The Model Box

The Tank, Infantry, Mk IV (A22) aka Churchill was a British heavy infantry tank used in the Second World War, best known for its heavy armour, large longitudinal chassis with all-around tracks with multiple bogies, and its use as the basis of many specialist vehicles. It was one of the heaviest Allied tanks of the war. The Churchill was used by British and Commonwealth forces in North Africa, Italy and North-West Europe. In addition, a few hundred were supplied to the USSR and used on the Eastern Front. There is some ambiguity regarding whom the tank is named after. It may have been named after Winston Churchill, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Minister of Defence at the time, and had been involved with the development of the tank as a weapon during the First World War. Alternatively, and fitting in with other British tank names, it may have been named after John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, an ancestor of Winston Churchill and the leader of th...

The model was primed lightly with gray and then brought back to the workbench for more sanding and some adjustments. The problem with using liquid cement on really small parts is that the glue tends to melt the surrounding areas and leave marks then can be seen when the model is finished. The trick is to be able to use as little glue as possible, make the part weld and leave the surface unblemished. If it does get marred, the net thing to do is to gently clean the areas with fine sanding tools.

Aside from the DAK armor I'm making at the moment, I'm also working on a Matchbox 1/76 Sherman Firefly. The model has been primed black and basecoated with Tamiya Olive Drab, which IMHO is a bit greener shade than most olive drab paints I have. A layer of Acrylicos Vallejo Olive Drab -- which is a darker olive green -- was then painted on. A couple of black ink washes were then applied to run into the creases. The first wash was a general application of diluted black ink. The next was a more area-specific application of a purer black. The model was then left to dry for a few days. I started brushing the  Acrylicos Vallejo Olive Drab onto the surfaces, cleaning off and touching up areas were the black ink shouldn't be and being careful to preserve the ink that dried inside creases and crevices. A slightly lighter shade of this color was mixed and lightly drybrushed onto the raised surfaces and edges. An old flat brush was used to blend in the edges with the dark...

 And the diorama base came packaged with ... (up drumroll sfx) ... the Revell 1:76 Pz. Kpw Ausf F! To be more precise, it's the Revell release of the original Matchbox Pz. Kpw Ausf F. As as kid, I had built and lost  a few of these babies way back in the 70's and 80's.     The model shows its age in terms of engineering, beginning with the very thick sprues that held the pieces. To avoid damage to the small parts, I had to cut away from the pieces and more into the thick plugs of plastic. I tried sanding some of the roadwheels while they were still unattached but my pudgy fingers couldn't get a good grip on these. So I just glued them on as is and will sand them properly after. The chassis assembly was a bit crude and dated with little in the way of alignment pegs or guides. I used a very nice and quick acting cement so the body went up nicely although I did have to go over some other pictures to check the alignment angles.  The hull and tu...

I woke up to a beautiful morning and after a good breakfast and a brisk walk around the house, I decided to work on my scale models. Now, I recently fubbed some paintjobs and I had left the models on my main workbench unfinished. With my airbrush still needing a new needle, painting was out of the question. The 1/35 Jagdtiger and SU-122 would have to wait. I had some 1/35 figures still on the workbench but i didn't feel like brush painting either. What I needed ws a simple, fast, uncomplicated out-of-the-box build. And a good cup of coffee. I eventually headed to my bodega and decided to crack open an old kit that had languished in my bodega for years. Browsing thru my collection of unassembled kits, I decided on the old Matchbox Sherman Firefly in 1/76 scale. I had bought this kit way back in the 70's I believe, part of my early collection of 1/72 and 1/76 tanks. Even though the Matchbox tanks were smaller than the ESCI ones, I liked them because of the mini dioramas ...