A34 Comet by king derelict - Vespid - 1/72 - PLASTIC

[king derelict]

I decided on a couple of small projects before another 1/700 ship. Here we have the Vespid 1/72 kit of the A34 Comet British tank.

i have no recollection of buying this kit and it’s my first time trying a Vespid kit, Chinese I think.

I suspect it must have been weak will and a sale somewhere.

As I understand it, the Comet was a late war production aiming to correct the faults of the Cromwell tank. Significantly upgunned, better armor and an improved drivetrain for the already reliable engine.

it entered the field in March 1945 and then served with the British and other armies well into the fifties.

Inside the box is a large amount of parts, nicely molded, a small fret of PE, a brass barrel for the main gun and a resin option for the mantlet which looks nice.

The instructions look clear although the paint schemes are hard to interpret. We’re going with brush olive drab.

I actually got the DSPIAE circle cutter working and knocked out twenty masks for the road wheels fairly quickly. The key seems to be to use the lightest possible touch with the traveling blade.

The road wheel tyres have been sprayed with Tamiya NATO Black and are ready to assemble.

 

i have question for the knowledgeable AFV people among us. Conventional wisdom seems to lean towards tank tracks being painted to show rust and a silver color where contact with the terrain has abraded the track. I recently read that tank tracks are made of manganese steel which is pale gold and does not corrode significantly. Any thoughts? Especially looking for help from @Egilman and @Baker. Thanks!

Thank you for looking in.

alan

 

 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 09:15 PM by ccoyle
corrected log title

[Baker]

Nice.

Looks much better than the Matchbox kit from a long time ago.

I don't know an immediate answer to your question, it's going to take some searching.

 

Scale 1/1, fore sale 😇

https://tracksandtrade.com/nl/kavel/1944-comet-a34-mk1-model-a-celerity

 

Edited Monday at 06:08 AM by Baker

[Baker]

Looks like all the metals are rusting

except the tracks

"Brand new" Comets 

Halle, Germany 1947.

the shadow on the bottom right is not me 🤣

Edited Monday at 09:54 AM by Baker

[king derelict]

11 hours ago, Baker said:

Nice.

Looks much better than the Matchbox kit from a long time ago.

I don't know an immediate answer to your question, it's going to take some searching.

 

Scale 1/1, fore sale 😇

https://tracksandtrade.com/nl/kavel/1944-comet-a34-mk1-model-a-celerity

 

Thank you very much for all the great information and photos Patrick. It’s very helpful. The Comet for sale has some excellent detail photos. And looks like a bargain to buy- maybe.

The photos seem to suggest dark brown is still a good color but not so much silver / bright steel.

I don’t think Ive ever knowingly seen manganese steel. It doesn’t feature in jet engines.

Thanks again 

Alan

[Baker]

This one is from the Parola tank museum in Finland. (great museum) Own photo, 2nd tank.

 

 

[Egilman]

Hey Brother,

 

Tank Tracks? Painting.... A long sinuous discussion track...

 

First off, what you paint them depends... Yes it depends on when in the tanks life you want to represent... A new on the ramp tank, a recently issued tank, (Baker gave you a GREAT shot of a recently issued tank, which means original manufacturers tracks) or an old road or battle worn veteran tank... They all look different..

 

A new tank on the delivery ramp? Same color as the tank with bare metal cleat bottoms....

 

A new issued tank just out on manuevers? As I said, Baker gave you an exemplar photo... Perfect, the sprocket ends show the same color as the tank, the track bodies have picked up a coating of dust and the Cleats have almost worn off the initial paint coat on their bottoms showing plain steel.... Perfect for a well maintained or newly issued tank... A note: Tank tracks wear out quickly... One of the major supply issues with tanks is not only fuel and ammo, but replacement tracks... Especially in WWII, all metal tracks were painted in their tanks base color... For a British tank would be British Army Green...

 

A battle worn tank? I would start by black basing the track overall then using dry brushing and washes bring out the rust browns and dirt browns remembering to leave patches of the green showing, for a tank that has really seen the muck then you can go the mucky dirty look with hard basing some kind of medium on the track to show the lumps then the browns and greys to represent the colors of muck...

the world of track painting is just as varied as WWII camuflage, get a few decent color pics and experiment until you gat the look you like...

 

Backer's pic of the late war newly deployed Comet is priceless in this regard...

 

Personally I would go with it....

 

EG

Edited Monday at 08:25 PM by Egilman

[king derelict]

5 hours ago, Baker said:

This one is from the Parola tank museum in Finland. (great museum) Own photo, 2nd tank.

 

 

Thank you again Patrick, very useful. Looks like a terrific museum too

Alan

[king derelict]

3 hours ago, Egilman said:

Tank Tracks? Painting.... A long sinuous discussion track.

Thank you so much EG. That is a lot of information that you pulled together and it’s very much appreciated. The Comets had a pretty short war so I’m planning on a nearly new condition. Some wear on the cleats and some dust on the lower hull. Patrick’s photo also shows that using the resin mantlet was a good choice. It matches the real thing a lot better.

Thanks again.

alan

[king derelict]

I assembled the running gear today. No issues, everything fits nicely. Then onto the tracks. The tracks are link and length again but the individual links have more positive locating features so I’m hopeful that this will be an easier build. The instructions call for 7 links at each end of the track pieces and there are exactly 28 links in the kit. No pressure. 

ive fitted the lower sections so far and then got brave and added the first link. It fits to the adjacent track section nicely so I’m hopeful.

Thanks for looking in, the likes and the excellent input to help me out.

alan

[Old Collingwood]

Looks like an Excellent kit Alan  and those tracks  look  really nice.

 

OC.

[king derelict]

2 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

Looks like an Excellent kit Alan  and those tracks  look  really nice.

 

OC.

It’s really a good kit, nice details and generally well thought out. The track links are better than the Flyhawk ones but still rather fiddle. Im finding it works better if I add a couple of links at a time and then let them dry, otherwise the slightest nudge ends up disturbing the whole section in work.

alan