Sunday 20 March 2011

AIRFIX MALE TANK WWI 1/76.

Hello all,

This is an Airfix re-release of an old favorite.Not a favourite of mine because of all the stuff about being inaccurate has prejudiced myself about this kit.
Paul (off of Paul's bods.) conned me into a group build on the ATF, and I drunkenly agree to join in.
To be honest it was a nice kit to build.The new tooling meant that it fitted together quite well, and I have to say I enjoyed building it.
I ran out of time to build the wheelie thing at the back but I have it knocking around the spares box.
 I did do some scratch building of ammo racks and shelves inside the tank.I did it from memory from a day I spent at Bovington tank museum.They let people sit inside an old WWI male tank for a guide talk on it, which was cool.
I also made handles for the doors and had every intention of building with figures and that but ran out of time.
The tracks went on better than I thought they would which always gives me a good vibe about a kit.
In fact everything went right with this apart from me so I will forgive the little details that are wrong with this kit and sign its praises.
This was the first model I had tried Pro-modellers wash on and was more than happy with the results.
A good dose of tamiya weathering mud stick gave the tracks a muddy look.
MiG pigment rust was used on the sides and the exhaust pipe and that worked well.A quick dry brush and that was the tank finished.
The base was simple MDF cut to shape,bought at a model show.I tried a new way of doing mud for base's using wood filler and glue which didn't quite work out how I hoped.
I didn't let it dry enough before painting and the weather pigment made thins worse when applying the thinner as a fixer.
All in all a great build that surprised me.I am happy with the result so much that I sold the whole thing on EBay to fund my new airbrush.

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGES FOR A LARGER VIEW AND ANY COMMENTS OR TIPS MORE THAN WELCOME.

Cheers for looking,    Rich.

13 comments:

peter said...

Good work Rich! I like the sand look ;-) and good shading on the tank.

Cheers
Peter

Paul´s Bods said...

For a kit using the molds from over 40 years ago thses are some of the best kits going...I like em...and you´ve done a fine job mate...but where´s the steering gear?? Or did you have the same problem as me with it ?? :-D
Cheers
paul

Paul said...

It looks a nice build Rich. Well done. I am not sure I have ever seen a picture of the steering wheel set up actually in use.

Al said...

Still one of my favourites despite any shortcomings

Thanos said...

The pigments and the washes you used, have surely gave this ''piece'' a character!
You should have photographed the inside as well and give us a guided talk mate though!!! :-)
T.

P.S:Don't worry about the mud (base). It looks very realistic!

mork6969 said...

Nice work!

Lemmiwinks said...

great background on this, bro!

FalkeEins said...

that's neat !

west1871 said...

Cheers all,

T I wish I had taken some pics inside as well mate.

Paul B I ran out of time with the steering wheels.

Cheers Rich.

Captain Richard's miniature Civil War said...

Excellent job on the tank Rich

GEM Team said...

looks really good. Wonderfull work Rich

Geordie an Exiled FoG said...

Nicely Done :)

Rob Mooar said...

Hi Rich

Nice build.

I originally saw your completed pics of this build on ATF, and saw you had lost your decals. I have a spare set of decals for this kit if you are interested.

Cheers

Rob