king derelict

Thank you very much Mike, I have Kelly and Legion to add to the destroyer fleet at some point Alan

Thank you very much OC for your kind comment. Thank you also for the tip about the railings. I will try the black railings when I add the last strip and generally touch up the paint. They are barely noticeable now and the black will blend them in further. Thanks again Alan

The last detail; the rolled tarp, was added to the rear of the tank and a little more dust added. This completes the build. I also added the photos of the Wz34 armoured Polish car also by First To Fight which was being built in parallel. Nothing special about the build; very similar to the other kits but an interesting subject and fun to paint. Thanks for looking in Alan

I tried using a hair dryer on the nasty tracks. Thanks @mtaylor I wouldn't have thought of that. I couldn't get much sag in the tracks but I think I got rid of a lot of the wobble and they generally look better now. I filled in the gap where the tracks meet with a couple of tiny bits of card and built up the thickness with PVA glue. it looks better with a bit of paint. The running gear and lower part of the hull were sprayed with a dust colour. Some sand on the tracks and the matt coat will complete the build. This wasn't really a detailed build log but more an attempt toshow the results of a first shot at chipping. Thanks for looking Alan

Thank you Greg. From you that is highly valued. I finally got the colour cast out of the photos and they look like the real model. Alan

This kit was chosen as a first attempt at paint chipping to simulate a weathered vehicle. The Roden JS-3 kit has markings for the Egyptian army in 1956 so I thought by then the JS-3 would be well past the "One Careful Owner, Only Driven to Church Each Week" stage by then Unfortunately the JS-3 is not one of Rodens better kits; it also has the rubber band style tracks which I don't like. Somehow I seem to have lost the photos of the early stages of the build and the contents of the box. Nothing terribly outstanding in the build so far although I swear some of the road wheels are oval rather than round. Hopefully paint and weathering will obscure that a bit. The tracks are very thin, they look underscale and they are buckled and refuse to straighten . They may look better once the hull is completed. So; the main object of the exercise was the chipping. Once the upper hull and turret were complete they got the usual dose of black primer. I then added Vallejo dark steel in places where I wanted it to be seen and mid grey in other areas. Once that was dry I gave the model a coat of cheap hairspray and left it to dry again before adding the sand top coat. My reading suggests that working over an area with a wet paint brush will cause the top coat of paint to lift away in pieces. That didn't seem to happen but moving to a stiff brush was more effective. I also used a pin tip to scratch through for detailed areas. I seem to have achieved a worn look but I don't think I would catagorise it as chipping exactly although working small areas over with a pin tip first produced a better result. Its starting to look suitably tatty but I would like to improve my technique. Online sources say that it can only be done with acrylics, can't be done with acrylics or must have a clear coat to seal the paints under the hair spray. I would welcome insights from the experts. In the meantime I painted the nasty tracks. They lack detail and thickness. I hope to hide the track join with some artfully placed debris Thanks in advance for any advice. its all welcome. Alan

The last boat was added and then the PE rails started. I cut the runs into shorter sections and then attached them using Gators Grip glue. I give it glue a few minutes to tack up a bit before putting the railings into place. I have found this way makes the railings a much less frustrating experience. However, I found my lousy planning skills let me down again. Early on in the build I found one of the railing sections was breaking away from the fret and knowing if i left it it would end up damaged, I decided to cut it completely free and keep it out of harm's way. And i forgot all about it when painting came around so its sat there in its native brass colour. I don't feel like loading teh airbrush up with primer and then grey for one strip of railing so it will sit in abeyance until I start the next kit and hopefully, I will remember to paint it then. In the meantime I added the booms and the decals as well as a wash to the funnel. I'll do the weathering once the last railings are in place and the touching up is complete. Thanks for looking in Alan

After i finish cleaning the airbrush I spray a small quantity of cleaner into a paper towel in a good light against a dark background and look at the spray pattern to make sure its symmetrical and strong. Then I can put the brush away knowing its good to go for the next session. If the pattern looks weak then I pull it apart again and poke the nozzle out again. It doesn't take much to obstruct the flow. I'm sure water would be just as good for the post clean check. its reduced the annoyance of loading the brush up and finding its not spraying well Alan

Detail painting is almost complete. The black oil paint wash has been used on the running gear and the panel lines. I added the decals; I would have liked to make it as a Polish tank but the decals only allow for a French one. Then a light spray of dust and dirt. A few last items to tidy up and this nice little kit will be complete. Thanks for looking Alan

Patrick Beautifully made models. Congratulations Alan

You are building great stuff regardless Alan

It definitely helps. I spray in the garage. I just made a first attempt at hair spray paint shipping and the garage stinks of cheap hair spray. I'm glad I didn't try that in the house. Alan

I find the Vallejo black primer to be good at blocking the airbrush nozzle. I try to quickly get cleaner into the brush as soon as I've finished painting to dilute it and then really clean the nozzle. I'm going to try another primer next but I do like the coverage from the Vallejo. Alan

I've had a few scalpel blades snap when cutting PE. The magnifier do double duty as safety glasses. Your PE looks really tidy Alan

