Picked up my replacement decals today, a nice surprise was that the decals came in the pouch with the etch fret too. Thanks to IBG/Jadar for sending these out. So, the good news is that this batch seems to be better, the not so good news is that they are still very thin and may cause problems with placement. A contributing factor my be that there isn't enough carrier, I had a small folding under with the left side square, nothing that can't be fixed or replaced with a left over. The right side went much smoother. It might be advisable to cut the square from the serial number to make placement easier. I tested a serial number and square before hand and they went on without major hassles, you just need to make sure you don't handle the decal any more than absolutely necessary. I strongly recommend testing a marking you won't use first and if you aren't sure it will work, gloss cote the option you want to use to be on the safe side.




Got the tires painted up as well. I mixed up a batch of very dark grey with a hint of tan/earth to dirty it up ever so slightly, then hit the treads with a lighter dirtier shade and a thin black wash on the sidewall treads. The spare got a lighter shade on the sidewall and the upper 2/3 of the tread to simulate exposure to sun. I'm planning on using pigments so any further highlighting etc at this stage will likely get lost so no point. You can also make out the wear and chipping on the hubs and rims.




I started on the hood prop and noticed that the hinges won't go on the rear hood because of the bullet splashes. My bad here, I should have checked to make sure that everything would fit properly. If you use the etch option for the rear hood splashes, this shouldn't be a problem as you can fudge the positioning to get everything to fit. I'll try to file down the rear hinge to get it to fit, if that doesn't work, I'll go with the kit supplied hood. Back to the prop, you can see my method for working hinges, drill holes in the strips, then trim and sand to shape. You'll never get the hole centered properly if you try to drill after everything is the correct size. Murphy's Law. I still need to cut the "saw teeth" into the prop and assemble the hinge.




That's it for this session, next update will be whenever I can squeeze in a few hours again, hopefully soon.

Kimmo

After what seemed an eternity, I finally got some bench time. I did have an opportunity last week, 30+ C weather quickly persuaded me otherwise. I got as far as getting everything out and promptly decided nope. Too hot. The sweat running in my eyes probably had as much to do with it as anything. Anyways, got the hood sorted out and the tools attached today.

In trying to file the pe hinges to fit, one of them decided to snap due to the constant wiggling and so forth. Enter the kit hood. I thinned it down some, should have maybe sanded a bit more. I replaced the lost hinge detail with some strip and sprue. The prop and hinge was glued in place after some measuring and guestimation. Turns out I mounted the prop the wrong way around. Sigh. Cutting the teeth was problematic because the strip kept getting kinks for every cut, so I started over with a wider piece of strip, cut the teeth, then trimmed to size. You can see the hinge pin from sprue, this helped make sure I could align the prop rather than try to fit it in at the correct angle before hand. Everything got painted and sealed.







The tools were glued in place with thinned gator glue, then a coat of flat. That should keep them in place. The sand channels will go on after weathering as they interfere with the wheel installation. I also touched up the left side square.






I'll let all that dry overnight and then paint the tool straps and brackets, weather, attach the side doors, channels and Vickers. Nearly there.

Kimmo

Nice work Kimmo, looking good.

Al

Thanks Al, hopefully I'll be able to wrap up things tomorrow.

Kimmo

So close, Kimmo!

I'm looking forward to seeing it finally assembled with the wheels and everything.

Stay cool!

You and me both Mike Fortunately there's a stiff breeze keeping the heat down a wee bit today. Could really use some rain.

Kimmo

I am just about ready to stick a fork in this. Got the pigments down and attached all the remaining bits. A few touch ups to go and some decent pictures in natural light, hopefully the winds calm down for tomorrow.

A few in progress shots to see how the pigments were laid down, not really contrasty enough to show how slapdash the initial application is, but they'll have to do. I started by getting some thicker goop in the wheel wells and a heavy wash on the lower parts, getting lighter with the build up going to the top of the vehicle. I mix pigments with glaze medium that gets cut with water depending on the application type.







And the toned down results with bits in place. All I did was scrub and remove excess or funny looking build up with wet or moist brushes and the occasional swipe with a cotton bud. I kept the motion going top down or back to front as needed to get some light streaking effects. You can basically get 3 steps in one go: mud, wash and filter. Pigments couldn't be easier to work with.






The tire treads will need a bit more pigment to bring out the pattern better. The treads are a bit too shallow for my liking on the kit, and there are some minor seam lines to deal with (should you wish) that don't show up until you get some paint on, evidently the wheels are done with multi-piece molds. So that is it for the time being, I'll do some touch ups today and get some good pics tomorrow if the weather co-operates.

