Airfix 1/76 Buffalo – old but a nice little kit

[kitchentable]

 

Oh dear, the random stash kit selector picked the Airfix 1/76 Buffalo LVT-4.  This came in a large D-Day box years ago when my son was leading the building efforts.  Bizarrely the box had two Buffalo’s, so I have the joy of a second build coming sometime.

 

The Buffalo is an old kit and I still recall my original attempt at it over 50 years ago.  It was launched in 1965.  Having studied it carefully and read about the Buffalo, I conclude it is actually a pretty good kit.  It does address the details of the LVT-4 fairly well (an early lightly armoured variant of it) and avoids the pitfall of being a hotchpotch across various sub-variants.

 

I was not intending to simply copy my original build in 1971, but with Drab SCC15 applied by an airbrush. So, I delved as far as I could into aftermarket.  This resulted in a set of Buffalo decals from the late 1944 Netherlands campaign by the Brits; from Star Decals.   One scheme is that of an LVT-4 called “Sevenoaks” that is subject of a fairly rare photo, as you can see.  Rare, because is a clear enough close-up of a Brit LVT-4 in action.  I therefore built to the photo as best I could.   The decals are supposedly 1/72 but the oversize does not show compared to the photo.   Oddly, Bovington’s LVT-4 has been painted up to match the photo too, but their real metal starting point is dramatically different to the target variant.  So that’s an odd choice!

 

The Polsten cannon and 0.3” M1919 machine guns were bought from Milicast.  The Polsten was fair and something of an improvement over the Airfix one.   The 0.3” machine guns were not great and I remonstrated with Milicast and received a prompt refund.   I then bought MINA 0.3” M1919s in brass, which were superb.  I am close to concluding that some resin items like machine guns don’t work out.  Okay the brass are three times the price of resin, but we all want to make nice models so I don’t see the point in buying poor aftermarket items.

   

 

The final extra is something I’m both proud of and horrified by at the same time.  Aftermarket 3D printed tracks were sourced from the Shapeways market.  When the wife shines the table lamp in my face and says “what were you thinking of”; I will blabber “what choice did I have?  The rubber band tracks are a criminal conspiracy to make the hobby completely futile”.  It might work, just try to suppress the thought that the money would buy a nice meal.  

 

 

I bought LVT(4) Amtrac by David Doyle as the reference for the many details that were added.

 

The build was quickish (for me) and largely a non-event.  It is strange how some memories stay with you, but fettling the road wheels (11 per side) to have them fit true, re-emerged in my brain 50 years on.  Back then I accepted the higgledy-piggledy rustic look, but now a lot of drilling the bushes is the order of the day.  The way the parts fix is quite intricate, and considering it’s age, rather clever.  A fair amount of filling and sanding is needed to go beyond a basic finish.   There is a lot of work to do around the tensioner wheel, with the axle castings made more realistic, a foothole is needed in each sponson, and all the handles and cleats were made from brass.   Hatches were thinned and the periscopes added.  The wake suppressors are a fiddly addition from 0.25mm plasticard, but other modellers have made them, so I wasn’t to be beaten.  

 

 

My target LVT-4 was not fully armoured, therefore two per side applique patches were added to cover the driver and the fuel tank out of 0.1mm plasticard.  The loading ramp was set on a brass rod hinge to make a stronger/neater job.  The top corners of the loading ramp were cut off and remade in plasticard.

 

 

The above describes my first pass through the kit, then the urge grabbed me to get some proper detail added!  The driver’s hatch was hacked off and a replacement made to be set cracked open, as per the photo.   The load bay has a noticeable fault.   It is basically a compartment of two widths; narrower at the rear where the fuel tanks sit.   The Airfix fairing between the two sections is very long, but in real life it is much more sharply tapered.   That would have been easy to change before assembly but it was a real pain once fully built and lots of detail already in place. 

 

 

I added stowage trays for ammo/fuel/food, four lifting eyes and various access panels.  I am most pleased with the M1919 machine mounts.   These were scratch built swinging arms to give decent arcs for firing.   The Airfix fixed peg posts are completely unrealistic.

 

The kit was sprayed various adjusted shades of Sovereign Hobbies SCC15 Drab, with plain Drab used in places to get some variation.  The weathering was a mix of Humbrol washes and oil paints.

 

So going back to those pricy tracks.   They fitted amazingly well in terms of total length and shape.  However, they are far too bulky meaning the thickness is twice what it should be.   So there is still the perfect track to be found between the rubber bands and the 3d printed.  

 

Its worth now saying the Buffalo was a big beast (compared to say an M4 Sherman), so doing this detailing was not so arduous, even at 1/76 scale.  The accompanying Jeep was not built because it’s on the stash list separately.  

 

So, a bit more work than I expected.   I didn’t record how long the first attempt in 1971 took me, but at a guess I would say 4 or 5 days.   This time it was about 3 months, and about 85 hours.   Building to a photo is a challenge, especially for armour where weathering is a job all in itself.   I hope you like it.  I am pleased with the guns and mounts, and the weathering too.  I already mentioned the Milicast 303’s, and I also was not very impressed with the decals.   The font is not crisp compared to the photographed original.  Still it kept me off the streets for a few weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Pete in Lincs]

Crikey it must be 55 years ago that I built this one. On the Settee, I seem to remember!

Yours is much more impressive than mine turned out. I seem to remember wonky wheels too. 

[IanC]

There's nothing I like better than a well finished Ancient Airfix 1/76 classic and you've really pushed the boat out on this one! Fantastic detailing, and I think the tracks look great. 

 

An excellent build! What did you do with the jeep? 😄 

 

 

 

[Hairtrigger]

Cracking job.  I do seem to remember doing that kit back in the day ...

[FalkeEins]

 quite stunning! My build of this kit appears on my blog somewhere in 2010 but it wuz crap. This is a masterpiece. Those tracks are the business, I recall ruining my kit tracks by heating them and then stapling them together!

[John_W]

Beautiful build.

Needs a new mould though, considering the amount of use it got.

[Toryu]

A wonderful improvement over the original kit! I loved this one, though mine was a 1969 (?) OOB creation. Thanks for stirring my memory.

[Jochen Barett]

I think mine (finished some 45+X years ago, probably painted with Humdrol 30) was one of the few Airfix kits (if not the only one) with "running" rubber tracks (maybe a Matilda was the other one).

[sardaukar]

Very nice, a great job you've made of this model.

 

Can I ask what you use to do random kit selections?

[kitchentable]

2 hours ago, sardaukar said:

Can I ask what you use to do random kit selections?

Hi, thanks everyone for a generally good response.   My kit selector (from the stash) is a written out list of kits, then a shout out to the wife, "give me a number between 1 and xxx".   Works every time and builds a feeling of support and inclusion, which otherwise is completely absent.   

 

There was a question about the Jeep.  I'm afraid that will have to get its own shout out to be built.  Currently number 25 on the list, but who knows, it could be next.  After the BAe Hawk I am building.

 

kitchentable

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Bravo on this build!  I built it, oh, about 40 years ago myself, with decent results considering my skills and expectations.  I just sprayed it with a can of OD green and was happy with it.  

 

I understand the RM were using these as late as '56 for the OP in Suez.  When did they finally phase them out, and why no interest in continuing with the AMTRAC as a means of delivering troops to shore?

[Andy H]

Ooooh! That's a memory-jerker. Nicely done - I like the comparison pic at the top. 😎👍