[Sorry for long post!]

Hi everyone, I'm new here and this is my first post.Years ago when I was in my teens doing models I was completely unaware of the wealth of information on websites such as this that provide endless information. Until recently I didn't even know how to do weathering and I constantly wondered how people put such incredible detail and realism into their projects.

After a seven year hiatus from modeling I've decided to do a North African Italian l6/40. I am trying to make this Italian tank to the best of my ability but it has not been easy. I'd describe my skill level as a novice/beginner.

Anyways, I'd like to share my frustrations while working on this kit. First off, I just airbrushed a coat of tamiya dark green on it, which I intend to expose as chipping after painting a desert color on top of it, the dark green came out pretty horrible. Ran out of paint half way through I think I used too much thinner. Now it looks like there are sweat stains in some spots.

Edit: The hull is not glued together yet which is why you may see some gaps!

Also, the turret was missing rivets, so I used grains of sugar to make my own. The paint did horrible things here as well. You can see the dried puddles of glue underneath the rivets.

And and finally, although I thought I did some good sanding on it, there are some ugly seems still showing.

Is it too late to fix all of these flaws? What would be the best approach to tackling some of these ugly imperfections?

Thank you for taking a look!













Edit: Realizing how truly horrible these rivets turned out Why coudln't Italeri just put rivets everywhere they need to be?

Robert,

Not the easiest kit you've chosen for your return to modling... Check out my build to see what's needed in terms of updates.

AFAIK the L/6 was never used in North Africa as it was introduced too late.

For the rivets, either get a punch and die set or shave off the rivets of some old kit (eg. Tamiya's M3 Stuarts) to recycle. I would then replace all the major rivets on the turret to have them look the same. Use a toothpick moistened with som saliva to handle the rivets ("spit and toothpick method").

To get rid of seams, use a hobby knife to scrape them off, it's often more efficient than sanding.

In your case I would sand off the rivets and seams and redo them, then start painting over again. Often modelers will spray a layer of paint over the model to detect any imperfections.

Also a tip for chipping: I used a sponge dipped in the desired paint and mostly cleaned off (as for drybrushing) to achieve my chipping on the Demag recently.


Hope this helps! Good luck with further progress and keep us posted!

Cheers!
Stefan

Stefan,

Thanks for the reply! Indeed this wasn't the easiest kit for me to start off. I should have started with an easier kit. Also wasn't the cheapest kit! I could have went with the Tamiya version for $15 cheaper and had crew figures come with it.

Are you sure it wasn't used in North Africa? Some of the photos in the Italeri book seem to be located in the desert, or at least being examined by British soldiers in shorts.

Thanks for sharing your build log, definitely will be referring to this constantly. There's such little info on these tanks even the kit seems to be off slightly with some components

Anyways, time to get started with some repairs!

Robert

I checked again, and yes, it seems it was used in the later stages of the North African campaign. Its main use was on the Balkans, Eastern Front, Sicily and Italy though. Southern Italy and Sicily can be pretty dry in summer...

Cheers!
Stefan

I confirm . The tank L6/40 was , in many respects , a vehicle born "old" , both in regard to the armament that the armor, which could not validly perform the roles for which it was created - the recognition and the support to the infantry - and that sometimes, due to lack of adequate means, was used also as a " tank for rupture".
It was used by the Regio Esercito in virtually every front of World War II where Italian forces were involved: in North Africa, on the Eastern Front with the ARMIR , in the Balkans with law enforcement tasks to the operations of the Yugoslav resistance. After the armistice of September 8, 1943 some of this were later captured by the Germans and re-used by the italian troops who cooperated with their, while others by the italian troops who cooperated with the Allies against the German troops in Italy. A number of L/6 were captured still in the factories by the Germans and re-used again them directly under the designation PzKpfw 733 ( i) for to supply some of theirs units and others the units of the RSI.
Beginning in 1943 the tower of L6 was used on the armored car SPA-Viberti AS43.
The Italian Army used it until the early fifties, just as the "Celere", a rapid deployment unit of of the Public Safety Department .
I hope to have been of help to you.
If you would to see the first of our models of this tank, please click on this link:
http://www.masterminiatures.it/gal/fiat-l6.php
Others are in arrival.
Have fun - Gianfranco Il Colonnello

Here she is finished! I put it down for 10 months and decided to finish it once and for all a few days ago. This is my first model done using "advanced" techniques. My first time doing any type of weathering, chipping, matt cotes, or applying washes.

Hope it meets some of the entry-level standards you veteran modelers have!

























Comments, criticisms, and recommendations are welcome. This certainly was not the easiest kit for an inexperienced modeler. This kit came with imperfections that were beyond my skill level to fix (quite a few gaps and some inaccuracies). Thanks to Dangeroo whose l6/40 build log was a constant reference during my build.

Entry level standards???? No such animal exists here. If they did I would have been booted a while ago!

A suggestion, though. When you post your pictures here, use the "hotlink for forum" code instead of the thumbnail one so they will appear here full sized, like so:


free image uploading

Thanks, will do!

I think you did pretty well for a beginning modeler. The chipping looks pretty effective, though to me it's a might over done. The paint finish, itself, reminds me of some of the pics I've seen from Africa where the vehicles are very heavily dust coated. You seemed to have done a fair job with the figures, too (better than I can do).

If you redo your last post with full sized pics, you might garner a few more comments. Don't get too disgruntled if you don't though. For some reason that I haven't been able to fathom, getting constructive comments out of this crowd is sometimes hard to do.

Sounds like you have learnt a lot of things building this and the end result looks pretty good to me. I agree with Bobs post above regarding the sometimes slow response on this particular section of the site forum, but don't be discouraged. I post here mainly because it's a bit quieter than the main section and your post will stay on the first page a bit longer letting more people see your work which is basically the reason for posting in the first place. If your pleased with what you have made then that is the most important thing, any feedback from showing it to others can only be a bonus. Like to see more of your work.

Thanks for the feedback guys! I certainly will be posting my future projects on the forum.