Kimmo

Hi Kimmo,

Excellent work, this is looking great. I really enjoyed the build blog and the extra work you put into the build makes it one you can be proud of.

Nice one.

Cheers

Al

Much appreciated Al and thanks for tagging along. I'm pretty pleased overall, a few things I would like to do over if it were possible, just me being slightly over critical of my own work. And of course there's a few things I'd do differently if/when I get another crack at one of these. Just waiting to see if the wind turns a bit more, having an errant gust blow this off the table would really make me a sad panda.

Kimmo

While we wait for some better photography conditions, I figure now is as good a time as any to go through the "/review" portion of the blog.

First off, the kit itself. This is definitely not a beginner kit, there are places where a seasoned modeler will have their hands full. Detail is generally excellent, some of which is not really apparent until a coat of paint is on. I only found a few minor instances of flash, very few ejector marks to deal with and molding seams were minimal. The plastic is a little on the soft side for my taste and IBG could benefit from switching to a harder plastic to help eliminate warping or damage during clean up on the thinner parts, for example: the nose framing and rear doors.

The engineering could have been better thought out. There were instances of parts that could have easily been combined to reduce the overall parts count, and to make life easier. Fit was generally good, with the exception of the main hull parts due to beveled edges. In fairness, I don't think IBG could have done much else without making the parts a lot thicker. Mounting stubs could be larger in many instances and please, please, please eliminate butt joins!

The instructions were adequate but could use some improvement. Clearer sequences (and illustrations) for the more complicated assemblies and sub-assemblies would be a welcome addition. Colour call outs would be nice too.

The decals are on the extremely thin side, so test a marking you won't use to see how they react. The photo etch provided is a nice addition, bend marks could be added to a few pieces to help the modeler.


Room for improvement:

As mentioned, the detail is quite good, however, some things could be improved. The dashboard for instance has no gauge detail or decals so you have to source them yourself. Additionally, the panel is a wee bit short. The turret weapons have no mounts, so again you will need to figure that one out for yourself. The wheels could benefit from deeper treads. As to the side doors which I modified, I'll give IBG the benefit of the doubt as to accuracy. It may well be that there are examples with narrower doors as provided in the kit. Some stowage would be a nice addition, this seems to be a common complaint with most manufacturers.

All in all, I'd give this kit a 93% rating and recommend it to experienced modelers.


On to the etch sets by Part.

The general detail set (P35-265) provided was not specifically meant to be used with this kit, but rather the other Mk II. I found most of the set still very usable and offers some nice additions. A few of the items provided are, in my opinion, unnecessary regardless of which version of the kit you are building. The molded on visors, antenna mount frame and so on are perfectly adequate and the visors can easily be scratched by the average modeler should you want them in different positions. The armoured grills could have been better thought out, most modelers will find assembling them onerous due to the small spacers needed. The headlight bar assembly, while more in scale, is one of those careful what you wish for items. Plenty of hinges are provided (somewhat strangely attached to the fret) should you want to replace the molded on ones. Sadly, no wire or mention of what diameter wire should be used to form them is included. The instructions were generally adequate, but a clearer sequence or recommended sequence for the grills would have been useful. The tie down straps could also use a little more explanation for those unfamiliar with etch straps and buckles. The set is recommended and I'd give it a 94% rating.

The fender and sand channel set (P35-266) was somewhat of a disappointment. The sand channels look fantastic and bend up nicely with a folding aid. A cross section view would have been helpful to approximate the bend angles. However, the fenders are what lets the set down as a whole. The fenders themselves are nice and bend to shape well. The problem is that the instructions aren't really clear on what how you are supposed to attach them to the kit. There's a thinner strip that runs around the inner edge, but it is unclear if this is supposed to go on top of the fender? Complicating matters is the way IBG molded the fenders in the first place with a narrow stub on the hull. I'm afraid you'll have to scratch your head and proceed as you best see fit. The instructions for this set needs improvement in this regard, further explanation for the additional straps would be good as I noted for the general detail set. I'm really torn about giving this set a rating or recommendation. As is, the fenders aren't really useful additions, so half of the set is really rather wasted in my opinion. But if needs must, recommended with reservations and a 60% rating.

One thing I would like to see Part do, apart from the suggestions above, and as I mentioned in the blog, is to provide another set that covers the missing interior details: stowage frames/rack, commander's seat and a new dashboard.

And thus duties completed, my thanks to IBG/Part/Jadar via Armorama and off to wait for some better photography weather. Thanks to all those who've been watching and chiming in.

Kimmo