A British Tank with some Troops..

[Mini Me]

Awright..enough "Jack Jawin'"lets see some build action, now that I have landed in the back next to Matron, who keeps eyeballing her little black bag!

 

[The Smythe Meister]

Huh!!!...Who are you???...Do we know each other???............Ohh, it's Mr. Smiff, and he's gone back to his roots. Unbelievable!!!......

I'm in Andy and I even brought a case of Wagner Beer with me so I can sit back and enjoy this. Has anyone alerted the media??? This should make front page news and the Telly too!!!..................

Prost
Allen

Hi Allen,i missed you out earlier..... I imagine you`ve run out of beers by now!

Awright..enough "Jack Jawin'"lets see some build action, now that I have landed in the back next to Matron, who keeps eyeballing her little black bag!

Rick,Yeah,fair enough..... we have just tipped into Page 3,(No,calm down.... not THAT one!! ),after all!!......
..... TBC.......

 

[The Smythe Meister]

OK then Chaps,
Despite the lack of updates,i have been tinkering away with the different elements over the past few days,
Firstly the Tank itself,obligatory "Plate Balancing"pic.......


In finest "Halfords Grey" Primer there.... and here,OD`d up and Varnished awaiting a wash.....


The Upper and lower Hull bits next,there`s a,what i guess is just an armoured plate to go over the suspension arms.....

...... and in true Blue Peter style...... "Here`s one i did earlier"..........

.... and both Primered up........

I jumped around the instruction stages somewhat,and put a lot of the smaller bits on,the detail is pretty good IMHO which shows up better here,with it in OD....


....... that`s as far as the Tank is at the moment,some other stuff to come next.........
...... TBC........

 

[The Smythe Meister]

...... Cont`d....
I`ve had this kicking about the place for quite a while now,so decided to bling it up a bit for this Dio`s base.....

It needs a bit of tidying,but after rummaging through the Dio bit stash i`ve found a few things which i think should suit this theme a treat,
I`ve assembled the first of the 5 figures,quite good detail,but,VERY soft plastic......
,and the face was..... erm..... "Not Great"!!......

The majority of figures i`ve done over recent years have been Resin,so i`ve been a bit "Spoilt" should we say re detail! I`ve had several sets of Hornet heads in the stash for years,and haven`t needed to use them..... but now.........

..... 5 Figures i`m doing and 5 Heads there......BINGO!!.....
Good fun this ,
Thanks for looking in,
Cheers for now,
Andy

 

[rtfoe]

It's been many years since I built my Cromwell and forgotten what the base and undercarriage look like. Nice to see how it's put together again.
It's still in its plastic form with no paint in mothball.

Cheers,
Richard aka Wabble

 

[Mickc1440]

Need to find a seat for this one, I built this kit and it was a dream.

 

[JR]

Sanity has returned, Mr Smith the Church Of Land Armour always welcomes lost souls when they return from the dark side .
Rev Arbuckle .

 

[GeneralModel]

I hope it will be a great finale. Good luck with.
ismet guralp

 

[The Smythe Meister]

It's been many years since I built my Cromwell and forgotten what the base and undercarriage look like. Nice to see how it's put together again.
It's still in its plastic form with no paint in mothball.

Cheers,
Richard aka Wabble

Richard,thanks for that....... not sure how these paints will react with Mothballs?!!

Need to find a seat for this one, I built this kit and it was a dream.

Hi Mick,make yourself comfy..... `tis a cracking little kit isn`t it?!!.

Sanity has returned, Mr Smith the Church Of Land Armour always welcomes lost souls when they return from the dark side .
Rev Arbuckle .

Cheers Rev...... at least with you being a mate i can get away with the odd SIN slip.

I hope it will be a great finale. Good luck with.
ismet guralp

Thanks Ismet,good to see you

So then,spent several hours sorting these guys out this afternoon,(It`s easy to get confused with all the parts,as there are options for most of them,hence 3 arms each etc), here they are part built,with holes readied for the heads.....

Opened up the holes to facilitate each individual head for positioning before attaching the legs for ease,popped heads in,(Not glued yet until final pose sorted with arms and equipment.......

So there they are up to now,next clean up some seams,stick arms/equipment on, and prime,
Thanks for looking,
Andy

 

[Allen Dewire]

Hi Allen,i missed you out earlier..... I imagine you`ve run out of beers by now!

Yes Mr. Smiff, the beer's all gone and the rabble and I have a belly full!!! I must say I'm truly impressed Andy. Great kits, great work and it all seems to be going really well with this build. I am a little disappointed that you left Cohan out in the cold with his build of the Defiant though...Anyway...

