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Cruiser Tank Mk II (A10 Mark 1) (Bronco 1:35)


SimonL

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This one almost defeated me. Lots of small parts, some tricky photoetch and I wasn’t very happy with the paint job. It sat on my shelf 80% completed  for well over 9 months or more looking sad.

 

It is meant to be an A10 Mk 1 of HQ 2nd Armoured Brigade, 1st Armoured Division, France, May 1940. The painting diagram is not the greatest. I used MIG Ammo Khaki Green 3 as the base colour, and it just didn’t look right. It looked far too light.  I pushed on anyway, using Vallejo Model Colour 70.979 for the Dark Green G4. The markings went easily, but looked very bright at first.  I used some washes with 50:50 mix of Army Painter Dark and Soft Tone to make it grubby (may be too grubby?) followed by a dilute wash of a mixture of Italeri Acryl  dark earth and sand to make it look dusty. I finished with a brushed on coat of Italeri Matt Clear, which as I close to the end of the bottle added an additional dusty look. For the exhaust and cover I used MIG Ammo Dark Rust, and the added some washes and dry brushing with Italeri Acryl Rust. Aerial wire courtesy of one of our cats who dropped one of their whiskers!

 

Not my best work, but happy to have it finished and on the shelf.

 

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Well, you sneaked this one in under the radar. I know what you mean about this kit. I also have an abandoned one on the shelf, which might get some attention one day. But that said, well done for persevering with it as it was worth it in the end. Nice work.

 

John.

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Thanks John - I decided at the start not to do a build thread for this - I suspect  I knew what was coming!

 

40 minutes ago, Bertie Psmith said:

Bronco aren't the easiest kits to build, are they? Still, it looks fine to me. Well done.

 

(One day I'll have to build one of these as a precursor to my Valentine tank project. Sigh...)

 

You are not kidding! This is my third. The first (a 1:48 scale Staghound) took forever - but at least had a simple colour scheme.  I was lulled into a false sense of security by the 1:35 scale Comet, which other than a little photoetch, was a very straight forward build with limited extra small tiny bits. I have the Chaffee in my stash - every now and then I take a look. And then put it away 🤣

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47 minutes ago, SimonL said:

I have the Chaffee in my stash - every now and then I take a look. And then put it away 🤣

Again, I've done exactly the same thing. These kits are a little bit like a Mozart composition.......why use one note, when 10 would suffice.?

 

John.

 

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1 hour ago, SimonL said:

Thanks John - I decided at the start not to do a build thread for this - I suspect  I knew what was coming!

 

 

You are not kidding! This is my third. The first (a 1:48 scale Staghound) took forever - but at least had a simple colour scheme.  I was lulled into a false sense of security by the 1:35 scale Comet, which other than a little photoetch, was a very straight forward build with limited extra small tiny bits. I have the Chaffee in my stash - every now and then I take a look. And then put it away 🤣

 

I have three Bronco Valentines to do this year. Oh dear!

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Nicely done Simon, 

I have built a few of these Bronco kits and as you say they can be a little more challenging but as you have proved if persevered with the end result is very rewarding.

Wayne

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The tank looks great, weathering too, but the funniest thing is seeing the shining sun and the green plants.

 

But this can be understood only by those who live to the north of you, where it is cold, wet, and windy... 

 

Vytautas

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2 minutes ago, vytautas said:

The tank looks great, weathering too, but the funniest thing is seeing the shining sun and the green plants.

 

But this can be understood only by those who live to the north of you, where it is cold, wet, and windy... 

 

Vytautas

 

But the tank is in France in May 1940. It's supposed to be sunny. 🤣

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1 minute ago, Bertie Psmith said:

But the tank is in France in May 1940. It's supposed to be sunny. 🤣

I'm so tired of winter that I'll start making a DAK tank, so I demand to turn on summer for me! Immediately! :rofl:

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Hmm, Bronco's got a couple of interesting subjects that Ive been looking at (this, Bishop, Staghound, Diana etc) but sadly I don't have much time for extended, fiddly builds at the moment :sad:

That being said, I'm glad you've persevered with this one, it's finished up great. And so you've probably convinced me to pick one up anyway 🙂

Nice work.

Cheers

Gaz

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On 1/16/2022 at 5:54 AM, kiwitrogg said:

Hmm, Bronco's got a couple of interesting subjects that Ive been looking at (this, Bishop, Staghound, Diana etc) but sadly I don't have much time for extended, fiddly builds at the moment :sad:

That being said, I'm glad you've persevered with this one, it's finished up great. And so you've probably convinced me to pick one up anyway 🙂

Nice work.

Cheers

Gaz


It’s frustrating - they have such interesting kits but technically very challenging! 

 

On 1/17/2022 at 10:14 PM, PlaStix said:

Hi Simon. Hope you are well. Well done on getting this one finished then!! It looks great! :thumbsup:

Kind regards,

Stix

Not too bad -  sadly serious modelling off the table now as I’m back to work.

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I built a Bronco A10 and while it was a little fiddly here and there, it was much more straightforward than the Gecko A10, which was more detailed and had more of an interior. You did a great job on the Bronco-can’t tell you had any issues!

Edited by f matthews
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I am no British Tank Colour expert and maybe this is not the thread to ask such a question but are those colours accurate for an early war G3 & G4? I was always under the impression that the early war British tanks were painted two shades of green. I might be wrong. I usually am.

 

Great model though Simon. Love it.

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6 hours ago, Gordon J said:

I am no British Tank Colour expert and maybe this is not the thread to ask such a question but are those colours accurate for an early war G3 & G4? I was always under the impression that the early war British tanks were painted two shades of green. I might be wrong. I usually am.

 

Great model though Simon. Love it.

G3 is a brownish green. OP’s photos are also in bright sunlight, which makes the G3 look lighter and more “tan” than I suspect it actually is.

I mixed Tamiya paints to Mike Starmer’s formula (or as close as my eyedropper mix could get) and got this, which may be less brown than the actual G3, but looked “more accurate” to my eye, which means nothing!

AFV Valentine Mk I

 

Edited by f matthews
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15 hours ago, f matthews said:

G3 is a brownish green. OP’s photos are also in bright sunlight, which makes the G3 look lighter and more “tan” than I suspect it actually is.

I mixed Tamiya paints to Mike Starmer’s formula (or as close as my eyedropper mix could get) and got this, which may be less brown than the actual G3, but looked “more accurate” to my eye, which means nothing!

 

 

Thanks for the explanation f - your model looks almost exactly how I thought the early war British G3 & G4 should look like.

 

Can I ask where I might find the Mike Starmer Tamiya mix of these colours? All this early war armour talk is putting me in the mood to do a British Tank.

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On 1/23/2022 at 12:46 AM, f matthews said:

I built a Bronco A10 and while it was a little fiddly here and there, it was much more straightforward than the Gecko A10, which was more detailed and had more of an interior. You did a great job on the Bronco-can’t tell you had any issues!

You are too kind!

 

On 1/23/2022 at 12:52 AM, Milan Mynar said:

Nice, building and painting.

Thanks!

 

On 1/23/2022 at 1:12 AM, dnl42 said:

Very nicely done. :clap2:

 

I'd be thrilled with such a result on any of my builds...

Thanks!

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