Don't forget about your periscopes. The first time I built one of those I forgot to paint them.

Ha! I know Im not looking forward to painting them.

Hey Ezra. A great way to paint periscopes is not to paint them at all. I use window tint film on my builds. I got the windows on my house tinted years ago (a must here as the sun through glass will turn a room into an oven and make your air-con work too hard) and the guy that did it gave me some samples to choose from. Those samples have been real handy. I think they use the same type of stuff on car windows, so if you live near a business that does tinting, just pop in and ask if you can have some offcuts or better yet the end of roll bit that is too small for other uses - that would last you a lot of builds.

The stuff is a self adhesive film on a paper backing. You just cut the film to shape, wet the area it is to go on, then peel back the backing and press on the wet area. Peel the backing half way so you can handle it without getting a print on the inside of the film, press the exposed part on, then peel away the backing and press the last half down.

I find it works best on a gloss finish, so just paint gloss on the face of the 'scope - it does not have to be up to the edge.

Used it here on the cupola on my shelf queen Challenger 1 (got to get this one finished one day) :

Here's the turret if the M1117 Guardian I built last year. The periscopes have anti-laser reflective coating. You can use pieces of mylar from balloons or confetti cut to fit.

Wow! Great ideas, Thanks guys!

Update 3! Weathering started. May be a bit unrealistically chipped but Im trying to make it look as interesting as possible.

I think it looks really good, Ezra! Maybe some mud and dust on the lower hull?

Oh definitely! This builds only like half done!

I think the chipping looks really good too!

Thanks! Most of it is hand painted but some was also done with a sponge.

Here's the one I did for the Logistics World campaign last year.



I did hairspray chipping for the first time on this one.

Oh wow! That looks great! your hairspray chipping turned out great!

Thanks! That’s how I thought you’d done yours!

Looks really good Ezra. Less is more. It is very easy to overdo chipping of paint.

The Scimitar is starting to look very nice now, the AFV kit goes together really well and is pretty well detailed in the most. One bit I did replace was the cover for the rear hull bin, it just looks totally wrong.



I'm not sure how far along with the weathering you are but as for the chipping, remember the white was an overspray on standard NATO green and black so that's what you need to show.
Also, not really sure about the white wheels... I know none of ours ever had them painted white, running gear was usually left standard, but there may of been an exception.

The headlights may well be in the wrong position though. For that time frame, I'm pretty sure UK CVRTs still had the old style smaller headlights under the sponson when they were deployed in UN white, it wasn't until we switched to IFOR/SFOR that they had the mod when they were enlarged and went above the sponson. The AFV box art and the Star decal sheet is the only place I've seen that shown without spending hours searching the internet to check.
When you finish the barrel, the end should be a much more prominent flatter black.
Keep up the good work and you will have a tidy little Scim once it's all done Ezra.

Ezra, forgot to say, when you are doing the tracks, take your time to make sure the sag is correct. Have a look at the side shot of the one I did for the Golden memories campaign, that's pretty much how it should look ok

Thanks John for all the info! i was wondering on the chipping so I may rework it a little. As for the headlights Im building the Scimitar from the box art, and the running gear ill check some more references. Thanks again for the info!

Heres a pic of one I found with white running gear.https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.milweb.net%2Fwebvert%2Fa4468%2F97714&psig=AOvVaw2kWsRxy9npNOU0jOs1Mu6b&ust=1596810284991000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCIDm7IbkhusCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAn

I get that your following the box art , and that's cool. It was just an observation as I still don't think the box art is correct for that mod of headlight.

Ref those pics from the link, they are CVRTs from a private collection/dealer and have been painted by a restorer. That's not how units had them. The only ones l have ever seen with white wheels were very old marks used in Norway as part of the AMF.

Did you manage to get tracks in the end ?

The box art may not be correct but im stuck with it I guess... If i get another one for cheap ill make sure my references are correct. No I haven't sorted out the track problem. ( I cant even use the kit ones becuse when i got the kit they were missing!)

I had a similar issue when I got my initial one from eBay, opened the box to find no barrel, no etch and no decals. Luckily I got a full refund and got a new one from a dealer and was able to keep the initial one as a bonus. I'm going to be using bits from that on my Striker I received today.
There is an online store that specialises in CVRT parts. I will try and find the link and let you have it. I think AFV also do separate CVRT links as well, so that may be an option.

Here's that link, hope it works.if not just search for that name Ezra ok.

https://www.scorpion-miniature-models.co.uk/

Ezra, I'd go the AFV Club indy links myself, it is what I bought for mine.

https://internethobbies.com/products/afv-club-military-1-35-fv107-scimitar-cvrt-late-version-family-workable-track-links-kit

The kit tracks have 6 pour plugs on the back which will be seen no matter how you trim them.

See at 3.15 mins here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnf0MY06WHw

If you still want the rubber bands then PM me your address and I'll send them here from OZ. No guarantee on how long they will take to get there though. There is a small moulding blemish on one track pad on my set - it is where the pour plug goes in the back of the link. It is close to the join, so it can be hidden.

Ezra, hi. Firstly I stand corrected. I contacted a mate I served with and he dug out out some old photos he had and our D Sqn did deploy to Bosnia with the headlight mod above the sponson. So yours is good as it is with that one. That's old age and memories lol... They don't always mix on some details.
As to the road wheels being white, I did spend a while last night looking online and still couldn't see any Bosnia wagons with white wheels. Only images I saw were of CVRTs deployed in Norway on AMF tasks that had all white.

OK, here goes nothing.....

Another oldie. This time it is Tamiya's Leopard 1, which will be made into a Norwegian version during winter. Turns out that is a good choice, since some of the details will need to be buried under snow!

Although slightly older than the Leopard 1A4, max. 5 years, the quality of sculpting in this kit is nowhere near the quality of the A4. Indeed the year 1969 on the bottom of the hull confirms the age and subsequent quality. Again this kit may, and probably does, have dimensional and other errors, yet I will not address these. Why? Simply because I am not knowledgeable on Leopard tanks. I just want to build one and make it reasonably resemble the real thing. I just want a simple build, even though I fear I might have gotten more than I bargained for..... since this kit was a bargain.

One thing that immediately catches the eye are the chevron-style tracks, typical for the first batch of tanks produced. After that they switched to the block-style tracks.



Some comparisons to the 1A4 kit;


Polycap wheels centers and a horrible and horribly think poly tow cable. No chance in hell I will use that or that it would even fit and stay in place!


A child soldier in this kit??


And a first round up of replacements from the spares box. The tools and the MG are especially.... unsatisfactory. The decals will be used to cobble together something Norwegian(looking).