I have couple questions Buddy, In your dio, will Devo be singing "Whip It" in a stage scene??? And, will you be scratching some instruments for them or did some come in the kit???......I'm also trying to still figure out why you are building the Cromwell..............

Prost
Allen

PS, you might need to modify the head gear a bit too Bro...You can use this pic as an example,

 

[adt70hk]

Andy

So got a bit behind on this. Keep up the great start. Those Hornet heads look very good indeed!!

ATB.

Andrew

 

[JR]

Very nice Mr Smith , that drilling out the torso to fit the heads before assembly is something I shall use .

 

[The Smythe Meister]

Yes Mr. Smiff, the beer's all gone and the rabble and I have a belly full!!! I must say I'm truly impressed Andy. Great kits, great work and it all seems to be going really well with this build. I am a little disappointed that you left Cohan out in the cold with his build of the Defiant though...Anyway...

I have couple questions Buddy, In your dio, will Devo be singing "Whip It" in a stage scene??? And, will you be scratching some instruments for them or did some come in the kit???......I'm also trying to still figure out why you are building the Cromwell..............

Prost
Allen

PS, you might need to modify the head gear a bit too Bro...You can use this pic as an example,

View attachment 466846

Mate,if those guys are your friends...or just coming around your place.... I'd move!!

Andy

So got a bit behind on this. Keep up the great start. Those Hornet heads look very good indeed!!

ATB.

Andrew

Thanks Andrew,yes,they are an improvement definitely,however, with the quality of the resin figures I've bought/used recently,the swapping of heads will probably not be needed in future

Very nice Mr Smith , that drilling out the torso to fit the heads before assembly is something I shall use .

Cheers John,yes,it makes things much less tricky to do that before adding the rest of the limbs

.... THANKS FOR YOUR COMMENTS GUYS,....
.... an update to follow very shortly .....

 

[The Smythe Meister]

... Cont'd.....
Ok then Chaps,some progress to be able to show.....
First up,the wheels ready to be shoved on.....

But to go with wheels you need Tracks,(well,on a Tank anyway!!),SO,and purists better look away .... I'm using the rubber band tracks,as I usually do,now lots of people poo poo this Heracy, however, over the years I've developed a cunning jig and fixing method ....


... If anyone would like a detailed SBS then feel free to ask!!!!!
Yep,a bit of MDF,blue tac,and.... One of our best knives,(Hopefully Rach won't notice!! ) ....
.... TBC.....

 

[The Smythe Meister]

.... Cont'd....
Wheels and tracks painted up a bit and fitted....

.... OH YEAH,I hear you cry.... should've used "Proper" tracks,"Where's the sag"....
Well,fear not dear reader,my method is at hand.....

.... With some cunning painting and weathering,these rubber band tracks CAN work out.... Well,I think so anyway!!
More to come a bit later... I'm on a roll!!!
Thanks for looking in,
Andy

 

[Mini Me]

Looks saggy enough for me Mr. Smitt......just noticed the lads peering over the top of the lower hull

 

[The Smythe Meister]

Looks saggy enough for me Mr. Smitt......just noticed the lads peering over the top of the lower hull

Yeah, sorry about that Rick!!...
... In the next few pics they'll be up to date, didn't mean to be able to see them yet... Not that it's spectacular progress... But progression

 

[The Smythe Meister]

Yeah, sorry about that Rick!!...
... In the next few pics they'll be up to date, didn't mean to be able to see them yet... Not that it's spectacular progress... But progression

Here are the "In progress" pics...




Some cunning painting going on there
Anyway,there will be MUCHO PROGRESS soon

 

[langy71]

Nice one Andy, I've used rubber tracks no end of times, and given a bit of tlc they can and do end up looking as good as aftermarket ones..
Figures are looking great so far can't wait to see these bad boys progress..

 

[The Smythe Meister]

Nice one Andy, I've used rubber tracks no end of times, and given a bit of tlc they can and do end up looking as good as aftermarket ones..
Figures are looking great so far can't wait to see these bad boys progress..

Mornin' Chris,
Thanks for that
Yes,I agree about the tracks, obviously sometimes you get delt a set that are so badly made that you just can't "persuade" them to sit right, but that's normally due to them being so old....more recent ones are much better made, but, unfortunately, still suffer from that dated stigma
As for the figures,they are very nice to work with, especially considering that they're soft plastic,as opposed to resin.There are some major seam lines the needed attention, but worth the effort, I much prefer Gecko figures to Dragon's,but obviously that's just personal preference
Thanks for looking in mate, should get some major progress done on this today,so an update will be forthcoming