Ye, we were always taught never to sleep under our vehicles. Not so risking on the ground that tank is on, but deadly on soft gound. Very possable with the boots. They were the ones we were issued with in 2003, bloody awful, like wearing cardboard. I still have mne.
British Army
Harold, that is a sensational looking Matador there. Fascinated to see how the stencils work. The colour match shows the value of all your research. And if your idea of bad news is not taking photos in the cab first…
For clear coats I have used Creos (Mr Hobby) and Tamiya. Sometimes the flat isn’t as flat as I would like – will try the Vallejo flat with a bit of their thinner next time.
Jack, the etch sounds a good way to get those special Canadian details! You’re right though, takes a lot of projects to fill a 150 x 300 sheet.
Svenne, That’s a great shopping list there! And looking forward to the 5 pounder hanging off the back. And thanks for the invite – still dreaming about international travel, and Scandinavia is on the list.
Robert, the Challenger is coming along well. Yeah, reckon your right in wanting a different colour on the skirts. The squaddie sleeping underneath the tank would make a great diorama…
The Achilles is falling together nicely. Got the hull dirtied up and the tracks on. Used Mig pigmets outside and Tamiya enamel washes for the interior
Sorry guys, been away on holiday/vacation. Everyone’s work looks fantastic! Looking forward to getting back to work when I get home in a week.
I kind of like the idea of putting a sleeping soldier under the tank, anybody know of a 1/72 sleeping figure?
Put in some more work tonight, tracks are painted and installed…had to pop the body apart to do so. Thankfully I had glued lightly to begin with on the off chance of this coming up. Also attached the armor skirts with a newly painted canvas dust cover and the front armor assembly.
Just some more parts to add and give a final coat of the desert sand before decalling and weathering.
Glamdring: She’s coming along nicely!!!
If it’s just the figure’s head or feet sticking out couldn’t you just use a regular figure? He’d only have to be lying down if you’re going to show the whole guy- or at least it seems to me.
Believe it or not Bish, I’m almost finished with the Apache [8-)]. Since it was being ornery I put it the corner and let it stew for a little while. I felt it learned it’s lesson and I finished it last night. I’ll take some pics tonight after I get home.
Thank you Piers I appreciate your words of encouragement. However, I stuff-it when I tried to use a stencil to apply the camouflage pattern. Then I tried to fix the mess by free hand with my airbrush and that made it even worse. So, as we were taught in the military always have a backup plan, in other words ‘Plan-B’. Part of my back up plan was to purchase two AFV Club Matador kits. An Early Type and Mid Production Type as shown below. The two kits are virtually identical except for the cab roof. In fact, the Mid Production Type has all the same parts as the Early Type plus the Mid Production parts.
Since I made a mess of the camouflage painting, but the base coat and primer were smooth I decided to try stripping the acrylic paint. I used heavy duty Easy-Off oven cleaner and sealed the model in a zip-lock bag for two-hours. Then I dipped the model in a bowl of Dawn dish soap for about 2-minutes and rinsed the oven cleaner and dish soap off under warm running water. I also used a large flat paint brush to get into small details. The result is what you see below. The oven cleaner took all the paint off down to the primer. Remember the plastic is a yellow color and the primer was an olive-green. So, what you see in the pictures below is a faded olive green primer. There was no sanding, scrubbing or abrasive of any kind. Just a large soft flat modeling paint brush. When the model was clean I dried it with my airbrush and then let it sit for several hours.
Tomorrow I will give the Matador a fresh coat of primer to cover water stains and when the primer is dry, I should be able to give the model a new S.C.C. 15 Olive Drab base coat. Now for the rest of ‘Plan-B’. I have ordered two types of camouflage masking putty, AK Interactive #AK8076 and Ammo Mig #AMIG8012. The Mig Jimenez putty will take a while to get here but the AK product should be here by next Monday. I have never used masking putty, but I understand how it works and I am excited to try it on the Mid Production Matador.
Plan-B has a secondary objective. I wanted to change the canopy from all closed to partially opened, but until I messed up the paint I was not willing to take the model a part. Since the Early Type and Mid Type use the same parts I will put a new partially open canopy on the Mid Production Matador shown below.
Jack, did you ever recieve your Mike Starmer books?
Harold
Hello Harold, yes picked up books today at the post office. My custom PE also arrived, so hope to get some bench time in shortly…
regards,
Jack
Lots more stuff nearing completion. Some great subjects. Coming down to the wire!
Bish,
Here it is, like the great philosphers, The Beatles once said, “with a little help from my friends”
I like chopers but rarely build 'em. Other than a few fiddly bits that kept breaking off and the mess up with the paint color, I’m done.
I never want to let Bish down so I put aside all my other bench projects to get this over the line.
Sorry the mask didn’t work out Harold, glad you were able to fix it.
Very nicely done Steve, great looking chopper, thank you. Will get you addd.
I don’t build many choppers either, only have 2 built. I am hopeing Airfix wil release some new tools of some of their classic British helo’s.
Steve, a very good build on the helo, congrats on the completion.[Y]
regards,
Jack
Thank you guys. Other than some biplanes, that is the last and only representation of the British Army in my stash.
I need to remedy that [:$]
I won’t argue with that. Its a pity there seem to be no kits of the army’s water craft. Maybe we will see you building a tank.
Nice Apache. I was surprised to see it’s 1/72. I really like that chopper. Great Job. Dig the weathering/chipping on the ffar rocket pods.
Thanks John
Glamdring, nice work on the Challenger.
Lostagain, the Achilles is looking good.
Harold, glad you are able save the Matador. I know how frustrating it is for a paint job to mess up and having to redo everything again.
Steve, amazing work on the helicopter.
Thanks guys!
I laid down a wash of sepia on the Challenger on Saturday and wiped off with a wet Kleenex, then hit the panel lines and engine grates with Vallejo gray wash. I don’t know why I keep trying the gray wash, it seemingly dries invisible, maybe it works better on a gray jet or a ship.
Yesterday I hit it with a drybrush layer of the original color to tone down and even out the brown from the wash.
We are getting there!
Hi Harold,
hate to see you going through all that troble on your Matador.
I realy like the way that last recipie of Mr. Starmer is coming out. Looks better then the first to my eye, the first mix is more like Olive Green.
Unfortunately I had been hunting for XF81 all over Europe for a couple of weeks before i checked it out and ufortunately (since I wanted a big batch) this is were I landed up:
Now I need to get hold of XF61 but at least I have enough XF81 to start my Typhoon now 
Belive it or not but XF61 is also pretty much sold out - at least were I usually get my supply.
Best Regards
Svenne