Medium Mark A Whippet (Meng, 1:35) ***Finished***

[SimonL]

Moving along to my next project, I had intended to start the Asuka Sherman III in my stash, but I saw this going at a very reasonable price in the local hobby store, which has clearly had a restock since I last checked in. From a quick look around on line it looks like a straightforward build, and as I am travelling again in a few weeks, it may be something I can finish before I head off. It will also be the first Meng kit I have built.

 

@Mike posted a useful inbox review when the kit first came out; 

One slight change is that Meng have replaced the string for the towing hawser with a length of braided wire. Still only two colour schemes formally provided, however there are clearly other ones on the decal sheet (captured German one, a Russian one and perhaps a couple of other British ones?). Having read around I’ve decided to paint mine a brownish colour, using Vallejo 70.988 Khaki, which from the little swatch I’ve painted appears brown with a green tinge. I’ve got a couple of days off this week - so let’s see how far I get.

 

 

Edited January 7, 2024 by SimonL

[APA]

Hi Simon

 

This is a very nice kit and builds well. A few points from my build;

 

1. The only tricky bit is the main top section. All flat panels with no locations to get the angles right. A lot of dry fitting is needed but very doable.

2. The most glaring error is the half hole on the 'bonnet' It's a filler cap port and Bovington just welded a plate on one side which this kit is based on. The half circle should be on both sides with a cap inside.

3. I replaced all the kit shoe hanger rails with scratch built brass ones as the kits are very thick.

4. As a point of interest I added the canvas mud strips which went over the whole of the top tracks. (That's what those metal angles on each corner are for)

5. Another common adaptation was additional storage and handrails on the back foot plate.

6. The exhausts were wrapped in asbestos rope. Thin cotton painted off white worked well for me.

 

If you google the Whippet you'll see all the above on the real thing. (Which I'm sure you've done already 😁)

 

Hope that's of use in your build.

 

Cheers

 

Andrew

[diablo rsv]

Looking forwards to seeing this one Simon.

As Andrew pointed out above there are a few improvements that can be made to the kit but I built mine straight out of the box and it builds into a very nice model. This was one of the first AFV models that I built when I returned to the hobby and in hindsight I wish I had painted it in a browner shade as you seem to be doing. At the time of building mine there seemed to be a consensus that they were painted in a greener shade.

 

 

Wayne

[Milan Mynar]

This  Whippet looks really great.

[SimonL]

Thanks Andrew and Wayne. Really helpful advice. I suspect I will be doing mine pretty much straight from the box, although the filler cap port and asbestos covering for the exhausts should be easy enough to do. 
 

And I agree with Milan, that’s a fabulous Whippet Wayne, and will be useful reference during my build.
 

cheers

 

Simon

[Hamden]

 

I'll take a seat for this one Simon, looking forward to the magic!

 

    Stay safe           Roger

[SimonL]

Magic may be overstating it Roger 😂.

 

Had a pleasant day off at the model bench. First item was to add modify the “bonnet” as suggested by Andrew. I just carefully drilled a hole, added some plastic card to blank off the whole and then a little bit of spare rod as the filler cap. I then proceeded to work on the main body of the tank. 
 

 

Some nasty ejector “towers” on the inside of the main fighting compartment parts needed to be removed, but otherwise it went together really well.

 

 

Before I closed it all up I added a fishing weight for a bit of heft.

 

 

Here is the main body pretty much complete, with some plastic scrap which just happens to be the same tan colour as the Meng kit with some of the Vallejo Khaki brushed on to see what it looks like.

 

 

First bit of awkwardness, the two “spacer bars” for the front box like structure are a little too wide, in the end I decided not to use them.
 

 

The bottom part of the structure is left off for ease of painting, which lead to a little bit of experimentation.

 

At some point I will need to paint white and red stripes on the tank. Typically if I need to cover a large area I resort to a rattle can (as I did for my recently completed K2/Y ambulance). However while searching for other builds of Whippets I came across a neat technique from @PlaStix who used it on his Takom Whippet build a few years ago:

 

Basically it’s a stippling approach, that appears to get round the brush stroke issue with white paint, but also gives nice clean lines with masking as well as bit of texture.

 

I thought I would give it a go with some Tamiya matt white acrylic, one the left it’s “stippled” with a brush, on the right I’ve used a bit of sponge. The brush gives a bit more control, but the sponge approach may be useful for larger surfaces (I’m thinking now of the interior of WW 2 armoured vehicles for example).

 

 

I followed up with Vallejo scarlet, stippled with a brush and I’m pretty happy with how it’s come out.

 

So I’m calling that experiment successful and that’s what I’ll do once I get to that stage of painting.

 

I thought I would take a look at how tricky the tracks would be, and the answer is not very. I followed the advice given in this review I found online.

 

https://www.themodellingnews.com/2015/12/build-review-pt-ii-andys-mengs-135th.html?m=1

 

So far I have found them really easy to click together. I’m sure I will probably need to finally fix them in place, but at the moment I’m pretty happy with them. 
 

 

Here is where I have got to at the end of the day. Been a very relaxed day of progress.

 

Edited April 24, 2023 by SimonL

[Keeff]

Well, that's progressed quickly and amazing what you can get done in a day! It sounds like a fairly simple kit, so hopefully you'll get it done before travelling again! 

 

Keith 😁 

[SimonL]

Thanks Keith, it really is going together quickly!

