Well, it is done. (OK, not completely – I just noticed on the photos that the dark wash on the interior of the turret hatch was not adjusted -since then I corrected this issue, but did not retake the photos.)
So what do I think about the build? Well, it is a typical, nice MiniArt model, with some fit issues here and there, some overcomplicated parts, but in general, quite enjoyable. (Although not the tracks. They are workable, but the assembly is hellish.)
What about my build?
Well, it is not perfect by any means, but I am quite happy with it. The dust on the stowed equipment is somewhat strong, but the AK dust was clinging quite strongly to the recesses – I would have preferred less contrast but there you go -lesson learned. As for yellow – I just realized I had a “British yellow” purchased already- which I did not use because I was trying to mix the base color. I have so many paints, apparently, I forget which one I need and which one I already have.
OK, so weathering. Being a desert vehicle, dusting is in order – at least I get some experience with the process.
First I applied a semi-gloss varnish, applied the decals, and did some washes using AK’s wash products (dark browns), and some oils. Once dry, I adjusted the effect with a wet brush to remove the excess, and create some streaks. I sealed it all with a flat varnish to give a good base for the next steps: dust.
First step: using Mig’s washable dust, and adjusting it with a wet brush
Next steps: AK Interactive’s dust products (dust and light dust deposits).
I applied the dust products (mixed) onto the tank’s surfaces: the lower parts received a heavier applications as did the top parts (dust accumulating there).
Once dried I looked at the tank and got seriously concerned – a thick, absolutely unrealistic paint covering up everything. Obviously this is not the final state, but it does make you worried. Using a wetted brush (ZestIt) I started to remove most of the dust.
One thing to keep in mind that you won’t be able to remove the dust 100% (with oil paints it is possible to do so).
I added some oil and grease effects using AK’s products to the turret ring and the engine compartment, and also sprayed some True Earth Dark Aging there to make it look even grimier.
A few pieces of canvas and personal items to be added, some details to be painted, and I call this tank done.
This is the part that gets tricky – you cannot build the whole thing THEN paint the whole thing. The process needs to be split up. So I built up everything, added all the tedious little PE (as much as I could), then primed the whole tank. I painted the tank in the base color. It is supposed to be “British sand”, but it is given as Tamiya XF-59 Desert Sand. It looks much warmer than the color in the color guide. Anyhow, I started to layer Flat Earth significantly lightened with white to make it look similar to what the color guide is with more or less success. I focused mainly on the sides, obviously. Once the paint dried, I added a lot of dust (AK’s dust products) which was essentially invisible on the dust-colored surface), and finally installed the tracks.
Adding the mud guards is tricky -they are long and thin, so they warp easily. I went section by section. This is where the tank stands right now. I will have to add the remaining PE stuff from the top part of the hull and finish the painting.
Interior is finally done. All the small details painted, finished; everything wrapped up. Turret is closed ( was considering cutting a hole on the side to allow a better view into it, but I decided against it -you can see the details quite nicely through the hatch, and looking in from the turret basket.)
Yeah, there are some fit issues with the top of the hull
The engine deck is a dilemma as I want to leave the engine visible. Perhaps leaving it off, or cutting a hole in it – but then it would look strange as it would be the only place with a cutaway.
Onto the exterior, then. I am so not looking forward to adding all the tiny little bits.
Well, the hull interior is finished, the exterior is mostly done. (The rest will be added once the tracks are installed, but there is some painting and weathering to be done beforehand.)
The issue with this model is the fit – I am sure if you do 100% correctly, it fits like a glove, however, the tiny mismatches will amplify into half-millimeter gaps by the time you get to the end of the build. It would not be a problem if the model was constructed as a “shake the box” model, where all the parts fall into place with extreme precision. Here the attachment points are small, the alignment of parts is not always simple (or even clear where exactly they go), so by the end you will have issues with fitting. There are some gaps where the hull’s sides attach to the vertical parts, and some more gaps on the top of the engine compartment. More annoyingly, the back plate of the engine compartment is slightly bulging outside, because the engine is pushing it. (We are talking about less than a millimeter. I should have shaved some plastic off the engine but did not see the bulge only after I glued the part in place.)
I bought a Mig oilbrusher (dust) to try and used it inside the interior. I have to say I am impressed. You just dabble it on the surface, then use your solvent of choice (ZestIt for me) to adjust. It looks very dusty with a little effort. (Some more adjustments will be needed after looking at the photo…) Overall, not a bad thing to have, but similar results can easily be achieved in other ways. I bought a grime colored one as well – we will see how it performs. (I tried it on the bottom of the turret basket- it really “pulled together” the paint chips and rust.
Oilbrushers are not much different from “regular” oils. What sets them apart are the color choices and the matte surface/ease of use (these two are related somewhat). On the other hand, they are not as flexible, so it is something you need to decide.
But all-in-all, the interior looks great. Perhaps a bit too dirty on the photos, but I can assure you it does not look as filthy in real life. Now onto the turret interior…
The issue with assembling a complex kit like this is that building, and painting are not easy to plan. It also does not help that the instruction manual does the hull interior first, then finishes the exterior, goes on to the turret interior, and finishes with the turret exterior. It makes planning to paint even more of a nightmare if you decide to follow the suggested order. (Which I did not.)