While the paint dries on Lance I started this simple but interesting AFV kit; the Renault 35 tank by Polish company First To Fight. As with the other kits of theirs that I have built instructions are confined to a diagram on teh bottom of the box and the box art on the top is generally just as useful. There are not a lot of parts but I tend to be using these kits to improve my painting and just for the interest of the unusual subjects. A little background from the web Designed from 1933 onwards and produced from 1936, the type was intended as an infantry support light tank, equipping autonomous tank battalions, that would be allocated to individual infantry divisions to assist them in executing offensive operations. To this end it was relatively well-armoured but slow and lacking a good antitank-capacity, fitted with a short 37 mm gun. At the outbreak of the war, the antitank-role was more emphasized leading to the development and eventual production from April 1940 of a subtype with a more powerful longer gun, the Renault R40. It was planned to shift new production capacity to the manufacture of other, faster, types, but due to the defeat of France the R35/40 remained the most numerous French tank of the war, about 1685 vehicles having been produced by June 1940. At that moment it had also been exported to Poland, Romania, Turkey and Yugoslavia. A set of decals is provided but only for the French version An interesting element is the rear wheel. Several versions are provided although only one is referred to. The diagram doesn't give any hints but the struts in the wheel rim have to be cut out and then the appropriate wheel filed to fit the centre. Construction went nicely after that until it came to the side hatches for the turret. They are supposed to be on the sprue shown at the bottom of the photo but something obviously went wrong with the moulding process and there are two sets of small blobs. I made replacement hatches based on the box art from bits of shaped styrene. The usual black primer and then shaded coats of sand and then masking for the olive green. Its quite an intricate paint scheme and I didn't get it exactly right but it captures the spirit I hope😄 I left the turret hatch partly open. Apparently it was intended to be set fully down for the tank commander to sit on The masks came off and I'm fairly happy with the way it came it out. The tracks were painted up with a background of dirt and rust and steel on the running surfaces. Oil washes have been added to the running gear and then they were fitted to the hull. Deatil work and washes on teh hull and turret are next. Thanks for looking in Alan

Thank you for the kind words OC. I value them. Getting the davits and boats into place was a bit of a breath holder. I have seen In Which We Serve and I have the Flyhawk Kelly on the shelf to add to the destroyer fleet. Lovely little kits. Alan

Slow progress I'm afraid due to really poor planning of the flow of work. Most of the time being lost waiting for paints and washes to dry. The last major jobs before the railings were the boats and rafts. With the superb example set by @Old Collingwood with his boats for the Hood i felt I had to improve my game if I could. The rafts were given brown washes over the tan planking. The highlights on the sides are still a bit bright but the final washes will subdue it. The rafts were fitted.on the racks with Gators Grip glue The davits for the boats were made up with the PE ladders (which will be virtually unseen in the final assembly). The boats were detailed with black and brown oil washes And added to the ship At this point, ready to move to the railings I suddenly realised I had a boat still on the sprue. There is a fourth boat that lives on chocks on teh port side and I had missed it. That will now be painted and detailed. Thanks for looking in Alan

Thats a good point OC. I do like the look of the railings it somehow finishes the model off. On the other hand I don't usually add the rigging. In 1/700 its almost invisible and I fear the load on the delicate masts. I have a couple of the easy IBG destroyer kits to experiment on but at a foot or so the rigging just isn't visible. Alan

The result is magnificent Alan

All the upper deck PE is installed and the lockers, depth chargers and throwers are placed on the main decks. A late Christmas present showed up today. The scissors are very nice and should allow precise cutting. They seem sharp and well made. The blue tool is a pair of fine tweezers. I'm still getting used to them. They seem good for control when placing small parts but at the moment I am experiencing a higher percentage of "ping" events with small parts departing the tweezers at speed. That is probably my lack of familiarity. So, touch up of the paint and washes are next. Thanks for looking Alan

Thank you kindly OC. I swear the PE is thinner than the norm for Flyhawk. The PE davits are actually too thin I think. The plastic ones might be a but chunky but the PE ones are like hairs stuck on the model. I had to use a couple because the plastic ones were damaged and i don't like them too much. Alan

Thats another good point Mark Thanks Alan

Thank you for the confirmation Egilman. The SDF only had a handful of the Rolls-Royce cars and they were used for patrol and garrison work so very possibly were not marked. As far as I know they were never used in WW2 combat Alan

Thanks for the kind comment and the input. So far I haven't found any photos showing how the SDF marked their cars. I have thought of using the ID numbers provided in the kit and then part obscuring them with sand and dust. Alan

I did find that all three depth charge rails are needed so the first one will go in the middle where it is harder to see the detail. I made up the others by making the first fold and then gluing the solid floor onto the side frame and letting it dry before folding up the rest of the rail frames. The Gators Grip glue worked well. The slight elasticity that remains when the glue has set means that it floor didn't ping off while being worked around. The picture shows one set of rails completed and the last one in process The I fitted the repaired main mast and this time it dropped into place first time. I had taken the precaution of putting a little Gators Grip on the forward leg but no fiddling was necessary this time. Then it was back to adding the PE ladders and continuing with the railings. So far it is going nicely although the PE is very flimsy. I'll finish all the upper deck railings and then add the depth charger throwers and rafts and boats before the main deck railings. Thanks for looking Alan