Airfix 1/76 Chi Ha tank

This is a great little tank and very easily put together. Cammo is painted, and an allover wash of dark umbar followed by a wash of buff then a gloss coat was added. Next up decaling and a pin wash, then it's time to get messy and some serious muddy weathering.

Airfix 1/76 Universal Carrier Suez Crisis 1956

Having completed my MkI tank for the group build on Missing Lynx, I thought I'd start another one. This is the Airfix Universal Carrier as used by British forces during the Suez Crisis. as far as I can make out, it had become obsolete in the British motor pool, but this one must have been "liberated" from Egyptian forces and put to good use. Decal are from the Bison Decals sheet "Suez Crisis" and contains loads more decals which will be used in the near future. Its painted in a 50/50 mix of  sand yellow and buff colour. The gaps where the foot holes were had to be filled, otherwise the 1/72 decal which fits here wouldn't and a sand skirt will be made from foil. This is as far as Ive got.

Airfix Club Kit - Under The Red Star - Spitfire

The Airfix Club Kit this year , well consists of three kits actually, all with excellent decals to reproduce aircraft flown by the Red airforce of communist Russia against the Nazis. The three kits you get are a Spitfire, Hurricane and Warhawk, all 1/72. The decals are to say the least, superb. The Spit , though, is just the older version not the newer re-tooled kit with engraved panel lines and cockpit, however you can still make a decent kit from it. I messed up with the cockpit glazing, trying unsuccessfully, to mask it with basic B&Q masking tape. I have since bought some Tamiya tape, which is supposed to be much better. Overall, I'm quite pleased with how its turned out and thinking about it, this was my first ever Spitfire built. Weathering was kept to a minimum, with a little bit of silvering on the wing where the constant shuffle of feet in and out of the a/c has worn away the surface paint. Smoke dust from the guns has also been added using Mig powders.

Airfix WWI MkI tank in Gaza - Part II

Finally got round to taking some pics of the finished thing, so here they are. I was in Liverpool last week andjust happened to wonder into ModelZone, as you do, and ended up picking up two more WWI Male tank kits for such £1.99 each. I have the Airfix Conversion book by Tom Cole which will give me plenty of options for those other tanks. Next up is the Female "we're all in it" complete with tail wheels and funky camo scheme, then maybe "mother" (the first tank) and possibly a Russian one...who knows. BTW, I also picked up a couple of WWI bi-planes which were also in the sale, as I stupidly fancy having a go at rigging one of those things before trying the huge Handly Page 0/400.
Anyway, onto the pics.

Seperated by over 90 years. Two British, in their day, state of the art tanks.

1/72 Dragon Challenger 2, Iraq 2003

I started making this kit a few years ago and then stopped. Having a bit of spare time on my hands, this was the first one I chose to finish. I'm prettyb happy with the way it's turned out. The stowage sheet was scratched from a tissue soaked in diluted white glue and then ties with cotton and placed on the tank, although I put it on too high along the sides stopping the turret from turning. Oh well at least it covered the space where the tow cables should have been. These along with the tracks were too small and didn't fit the holes provided, even with gentle stretching. The tracks didn't matter so much as they were mostly covered by the armour. Overall this is a great kit and the level of detail is exceptional. I believe there are a few dimentional errors regarding the turret but to me it looks like a Chally. You also get two excellent GPMGs, and only needing to use one you're left with a spare which will look great sticking out of a Sea King or Merlin.

The figure is from ?? RH Models. you get three in a packet, all different. The thermal recognitional panels were cut from plasticard and the aerials were from those plastic pieces of string which attach swing tags to clothes. They should all be straight but we'll put it down to battle damage!! Weathering was done with pastal chalks.