1/72 Vespid Comet A34 Mk 1A

[Donkeywalloper]

Good afternoon all you purveyors of plastic and collectors of hordes

How are we all?

I have not got fully into modelling and as you will be all aware my Mental and Physical Health have been pretty shot as of late. The Leg Ulcers continue to be gruesome and a bloody (no joke intended) hindrance. I’m still visiting the wonderful Nurses at the Ulcer Clinic, twice a week. They are the literal backbone of the NHS. They take one leg each and undress the dressings and then wash the legs, survey them, take photos (as do I, and then Moisturize and redress them. It takes ½ an hour a leg. They have become an extended family; they buoy me with chat and they really are the Salt of the Earth. Incredible ladies.
As I mentioned many times, the Mojo has taken a beating and the Modelling has taken a sideline as sitting for prolonged periods, just brings on waves of pain. Its very difficult to concentrate on finicky pieces and have to keep stopping.
I therefore, thought, “What could maybe spark my Modelling Mojo but not involve to much painstaking parts count”?
Well, my normal Scale is 1/35, but they do take up room and the parts count does seem to be quite large now on New Releases. What though drew my eye having read some really uplifting Reviews in Modelling magazines are the 1/72 Vespid range. They really are a little treat for the eyes. Packed with details and at about £23 in the UK, they come with PE and Metal Barrels. I chose a Comet 34 Mk1A (I really do love the Cruiser Tanks, and this is my second Comet build). I actually got the best price from the Tank Museum at Bovington.
In between receiving the Comet through the post, I built the following from the Lego Technic range. A good old John Deere.







This is a good little exercise for finger coordination, following Instructions and the result is a big chunky build.
The UK Post duly delivered the Comet in five days and what a little treat it turned out to be. Box art and usual shots of Box sides and kit contained inside. Crisp moldings with hardly any flash or warp. A few Sink-Holes but all on areas not going to be seen once built.



















A one-piece Lower Tub, nice crisp and un-warped.


Again crisp, nicely detailed Upper mouldings, quite a large number of Slide Mouldings included in kit.
The usual process ensues i.e. starting on Lower Chassis and Wheels, Idlers and such.

Lower Tub detail is crisp and beautifully moulded. No problems with this build. The only problem is and this is the most obvious statement ever made on paper, God, it’s so small.


I drilled a hole in the lower chassis and inserted a screw to help handling.

The build continues.



Moving on to the Upper areas. The Front Glacis plate was built and note the Slide Moulded Besa Machine Gun. I did snap a Light Guard and this shot off into the ether but I was left with enough to glue on to front and show as Driver / War Damage.


I felt that this build did need some figures to give scale and I sourced these on-line from Ammo. I personally on their arrival thought the detail was a bit soft, so scraped with a Knife Blade to accentuate the mouldings.




Talking of purchases, I again found this brilliant company producing Resin 3-D Printed parts called T-Rex Studios. I bought the following in 1/35 for mostly the Tamiya Comet. Searchlights, Smoke Dischargers, Antenna Mounts and for Tiger 1 (or any German AFV), various brackets and Clamps. Beautifully packed for its long shipment from Japan to UK.







I returned back to the Lower Chassis and the Tracks. These were supplied as Link and Length and were absolutely perfect. The very little Clean-Up and the employed process of sticking the individual Track-Links around the Idler and shaping with TET, leaving them to go off, then forming them around Idler.


I followed the Instructions and continued to glue parts to the Upper Deck.


The Upper Deck completed one moves on to the Turret and this was again a doddle. Perfect fitment and a lovely supplied turned barrel.

Tiny PE Fret.

Mr Postman was kept busy with supplies from the wonderful VMS and some spare Heads from Hornet in 1/35.






I skipped on in the build a little, and I’m afraid I didn’t take that many images. So, I ended up with the following images close to completion. I had a wooden box that had contained Turkish Delight. I glued the Lid on with plenty of Wood Glue and sanded the edges with my Makita Palm sander all the time adjusting Grits to get a finish like Silk. The edges were masked off and a slather of VMS 2.0 Mud was applied and worked into a resemblance of Terrain. I pushed the vehicle into the VMS to impress the tracks. Then Cat Litter “Rocks” were added and some Jarvis Grass applied with Scatter Unit. The whole thing was then sprayed with Black Mr Hobby Primer and Brown shades from AK 3rd Generation Paint Range and Vallejo, sprayed over to give texture, Highlights and Shadows.

I then followed up with picking out the Grass with various shades of Greens from the Tamiya range, I also picked out randomly the Cat Litter Rocks using a brush and various Tamiya Browns.















The sides were finished off with Tamiya Flat Black and the Tank glued in place with Extra Thick C/A.
A very nice build and a satisfying conclusion. Highly recommended and I will definitely be purchasing a few more of these Vespid Tiny terrors. Thank you for reading, viewing and managing to stay awake. I have just received a really stonking model in post and its the HobbyBoss, 1/35 Nagmachon Doghouse, its a very queer looking APC. Should be a bit of fun and of course I have some aftermarket on order.
Take care all and speak soon.
DW (John)

[BigWall]

Very tidy tractor build and great job on the diorama!

