Meng 1/35 British Mk.V tank

[gedmundson]

Thanks Warren & Nigel! I'm reminded throughout the build that it would have been a shame to have left out the interior, regardless.

And if I ever need ear surgery, I know where to go......

Interesting approach on the painting by sub-assembly. I hope you are neater than me with your use of glue in assembly....

Nigel - I wish my sculpting skills were much better, so if they improve I'll certainly let you know...should this need for ear surgery crop up 
Since the fit of this kit is so good, I'm not too worried about a bit of glue smear hear and there. Easily touched up with my muddy brown paint, and even then everything will be blended over with some carefully placed dust & mud. Well, that's my plan.

One of the features of this Mk. V kit was the added fascine, or "crib" as these later ones were referred to. The cribs replaced the bundle of sticks used during the November 1917 offensive, and appear in many photos of the Mk.IV and Mk.V tanks in the summer of 1918. The kit example comes in many parts, and is quite an effort to paint. After base coating the parts in XF-55 deck tank, I added a streaked pattern of Ochre & Raw Umber oil paint to create a wooden effect, then the frames had to have their metal parts brush painted. I've started on the two and took ages to get in and around all of the angles with some fine tipped brushes. Two more to go - when I feel up to it!

The cribs were mounted directly on top of the driver's cab, so unfortunately the large hatch on the roof had to be glued closed. I've seen some builds of this model that push the crib further back...allowing the hatch to be opened, but I'm trying to keep this build historically accurate and therefore will not consider that.

DSC_2976c_01 by Gary Edmundson, on Flickr

[pepperman42]

Very subtle weathering. Looks amazing. I'm guessing the motorcyclist's name is Vincent.

Steve

[NigelR]

Nice work on that wood. You made the right decision on the crib and hatch position - I would have noticed......

[gedmundson]

Very subtle weathering. Looks amazing. I'm guessing the motorcyclist's name is Vincent.

Steve

Thanks Steve - Vincent works for me 

[gedmundson]

Nice work on that wood. You made the right decision on the crib and hatch position - I would have noticed......

Thanks Nigel - I'm always trying to get things proper in these little scenes because of sharp-eyed modellers like you!

Some further progress and it's starting to look like a tank now. I've found my DeWalt clamps to come in very handy to hold things together while the glue dries. Although the sides of the tank fit well, I just needed reassurance that all was held in place for an hour or two before things  progressed.

After I began a bit of weathering, I had to re-spray a couple of areas because I'd forgotten to apply the markings beforehand. Tank 9199 is the one in Bovington, according to a video featuring curator (at the time) David Fletcher - it saw a fair bit of action on the front during WW1.

The photo of the motorcycle shows it in a preliminary state of paintwork, with an initial base coat of XF-1 Black, a cream coloured mix for the petrol tank, and the engine with some Alclad II Duraluminum on the engine. I'm currently trying to brush paint the remainder to bring it to life. It's a painstaking process involving a number of repairs to the tiny brittle resin bits that don't like a lot of handling...and the painting process involves LOTS of handling.

Cheers,
Gary

DSC_2977c_01 by Gary Edmundson, on Flickr

DSC_2989c_01 by Gary Edmundson, on Flickr

DSC_2983c_01 by Gary Edmundson, on Flickr

[NigelR]

The tank is looking really good Gary. I like your choice of colour. Somewhere in my stash of photos I have a photo of a large scale tank model made by apprentices at Bovington just after the war. They think it was painted in the original paint used on these tanks in the war, and your colour is definitely similar to that, so good choice.

The CSM bikes are amazing. I'll be doing one soon so I welcome your step by step on how to approach the painting of these delicate little gems!

[DaddyO]

That tank looks lovely (if I can use a word entirely inappropriate for such a big old lump) I really like the finish you achieve on your builds Gary and can't wait to see the motorcycle alongside.

The motorcycle itself looks like a nightmare to paint whilst handling. (I really dislike resin in some ways and on all my resin figures used cut/break off all the 'sticky out bits' such as swords, bayonets etc. immediately before assembly knowing that it was better to replace them with brass before painting when they'd almost always succumb to my heavy handedness) 
Can't do that with your delicate motorcycle however, you'd just end up with a tank, saddle and a couple of wheel hubs. . . .

Paul

[gedmundson]

Thanks Paul & Nigel - your encouraging words are helpful!

The CSM bikes are amazing. I'll be doing one soon so I welcome your step by step on how to approach the painting of these delicate little gems!

Nigel - you prompt me to add a couple of photos I hadn't planned on...but if it helps here they are. I find that the bikes need so many steps in painting due to the individual bits of colour needed...gloss coats to prepare for (and protect) decals etc. I mostly have used Vallejo Model Color Acrylics, but also the printer's ink for the brass (gold) and Testors silver enamel for the silver (it dries faster). And then handling the assemblies inevitably rubs off some of the finish, so I'll end up painting the seat & saddle bags a few times. I have to protect the metal paint from the solvent-based wash with acrylic gloss. The first image shows most of the details painted...gloss coated, then a wash of oil paint added. The tyres are a bit sloppy, but they get blended out with the addition of further weathering. Sort of. I may decide to touch them up a bit later.

