 1/35 - and I've never really been able to do them properly!

 

I like using pigments on figures too, and you can get some nice highlight and weathering effects quite quickly and easily. 

 

Thanks to all for your kind comments.

 

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At the risk of repeating what's already been said, great Valentine and I particularly like the figures. Seem to have been struggling with my figures of late so that's another approach I'll try.

 

Cheers

Darryl 

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5 hours ago, SoftScience said:

I'd love it if you could do a step by step guide on how you paint figure faces. Your method sounds simple but is very effective.

 

 

Here's the method I used for these: 

 

- Undercoat in Tamiya XF-78 Wooden Deck Tan. 

 

- Block in flesh areas with Vallejo Panzer Aces 341 Flesh Base.

 

- Then a coat of Pledge Floor Care ('Klear'). You could use any acrylic satin varnish really - this stage is important as it prevents the flesh base being stained too heavily in the next stage. 

 

- A wash of Winsor & Newton Raw Umber oil paint, thinned with AK odourless thinners. This wash needs to be very thin and built up in one or two layers. I use a hairdryer to speed things along. Make sure all the nooks and crannies are filled in, including the eyes, and blend out any areas which are too dark. It's easier if the figure's features are sharply defined which they are in this case. Older Tamiya figures, for example, may need the shadows drawn in with thicker paint. Like the other stages, leave it to dry properly - overnight at least. 

 

- Flesh highlights are applied with various mixes of Vallejo Panzer Aces 341 Flesh Base and 342 Flesh Highlights. It's just a case of adjusting the tones as required, but not too light. Keep the paint thinned at least 50:50 (I use Vallejo 71.161 Airbrush Thinner) and try to avoid the shadow areas as much as possible. Just add tiny amounts of flesh colour and blend it in - I use a separate brush to help with this. If everything has gone well, there's no need to add any further shadow effects on the flesh. Above all, try not to overwork the paint. 

 

- Hair is painted with a mix of browns and greys over the dark oil wash base. and blended into the neck. 

 

- Flesh areas are then given a coat of satin varnish and the rest of the figure painted.    

 

 

I hope that helps a bit and good luck with your figures!

 

Ian

 

  

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Great work on the tank & figures & thanks for the figure painting guide.

 

The Valentine is surprisingly small when placed next to a Sherman, for instance. I have to agree that the Tamiya kit is a cracker.

 

Pete

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48 minutes ago, Buzby061 said:

Great work on the tank & figures & thanks for the figure painting guide.

 

The Valentine is surprisingly small when placed next to a Sherman, for instance. I have to agree that the Tamiya kit is a cracker.

 

Pete

 

Thanks. Yes, it's a tiddler. The design tried to keep the weight down but retain decent armour and a low silhouette, so everything had to be small. And that tiny two-man turret was a major handicap, of course. But such was the need for new tanks in the run up to war...

 

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Hi Ian. That really is very impressive!! The paintwork,  weathering and the figures are all superb! Fantastic modelling skills on display!! :worthy:

Kind regards, 

Stix

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