Over on Missing Lynx I am taking part in a group build of any AFV/tank/armoured car that has served in the Middle East since 1914 until the present day. I decided to build a MkI male HMLS Sir Archibald which served in Palestine during WWI and took part in the Battle for Gaza. The only MkI you have to work with is the Airfix kit but to make it a MkI you have to make various changes to as it best makes a MkII, but you can also make a MkIII from it as well. This is my first real attempt at a conversion and so far I'm quite happy with the results. One of the hardest parts is trying to recreate the the rivets of which there are a lot of!!!
I left a post on ML which provided me with a few ideas for the rivets, however in the mean time I grew impatient and tried using super glue gel, applying the individual rivets with the end of a sharpened toothpick. They turned out better than I thought. I also tried stretching sprue and gluing them into drilled holes but this is very time consuming and difficult to get the sprue the same width. When I build another one I will use some very small round plastic rod and see how that compares.
The other changes include cutting off the "cheese dish" and sealing the hole with plasticard, replacing it with a round hatch, enlarging the cab area and filling in the square hatch on the roof, and changing the exhaust to upside down "V" plates. Two new "T" bar supports were also added on the roof along with an "L" bar across the roof of the sponsons. The cab also needs gun port shields and visors on the sides. Phew!! These last things were the trickiest due to their size.
Below is just before an undercoat.
...and just after an undercoat.
I've now put a couple of coats of Vallejo English Uniform khaki on it and painted the tracks. Almost done. Pics to follow.
Its amazing what you pick up when you see it on your pc screen. There are quite a few bits I've missed so another coat is in order. i'll do that tonight.
On closer inspection the rivets look way too big and flat. I still have to make an armoured box to cover the lifting mechanism for the tail wheels which were fitted to MkI's to help with steering. It was soon discovered that these did little if anything at all to help and were taken off all subsequent tanks and probably any remaining ones in the field. By the time these MkIs got to Palestine the wheels were left off but on HMLS Sir Archibald a plated box covering this was left on. Hopefully I can fit the tank's name onto this as it was in the field, but if not it'll have to go on the front glasis plate.
I've built the metal covering for the tail wheel hydraulics which fits at the back. It needs painting and gluing on then I can start on the decals and weathering. I tried a different method for the rivets, using 0.5mm plastic rod, however they're still too big and some came off when sanding them down as best I could. I need to cut them smaller next time.
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