Well as I start to clear stuff off my bench, thought it was time to start another project, this time around the Dragon Models Sexton II, which I did a review here, which did generate a lot of discussion.

Since the review I have done some more research, and have discovered that the vehicles with the non-Canadian Heavy duty bogies are rare, with not alot of documentation. As for the track, it seems that Sexton's deployed to British units had the track replaced with current standard for the unit, but most Canadian units retained the Canadian Dry Pin track.

For this build, it will be basically out of the box, with the exception of adding Resicast Canadian Heavy Duty bogies and Panda Plastic Canadian Dry Pin tracks. My plan is to represent a Canadian vehicle, most likely with the 23th Field Regiment, 4th Armoured Division.

So lets get building, and with most armoured vehicles, it starts with the running gear, and as I stated, I will be using the Resicast Canadian Heavy Duty bogies.



I have recently reviewed this item here.

Prior to assembling the bogies, the lower swing arms have to be modified to fit the Resicast full cast bogie housing. The instruction that come with the Resicast set is dead on and easy to follow.

Start with cutting the top off, I cut right in the center of the upper ring.


Next is to cut down to the lower ring, using a good razor saw helps.





Once cut and sanded, they fit onto the Resicast bogie easily.



Next was to move onto the hull-bogie mount plates. The hull plugs (V39,40) are smaller then the openings in the hull, so I decided to attach them directly to the mount plates(V5). This will allow for better alignment when attaching.



Now it does leave a gap that will need to filled.



Next I moved onto the driver section, and this was pretty straight forward. BUT, I will warn you that you have to watch which sprue you are using, as there are some sprues that are labelled the same, in that there are multiple B sprues (from different original kits). They are indicated on the instructions by using different colors.



Onto the rear of the vehicle, this again was pretty straight foward, other than the instruction indicate the part just below the exhausts to be C34, when it is actually C35 on the sprue.



My next update will start the rest of the interior.

So a little more progress this weekend.

For my when building M4 chassis, before attaching the bogies, I like to apply a base coat to ensure the paint gets into all the little knocks. For this, I used Vallejo Bronze Green Primer.

Once the bogies were attached with CA, I moved onto the front glacis plate, this is a tight fit, that will need a little play and some support holding it in place to dry.



So while that was drying, I decided to get the barrel together. It goes together well, but will need a little sanding (and putty) to clean up the joint.



Once I have this cleaned up, I will do a couple of measurements and compare against an actual 25pdr to see how it measures up.

Looking good Kevin!

Looks like one to have.










~ Jeff

Moving on to the rear deck, I built as per the instructions, leaving the detail off till later. Dry fitting, I found there is a fit issue onto the lower hull, and some serious sanding needs to be done.




When sanding the inside of the rear tool boxes make sure you do both sides.

Since I am using the Panda Plastics Canadian Dry Pin tracks, the drive cogs will need to be replaces with the one provided by Panda, so the Dragon mounting lugs will need to be removed, a good razor saw helps here.



Now back to working on the gun assembly.

Hi Kevin,

Nice work so far, look forward to developments.

Al

So the rest of construction so far seems to be going together rather well, working on the interior. Because once the sides are on, it may be difficult to work on the interior, I have decided to do the detail prior, then I will mask the interior for the final paint.

The radio is well detailed, and with a little scratch building and wire, details up real nice.




On the left side of the vehicle, the brackets, while not fully detailed, for the storing rifles are there, there are no Enfields included, so into the spares box I went. With some masking tape straps, these were detailed up and added to position, and will make the interior much more complete looking when done.



As for the driver console, it will be pretty visible when build, so I applied some U.S. Gauges from Archer Fine Transfer. Trying something a little different, I applied these using a method from True Earth, using their Crystal Lock product, and it seems to work very well.



This method involves applying a little Crystal Lock to the location of the decal, followed by the decal, then a dab more of the Crystal Lock. The decal seem to apply flat to the surface, and holds well.

I'll have to try Crystal Lock on one of my builds. The interior is really starting to come together. Nice work, on the radio.