I hope you're seeing some improvement with your legs. Nurses are amazing people. They made my 17 weeks in hospital bearable last year for sure.

[digger303]

Great builds and glad to hear your on the mend.
I bought some tool clamps from Heavy Hobby and they are very slick too.No doubt I will pick up some more items like you bought. Might not use them on every build, but the ones I want to look a tad better than OOB.
I still have some PE ones to use yet.....they are so much harder to use though.

[aur0ra145]

Wow, you did a fantastic job on that base. Goes really well with the tank! I'll be looking forward to your Nagmachon build. That thing looks like something out of a budget 1980's sci-fi.

[Donkeywalloper]

Great builds and glad to hear your on the mend.
I bought some tool clamps from Heavy Hobby and they are very slick too.No doubt I will pick up some more items like you bought. Might not use them on every build, but the ones I want to look a tad better than OOB.
I still have some PE ones to use yet.....they are so much harder to use though.

Morning Digger
Its not a huge range from T-Rex (Japan but from what I've seen the detail is crisp and beautifully executed. I always have problems with Clamps on German AFV in regard PE, its just to fiddly. These have all the detail without the fiddly aspect.
Good to hear from you and my very best regards to you and family
DW (John)

[Donkeywalloper]

Very tidy tractor build and great job on the diorama!

I hope you're seeing some improvement with your legs. Nurses are amazing people. They made my 17 weeks in hospital bearable last year for sure.

Morning Joe
Good to hear from you, how is it going with treatment? The Nurses are really the backbone and the very unsung heroes of any Medical foundation. Take good care.
John

[Donkeywalloper]

Wow, you did a fantastic job on that base. Goes really well with the tank! I'll be looking forward to your Nagmachon build. That thing looks like something out of a budget 1980's sci-fi.

Thank you chap. I managed to sneak it into house and its sat on shelves and just so happens to be sat in a line of scales. 1/16 Panzer 1, a 1/35 Chieftain and this 1/72. it gives such great comparison. The Nagmachon is as you say, so Sci-Fi. Its just totally bonkers in looks and texture. under some good painting and weathering it should look awesome.
Cheers
John

[digger303]

Great builds and glad to hear your on the mend.
I bought some tool clamps from Heavy Hobby and they are very slick too.No doubt I will pick up some more items like you bought. Might not use them on every build, but the ones I want to look a tad better than OOB.
I still have some PE ones to use yet.....they are so much harder to use though.

Morning Digger
Its not a huge range from T-Rex (Japan but from what I've seen the detail is crisp and beautifully executed. I always have problems with Clamps on German AFV in regard PE, its just to fiddly. These have all the detail without the fiddly aspect.
Good to hear from you and my very best regards to you and family
DW (John)

I saw a video of a Japanese modeller making PE clamps one after another in minutes......it was awesome and showed me up as being totally inept...

[BigWall]

Morning Joe
Good to hear from you, how is it going with treatment? The Nurses are really the backbone and the very unsung heroes of any Medical foundation. Take good care.
John

Thanks for asking John,

I hit a spot where I was cancer free so we used that window to do a bone marrow transplant. My sister turned out to be a perfect match. There were no other suitable matches in the world wide registry, so I was very lucky. Honestly, if you took all the chemo, radiation and genetic treatments I've done, the bone marrow transplant has been tougher than them all combined. They said to expect it to take a year at least to recover. I didn't believe them but it's going to be at least that. I'm doing well though. One bit of humor, I now test genetically as myself and my sister. She won't let me join her woman's group though. LOL!

[digger303]

Morning Joe
Good to hear from you, how is it going with treatment? The Nurses are really the backbone and the very unsung heroes of any Medical foundation. Take good care.
John

Thanks for asking John,

I hit a spot where I was cancer free so we used that window to do a bone marrow transplant. My sister turned out to be a perfect match. There were no other suitable matches in the world wide registry, so I was very lucky. Honestly, if you took all the chemo, radiation and genetic treatments I've done, the bone marrow transplant has been tougher than them all combined. They said to expect it to take a year at least to recover. I didn't believe them but it's going to be at least that. I'm doing well though. One bit of humor, I now test genetically as myself and my sister. She won't let me join her woman's group though. LOL!

That's doing it tough. I'm glad that your cancer free atm after all that pain.

[Tomcat64]

Hey DW good to see you back online with all you've been going through.

I think lego is a really good way to feel creative without the hassle of building a regular kit - I've built several of the Star Wars kits over the past couple of years and really enjoy the process & results.

Back to the Comet though and this is a cracking little build; I've not come across Vespid before so will be going for a look later

Great work on the base too - really sets the whole thing off very well

Have a great Christmas and wishing you all the best for 2024 mate