Hi all,

Last weekend I treated myself to one of the Tamiya 1/35 Military Miniature Series models, kit No.366, British Tank Destroyer M10 IIC Achilles. This will be my second AFV build in 40yrs, the first being the Amusing Hobby FV214 Conqueror MK II British Heavy Tank built earlier this year (covered in this forum under the title - My first build in 40 years...so here goes!...).

I am hoping that this will be a more straightforward kit to build as there are no photo etched parts and, as I recall from my teenage days, Tamiya kits used to almost fall together straight from the box, .

The kit is packaged in the usual Tamiya reasonably robust lift-off lid style box. The artwork on the lid top is, as usual, very eye-catching. One long side of the lid top has images of the crew whilst the opposite side has images of the vehicle (see images below).







Inside the box is an instruction manual and ‘background information’ leaflet, and there is also a ‘Tech Tips’ sheet (see images below). The latter, imho, is likely to be of little use to anyone other than the novice builder.





The sprue trees are contained within clear, sealed, polythene bags for protection (see images below).















As you can see above many of the sprues are bagged singularly, however, in some instances, where there are duplicate sprues, the bags contain more than one tree (see images below).





There is also a bag containing a small clear sprue tree (see image below).



To finish off, there is a small decal sheet, again in a sealed bag, and two 'rubber band' type lengths of track (see images below).





There is also a length of twine for the towing cable and some polythene caps.

Once I start to unbag the various sprue trees I will take some better photographs.

Cheers, ,

G

Hi all,

During my previous 'Conqueror' I was lucky enough to get a lot of support and ideas from various members of this site and, prior to commencing this build, I would ask if anyone has any useful information or images regarding the M10 IIC Achilles that they would kindly be willing to share?

I also found the following image in a book which has given me an idea for what might be a relatively 'simple', , scratchbuild element to my project.



It appears to show a protective overhead 'roof' fitted to the open topped turret of an Achilles. It states that drawings of the roof were contained in 'wartime instructions'. I have tried 'googling' this but without any joy...again, can anyone please help?

Cheers, ,

G

I too am currently working on this kit. Very easy and pleasurable build. Nice change of pace from kits with 500+ parts. One question maybe you can help with. The instructions call for OD as the color. Is this correct? Would they not have been repainted the British armor green color? If so what might be a good mach in the Tamiya line. Thanks.

I found out recently Tamiya has two olive drabs.
In the spray it is labelled olive drab 2.It's much more the British color.

Tom

Hi Armorsmith,

Glad to get your confirmation regarding ease and pleasure of the buildability of this kit.

As regards colour, I am by no means an expert, however I have read that there were two basic colours used, generically referred to as 'Standard Camouflage Colour (SCC)', these were SCC 2 and SCC 15.

SCC 2 was generally pre-April 1944 (though this paint might have been used later until stocks were used up) and was sometimes referred to as brown, khaki brown or service drab and was described as being a rich dark brown.

SCC 15 was introduced in April 1944, it was referred to as olive drab and was similar to its American namesake, however, it tended to fade to a greener shade.

However, remember that the M10 was American so it would be fair to presume that they arrived with the British in the standard American olive drab to be repainted whilst undergoing repairs and upgrades.

As to Tamiya equivalents, I will be using XF-58 or XF-62 as the base for my SCC 15. Not sure of the product for the SCC 2.

Also, remember that some used the 'Mickey Mouse' scheme using SCC 14 black.

There is a chap in here who uses the callsign BOOTSDMS, he's very knowledgeable, if he comments, then I'd say go with his information over mine.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

Cheers, ,

G

Gereth- Good info. I'm not much of a British armor guy so it was very helpful. I'll keep an eye out for the chap you mentioned to see what he or others might have to offer.

Reached the point where I am assembling the ammo racks. As the rounds are molded as part of the racks it will make painting a bit more difficult and time consuming.

Chaps,

Gareth in particular - thanks for the vote of confidence; sadly, I'm not much of a WW2 expert; SCC 15 was apparently the colour - as described - for vehicles of this era.

I suspect that as the vehicles were modified at Base Workshops ie where I'm sure the 17 Pdrs were installed - the opportunity would have been taken to repaint the equipments there and then, if, if that was the case.

In a way, it's counter-intuitive as one would assume that under wartime conditions paint (amongst so much else) would have been in fairly short supply, however, never overlook the propensity for the British Army to ensure it's equipment was as perfectly finished as possible, especially the Royal Artillery who operated these AFVs. That said, perhaps only the 17 Pdr Gun was repainted and given the similarity of colours that may have been deemed to be sufficient; I'm afraid I'm muddying the waters here (!)

As to the actual colours then I would defer to Mike Starmer's mix or advice - it think this has been covered on this site before but can't quite remember where or when. If not readily identifiable, then I'm sure Googling "Mike Starmer" and say, "British Camouflage Colours" or similar will throw something up.