 

Today is ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand, so the day started early for me at the dawn service on Monument Hill in Fremantle. Pretty large crowd on a wet and blustery morning.

 

 

Once home it was back to the model bench, working first on the road wheels, which while a bit tedious went together well. I also added the mud-chutes.

 

 

I then added some string (actually some scale maritime modelling rope) to the exhausts, keeping it in place with some superglue.

 

 

I then hollowed out the exhaust ends a bit, here I’ve done the top one.

 

 

Then the afternoon was spent brush painting a couple of thin coats of Vallejo Khaki. Here is where I got to by the end of the day, I think probably need another thin coat of paint.

 

[Hamden]

 

Nice quick progress Simon good work

 

     Stay safe           Roger

[Bullbasket]

Nice work on those exhausts Simon. If you had to do that again, use dilute PVA glue instead of super glue. You can paint it on with a brush, and it allows you to flatten down the hairy bits of the string/rope, something that's a bit difficult to do with super glue.

 

John.

[Lours]

Nice start

Looking forward seeing the finished model 

[SimonL]

2 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

Nice work on those exhausts Simon. If you had to do that again, use dilute PVA glue instead of super glue. You can paint it on with a brush, and it allows you to flatten down the hairy bits of the string/rope, something that's a bit difficult to do with super glue.

 

John.

Thanks John, I actually followed up with PVA to flatten down the “hairy” bits, which it did really well. I’m thinking actually of leaving them unpainted as they look a sort of grubby off-white colour already.

[APA]

On 4/26/2023 at 9:04 AM, SimonL said:

Thanks John, I actually followed up with PVA to flatten down the “hairy” bits, which it did really well. I’m thinking actually of leaving them unpainted as they look a sort of grubby off-white colour already.

Silk or high quality sewing thread is best. Very little hairs. 😉

 

Andrew 

[Maddoxx77]

Funny, i ordered this kit yesterday. And now you are building one. Great to have some buildlogs on the subject. 

Yours is progressing nicely. 

I'll follow along to see what you make of it. 

[SimonL]

Progress this weekend. Finished putting the tracks together, an initial look and they appear to fit ok. I did find that the teeth on the sprockets didn’t fit at all into the track, so I sanded them down and that made for a better appearance.

 

 

The tracks are a little fragile at this stage. I managed to give them a coat of Vallejo Track Primer with out too many problems though.

 

Meanwhile I got the red and white stripes sorted using the “stippling” method mentioned above. Here is what it looks like after the first stippled coat of Tamiya Flat White - a bit gruesome I know.
 

 

Due to the lumps and bumps it is easier to mask after applying the white (3 thin coats) and then use a similar stippling approach with the Vallejo Khaki, followed by the red stripe with Vallejo Scarlet. Pretty happy with the final

result.

 

 

After a few false starts I managed to get the tracks on as well, although to wear some of the paint off the tracks. I’ve started to fix these in place by running Tamiya Extra Thin Cement along each track plate.

 

 

Finally for this weekend I painted up the exhausts using MiG AMMO old rust and some thinned Italeri Acryl White.

 

[Maddoxx77]

Looking great Simon!!!

[Bullbasket]

Nice work with the stripes, and the exhausts look very good.

 

John.

[SimonL]

Thanks! Not much done today. Just touched up the tracks and then glued them to the main superstructure- no dramas at all. The exhausts are just a dry fit.

 

[SimonL]

Progress has slowed somewhat - didn’t manage anything this weekend. Todays activity was sorting out the machine guns. I almost went cross eyed, but managed to drill out the muzzles with my smallest drill bit.

 

 

Quick dry fit of one in its proper place.

 

[echen]

3 minutes ago, SimonL said:

I almost went cross eyed, but managed to drill out the muzzles with my smallest drill bit.

Muzzle drilling is one of my least favourite activities. 1/72 MG muzzles in particular but even main armament muzzles are a pain because I always find:

a) the starter punch slips or,

b)the drill bit slips out of the starter punch hole - assuming I've been able to make one or,

c) I've got the whole thing off centre or,

d) a combination of all the above.......................

[SimonL]

This got sort of abandoned when I headed to UK for work. So picked it up today with the intent of finishing it off by the end of the year. Before leaving it I had managed to paint the MGs and attach them. (Noting what @echensaid above - I don’t think I would ever be game to drill 1:72 scale barrels!).

 

I then had brushed on a coat of AK Matt Varnish, which for me leaves a slightly satin finish, which is actually ok to put decals on to without silvering. My understanding is the final “finish” for this should actually be satin rather than dead matt.

 

The kit comes with two schemes “officially” but also provided most of the markings for A344 “The Musical Box”, which caused so much havoc at the Battle of Amiens in August 1918. I just needed to do some surgery with the codes. There is only a partial code on one side, but that will be hidden by the grousers (I think that’s what they are called).

 

 

 

 

[Hamden]

 

Nice to see this one back up on the bench, it's coming together nicely now

 

   Stay safe             Roger

[Bullbasket]

You wait all day long for a Whippet to come along, and then you get two.....and they're both Aussie!!

It's looking very good Simon. Nice work.

 

John.

[SimonL]

Thanks John and Roger, so close to finishing! Added the two tow cables, thankfully not breaking anything in the process. I prepainted them with Tamiya Dark Iron and then a dry brush with Vallejo Oily Steel. I’ve also added the first lot of stored track “spuds” - they look a bit garish but will tone down with the weathering. Added the tools as well.