Global Scale Modeller

Great BB everyone, I've thoroughly enjoyed watching everyone's builds and threads, so much so I just had to go and get one myself. Unfortunately I couldn't get hold of a Trumpeter kit, well not quickly anyway and settled instead for Tamiya's /35 offering.

Without further ado, here she is.........



Sprue shots, minus the bags and infamous staples (love those staples!)....







Decals - slightly more than your average WWII AFV, but nothing too taxing looking at the different variants.


And the usual Tamiya instructions - nice and clear, but still no colour sheets for the different paint schemes etc Oh, well you can't have everything.



Not sure which scheme to go for yet, but here's a couple of the options......


Realising that I'm a little behind everyone else (not that I need an excuse to rip the lid off and get stuck straight in!!), I decided to make a start. As with most AFV's, you start off with the lower hull details and the wheels, sprockets etc. Reading some of the threads I know that some people have had some problems with the return rollers and it seems that the Tamiya kit is no exception. The fit is a bit suspect and they don't seem to locate properly, but fortunately the Tamiya instructions give you a little picture of the angle they are supposed to be set at.


Nice little touch with the first step - the idlers are held on via screws which should make installing the "lovely" rubber-band tracks a bit easier as you don't have to worry about it breaking off just as you think you've got everything in place - grrrrr!!


Got a feeling that that's not the last time that I've going to have to attach those hangers for the armour in position - knowing how clumsy I am!


Road wheels, return rollers, idlers and drive sprockets all finished.


And attached to the lower hull......


Finally, and I just can't help myself, I always do it - but I have to dry fit as much of the upper hull and turret as I can so I get an idea of how bit it is and what it will look like etc.


I've made a couple of modern tanks, but literally just two as I generally prefer WW2 armour, but I have to say - this is a very nice looking beast and is going together very nicely so far!

Thanks for letting me join in and thanks for taking a peek!

Nice start Alex, great to have you with us,loving the Aussie pics too

Paul wrote:Nice start Alex, great to have you with us,loving the Aussie pics too

Either I'm going mad, or I'm standing on my head - just gone back and they seem the right way up. I'm definitely not on my head, but I wouldn't rule out madness!!

alextheblue wrote:

Paul wrote:Nice start Alex, great to have you with us,loving the Aussie pics too

Either I'm going mad, or I'm standing on my head - just gone back and they seem the right way up. I'm definitely not on my head, but I wouldn't rule out madness!!

Ha ha it can take a while for PB to update edited pics

That Tamiya Chally 2 kit is just to die for!I will follow your build progress for sure

Excellent start Alex.

Great start mate

Great start buddy! I want one!!

I have this one in my stash but don't have the time to build it right now (maybe in a couple of weeks). So I will look forward to seeing what you do with it. Good luck.

alextheblue wrote:Great BB everyone, I've thoroughly enjoyed watching everyone's builds and threads, so much so I just had to go and get one myself. Unfortunately I couldn't get hold of a Trumpeter kit, well not quickly anyway and settled instead for Tamiya's /35 offering.

Without further ado, here she is.........

Perhaps not, but as you are coming to realize she goes together like a dream in comparison with the headaches the trumpeter folks have endured.

Thanks fellas - there's no denying it, this is a great kit and it falls together like Laurel & Hardy in a woodshop!

@ Switcher - apologies, I haven't had a chance to watch your vids yet, but I'll definitely catch up with those over the weekend. And you're right about this kit going together like a dream, but call me strange, but I do like a bit of a challenge evey now and then. In the words of Rene Descatres -

"Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it"

You can easily see what he meant with this very wise saying - build Dragon kits!!!!

Update 1

Only managed to get about 40 minutes in on the Chally last night, but managed to get the rear plate finished, plus put the last couple of bits onto the lower hull.



And here it is in place - dry fitted, not fixed.


Nowhere near as detailed as the Trumpeter kits, but there's a good level of detail there all the same.

I'm hoping to get at least the build finished over the weekend and might even get some primer on it if all goes well.

Thanks for stopping by!

You keep knocking her together at this pace and you'll be caught up to some of the other dudes in no time Alex.
I gotta say, though lacking a bit in the detail yours is falling together.
It took me and Paul and I think Nigel 3 hours each to build that rear plate on the trumpy kit.
I also like the look of your side skirts. Given a choice I think that I'd buy two kits, the trumpy for it's antislip texture and the tamiya for those skirts and rear plate.
Nothing like a kit bash eh. haha.
I think yours is going to be a sweet looking kit when she's done.