The second image is after an airbrushing of diluted greyish-dirt acrylic. So getting close. Studying the last photo shows me that one of the front spokes is missing a small section. Not sure if that was always the case, but it's gone now. Luckily, as they say, a blind man on a galloping horse...etc. I can only use that excuse so many times 

Cheers!
Gary

DSC_2998c by Gary Edmundson, on Flickr
Handlebars were eased apart for painting - they just press into place loosely.

DSC_3000c_01 by Gary Edmundson, on Flickr
 

[NigelR]

Beautiful work Gary, and thanks for sharing those photos, they are very helpful. Much appreciated.

[gedmundson]

Beautiful work Gary, and thanks for sharing those photos, they are very helpful. Much appreciated.

Thanks Nigel - I'm anxious to see you start that project with your armoured car and motorbike.

I've been slowly prgressing with my Mk.V and spent some time applying some oil paint washes to enhance detail, and also airbrush some dirt colour which tones down the markings, blending them in with the tank. Meng supplies some chain to  be used for the un-ditching beam and crib, but no where do they reference the two small pieces that should be placed to support the rear stowage shelf at the rear (they supply photoetched hooks for them!). So I added those based on photo references. These chains I am painting with chalk pastel dust mixed with mineral spirit.

I made a start on painting the figures for this eventual display. The two seated motorcyclists are almost identically posed, but different enough to work together. It is annoying that the 3D printing support marks show up under magnification and I have to make decisions along the way which to try and fill, or remove, or live with.

Cheers!

DSC_3022c_01 by Gary Edmundson, on Flickr

DSC_3030c_01 by Gary Edmundson, on Flickr

DSC_3029c_01 by Gary Edmundson, on Flickr

DSC_3023c_01 by Gary Edmundson, on Flickr

[Richtrad]

Even the rock the dude eating hardtack is sitting on looks completely real in magnification.  It could have come out of my front yard.

Warren Q

[gedmundson]

Even the rock the dude eating hardtack is sitting on looks completely real in magnification.  It could have come out of my front yard.

Warren Q

Ha! It's a cork from an English Heritage bottle of Sloe Gin. The gin was not very good - but the corks are brilliant for mounting figures for painting.

I painted the track runs by laying out the runs of 91 links on a sheet of cardboard, then airbrushing them with Tamiya XF-63 German Grey. I then took earth-coloured pastel chalk dust, mixed it with mineral spirits into a very thin "paste" and slathered it onto the lengths of the tracks. After it had dried, I brushed off the surface with a wide paint brush to dust off the excess, then took a mix of Testor's silver enamel mixed with a touch of black oil paint, and delicately brushed this onto the surface of the track runs. If this is done too agressively, the links may pop apart and be difficult to get back together since the "click-fit" of them is weak. The pastel dust tones down the harshness of the silver nicely, leaving just a hint of a metal look, like the tracks on construction equipment seen these days.

One of the many steps in weathering the exterior of the tank involves the addition of muddy residue, again using earth coloured pastel chalk powder. I randomly dump small areas onto the sides, and with a medium sized paintbrush, apply mineral spirits to wick into the powder. When dry, it resembles clumps of dried mud. To give an effect of dampness to some of these clumps, I later add some thinned Tamiya X-22 Gloss with a small brush. I find I have to go over a few areas a few times until an effective weathered look can be achieved.

Cheers!
Gary

DSC_3033c_01 by Gary Edmundson, on Flickr

DSC_3032c_01 by Gary Edmundson, on Flickr

DSC_3035c_01 by Gary Edmundson, on Flickr

[KiwiZac]

That sounds like a relatively simple, or perhaps straightforward, approach to doing tracks. Thanks for taking the time to explain!

[NigelR]

I'm really liking the guy eating hard tack Gary, he's beautifully paint5ed. Nice weathering on the tracks as well, very effective and IMO very realistic.

[gedmundson]

Thanks Zac & Nigel...the Meng tracks have become quite a problem. Possibly because of how I paint them, but they keep falling apart as I try to string them around their paths. The points of linkage crack very easily and the pins will break off when attempts are made to pull them apart and re-pin them back. And the runs of 91 links are slightly too long and want to sag where they shouldn't. Removing a link not only exasperated the problem of the links falling apart, but that made the runs too short. This has happened with every Meng kit I have built (two FT-17s and a Whippet). But I am persevering with different types a glue and some of the few spare links that the kit provides.

I drilled a hole in the bottom of the tank to attach something to hold the model at this point of construction...a file handle with a screw epoxied into the end.

And work continues on the figures, with the CSM motorcycle troops painted up with Vallejo acrylics. Hopefully the end is in sight.
Cheers!

DSC_3046c_01 by Gary Edmundson, on Flickr

DSC_3049c_01 by Gary Edmundson, on Flickr

DSC_3044c_01 by Gary Edmundson, on Flickr