Cromwell MKVIII 1/35 - Feb 2 1st colour down.

[Jeff the 57th]

Hi guys.  

Haven't been able to make a lot of traction at the bench lately.  Got pretty far along on a Japanese Ka-Mi, but right now it's in a holding pattern on the shelf of doom because of lack of interest.  I figured I needed a quick, fun build to get out of my rut.  So got this out of the stash.

 

I have a soft spot for this kit because I love the looks of British cruiser tanks and it was the last kit I worked on before leaving the hobby when I was 15. I remember the love of my life at the time saw the kit in my bedroom and asked why I played with toys. I mumbled about my younger brother leaving his crap in my room and threw it in the trash. I hope I have more success with the build this time.

Worked on it a couple hours last night and made some pretty quick progress



I bought a Black Dog stowage set, but honestly I might just sell it.  When I saw it in person, I liked the looks of some value gear stuff better. Most photos I saw of Cromwells in France and Belgium seemed pretty light on stowage compared to Shermans, but if I'm honest I like the lines of the tank and just don't want to bury it under tarps and boxes.

Who'd want to cover something like this up?



Thanks for looking.

Jeff

[deafpanzer]

Great choice... count me in! Anything to keep your mojo going...

Stowage stuff from Black Dog are good as Value Gear... just sharper in details. I could tell by the color when I saw the pics before reading your comments.

15 years old!??!? Must have been 20 years ago?!?! LOL

[Jeff the 57th]

Jan 13, 2017 13:14:01 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

15 years old!??!? Must have been 20 years ago?!?! LOL

When I bought it at my favourite hobby shop last year I thought "This was a great kit when I first got it. That was what only....damn it 20 yrs ago.'.  I felt kind of bummed about that, but then I hit a Culver's on the way home and was too tired and contented from beef and cheese to be sad.

Jeff

[wing_nut]

Hey now. Do a dio off that last picture.

[Jeff the 57th]

Been swamped, but slowly chipping away at the Cromwell. I think it's about ready for a coat of primer. For a 20 yr old kit it's not too bad, but it needs a little help.   Added a RB barrel and drilled out the BESA MG's.  Used about 40% of the eduard P/E set.  Although some of the details on the kit weren't as sharp as a new kit they were still better then the 20 yr old P/E.  I also replaced the handles with green florist wire as the kit molded ones were pretty terrible.  The engine access handles under the turret I just trimmed off as the tolerances were too tight to add wire handles back there. 









Thanks for looking.

Jeff

[deafpanzer]

Great work especially the PE clasps!

[Leon]

Nice work on the PE Jeff!

[adt70hk]

Looking good Jeff.

Keep at it.

Andrew

[chromdome35]

Looks really good. I love the cruiser tanks. The Cromwell is one of my favorite tanks to drive in World of Tanks.

[jsteinman]

Looks very sharp! I am having trouble coming to terms that this is a 20 year old kit...

[Jeff the 57th]

Finally got back at the bench a bit last night. On Friday I managed to pick up the worst flu bug of my life, which of course my two boys managed to pick up as well immediately after. So two ER visits and 8L's of I.V's between the 3 of us things are finally back to normal.


Took my first crack at using Badger's Stynylrez. Stupid, stupid name but great product. It calls for a .5mm airbrush needle, I used a .3mm because it was the biggest I had. Spraying I thought it was going to turn out terrible because it feels like spraying chocolate syrup. But 5 minutes later I had a primer coat I was very pleased with without a ton of effort.


Got a start on a figure as well. He's from the Miniart British Tank Crew set with a hornet head. I replaced his left hand because I'm going to give him a smoke instead of the original microphone. Added a Tamiya tape bandage for character. I've had good luck with Miniart figs, but this one was molded pretty poorly. He had a 1mm hole at his waistline.  It looks like he got gut shot by a cannonball.  I think I'm going to replace the belt I made to cover the hole with a lead foil version.  Still seams to fix and gaps to fill but hopefully he'll cooperate.  Planning on adding a 2nd fig down the line.





Now to dive into the wonderful world of SCC15.  

Thanks for looking, I'll try to keep up on my updates.

Cheers

Jeff

[Leon]

Glad to hear your feeling better Jeff! Primer looks good.

[Jeff the 57th]

Got some bench time together and sprayed the base coat.

Used Tamiya XF-85 rubber black for the first time instead of Vallejo Dark Rubber. It might be my new go to colour. I also finally tried the circle template road wheel masking method and am kicking myself for not trying it years ago.

Mixed up the base colour from Mike Starmer's SCC15 tamiya mix. XF81:5 + XF58:1 + XF71:1 Probably tomorrow if I can find the time I'll take a crack at some colour modulation.






Thanks for looking.

Jeff

[deafpanzer]

It got great base color on for sure!

[tonylee]

Very Nice Color


Tony lee