Looking nice mate, Im waiting for my tamiya chally 1 to arrive in the post great photos aswell.


Bench.
Airfix 1/48 bf109 tropical

Coming on nicely, I'd like to get one of the tamiya challys at some point. Looking forward to the rest of your build mate.

The Tamiya Chally 2 is a much better all round kit than the Trumpy ones I think. The vinyl tracks in this are good, well cast, not warped and can be stuck with plastic cement. They hold paint well too. And anyways Chally 2 tracks aren't that complex so I don't think AM ones make much difference.

That's going to turn out quite nice!

Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the comments fellas, always appreciated!

Mike - you're definitely right about the kit bash, was going to try and do something about the lack of anti-slip but I'll probably just press on "as is".

Gav - definitely agree with you on the tracks, pretty good for rubber-band ones, plus once the side skirts are on you're not going to see too much of the tracks and running gear.

I also have to disagree with you on the Tamiya kit being less detailed than the trumpy kit. If you look at each they are distinctly different. The Trumpeter one has these PE "boxes" on the rear which don't seem right really. Plus the tow hook "butterfly" thing is one solid lump on the Trumpy with the retaining pins moulded on. These are open and separate on the Tamiya one.

But in the end the Tamiya one is twice the price of the Trumpy one, so you should expect better.

Update 2

Have been away for a few days but had to scuttle back home once the modelling DT's kicked in and the shakes got too bad! Managed to get a few hours in last night and it's pretty much done now. It all fell together quite nicely and for someone that normally models WW2 stuff, these modern AFV's are HUGE!!

Some nice details, but I need to keep half a mind (my wife will tell you that's all I have!) about which I fit and which I paint before fitting. For example the drums I'll paint and then fit along with the oil/water containers. Plus the tracks and running gear will all have to be painted/weathered before the side skirts are fitted as I can't see there will be the room to fit them otherwise. Am I right in thinking that this isn't such an issue with the Trumpy kits??

Managed to get a few snaps off last night and whilst they're not the most exciting, it wouldn't be a build thread without them.






Painted the rear lights before fitting - must remember to mask these off BEFORE painting - bet I forget!


And fitted to the rear plate along with a few other bits.


Fully assembled - well almost. The side skirts are only tacked on and hence why they sit too low, plus the drums and cans are missing.







De-constructed ready for priming (makes it sound like some trendy art installation!! )


And that's pretty much where I am. I've not decided on which way to go in terms of the primer/base coat. I really like Coen's basic camo with the sand camo on top as the green shows through really nicely. I might just opt for a grey primer with black acting almost as pre-shading for the relevant recesses etc. Might try one of the side skirts first to see how it comes out - no real dramas to redo it if I don't like it.

Thanks for taking a look!

Good progress. Looks great so far buddy

Looking good Alex. I need to get myself one of those burnishing brushes as I want to do mine in green, with sand over the top, worn in places. But not chipped, just rubbed back on the surfaces where most wear would occur.

My build is somewhat slower due to having to replace bits with PE.

O have to agree with Gav I think, the Tamiya is a better kit, it looks as though the sheer number of extra bits makes all the difference.
The dust skirts, exhaust shrouds, CIP panels...etc.
Worth twice as much?... no way.
$10 more... sure. Throw in PE for all the trimmings and a metal barrel and I'll pay twice as much.

But its worth the £30 I paid for mine inc P&P and the Eduard PE set

Lol

Coen wrote:O have to agree with Gav I think, the Tamiya is a better kit, it looks as though the sheer number of extra bits makes all the difference.
The dust skirts, exhaust shrouds, CIP panels...etc.
Worth twice as much?... no way.
$10 more... sure. Throw in PE for all the trimmings and a metal barrel and I'll pay twice as much.

To be fair thought they are modelling two different challengers one desertised ones not, so there's parts with one not needed on the other

I love having the not needed parts... it means I have a thing called options. Dragon does that and doesn't usually charge extra for it though.
However they make us pay for it with lunatic instruction sheets.

looking great Alex !

your charging through this one haahaha




great work my friend


Shane

Coen wrote:I love having the not needed parts... it means I have a thing called options. Dragon does that and doesn't usually charge extra for it though.
However they make us pay for it with lunatic instruction sheets.

