David's Dithering Desk - Northern Edition

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DavidWomby
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David's Dithering Desk - Northern Edition

Post by DavidWomby »

We arrived in Nova Scotia on the 19th for the summer and I plan building small scale British Cold War tanks to go with the Centurion, Conqueror and Chieftain built in last year's Splash Memorial GB. I plan to maintain a dated record but post only occasionally. So there may be some long gaps between updates.

I am starting with this, the MBox Challenger 1, as the other two, a Churchill Crocodile and a Comet, need more research on markings and details. The Challenger will just use the markings Mbox provided.


May 27

The famous MBox "moulded in 3 colours" has me puzzled by their choice for the tracks. The instructions tell you to paint them black. So why not mould them in black and make our lives easier? I have some doubt over how well these vinyl-type tracks will take paint! I am also surprised they moulded the gun barrel in two halves. Anyway, the detail looks nice.



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May 30

I have a few photos of Challenger 1s with me and I can see small details MBox missed. Some lifting points missing or undersized on the turret - those I have added - and some they did mould there and on the hull front but they needed holes drilled through. Operationally, the Challenger 1 had a short range and so it usually had two oil drum sized fuel tanks mounted on the rear end. Not sure I can do those and they usually had several jerrycans and other bits mounted on the turret. Probably can't do those either :sad:

Anyway, I got this far today plus I assembled the wheels but I may not get to do more for a while. A wildfire near Halifax has burned over a hundred homes. Smoke and ash are blowing toward my daughter's home. So tomorrow, she is moving here with our two granddaughters (one aged nearly 4 and one nearly 1) until things improve in her neighbourhood.

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David]
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PaulBradley
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Re: David's Dithering Desk - Northern Edition

Post by PaulBradley »

Yikes! I hope things improve for your family, David - scary!
Paul

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jssel
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Re: David's Dithering Desk - Northern Edition

Post by jssel »

Wishing your family well
Besting 60 years of mediocre building of average kits in the stand off scale
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DavidWomby
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Re: David's Dithering Desk - Northern Edition

Post by DavidWomby »

Thanks. They don't think the fire will reach their neighbourhood but the air is a bit smoky and they're better off being here than having to do an emergency evac..

David
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Stuart
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Re: David's Dithering Desk - Northern Edition

Post by Stuart »

Glad to hear your family are safe David.

The Challenger looks good David - it's a nice kit, I built one last year. I don't recall any issues with getting paint on the tracks.
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Re: David's Dithering Desk - Northern Edition

Post by JamesPerrin »

It's a nice simple kit. The gun pivot is a bit loose so I had to wedge something underneath to stop it drooping.
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DavidWomby
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Re: David's Dithering Desk - Northern Edition

Post by DavidWomby »

June 2

Cooler weather with light rain today and more expected overnight. The fire near Halifax is 50% contained and, hopefully, things will be even better soon given the change in the weather. So the family went home today. The larger fire in the South West of the province is not contained. The rain should help a bit though. The province is still very dry and the real summer hasn't even started. There is a province-wide ban on all burning and on ATVs, hiking and other activities in forests and parks. Yet there are still people burning stuff - the RCMP issued $25,000 tickets to two violators yesterday!!!!!

The MBox paint guide shows the roadwheels are all green regardless of the black disruptive camo on the top and sides. Is that right? No black wheels below the black camo?

David
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Stuart
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Re: David's Dithering Desk - Northern Edition

Post by Stuart »

I certainly don't know if it's right or not, but I did all of my roadwheels green.
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Impisi
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Re: David's Dithering Desk - Northern Edition

Post by Impisi »

Good to read you family is safe!
Cheers
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DavidWomby
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Re: David's Dithering Desk - Northern Edition

Post by DavidWomby »

June 3.

Thanks, Stuart.

Rain here today. Really helping the firefighters!

FWIW, one thing I do with these small scale tank builds is download a copy of the instructions for a 1/35 kit of the same subject from Scalemates. They show lots of detail to assist me in decided what, and how, to add some to my model. In this case, I am using instructions for Tamiya's old kit #3634.

