Bullbasket Posted April 4 Author Share Posted April 4 12 hours ago, Hamden said: More and more detail of extremely high standards being added making this into a superb replica. Bar most definitely raised! Stay safe Roger Very nice of you to say so Roger. Thanks a lot. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 The devil is in the detail and you're loads of it. Good work. Stuart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted April 5 Author Share Posted April 5 14 hours ago, Courageous said: The devil is in the detail and you're loads of it. Good work. Stuart Thanks a lot Stuart. Much appreciated. John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasper dog Posted April 6 Share Posted April 6 And yet more detail! It just goes to show it helps to know your onions! Nice work with the aerial, and the rest. Atb Darryl 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted April 6 Author Share Posted April 6 7 hours ago, Jasper dog said: And yet more detail! It just goes to show it helps to know your onions! Nice work with the aerial, and the rest. Atb Darryl Many thanks Darryl. Surprisingly, that aerial was quite simple to make. I wish that it was all that easy. John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edjbartos Posted April 6 Share Posted April 6 Tremendous work John, Its amazing the amount of detail that you are putting into this. Keep it up... Ed 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted April 7 Author Share Posted April 7 15 hours ago, edjbartos said: Tremendous work John, Its amazing the amount of detail that you are putting into this. Keep it up... Ed Thanks a lot Ed. Trouble with detail work is that it does slow down the build. But I'm getting near to adding some paint soon. John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted April 9 Author Share Posted April 9 OK, this is going to be a fairly long update, but it will be the last before painting starts. The two rear aerial bases were missing (sound familiar?), and the only way that I had to fill them was to slice off a piece of one of the spare return rollers. Once they were cleaned up, the LH one had an aerial base plate added to it, and the RH one also had a base plate added, only this one was cut from card and had four bolt heads added before gluing the bottom of the aerial in place. I decided to use the two hatches from the Meng M4A3 that I had. This kit has been raided several times in the past, so there was no chance of me actually building it. Also, they are far superior to the ones from the Dragon kit. Having said all that, I found that the commander's hatch was missing from the Meng kit (I must stop cannibalising kits), so in the end I had to mate the Dragon hatch cover with the Meng cupola. They went together surprisingly well. I planned on leaving the commander's hatch open with a figure in it to block out the view of an empty turret, but for the loader's hatch, that would remain closed. The loader's hatch was assembled and glued into place, but I decided to do all of the necessary work on the commander's hatch, paint it and then position it once the tank itself had been painted. The reason for this is the clear plastic inserts for the optics. I wanted to insert them into the cupola after painting, and then glue the hatch into place. I detailed the hatch cover by adding the locking handle, which I bent from a piece of scrap etched brass and the squared ring which I bent from .31mm nickel silver wire. Other items added were the lifting rings (Dragon), the spotlight, commander's aiming sight and the crutch for the barrel of the AA MG to rest in. These last three items came from the Tamiya Sherman M1 kit. The MG barrel rest is surprisingly well detailed. I used the Tamiya aiming sight, rather than an etched brass one, mainly because the kit's plastic one is more to scale. Looking at close up photos of the real thing, it's quite a chunky lump of steel. The only down side to the kit item is a lack of detail, so I drilled a hole through it. There should be four, but that would be pushing it. Final jobs. I glued the 76mm barrel in place, using the Dragon one because I believe it is slide moulded, and once the attachment points are removed and cleaned up, the gun is very good, including rifling. And the very last item (unless I or someone else finds something that I've missed. Still not sure whether the two brackets on the rear of the turret should be there or not), was the tow rope. The one in the Meng kit was absolutely useless. Because at the factory they had tied it up in a circle, it had kinks in it which couldn't be removed, so therefore I used the one from the Dragon kit. The two end connectors are from the Meng kit and I have to say that I prefer their way of moulding them, as opposed to just about every other manufacturer's method. Instead of a slot on the underside for gluing the rope to, Meng make them solid, but with a hole at the end. This just needed careful enlarging, and the tow rope slotted in. Job done. That's it for this update. Not much further to go now with the build before I start the painting. I just need to find out as to whether this tank's turret had the two angle iron brackets fitted at the rear. As always, thanks for looking and comments are appreciated. John. 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badger Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 Stunning work John and an enjoyable read with my morning coffee! Looking forward to seeing the paint go on. All the best Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted April 9 Author Share Posted April 9 56 minutes ago, badger said: Stunning work John and an enjoyable read with my morning coffee! Looking forward to seeing the paint go on. All the best Ben Many thanks Ben, and I hope that you enjoyed your coffee also☕. John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keeff Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 Outstanding work John! 