These three models were initially put together in the late 80's and have since been gathering plenty of dust. I have recently renewed my interest in small scale Matchbox armour subjects (more builds will hopefully follow soon) and after my recent yearly trip to the Telford show I thought I would resurrect these three as part of my contribution to the Cold War SIG of which I am a member, after chatting to the new SIG Leader.
Here's what I started with, a trio of proper dust magnets:
The models were carefully washed with warm soapy water and allowed to air dry. The Bradley needed the most work as a number of major assemblies had not been fitted although I had given the model a coat of Olive Drab paint - why I did that is long erased from my memory!
As you can see, a number of parts were fitted, including the front swimming panel that is raised along with side screens when the vehicle is being used in the water - this model represents an early Bradley and this function was deleted on later versions of the vehicle. The panel has been backed with Verlinden mesh, which is considerably finer that the black mesh that came with the kit. After studying various online photos of early Bradleys, it became apparent that a number of grab handles along the sides of the vehicle had not been supplied by Tamiya. For a change I decided to use 0.5mm Plastruct rod to make the handles rather than the brass wire that I normally use, which made the job of bending and fitting a little easier although the handles will be more delicate and susceptible to damage than ones made out of brass. The plastic rod was carefully bent in the jaws of a small pair of needle-nosed pliers and fixed with liquid cement into pre-drilled holes. The number and placement of these handles seems to vary amongst vehicles, which has led me to suspect that they are a divisional depot fit rather than a factory fit. Naturally, I could be wrong
I have gone for a generic look so far as placement and number are concerned.
Next up, I turned my attention to the Abrams, which required a little less work. The weird and wonderful looking paint scheme on this model is the result of it having served time as an airbrush queen for other builds i.e. it was used as a test bed for airbrush techniques. I elected to close the turret hatches and added replacement handles to the turret side storage bin lids and loader's (?) hatch again using Plastruct rod. I also repaired the loader's machine gun with a replacement barrel end from an M-60 machine gun out of Tamiya's modern U.S. accessories set that I bought at around the same time as the models. Firing grips were also added using scrap plastic card and rod.
At the turret front, I drilled out the tube thingy next to the main gun - I suspect this is some kind of sensor device on the full size but, whatever, it shouldn't be solid as per the kit part.
Easiest of the trio to get ready was the Ford MUTT. Basically all I have done is to carefully remove the windscreen surround from the bonnet (hood) and the clear windscreen part from the surround to save having to mask it. The windscreen surround has been placed back on to the model here just for the purpose of the photo.
Then it was on with the first of the new paint. I am aiming to finish all three models in a four-colour MERDC (?) scheme. I have used Tamiya acrylics, all applied by airbrush. Base coat is XF-64 Red Brown, lightened with a couple of drops of matt white as per Tamiya's instructions, followed by a disruptive coat of quite heavily thinned XF-58 Olive Green, which was sprayed freehand.
Abrams:
Bradley:
Ford MUTT:
And that's where I'm up to at the moment. Later today I am going to commence applying the next colours, which consist of narrower stripes of black (I will probably use NATO Black) and a mix of sand and white.
Thanks for looking.