I tried to paint everything before assembly (tried to judge what I need to paint well ahead), but several parts were left out. So once everything is dry, I am going to get my brush and start painting white manually. Not fun.
There are a lot of small pieces that need to be painted before installing them -the PE grid protecting the radio, ammo box in the turret basket, and lots of other tiny, tiny things. Checking the instruction manual, I have to say the woes do not stop once you are done with the interior -the exterior is full of PE…
Photos are great to check where to correct the paintwork.
The hull interior is almost ready, with weathering and small details all but added. The engine compartment is a huge sub-assembly on its own; it would be a model by itself, really. The very thin plastic parts are a bane of the modeler here – the same as with any MiniArt models, really.
Well, time to push this build. This is truly a marathon, and it is very easy to become fatigued with the model or losing interest. It is important to keep motivating yourself; a source of motivation for me is to see it coming together. For the longest time I only had some disjointed jumble of plastic, but now I have something that resembles an actual vehicle. Now the trick is not to rush it because, honestly, I am getting a bit tired with it, and getting very keen on starting a new project. Now that I have a Grant-shaped thing, I am going systematically through the building instructions and finishing off smaller steps I skipped. (When building and painting it is often necessary to re-order the suggested building order.) So once the engine is installed I added a bunch of tubing and whatnot -to be painted later.
Once the engine compartment is done, I add the few missing details to the fighting compartment, and start working on the turret…
I used Mig’s interior wash as a pin-wash for the model. It has a strange, greyish color, but once applied, it actually works very nicely. (You can also use washes made from oil paints, honestly. Use some dark-brownish color, and you will be fine.)
Part one was really a post to show that I was actually doing something. I kept going with painting stuff white (painful process), and building the interior. I was tempted to go by the “halved tank” build, but eventually I settled on being more conventional. There are so many large openings, it would be reasonably simple to show the interior without any major surgery.
I applied the wash to the details (rivets, small parts, etc), then waited a day and used a moistened Q tip (ZestIt), to remove most of it. I managed to completely clean it off some areas, which necessitates the re-application of the wash, and also created some streaks/filters in this process. I used a fine brush and a little piece of sponge to apply chips with Vallejo’s black brown.
The ammunition was painted with AK Interactive’s gold.
The interior still needs a lot of work: further weathering (some rust, some brownish filters, oil patches, some dirt and dust), and a lot of details that are still missing. Yes, I know tanks were not as weathered, rusty and dirty in real life, however I think heavy(ish) weathering helps telling a story and it creates visually interesting stories. The instructions are quite disjointed as far as the different steps go, so right now I am also painting some panels white, to repeat all the process described above… Lots of planning is needed, that is for sure.
There are some interesting pages to check out for reference. There is a great walkaround with some interior photos, and an amazing blog building a sister of this model here. I also took a couple of photos of the tank in Bovingdon; you can see them in this link.
You can see the model itself on MiniArt’s page– useful photos of the parts and the instructions are also published there. (Unfortunately Armorama stopped publishing build reviews of MiniArt kits, and the photos are not exactly useful.)
The build is a typical Miniart one- you have to glue together hundreds and hundreds of tiny parts. I quite like these kits -mileage may vary. The only advice I can give is to consider it as a marathon, not a sprint.
The only thing I take an issue with is the tracks. The tracks took more time to build than the rest of the model. I have no idea why you could not have link-and-length option as well.
So. First part: interior. Due to the necessity of painting it is difficult to know how much you should be building in one go. I tried to get as much ready as possible before the painting step. This year was not kind to me as far as modelling goes – due to the eye operation and the renovation of our place I had no time to do much work. I mainly fiddled with the tracks during boring meetings (blessings of home office).
Then the countless layers of white. This time I did not use my usual method; I tried AK’s third generation white. Well, the coverage is not adequate.
The photo is not very good – took it under a single light at night as I was pressed for time. And right now it makes no difference, really – just a little visualization of this year’s progress. (Christ…)
So next steps: painting the details, weathering the interior, assembly, and then getting on with the rest of the build. Timewise I think if you are finished the tracks, you are at halfway of the build… I will have to figure out how to display the interior -although the tank has huge doors, so it may be not necessary to cut anything.
With adding some more rust, some dust and filling up the cab and roof rack the with the missing equipment and cargo, I call this vehicle done.
It is honestly great that MiniArt and other plastic model manufacturers venture into the more unique and obscure subject territory. Previously if it was not a Sherman or Tiger (with some exaggeration) you were out of luck -only very expensive kits or conversions by resin manufacturers were available. So while I would love to build the new General Motor CMP C60X by Resicast I will never be able to afford it; this model gave me something similar I actually can. We truly live in a golden age of scale modelling.
Attached the rack to the top, and then painted and weathered all the baggage.
This essentially concluded the building process. Some adjustments here and there are still done, but the model is essentially ready. The smaller details will be added in the upcoming week (or two), and I will post the result. Some oil cans, gas cylinders are missing still, but I think the weathering is finished, so once they are installed, the model will be officially ready, too.
Overall I would say this is an interesting subject, a relatively well designed model, with the caveat of the assembly of the chassis, the running gear and the bonnet.
The Butterfingered Modelbuilder's Adventures 