👏 This is looking great ... and the detailing is superb Keith 😁 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 Lovely stuff John. You take the research part and then combine it with your build skills, and the result is just top class. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted April 10 Author Share Posted April 10 12 hours ago, Keeff said: Outstanding work John! 👏 This is looking great ... and the detailing is superb Keith 😁 10 hours ago, Ned said: Lovely stuff John. You take the research part and then combine it with your build skills, and the result is just top class. Many thanks to both of you for your comments. They're much appreciated. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edjbartos Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 More excellent work John, looking really good... Ed 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted April 10 Author Share Posted April 10 Thanks a lot Ed. Primer went on yesterday, so now I'm about to go out to my room and spray the top coat. John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vytautas Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 Hi John, tremendous work, as always Vytautas 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted April 12 Author Share Posted April 12 10 hours ago, vytautas said: Hi John, tremendous work, as always Vytautas Many thanks for your comment Vytautas. I appreciate it. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted April 12 Author Share Posted April 12 Primer coat on (Halfords Grey Auto Acrylic), and then a day later, the top coat (Mig IDF Green). I knew that I would find something that I had forgotten; The two mud flaps at the back of the track guards. Also, looking at the very poor photo that exists of this tank, I believe that it has got the two angle irons on the back of the turret. So these are two jobs which I'm going to have to do and try and not do too much damage to the paint job. Also, I've hit a blind alley......the tracks. I was attempting to assemble Bronco's T54E1 tracks, but if I want to retain what little sanity I have left, they are going to be kicked into touch. So now I'm looking around for replacement set. I think that AFV do a rubber band set, but I couldn't find anyone who was selling them. Therefore, If all else fails, it'll be a set of Panda Plastics track. IMO, one of the best on the market, but although the cost isn't too bad ($21.95) the postage is a rip off ($24.95). But if all else fails......... So, although I will still be doing some work on this project while I wait for some tracks to arrive, I'm going to make a start on the Crusader Mk.l. It's certainly not going to become another shelf queen. See you when there is some progress. John. 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badger Posted April 12 Share Posted April 12 I recently assembled a set of heavy hobbys (voyager) 3d printed T54E1 tracks. A bit fragile but looked the part. I picked them up from aliexpress for about £16 + £3ish postage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted April 13 Author Share Posted April 13 13 hours ago, badger said: I recently assembled a set of heavy hobbys (voyager) 3d printed T54E1 tracks. A bit fragile but looked the part. I picked them up from aliexpress for about £16 + £3ish postage. Thanks Ben, but I'm a little wary of ordering anything from outside of the EU, because I've been stung three times recently for import duties, and it's almost doubled the original price. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonL Posted April 13 Share Posted April 13 That looks great. The cast texture comes across really well. Hope you sort the track issue out. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted April 13 Author Share Posted April 13 7 hours ago, SimonL said: That looks great. The cast texture comes across really well. Hope you sort the track issue out. Thanks a lot Simon. I was worried that the casting texture would look OTT, but once the paint went on, it's settled down quite nicely. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keeff Posted April 13 Share Posted April 13 Now that does look good John! 👍 As @SimonL says, the casting detail has really come through ... Keith 😁 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted April 14 Author Share Posted April 14 Many thanks Keith. Yes, I'm quite happy with the way that it turned out. John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted April 28 Author Share Posted April 28 Well, I'm still waiting to hear from someone on another forum as to whether we can strike a deal for a set of tracks, so in the meantime I started to do some detail painting. I used Vallejo's NATO Black on the tyres, and watered it down a bit, so this gave a rather patchy coverage, but that's fine. It helps in giving the tyres a worn appearance. There'll be some dust added as well later on in the build. Next, a coat of gloss varnish and then the decals. But first, a warning. Don't try to spray your latest masterpiece when you're angry. Had a bit of a falling out with the household authority, so I went out into my room with the intention of spraying a coat of gloss varnish onto the model, using an aerosol. Picked up a can without checking to see if it was the right one, shook it for the required amount of time, and proceeded to spray along the lower hull, only to find that it was grey primer. Fortunately it didn't cause too much damage, most of the spray going over the VVSS units, which can be cleaned up later. The little that went over the lower part of the upper hull actually looks like dust, but even that can be covered towards the end of the build. So, correct aerosol selected, and model given a gloss coat. So a little work to do and then onto the decals. John. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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