Very well done on the interior so far Kevin. I love the look of the Lee Enfield rifles and the # 19 set radio. are you going to paint the Pyrene fire extinguishers brass? This is a picture of the one off my 1942 Willys MB.

Cheers

Todd

Looking great Kevin. Gotta love that radio
cheers
Justin

Hi Kevin,

Excellent work.

Al

Todd

That was a bit of a dilemma for me, I do know they were brass, but I had also seen that they were painted the vehicle color as well, thus I went with Bronze Green.

Kevin

Oh gee... that radio and map area looks so real.



~ Jeff

How are the CDP tracks looking?

@Graeme




They look great in the box, I have not started them yet, but soon.

With the interior painted, it was time to assemble the upper hull, understanding there is a fit issue with the rear deck, I decided to add the front and side plates first, leaving the rear section unglued for the time being.



Then I fit the rear deck assembly in, it is a finicky fit, and requires a little playing and sanding, but it goes in. I glued the front of the rear deck to the mid bulkhead, and gave it a little time to dry, then I used a bit of tape to hold sections in place while they dried.




I set it aside to dry for a day before removing the tape.

Then it was on to tackle they front and a few seams, that is when I noticed the missing weld beads. So out came some stretched sprue and Tamiya Extra Thin.




And here is another shot of the interior radio section once the sides were attached.

With a little rain here today, and a quiet Sunday, I have been able to complete most of the build, and am ready for primer and paint.

The rest went together pretty well, considering most that was left was tool stowage on the rear deck. One note, Dragon provides some extra stowage, and it has mount points molded onto the rear deck, so you will need to be weary about this if you plan something different. I plan on loading up the rear deck, so it should not be a problem





Also, for the spool on the rear, I was not impressed with the look of the molded cable, so I change the spool for a piece of aluminun rod I had laying about, and will add my own wire for a better appearance.



So off to the paint shop with it.

Hi Kevin,

Great progress, following along with interest.

Al

Construction done except for a few bits, and model painted with Vallejo Air Olive Drab, mixing in a little yellow to add highlights. The model was given a wash of 50/50 Mig 502 Brown and Olive Green, then a little fading using True Earth. Here are a couple shots before adding a coat of Future prior to decals.

Hi Kevin,

Nice progress, looking good so far.

Al

Al

Thanks, I am really liking the way it is turning out, and the Resicast Bogies look really good on it.

Kevin

Very nice build so far Kevin. Those gauges look fantastic!!

With a coat of Future on, it is time for decals, and thanks to my friends at Archer Fine Transfer, I am using the new sets recently releases for British Artillery units. These are great decals, and I highly recommend them. For the lettering I am using the Generic British vehicles set.





The Sexton is marked for the 4th Canadian Armoured Division, 23rd Field Regiment, 36th Battery. I was unable to find alot of clear images of vehicles from this unit, and based on markings for other units, took a guess as to the correct location of the markings. It seems that there was no real standard to the location of the markings, as I found the markings in different locations on some Sextons.

And unfortunately I misplaced one of the "C"'s, now have to wait for another sheet from Archer.

Hi Kevin,

Nice work, looking good.

Al

So while waiting for my mis-placed decal to appear in my mailbox, on with the track. It seems that a lot of Sextons, once in theatre, did not keep the Canadian Dry Pin tracks, but being a true Canadian, I had to have them. I decided to use the Panda Plastics CDP's. They are nice tracks, molded in plastic. They even come with a set of fine drive sprockets.




With the links off the sprue, time for clean up. There is a bit of flash on some links, but not too bad. Two Pink Floyd albums and one Jethro Tull albums later, they were ready for assembly.




And they do look good. So once the glue dries, off to the paints shop to start looking like track.

Very nice work on your Sexton...I'm going to have to get me a set of bogies and tracks for mine ..Keep the pictures coming!

Rick

Hi Kevin,

Nice work. Panda Plastics make neat tracks. What sort of set comes with the kit?

Al