The Freedom Tank (Now with extra photo to indicate scale.)

[Bertie McBoatface]

3 hours ago, Maginot said:

Nice little jig, @Bertie McBoatface

As usual, finding a good way to hold the workpiece was half the job

[Bertie McBoatface]

My first job today was to test the solidity of the wheel mountings. I'm gad I did because the front ones were too weak to stand the strain of having the tyres fitted. I've stuck them back on with and reinforced the joint with several layers of thick CA which might hold it long enough for a photo session????

 

 

I decided to improvise and improve on reality by adding a little texture in the form of enormous square bolts/rivets. Also the battered headlamps, with glass broken during the crash through the border barbed wire and a few random handles.

 

 

The exhaust was a distinctive feature and this was made from thick copper wire and various odds and ends.

 

 

And finally, before paint, came that peculiar guard plate over the radiator louvres.

[Muchmirth]

All the additions to the kit look great! Very interesting tank and like the bolts too.

[IanC]

Looks good Bertie, and I admire your tenacity with the tracks (and you should have cleaned each link...😄) I'm looking forward to seeing some paint on the thing!

[John Masters]

On 11/12/2022 at 4:35 PM, Bertie McBoatface said:

various odds and ends.

Much like the original I imagine.

 

This is looking really great!

[Jasper dog]

Looking marvellous Bertie, very you.

I do like the scratch built body too.

 

Atb

Darryl 

[Marklo]

Really looking forward to seeing this under a coat of paint. Great build so far, sorry about the catenary  

[Bertie McBoatface]

On 11/12/2022 at 6:35 PM, Muchmirth said:

All the additions to the kit look great! Very interesting tank and like the bolts too.

 

Thank you. I'm quite pleased with it too.

 

On 11/13/2022 at 7:56 AM, IanC said:

Looks good Bertie, and I admire your tenacity with the tracks (and you should have cleaned each link...😄) I'm looking forward to seeing some paint on the thing!

 

Thanks. Hopefully the paint will make the 276 sprue attachment points a lot less visible!

 

1 hour ago, John Masters said:

Much like the original I imagine.

 

This is looking really great!

 

Thank you. Imagination is always important when looking at my models. 😄

 

1 hour ago, Jasper dog said:

Looking marvellous Bertie, very you.

I do like the scratch built body too.

 

Atb

Darryl 

 

Thanks for the encouragement Darryl. The scratch built body is very 'me', lashed together and a bit bent! 😄

 

23 minutes ago, Marklo said:

Really looking forward to seeing this under a coat of paint. Great build so far, sorry about the catenary  

 

We can't win them all Mark.

 

I'm ready to paint as soon as real life gets out of the way for a moment.

 

 

 

[planecrazee]

That's looking fantastic Bertie and it just keeps getting better and better with all your fantastic scratch built additions 

 

Kris

[Bertie McBoatface]

1 minute ago, planecrazee said:

That's looking fantastic Bertie and it just keeps getting better and better with all your fantastic scratch built additions 

 

Kris

 

You are very kind. Thank you.

[edjbartos]

That looks fabulous Bertie, I really like all the additions that you have made...

 

Ed

[StuartH]

Superb work Bertie.  I love the copper exhaust and great additions with bolts/rivets...really gives it some character 👏

[Courageous]

On 11/14/2022 at 7:46 AM, Jasper dog said:

Looking marvellous Bertie, very you.

I do like the scratch built body too.

 

Stuart

[Bertie McBoatface]

7 hours ago, Courageous said:

 

Stuart

 

Thanks

 

On 11/14/2022 at 6:17 PM, StuartH said:

Superb work Bertie.  I love the copper exhaust and great additions with bolts/rivets...really gives it some character 👏

 

I only used the wire because of its diameter. If I'd thought more deeply I could have heat treated it and left it unpainted. Too late now though 😫

 

On 11/14/2022 at 4:39 PM, edjbartos said:

That looks fabulous Bertie, I really like all the additions that you have made...

 

Ed

 

Thanks Ed

 

Painting begins today. 