It was while perusing the Tamiya plans last night that I realized early Challengers originally carried jerrycans in racks on the hull back plate (later replaced by oil drums) and Mbox have moulded them. Parts 10 and 11 are pretty hard to identify looking at them but they are the jerrycans moulded as one piece with their respective holders. I will try to make their presence clearer when it comes time to paint.

I don't know if it's me or the mould but I had several large gaps where parts like the cargo bins get attached to the turret. I forgot to bring any putty with me. Thin gaps I can fill with white glue but, for these, I opted to use thin rod as filler. It will hopefully be less obvious when the paint is on! I also left the gun out. I had planned to glue it in place anyway, so I cut away some of its mountings inside the turret. The gun can now be added later through the hole in the turret bottom.

Image

June 4

Most of the photos I have with me show late service Challenger 1s - Gulf War or Bosnia (?) era deployments - whereas the Mbox kit predates these. I think the Tamiya kit must predate them too. Like the MBox, it has no oil drum fuel tanks and no cable reel on the rear of the turret. The Tamiya has a fire extinguisher on each wing behind the headlights instead of the one on the right side of the turret that is visible in the photos I have. So I assume that was the earlier fit and have added short lengths of rod to represent them. I also added a bracket across the rear of the turret and tried, but failed, to make a basket for the front of the turret. Most photos, and the Tamiya kit, show one fitted there for carrying camouflage netting.

June 6

Rain, showers and wind here everyday since Saturday. The fire near Halifax is contained or may even be out and the one in the South West of the province isxalmost under control as the rain the last few days slowed it. Firefighters are tired. Crews from Montana, South Africa, Costa Rica and Canadian Army rotating in now for that one. There are US, Australian and New Zealand crews helping to fight the Alberta fires. There are 150 out of control fires in Quebec. There are wildfires in 6 of Canada's provinces and summer fire season yet to start.

I think I may brought have the wrong green paint. It looks OK in the bottle. Hopefully it will be ok when dry. It looks very like the colour of the hull plastic. I wish now I had primed the model with the grey enamel I have here. It would have made it easier to ensure I don't miss anywhere with the green. I do have British Army Bronze Green here too but read that they stopped using that after the Chieftain. MBox specify NATO Olive RAL7013 and, believe it or not there's a shop only 30 minutes drive from here that has the full line of Revell acrylics including that very colour. Only $5.95Cdn plus 15% tax but it's a colour that I'd never use again so I am not buying it.

Here it is getting some paint on the undercarriage. I am brushing on Testors enamel. So I am banished to the garage for most of the painting!

Image

David
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iggie
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Re: David's Dithering Desk - Northern Edition

Post by iggie »

Good to hear that the worst of the fires are now under control, and that your daughter and family are safe David.
We've had very little rain here for the last few weeks, and nothing of any significance forecast either; we are expecting to be busy with grass and crop fires as the summer gets warmer but I'm really hoping that we won't see anything on the scale that you've seen lately!
Best wishes

Jim
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Stuart
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Re: David's Dithering Desk - Northern Edition

Post by Stuart »

Sounds like you're having fun with paints there David. I do like the idea of getting larger scale instructions to get an idea of the missing detail - that's a good call.
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AndrewR
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Re: David's Dithering Desk - Northern Edition

Post by AndrewR »

I've opted for Vallejo Russian Uniform for the green on my Challenger 2. I've been reading up on the colour, and many of the crew who painted them reckoned that there was a large variation in the shade, depending on what solvent was available!
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skypirate
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Re: David's Dithering Desk - Northern Edition

Post by skypirate »

Eeek!
Missed the firefighting dramas.
Stay safe!

David
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jssel
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Re: David's Dithering Desk - Northern Edition

Post by jssel »

Nice work on the Challenger. Been getting the smoke plume across Lake Superior on occasion. Not just see it but smell it , Makes thing look Sci-Fi.
Michigan just lost 2600 acres from someone's errant campfire. Had air attack involved with three fixed wing seaplanes and one CH-46 helo.
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