hello to you all
ive been building this chally 1 for a few weeks now and i thought that it might be nice to try and turn it into a build log.so here goes
this is a challenger 1

this is the rear fuel drum brackets that i scratch built from sheet styrene. my first proper attempt at scratch building something a little bit more complex.

and this is the tools of the trade

this is the accurate armour update set.


left hand side tamiya right hand side AA i will take the AA resin casting to work this week and drill out the resin.


and heres the crew from blast models that have had a coat of primer.

Nice start I've got some pictures i think somewhere i'll dig them up for you

The the rear fuel drum brackets look sweet!.


I like the figures

Hello Neil,

your scratch build is simply superb.

Always nice to see those work.

The Blast Model figures seem to be molded very pretty.


And these instruments you have been using look partially very ....archaic.

Are they a loan from your local museum from the period of the Spanish Inquisition?

here's a small update i have started to paint the figures.
i firstly painted all the flesh areas with VMC flat flesh as a base then i mixed some oil paints burnt sienna,raw umber and yellow ochre just the same way as is written in the verlinden way vol 5.paint this mix over the flesh paint then with a flat soft wide brush remove the oil so that the mix is left in the crevisis of the faces and hands.
next i start to add some cadmium yellow and white to the high points of the face like the chin,nose and cheek bones always blending the oils with a flat dry brush.i then painted a tiny amount of indian red to the bottom lip and blend this in as well.

then come the eyes i use a 5/0 sable brush and humbrol enamel's white & black and there you go three little faces .they are not finished yet the mic's and helmet's still need a dry brush and in a few days time i will give them a coat of flat acrylic varnish.

neil.................

niel nice start to your figures

Nice work mate. Good choice on after market products!

Martyn

thanks for your interest
it's great to have the brothers onboard
neil..............

Brothers lol twins! .

No worries Niel i am a massive armour fan my bro's in Afgan (older bro not twin) .

I am currently building a Scimitar if you havnt seen it Scimitar Optelic

I want to build this kit in the future but i got other builds to finish first

martyn & james
i hope that your brother is keeping his head down in afghanistan ive been watching ross kemp's programme on sky 1 and it makes me feel very humble to see what our forces are going through in that country on a daily basis.
please wish him good luck

anyway on with the chally 1 ive been at the bench for a few hours today and ive got a fair bit of the turret finished.

the turret on the tamiya kit is missing some strengthening straps so i replicated them fro thin strips of .010" styrene and just glued in place with humbrol liquid poly.


spurs V man u tomorrow C'MON YOU SPURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Niel I will send him your regards I havn't herd from him he must be at a FOB,
I've been watching that its a superb program!

Superb work mate!

I really like the scratch building detail its looking superb, I want to build this kit!.

COME ON MAN U!!!!!!!

here we go again!!
i have filled the rear stowage bins with some bits and pieces from the spares box and also made some square blocks from some two part green stuff just to bulk out the bins.



i'll fit some photo etch straps once the pva glue has dried.

question...
does anyone know what was kept in the big stowage bin on the left hand side of the turret.i think that the front one had a camo net stored in it.
neil.........
3.00pm wembley C'MON YOU SPURS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nice Trap covers mate. What did you use for them?.

Niel dont you mean COME ON YOU REDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

great work .. the challengers are my fav modern tank .. love seeing them built and this one is shaping up quite nicely

hi jim
the tarps over the stowage bins are made from triple ply tissue and watered down pva.

hi patrick
i'm pleased you like what you can see of my chalenger.

next step was to add a little detail to the tarps and i used some straps from some old eduard etch yet again from the spares bin.i do tend to find that the more you stick at this 1/35 hobby lark the more confidence and skills you can aquire plus the spares box can make life a little easier.
the bed rolls were made from tamiya epoxy putty smooth surface rolled very thin and using lots of talcum powder to stop it sticking.the straps for the rolls were made from thin lead strips.

neil........

hello men

does anyone know how many track links per side a challenger 1 mk3 has ?
neil............

Good work Niel thanks for the info ,

SHAME ABOUT THE FOOTBALL I GUESS THE BETTER TEAM ONE

fair play to you jim






track links anyone ?

it's monday evening ive had a hard day at work so i thought i might relax by making tracks(i must be mad )

so here goes when making friuls i never use the supplied length of wire it just seems to thin but there really is nothing wrong with it its just my personnel choice to use copper wire stripped from electrical cable.i prefer to use 0.5mm but i also use 0.65mm as well.when using 0.5mm copper wire i clearence the track holes useing a 0.6mm drill bit just to help give the track pin a little bit of clearence.i cut a couple of hundred copper pins i tend not to worry to much about them being cut to long as i will crop these back later on.





TTFN
neil..........

if anyone wants to share there deepest thoughts or just be critical of the blog then please just fire away!

Alright Niel,

For the tracks Use tailor pins for the track pins ! buddy for the right length on the links divide them into two spereate piles keep adding links to the tracks until you get the correct sag and your happy with it If you use the talor pins you can just pull them out when you want to remove a link until your hapy then glue them inplace and trim the pins

Hope that can help mate,

Shame I couldn't help you take penalties yesterday

88 links per side

Whey

Did you do what i said?

[/quote]Did you do what i said?[/quote]
no jim i just put together one side of links,fitted the wheels then added or subtracted links untill they looked about wright.the top runs of track will never be seen so no need to wory about any track sag.........
neil.

Good evening

Just a small update the tracks are finished.Primer and paint on the weekend

Also i have attached all of the frontal armour and the wheels are primed and ready for paint.I have been trying to make the chest webbing that i wanted to hang from the commanders hatch and a couple of other places.It might look better after a coat of primer/paint.



ta ta for now
neil........

Hi buddy superb work! it looks great I've cheated with mine for my warrior, I've got Cromwell's superb hatches with the webbing over the hatches.

One thing your missing though is the Yoke in the middle of the two straps that sit effectively sit on your back, and the strap that goes around your waist. But by judging your pictures you still have to add them?.

But they look superb scratched!.

Hmmm was wondering how is it possible for a combat webbing to stay in that position in reality...