[Bertie McBoatface]

 

I'm running out of primer and what I do have has gone slightly gloopy. But who needs primer anyway. This is Tamiya sea blue with their lacquer thinner. It has covered up the variations between the different materials perfectly. 

 

Why blue? Panzer grey is bluish and Soviet green contains blue. And I'm running out of black.

 

 

Tamiya flat white (not coffee) sprayed from above to highlight the upper facing surfaces, leave the underneath of everything in a deep blue shadow, and set up some strong Grand Operatic contrasts. (See also: grisaille and slapchop)

 

 

I made glazes by mixing gloss varnish in with first, a blue grey and second, a dark green. These were sprayed on allowing the underpainting to shine through. It's no more than pre-shading to be honest and we have been doing that for decades now.

 

 

And the last things to be sprayed were the tracks. I have a custom mix of red, black and dark iron, all by Tamiya, which I think looks a little like manganese steel.

 

I could probably start the brush painting stage right now but I think I'll play safe and leave all of these layers to harden off overnight.

 

 

[Stef N.]

Excellent looking model there Bertie. Again, a very interesting paint technique, so thanks for the explainer.👍

[Bertie McBoatface]

19 minutes ago, Stef N. said:

Excellent looking model there Bertie. Again, a very interesting paint technique, so thanks for the explainer.👍

 

You are welcome. 

[Jasper dog]

Looking good under paint Bertie and always an interesting approach clearly articulated. (I do like the idea of a Tamiya Flat White☕.....)

 

Atb

Darryl 

[Marklo]

Looks great the white is an interesting idea. 

[Bertie McBoatface]

14 hours ago, Marklo said:

Looks great the white is an interesting idea. 

 

Painting top coats over a black primer will always result in a dull model, better to keep that effect for where it's useful - in the shadows.

[Muchmirth]

Really liking all of this Bertie. I love it when that first coat goes down and unity’s the materials into one unit…feels oddly satisfying after all your hard work building.

[Bertie McBoatface]

8 hours ago, Muchmirth said:

Really liking all of this Bertie. I love it when that first coat goes down and unity’s the materials into one unit…feels oddly satisfying after all your hard work building.

 

Agreed. Suddenly it doesn't look like a scratchbuild and a lot of the errors are completely hidden! (Not hard work though. Bricklayers and carers work hard, I'm just playing. 😄

 

 

The decals are on now. I found the real thing a little drab so I've pimped it up rather. Pictures to follow...

 

 

[Courageous]

With the paint going on, everything is being tied together and is looking great. Glad to see that I'm not the only one that starts a build and haven't checked that I have enough of everything to finish the damn thing.

 

Stuart

[Bertie McBoatface]

12 minutes ago, Courageous said:

With the paint going on, everything is being tied together and is looking great. Glad to see that I'm not the only one that starts a build and haven't checked that I have enough of everything to finish the damn thing.

 

Stuart

 

Blue? Black? Same difference! 😁

[Bertie McBoatface]

 

So it looked like that.

 

 

A wash with a very dark mix of Humbrol enamels did this. I hope it suggests both shadows and oily muck.

 

 

I used the same wash on the top to tone down the bright red stars. There were no stars on the original but I wanted it a bit more lively and reasoned that if I'd been spoofing the border guards, I'd have made sure I looked as though I was on their side.

 

 

I wetted the area where the oil leak was to be with the dark wash and then brushed in some neat satin black.

 

 

I drybrushed the whole thing, grey chassis and green body, with a pale blue/grey to make highlights on all of the edges

 

 

A little heavier downstairs because it looked a bit too dark and dull for my taste.

 

Notice I didn't bother painting the roadwheel tyres. That would be tooo fiddly and looking at photos, it's rare to see the tyres standing out very much.

 

 

I liked how the drybrushing, such an old technique, popped out the details on the back end. That's a Sherman engine access hatch of course.

 

I carried on painting, doing the exhaust very rusty despite knowing that it had only travelled a few miles and probably was not corroded at all! I did a dust wash. Fitted the big rubber tyres (using flow improver as a lubricant). And all without remembering to take any more photos. Sorry all!

 

And now it's all done. Photo session to follow after lunch...