Ever since I bought the 1999 Airfix catalogue on one of my first modeling incursions , I started to feel a growing interest on Airfix kits boxart, even today I can't resist an Airfix kit when I stop by my local hobby shop. The Mk I has been a long time favorite off mine and when I came across Landship's site, I just had to get myself one and build it.

Landships - www.landships.freeservers.com - is a great site. Loads of information, friendly environment, helpful users and, at the time, a source of excellent and rare decals which are now distributed by another company.

After browsing the site and the forum with the kit on my shelf, it was time to choose a decoration. This was more difficult than I imagined, WWI paint-schemes are complex and the information about them isn't as abundant as WWII, to which I'm more used to. I ended up choosing Mk II (male) nº788 nicknamed Lusitania, from C Batallion, that saw action in the Battle of Arras, France, in 1917. As you probably know, Lusitania was an ancient Roman province that partly consisted of what was to become Portugal, my country. Gladly, the Landships sheet provided decals for this specific tank.

The Airfix offering is a basically a Mk II with some features of the Mk I so, some surgery was needed. All this information may be found, once again, in Landships site:

http://www.landships.freeservers.com/Airfix_Mk1.htm
http://www.landships.freeservers.com/Airfix_Mk1.htm
http://www.landships.freeservers.com/mark1-3_info_walkaround.htm
http://www.landships.freeservers.com/mark1-3_info_walkaround.htm

The construction went well, although the tracks are too short. The vehicle I tried to depict had track-spuds, a small attachment that improved traction, so I tried to scratch-build them all, although Matador Models sells a set of these in resin. Other modifications were made, like the box on the back-side of the tank and the removal of the hatch on top of the drivers cabin.


Here are some photos of the original scene:





And here are some in-progress shots:









Automotive primer and pre-shading:




Base-coat:




The base:





The oil washes over the tank's highlighted basecoat:



The finished model:









The track's weathering was achieved with a raw umber and burnt sienna wash, some fine pastel powder applied with a brush, and an 8b and 2b graphite pencil for the polished metal zones. The base was also given an oil wash and some pastel powder was applied to give it a worn look...

This was a very pleasing project and I'm sure I'll build another Landship soon.

Best regards,

Francisco

excellent piece of work, what scale is it?

WW1 tanks always make for interesting pieces of work

cheers

Keith Forsyth

It's the Airfix 1/76 kit from the 70s.

Thank you for your comment, it was your diorama articles that got me into building dioramas several years ago

Fransisco.....lovely build......I've always had a soft spot in my heart for that little Airfix kit...you've done a great job on it....I have to agree that the Landships page is a wonderful resource for those interested in WW1 tanks and equipment.

Cheers
Gene

Thank you, Gene.

It was a nice surprise to find Landships site when I started to gather information for this model. After browsing it for some months, I must say I feel tempted to make some more WWI models...

amazing work. it looks fantastic. looking forward to your next project.

Great work on that one - it looks just like the original. Very original to use the Nestle lip as a base.

Thanks for the good link - it will come in helpful if I decided to move into WWI armour.

Thanks for sharing

Lovely build Francisco!

I've often browsed Landships. I find some of the really old stuff incredibly fascinating.

Thank you very much for your time to post such a positive feedback I really appreciate it.

It was a very pleasant build so I'm happy you like it too.

Thanks again,

Cheers,

Francisco