Hi I've at last got hold of an Airfix Mk1(through Ebay)and although I prefer the larger scales I thought it would be nice to revisit a modell that came in a plastic bag the first time round. I have not got round to buliding a vast reference library yet, so would like to know if I can improve the kit to depict Iron Duke and if so which markings did it carry. Any help will be greatfully recieved Paul
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The finest stories of the Great War are those that will never be told.
and by a strange coincidence I was just finishing a short film of the mark II, and some of the footage is the back of a male tank - now I have just discovered that the damage matches that seen in the above photograph; film footage of The Iron Duke!
The Duke has some light damage between the rear horns (seems to have lost its box, and the metal supports are a little mangled), is wearing track extenders, or 'grousers', and in the film is also using track torpedoes (in addition to the grousers, and even though it is on a road through a village).
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In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.
Iron Duke would be one of the easiest builds for the Airfix kit. A quick list of corrections (from memory) would be: 1) Leave the tailwheels off. 2) Leave the silencer off and replace with inverted "V" exhaust covers. 3) Scratch-build a rear stores box. 4) Drill out sighting slits for the 6-pounders. 5) Behind the roof hatch there are two rivetted strips running across the roof and two running along the roof. Remove the strip running along the roof closest to the hatch. This strip appears on various drawings but never on a real tank. 6) Now it gets tricky. Depending on how much work you want, the rivet pattern on the body is more or less accurate for Mother. You have at least three options: 1) Leave the rivets alone and hope no one notices. Easiest method. 2) Remove every other rivet down the body side. Looks closer to correct than leaving them alone. 3) Sand off all the rivets on the side of the body and re-rivet the whole thing. Definitely the hardest method! 7) Rivets again. Around the track horns there are actually half as many rivets as there should be. The two ways of dealing with this are 1) Ignore it or 2) Put a rivet between each of the existing rivets. 8) Rivets part III. Above the vision slits for the cab front there are eleven rivets. On a Mk II (and III) the end two rivets are closer to the rest of the rivets. Again, ignore problem or move rivets. 9) Rivets part IV. The roof hatch has none and needs some. Also the top of the cab roof needs eleven in the same pattern as the front of the cab. 10) The towing point could use a little work. Either scratch-built PE or styrene will fix it and a bent brass rod will serve for the towing bar. 11) Riveted strips are needed on top of the sponsons and between the 2nd and 3rd exhaust port. L section strip for the sponsons and T section between the exhaust ports. Or you could leave it off and hope no one notices. 12) Rivets part V. While you're messing about with the sponson roof, you may as well rivet the top outside edge. 13) Cab roof hatch: Iron Duke didn't have it so you'll have to cover it. The only Mk I or II tanks that did have thet type of hatch were the supply tanks. 14) On the rear plate you'll need to 1) Fill the holes for the hydraulic ram and 2) Make a small square plate to go near the top between the radiator exhaust vents and the rear door. 15) While you're at the back of the tank, you'd better fill in the holes for the tailwheel mounts on the inner rear horns. 16) If you're really keen, the underside of the hull needs panel lines scribing and more rivets adding. 17) The cab sides need vision slits and pistol ports. 18) According to Mike Cooper, the roof hatch is located too far away from the centre line of the tank. He's right of course, but it's a lot of work to relocate. It's your call if you want to move it.
That's all I can remember off the top of my head. I think the sponson needs work re: pistol port arrangement port and starboard but I'd have to check.
I hope this list isn't too daunting. A lot of it is small stuff that nobody will notice anyway.
Paul, the WD no. 781 can be seen below the "Duke" on the front horn. The company number would likely have been displayed on the storage box. Unfortunately, I don't know the company number for 781, or whether it belonged to to C or D battalion. An alternative build might be 777 "Charlie Chaplin" (C24).
The picture on this site of Iron Duke is the one that gave me the idea to model this tank,and I suppose I will have to go as far as possible with the deatails to do justice to the tank. So I thank you for the replies
Paul
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The finest stories of the Great War are those that will never be told.
if you model it after it has been in action, you wont have to make the rear storgae box, just a couple of twisted stays. and the blanking off plate is also hanging off.
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In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.
The radiator drain aperture on the lower rear hull also appears to have a small square protective plate (along with the radiator filling aperture above it, as Mark has mentioned). Thanks, Phil, for posting that great clip of Iron Duke.
I was so busy wondering where the stores box had gone and how that could have happened, that I didnt notice the plate over the radiator drain appears to be rivetted.
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In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.