A13 Mk.II CRUISER TANK MK. IV Bronco Models 1/35

[Milan Mynar]

Dear colleagues, I would like to join your group. I will try to build a model of this tank from Bronco Models. It will be quite a challenge as it is the kit with the most crooked parts. I believe I can handle it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MARADER]

Milan, good choice! I am sure that you will do beautifully!

Edited September 8 by MARADER

[Milan Mynar]

Thank you Volodymyr for your kind words, of course I will try to build the kit as best as I can. I have already built similar models from that manufacturer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Milan Mynar]

Little progress, I encountered no problems while building the turret. It will be a bit more complicated with the hull, it is crooked, but I can handle it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 8 by Milan Mynar

[jackroadkill]

That's great progress, Milan.

[Milan Mynar]

Thank you jackroadkill for your kind words.

[Milan Mynar]

Small progress again.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 10 by Milan Mynar

[LorenSharp]

Great progress so far Milan.Slow and steady as she goes is the operative word.Plenty of time left.

[Milan Mynar]

With a little effort I was able to glue the front.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AntPhillips]

Looking good, glad the top deck has flattened out for you, when I built mine I had to use some lengths of sprue glued internally as braces to keep it all straight whilst I assembled the walls and covers of the drivers compartment, 

[Milan Mynar]

The hull shortly before the start of painting, sometimes there  was necessary to use a little putty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LorenSharp]

Coming right along Milan, Very nice so for.

[HarryHobbyin]

super cool.....i had no idea the Turret was like that. Looks like a fun build. 

Edited September 13 by HarryHobbyin

[81-er]

Very nice work so far, Milan

 

James

[PeterB]

11 hours ago, HarryHobbyin said:

super cool.....i had no idea the Turret was like that. Looks like a fun build. 

When I first saw a pic of the A.13 Mk II I assumed that the facetted side armour fitted directly on to the turret as in the later Crusader, but as in the kit it was actually an early form of "spaced armour" as the Germans used on the late PzKfw IV and others later in the war. 

 

Pete

[Milan Mynar]

So I set about painting the hull. I used the Khaki Green color from the HATAKA blue line set, not much, the color is older so application was a bit of a problem. I used the original thinner and it still wasn't the same. As a second color, the manufacturer of the kit recommends XF-62 from Tamiya, I will use it, it is a foolproof color, it will not clump and clog the spray gun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[81-er]

It might have caused you problems, but you've got a nice smooth coat with it

 

James

[Milan Mynar]

8 minutes ago, 81-er said:

It might have caused you problems, but you've got a nice smooth coat with it

 

James

I have to buy HATAKA orange line paint set, it means lacquer colors. I have good experiences with them.

[PeterB]

When I first visited the Tank Museum they had their A10 and A 13 on display in "desert" colours but a few years later they had changed to their take on the early war scheme for a "Battle of France" display I suspect.

 

 

 

A 10 in the foreground then the A 13, Panzer II and SdKfw 251 and you can also see the A 11 Matilda I in the darker version of the British Camo to the right of the A 13 turret with the white BEF recognition squares, together with a French Somua and the nose of a Char B1 Bis. There is a nose-on view of the A 13 in Enzo's Matilda thread together with a discussion of the colours - Khaki Green 03 is apparently one of those colours which paint manufacturers can't agree on, and I think it should be a bit browner than in the photo above but may be wrong. The lighter green in this scheme should be Light Bronze Green I believe, and in the darker scheme on the Matilda it should be Dark Bronze Green, both over a base of Khaki Green 03.

 

Incidentally, if you have not done so already you might want to look on You Tube for the Museum's series of "Tank Chats" as I would imagine there is one covering this subject.

 

Pete

Later, just looked and it is in fact the first of the Tank Chats series!

 

Edited September 14 by PeterB

[Milan Mynar]

1 hour ago, PeterB said:

When I first visited the Tank Museum they had their A10 and A 13 on display in "desert" colours but a few years later they had changed to their take on the early war scheme for a "Battle of France" display I suspect.

 

 

 

A 10 in the foreground then the A 13, Panzer II and SdKfw 251 and you can also see the A 11 Matilda I in the darker version of the British Camo to the right of the A 13 turret with the white BEF recognition squares, together with a French Somua and the nose of a Char B1 Bis. There is a nose-on view of the A 13 in Enzo's Matilda thread together with a discussion of the colours - Khaki Green 03 is apparently one of those colours which paint manufacturers can't agree on, and I think it should be a bit browner than in the photo above but may be wrong. The lighter green in this scheme should be Light Bronze Green I believe, and in the darker scheme on the Matilda it should be Dark Bronze Green, both over a base of Khaki Green 03.

 

Incidentally, if you have not done so already you might want to look on You Tube for the Museum's series of "Tank Chats" as I would imagine there is one covering this subject.

 

Pete

Later, just looked and it is in fact the first of the Tank Chats series!

 

 

Thank you for the reference photo, I will have to adjust the camouflage color field a bit.

[PeterB]

I would not worry too much about the pattern as the instructions said that no fixed pattern should be used by units. The light and dark areas should be about the same in terms of surface area on the sides, rear and front but the top should use more of the darker colour but whether or not the units stuck to the rules is unclear. Scheme 1 with the darker G4 green over the KG 03 was primarily used on Infantry tanks so you will be fine using Scheme 2 with the lighter G5 green. I have no idea how accurate the Museum repaint is! I know that when David Willey took over as Curator from George Forty we exchanged emails, and in answer to my question about the paint used on some of the exhibits he told me that as far as he could discover, a lot were painted in whatever paint they had to hand that looked about right. Things have improved since then now they have a bit more money to spend. One of my sources describes Khaki Green 03 as being close to Middle Bronze Green but browner.

 

Pete

Edited September 14 by PeterB

[Milan Mynar]

Small progress, continuation of painting.

 

 

 

 

[PeterB]

Coming along nicely. When the paint scheme was introduced an explanatory leaflet (Military Training Pamphlet No 2) was issued which is why it is sometimes known as the MTP.2 scheme.  This extract may be of interest

 

The note "shadow accentuated" on the "Wrong" drawing is interesting - the idea of the camo was to make the naturally light areas darker and the naturally dark areas such as under the overhang of the hull lighter, hence they put more of the darker paint on top where it got the most light, and more of the lighter paint at the bottom. In fact on some desert schemes, to hide shadow they actually painted white under the overhang on the turret/gun and under the front and back overhang of the hull, at least according to the drawings, though whether it happened much in practice I don't know. As I mentioned earlier there was no set pattern to the camo and the instructions said that each tank should be slightly different, though I suspect some units did use a "standard" pattern. With the exception of the desert Caunter scheme (and the later post war Berlin scheme) the British did not normally use a straight edged/splinter type camo scheme though no doubt there would be exceptions..

 

Hope that helps. Of course, it is your build so any way you choose to do it will be fine.

 

Pete

Edited September 17 by PeterB

[Milan Mynar]

 

Well, I'll finish this model now, thank you Pete for your insights and advice. they are very valuable to me, I will take them into account when building other models of British Armoured  Fighting Vehicles..

[PeterB]

9 hours ago, Milan Mynar said:

 

Well, I'll finish this model now, thank you Pete for your insights and advice. they are very valuable to me, I will take them into account when building other models of British Armoured  Fighting Vehicles..

No problem Milan,

 

Of course the scheme I am talking about was only used until the end of 1941 when the base colour changed to SCC.2 brown, and then again in 1944 when it became SCC.15 British Olive Drab, and there were different schemes in the desert and Italy.

 

Enjoy your build.

 

Pete