I meant with one being desertised and the other not, so one has the dust skirts and the cip panels etc, where the other version doesn't have them full stop

I like that one has a great big gun and the other.... Oh, wait...

Aye but Paul the details. I was referring to are just the bog standard parts, not necessarily the theatre specific parts. The enhanced armour Chally 2 from Trumpy represents a later Chally 2 from Iraq, whereas the Tamiya kit is a 2003 era one, before the addition of RPG fencing to the vehicles.

Gav0909 wrote:Aye but Paul the details. I was referring to are just the bog standard parts, not necessarily the theatre specific parts. The enhanced armour Chally 2 from Trumpy represents a later Chally 2 from Iraq, whereas the Tamiya kit is a 2003 era one, before the addition of RPG fencing to the vehicles.

Lol I seem to be getting misunderstood, what I meant was you can't make the enhanced armour out of the box from the tamiya kit and vise versa making the trumpy one desertised out of the box

Ladies, ladies, no falling out now, all your Chally's are beautiful and each one is special in it's own way!

Agree with Mike though, it's always nice to have those spare parts to give you some options and there's always a chance that they'll come in handy on a future build. There's actually a few spare parts with this one, some tow cables and extra covers, not a huge amount, but more than you usually get with a Tamiya kit (well, in my limited experience anyway). I'm guessing there might be some sprues in common with the Challenger 1, but hopefully someone can put right on this one.

Update 3

Managed to get some primer down and also got the first application of the base coat on. I used grey primer with black primer on top for the recesses and low-lights. It gives quite a severe look at this earlier stage, but I'm pretty sure that with some highlights and weathering it will pull it all together. I'm aiming for quite a dirty, dusty and grimy look to this tank, probably more severe than they would be for real. I'm sure I will get accused of not being realistic enough, but life gives me all the realism I need, so modelling is my escape. I'm reminded of the wise words of the very revered and venerated sage Sir Michael of the Clan Campbell, "It's your, hobby, do it your way!"
Wise words, wise words indeed!

A couple of obligatory, "with primer" pics..



Tried a couple of new things on this build - firstly Vallejo's track primer from the Panzer Aces range and the Dark Rubber also from Panzer Aces range (a big thanks to Rossco for this tip! ). The track primer is very thick and even with a lot of shaking it needs a lot of thinning, but I quite like the colour it gives for a primer. Perhaps better suited for WW2 armour, but it's only a primer at the end of the day. The dark rubber I really like and personally I think it's great for roads wheels. If your used to using a flat black, it may appear a little too grey at first, but when you compare it to reference pics, it does work really well.

Here's the aforementioned items along with the primed tracks.




For the base colour I used Tamiya Dark Yellow; the recommeded call-out is for Light Sand in a spray can, but as far as I can tell there's no pot equivalent, so I decided to use my "that'll do" method of colour selection! I'm conscious of the fact that these beasts are quite yellowy in colour and I figured that a light misting of buff would do the trick if it ended up a being a bit too yellow.

Anywho, here's how it ended up. I kept looking at it thinking I needed to "dull" out that black primer a bit more, but I kinda like it and as I mentioned, once its weathered etc, it should all come together.






Thanks for taking a look and well done everyone who's taking part in this BB, there's some cracking work!

Nice work mate. Looks good, and like you say, the weathering will tie it all together.

That looks really cool Alex, your idea of the two tone primer layers speaks to me dude! I can see many uses for that. I may have to borrow that idea from you and play about with it for a while.
That preshading really really worked on that skirt drapping. Holy cow! that looks so good.
You're right about the yellow though. I need to alter mine as well. It's way to US armour colour. Not enough butter. I'll have to add about 4-5 layers of filters to get it where I want mine.
Nice work Alex!!! She's Oresome!!!

Great progress Alex

Thanks fellas, appreciate all the great comments!

Mike - like what you did there - "Holy cow!" and "not enough butter"

Update 4

A little bit of progress but not a huge amount. Managed to get the side skirts fitted plus painted the dust skirts with a light spray of Tamiya buff. The tow cables have been painted and fitted and I have also painted the Gimpy, but forgot to re-attach it for the photos. The CIP's have also been painted and according to the instructions flat white should be used. In my opinion this might be a bit too harsh against the sand camo, so decided to use VMA Ivory instead. I diluted this heavily with water and applied in very thin coats with a brush. Might give it another coat or two, but wanted to let it dry overnight to see what it's like. I think once these have had a wash and flat coat applied the colour should be ok. Whilst the CIP's were drying I decided to get some decals on. I've only done the side skirts and have used 8 decals already - what's that all about!!! 8 decals is about 3 models-worth in WW2 armour! To be honest, I quite enjoy decal-ing and find it quite therapeutic - apart from when you're gently applying the first coat of Micro Sol and the whole decal lifts away with the brush!!! Managed to gently coax it off the brush and back into position with my trusty scalpel - phew!!





