Landships II

Hi,

The models are looking good, can't wait to see a bit of paint and mud.

I may just not be seeing it, on the tail assembly the beam below the bottom L Beam appears to be missing. It hangs via two spaced plots off of the L Beam and makes for a slot for the steering arm to slid from side to side. I've attached a photo to help explain.

As for the Shield, on investigating I've found it is not fixed directly to the rear of the tank. Instead it is attached by four metal straps to the hull using the same bolts as the bracket that holds the ram in place. It explains why it may seem to move around... because it can! :)

I will sketch something later. 

 

-- Edited by MK1 Nut on Thursday 6th of March 2014 08:28:23 PM

So, the camouflage has been applied, I have tried to follow the original as far and as best as possible - not entirely convinced I've got it right but .....
Looking at the two forward views it seems to me to be the work of different 'artists', perhaps the crew divided themselves into 2 teams to do the paintwork?
Si, it is deliberately a bit 'washed out' and the colours subdued to try and compensate for the scale, black lines need to be applied and - what I have determined are strokes of green paint added. Weathering and some 'mud' should make it less model-like.

d_fernetti wrote:

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I love it! Beatiful work, worth trying all the improvements!
What are you going to use for painting the black lines between colours? Brush? Paint marker? BTW, should the top of the sponsons had to have a line of rivets? Or it was only in the male tank?

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 Hi,

As far as female sponson roof rivets is concerned, the only ones missing on the MB model is two tiny ones that hold the internal centre divide in place. Not sure why the female sponsons didn't have the central L beam on the roof, maybe they were just saving build time or had decided it was more work for little gain. These tanks were made in a hurry and I think the female sponsons were an after thought (Not sure on that), so details may have been deleted from the design to speed things up.

Yes OK Helen, cab sides will receive some cammo. However, I am ambivalent when it comes to the roof itself. Firstly, the vehicle has a tarp which, clearly, is used when stationary overnight or in a tank laager. The report, mentioned earlier by Diego of an RFC pilot describing them as brown with red fuel tanks on their backs suggests no cammo and finally, Dick Taylor suggests that the roof, inside the rear horns and tail are unlikely to have been camouflaged. Once the vehicles were moving, their progress would be easy to spot from the air from the copious amonts of exhaust smoke and track trail.
Certainly the models seen on the internet have wonderful cammo all over and it is quite compelling to copy them - but then all I will be doing is copying another modellers efforts and that was probably inspired by the Airfix instructions. Finally, of course - with the grenade roof fitted, painting the roof would be nigh on impossible (yes I know, they would/might have removed it). So I will slap on a bit of cammo on the cab sides and then start the weathering - mud will feature on the roof, sponson roofs, track guides, wheels and bottom of the tank.

In the photos above, the red/brown had yet to be mixed to match so the cab sides are not fully finished. In addition the random green splashes need to be added. I've decided on Humbrol 80 as the green as it is a midtone so should match the 'scale effect' colours scheme. As we had had a death in the family my plans for the weekend re: making and applying the decals, followed by weathering and muddying will have to go on 'hold', so standby for work to re-commence next week.

Just been looking for the old thread with Wayne's 1/72 cardmodel Mk 1, as I recalled it to contain a colour photo (or colourised photo) of a Mk 1. The colours you've chosen are close to those in the two photos - one of A13, the other, C1 - but as far as I can tell, given that one has to consider if one is seeing paint or rust, it looks as though C1 (different company, I know) had the roofs of the cab and quite likely the sponsons camouflaged too.

The near sponson roof of C1 (the left sponson) appears all pale, probably still caked with dirt, but the bent-upwards roof of the right sponson has a reddish section that may well be camouflage paint. Unfortunately the main roof of the tank had been removed, and is lying end-on to the camera, so the colour cannot be determined.

The thread can be found here. Hopefully it is of use, as and when you are free to turn your attention back to the model.

I have been idly looking at the name on either side of 'OH, I SAY !!!' and it occurs to me that the sign writer may well have used the 2 rivets as the reference point for centring H M L S - it is certainly so on the photos of the left hand side ( and on my planned decals). If I do the same on the RHS and move H M L S above the centre of OH, I SAY and ignore the !!! as per the LHS that would work and the !!! would still sit over a joint. Have to sort that out on Monday.

I guess that the steering arm would be pivoting on a subtantial pin, as in a horse driven carriage steering pivot, or something that could stand the strain of the mass of the mechanism.

Stop making me Homework you two!!! 

Had a look, at both Bovi photos and period photos of wrecked tail gear. The two steering arms attach to the main longitudinal arm with what I think are called Kingpins. They sit side by side and screw through the bar with a nut underneath to lock them in place.  As usual I have attached a photo to help with the explanation. Only thing I will say though is the Bovi tail gear has the kingpins not screwed all the way through, so there is no nut or anything much to see.

I am in the process of drawing the tail gear up in 3D on TurbiCad, so this is all actually well timed research for me.

Helen x

 

Each of Helen's posts is always very informative and dissipate my doubts or ramblings! Well done!

Excellent work! Paint the frame before muddying the waters...er... the tank!
D.

Very nice looking! A good reminder that I need to resume work on my tank. I like that the roof structure and the diagonal strips are in different colours. BTW, don't forget to drill the machine gun barrel ends!

I guess it helps to always take a good look on the period pictures regarding the weathering of models. We modellers tend to be rather heavy handed with the effects because they are such fun to do, but I'm of the opinion that it's useful to have a restrained approach to adding mud and wear marks to any miniature.
Speaking of bomb roofs, the things seems to have a good coating of dirt on them as they are more or less next to the tracks, so perhaps a few splatters and dirtying up won't be too inadequate, but certainly not as to clog the mesh or to make the track look completely covered with churned mud -unless your diorama places the tanks as bogged down-

Diego,
So where, I have a 0.01mm drill which is what I will have to use to drill out the barrels of the machine guns!!! Calibre .303 is slightly less than .77mm which divided by 72 is 0.0107mm.

The steering tail for the 'Male' tank is completed and is positioned so as to set overnight. I have done rather more work on it than I originally envisioned.  Tomorrow I will post photos of the underneath - a part that is even less likely to be seen!!

I have set the steering at something approaching it's maximum with the tiller at almost full deflection.  On the AIRFIX unit the steering is in the opposite direction but only about 1/3rd deflection.

The primer coat has been applied and I am going to go for an earlier SOLOMON camouflage for the 'Male' tank along with the basic 'Grenade Canopy'. So the end product will be more like the 'out of the Box' model.

0.1mm is the smallest drill bit in a set of ten micro drills which you can get online for about £12.00. It's just a steel whisker with a twist in it but does the job. Fortunately it's springy rather than brittle.

I think you're correct, TeeELL. Drilling it isn't the problem. It's getting the little beggar central and not running out of the side. If you want to go to real extremes you could drill a slightly bigger hole and insert a bit of heat-stretched tube from the shaft of a cotton bud. Now how do we do the rifling ???

Small tubes? Hypodermic needles come to mind - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Needle_gauge_comparison_chart
Blimey - smallest ID (34 ga needle) is 0.00325" = 0.234" scaled up. Correct for .303 (= 0.311") would be 32 or 33 gauge (same ID in either case, 0.00425"). Mind you, your local dispensary would look at you a little funny if you tried begging a modest supply.