Sorry in this case not to be able to help as much as I would like.

Brian

Hi Armorsmith,

I have been doing some more 'googling' and have found a couple of useful comments regarding 'matches' for the SCC 15, however, in the main they involve mixing various colours...which i'm loathe to do.

One recommendation is to use Tamiya XF-81 as the British Olive Drab which is referred to as being 'Dark Green 2 RAF', the writer says it's a close match and negates the need to mix colours. Therefore, unless anyone else has any advice, I think I will be using this as my base coat instead of the Tamiya XF-58 or XF-62 that I was leaning towards earlier.

I have also attached the address of the site mentioned by BootsDMS, I hope this proves helpful to people (not sure how to make it an active link in here, sorry, ):

http://www.mafva.net/other%20pages/Starmer%20camo.htm

I noticed that the shells were all moulded together in their racks, I might see how easy it is to scratch build racks and obtain separate ammunition...bearing in mind that I have the scratch building skills of a toad, .

Hope the above is of use.

Cheers, ,

G

Hi Brian,

Glad to hear from you, and thank you for your, as always, useful guidance, much appreciated.

Cheers, ,

G

Most sources will say that British SCC15 was a VERY close match to American OD when freshly painted, but, since formulated differently, faded out to a brownish hue. For British vehicles I use US OD with a small amount of Olive Green...just enough to make a difference; unless you want to make it faded then just add some brown and buff. I can see a can of worms opening!

Hi Biggles2,

Thanks for the information, it’s amazing how, when one starts ‘googling’, many different approaches exist to achieving a given colour.

I found that MIG do a specific acrylic for the SCC 15, reference number A.MIG-0112 (BRITISH 1944-45 OLIVE DRAB). On a conversion chart site they suggest the following two Tamiya colours as being suitable comparisons, XF-51 Khaki drab Matt and XF-11 J.N. green Matt.

So, as you quite rightly say…’a can of worms’, .

However, I prefer well weathered vehicles, so to some extent, imho, it's not quite as critical as it might be for someone modelling a factory fresh AFV, therefore I will go with whatever I can find at my local model shop, .

Cheers, ,

G

Gareth-The kit does come with some spare rounds that are separate pieces. I thought about scratching the ammo racks as well but decided that that route would defeat the purpose of choosing a Tamiya kit for a relatively quick and uncomplicated build. That and I also have the scratch building skills of a toad. Best of luck.

I was able to build mine in about a weekend. Everything fit perfectly and the detail was very good. The only downsides are a few pin marks in the turret and the thick headlight guards. The only aftermarket this kit really needs is new brush guards and some chains for the fuel filler caps. Some brass 17 pdr rounds are also nice

Hi Armorsmith,

Having inspected the ammunition racks more closely and, taking account of my aforementioned scratch building skills, I am tending towards your approach of using the kit parts as they come for the sake of simplicity, .

Have you posted any photographs of your build; it would be good to see them?

Cheers, ,

G

Hi Jon,

Think mine will take a tad longer than a weekend, especially with the finer weather at this time of the year, .

With regards ejector pin marks, I’m finding quite a few, though I think that many will not be noticeable once the kit is finished. I am trying to remove those that I think might be viewable after completion, but it’s fair to say that the ones I’ve found so far are fairly minor...is that your experience?

Is there any scale thickness chain that’s available for the fuel filler caps?

Cheers, ,

G

i'm gonna follow this build as mine has arrived today, so any hints and tips will be appreciated.

Hi all,

Looking at various images of the M10 Achilles it appears that the number of bolts for the add-on armour varied (see images below). I appreciate that these are preserved vehicles, but the same variations can be seen in period photographs.





Does anyone know if this variation was due to the version of the vehicle, i.e. the MK IC having more bolts than MK IIC or did the number of bolts vary on both Marks of the M10 Achilles?

The Tamiya kit is the M10 IIC Achilles and only has the bolts located on the glacis plate, with no bolts on the hull and turret sides.

Any clarification/comments would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers, ,

G

Hi David,

Welcome to the build, I will try and point out anything that I think might be of interest/use as I proceed. However, as previously mentioned, this won’t be a ‘weekend’ build, so you might find yourself overtaking me and me coming to see your build – presuming you submit one – for hints and tips, .

Good luck with your build, hope to see some photographs.

Cheers, ,

G

Hi all,

Below are some images of the unbagged sprue trees. The detail appears to be very good, with some fine features and subtle texturing.

The initial stages of the build, steps 1 through 6, have you unbagging the majority of the sprues, so be careful not to damage or lose any parts.