Thanks for taking a look!

Great progress mate, looks fantastic. My neck hurts a bit now though! Lol!

chief5437 wrote:Great progress mate, looks fantastic. My neck hurts a bit now though! Lol!

Darn Photobucket - a lot of times when I take pics with my phone I have to flip them once I've uploaded them to Photobucket. Paul was telling me that it can sometimes take a while to update them and show them the right way up. They seem to be the right way up on my screen - either that or my heads on upside down!!

great paint job!
Love the undercoat and pre-shading!

What sand colour did you use? I know a few of the guys are having paint-matching (yellow in particular) issues. Looks great!

I love this Yellow Chally from Slough! That colour is looking more and more awesome everytime that I look at it.
Great stuff so far Alex!

MikeyKb wrote:great paint job!
Love the undercoat and pre-shading!

What sand colour did you use? I know a few of the guys are having paint-matching (yellow in particular) issues. Looks great!

Thanks Mikey! Ended up using Tamiya Dark Yellow, XF59 I think - I did keep looking at it and thought about lightening it a bit, but I think once it's got a wash on and a bit of weathering it won't be too far wrong.

Coen wrote:I love this Yellow Chally from Slough! That colour is looking more and more awesome everytime that I look at it.
Great stuff so far Alex!

Thanks Mike!

Although being from Slough it won't be long before someone pinches the road wheels and the Chally will be left jacked up on bricks!!

(For those non-UK residents, Slough has a slightly higher than average crime-rate and the Chally wouldn't look out of place as a local constabulary vehicle! )

Ahahahaha!

Looks good Alex. I am using Tamiya Dark Yellow as well, and it looks quite good.

Gav0909 wrote:Looks good Alex. I am using Tamiya Dark Yellow as well, and it looks quite good.

Thanks Gav. Yeah, I'm pretty happy with the colour as well. Before I actually applied it I sat there looking at the bottle wondering whether to lighten the colour, but I'm glad that I left it in the end.

Update 5

Managed to squeeze in some work on the Chally in between gorging on Easter eggs! Everything is attached now with the exception of the fuel and water cans and most of the details are painted. There were quite a few decals, for a tank that is, and I did have an issue with a couple. Not that I've built a huge amount of models, but I've always found Tamiya decals to be ok, but a couple of these broke up with the lightest of movement, although I put a lot of this down to "user error" on my part.

The eagle-eyed among you will notice that the flat CIP's are missing. Tamiya supplies a rectangular sheet of white plastic from which you cut out the required shape from a template in the instructions. That in itself was no problem, but once I dry fitted them to the turret, they just didn't look right, plus there are no attachment brackets for them and I'm not too sure how to scratch build some. So, I decided to leave them off - if anyone asks, they were there before we popped into the supermarket for a sandwich, but when we came out, there they were - GONE!!

Next, out with the oils and I decided to use burnt umber rather than yellow ocre to make up a pin-wash. I want to make this quite a dirty and grubby tank and I thought the darker colour would add more of a contrast. Now I know that this might split opinions with a few people as these beasts probably didn't get quite as dirty as I'm planning. but I'm not huge into ultra realism as I prefer to apply a bit of artistic license. I even discussed this with a friend of mine who is ex REME and he was adamant that the vehicles he worked on wouldn't be allowed to get into this state. I did point out that I thought his job was to keep serving vehicles operational rather than just clean them!!








Still loads to do on this as it's still way too clean and presentable, but I'm definitely on the home straight. Phew, I should just squeeze in before the finish date of......urm......no date in particular!

Thanks for taking a peek!

Looking great mate just need to get down from the ceiling but looking great none the less lol

Stunning work mate, paintwork looks amazing

Nige201980 wrote:Looking great mate just need to get down from the ceiling but looking great none the less lol

Thanks Nige!

I thought I was going mad as the pics look the right way up to me, but when I checked on my iPad there they were - upside down! Not sure what I doing wrong - I'll just blame Photobucket instead!