Sprue Tree C, Front and Back:





Sprue Tree H, Front and Back:





Sprue Tree J (x2), Front and Back:





One observation relates to the combining of sprue trees in one extrusion (see images below). Not a major issue, but one that had me searching around for some parts initially, .

It's a shame that Tamiya don't print a ‘key’ to the sprue trees in their instruction manual as some other manufacturers do, it might have helped in the short term, .

Sprue Tree B (large tree) & S (small tree), Front and Back:





Sprue Tree A (large tree) & P (small tree) (x2), Front and Back:





Cheers, ,

G

Hi all,

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was finding quite a few ejector pin marks, some of which are on very small parts. Though, to date, they are minimal in size and intrusion/protrusion and, in many cases, are unlikely to be visible after assembly there is going to be some clean-up required, (see images below).











As you can see in the last image, their removal is neither arduous or time consuming, but the trick will be knowing which ones to remove, and which ones to not fret about – alternatively you could remove them all, .

Cheers, ,

G

Hi all, again, ,

Below are some images of the lower hull tub, there are some seams to be cleaned up, but this is now pretty much complete.







As previously mentioned, until this year I have not built a kit in some 40 years, this build being only my second vehicle and my first WWII subject. Over the years of not building I think I must have forgotten how small WWII Allied armour was, .

Below are some images of the lower hull tub in comparison with my first build, the post-war Conqueror from Amusing Hobby.





The turret alone on the Conqueror must be about the same size as the M10 Achilles in its entirety, .

My finished M10 Achilles is intended to be a well-used and dirty creature so, next, I intend to put some dirt and dust on the hull prior to building and fitting the running gear.

Cheers, ,

G

Gareth- I have painted the interior of the turret. I mixed 5:1 Tamiya olive green(XF58) and OD lightened by about 1/3(XF62). I am very happy with the resultant color which when weathered will darken somewhat but still be more green than OD.

Next up will be the clear gloss before the weathering and painting some of the interior details. Will keep you posted.

Unfortunately I do not post photos. It's a combination of laziness and lack of proper equipment(I still use an old flip phone).

Good luck.

Hi Armorsmith,

Sorry about the delay in responding, last week was a busy one.

Shame about the pictures, though I had to smile at the ‘old flip phone’ comment as they’ll probably be back in fashion if Samsung get their way, actually they're more foldable than flip, but close enough, .

The interior colours of the turret and subsequent internal weathering is one of the things that I think will be a challenge for me as, even in my teens I only ever built conventional tanks, I have no experience with all that exposed detail. In part that is why I am leaning towards the overhead covered approach referenced in an earlier post (see image below). it'll help conceal any substandard painting on my part, .



Do you weather your armour heavily?

Cheers,

G

Weathering interiors is not that much different than exteriors. Paint will be worn off floors, dirt will collect in corners and crevasses, handles will be worn, etc.

I would say that by builds are moderately weathered. I don't really go for the chipping as most often it is way over scale in my opinion. Bear in mind that in 1/35 a "chip of 1/35 of an inch would be a 1 inch chip on the real vehicle. My lower hull and running gear usually get fairly well dusted up. Occasionally I will muddy things up a bit. The upper hull gets the usual treatment of an overall oil wash, pinwash, and selective light drybrushing. The vehicle then generally gets and overall dusting.

As I said, rather restrained as I don't like covering up much of the detail. I like to be able so see the lines of the vehicle and oft times this is obscured by too much weathering. This is just my preference. Others of course will have their own styles.

Continued good luck.

Hi all,

Managed to get a small amount of modelling in at the weekend.

I managed to get the running gear built which, in the main, was fairly straight forward but just be careful to get all the parts orientated correctly. The instructions are very clear as to which was around the parts go but, if you’re a bit like me and have a tendency to remove parts en masse in readiness for a build stage then you will have to have your thinking cap on or else you could assemble parts back-to-front, .

Below are a couple of images of the partially constructed bogies, showing one set with seams and one set with seams in the process of being cleaned up.





The image below shows the completed bogies mounted as well as the drive sprocket.

With regards to my comment above about assembling the bogies with the parts the right way around you might just be able to make out that the return rollers each have two small circular indentations, these only exist on one side of the part, also, each of the main wheels have two small indentations, again, these only exist on one side. In all cases these indentations should be visible on the outside once the bogies are mounted to the lower hull tub yet, it is very easy to assemble the bogies with the rollers and wheels the wrong way around.

As you can see I have added some wear-and-tear to the ‘rubber’ on the main wheels.



Whilst looking online at various images of the Achilles I noticed on a few good quality photos that the bogies appeared to have four small holes, not sure what they are, which did not appear on the kit parts. Not sure if these were missed out on the Tamiya parts, or whether both ‘none-holed’ and ‘holed’ bogies were used but I decided to try representing them by drilling four shallow holes (see image below).



Cheers, ,

G