1/48 Stuart MK I - Colorado - C Sqn 2nd New Zealand Divisional Cavalry Regiment 1941

Depicted as 'Colorado', Tank No. T37385 operated by C Squadron, 2nd New Zealand Divisional Cavalry Regiment in 1941. Colorado was first operated by the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment before being captured by the Africa Korps.  It was recaptured at Sidi Rezegh in Libya and allocated to the Kiwi's.

The Kit

This fully 3D printed kit.  It is a collaboration between Japanese modeller Jun Temma and Mark Kerr (Flowfire Models).  From what I understand, Jun Temma  originally did the core design for the US vehicles and Mark did the parts for British/commonwealth versions.

All the files for this kit are freely available for download  Jun Temma Wings of Pegaus Website here.  The page is in Japanese but translation software (like Google Translate) works well. 

I purchased a printed kit from Mark at ScaleACT 2023 as I didn't have a 3D printer at that time.  The quality of the 3D printing is out of this world, the detail is amazing and there were no layer lines that I could see.

The Build

Removing the parts from the supports takes a bit of time. You have to take care as there lots of them and many of the parts are really fine. I did break a few bits but managed to glue them back together.

A rotary tool with a cutting blade was used to remove the supports from the tracks. This worked well.

Some clamping was needed to hold everything in place while the Epoxy set. I thought I had used 5 min epoxy but after it didn't appear to be setting I realised it had a 7 hour setting time - Doh!!.

Despite this I still ended up with a tiny step on the left side between the top and lower hulls. As this vehicle has mud guards this wasn't an issue. 

No instructions came with the kit but Mark posted these CAD images to the 1/48 Armour Modelling Facebook Group. I have reposted them here to assist others in building the kit. These show where you the various can go as there are a few options.

The first coat of AK Real Colors Portland Stone was applied and base coat applied to the tracks. To fit the tracks to the model I first inserted the drive sprocket. This is a really tight fit, On one set of tracks I got it in with a bit of pressure, on the the other set the track shattered into 5 pieces. These were glue back together around the drive sprocket. In the future I'd consider breaking the tracks beforehand.

After some dry fitting I figured that I could glue the back (idler?) wheel assembly onto the model and then fit the drive sprocket over its axle. This did work but in hindsight I'd fit the drive sprocket first and then glue the back wheel assembly to the hull. Or, if I'd broken the track fit the drive sprocket and back wheel assembly, then join the track. 

Guards fit well but they are really close to the drive sprocket. Perhaps to close?  But nothing can be done about that so I am cracking on.

I had misplaced the Tool set so I simply headed to Jun Temma site, downloaded them and printed them. I stripped the paint in that area to ensure a better bond.

Painting

I chose a vehicle operated by C Sqn 2nd New Zealand Divisional Cavalry Regiment in November 1941. It is painted in the attractive Caunter scheme. 

There are a number of images of this vehicle, including a profile, in Jeffery Plowman's Camouflage & markings of the Stuarts in New Zealand service. They’re not great quality but you can see bits of the Caunter Scheme. I pretty much made up much of the scheme.

AK Real Colours (Silver Grey (BSC 28), Portland Stone ( BSC 64 and Slate (BSC 34) were used for the paint work. These were part of a set kindly lent to me by a clubmate (thanks Kent).

The red and white markings signifying that the vehicle had (or was) taking part in Operation Crusader,  were SMS Insignia White and Tamiya Flat red.

As the tank is so small but is covered in so much raised detail masking the scheme proved to be more a pain, and take way longer than I'd expected.

Stowage and Weathering

I added a bit of stowage from a Black dog set.  I didn't want to go overboard with stowage and hide the lovely detail on the model.

For the weathering I used Mr Weathering Colour Sandy Wash for the initial dust layer and Shade Brown for the panel line / detail wash. I'd forgotten how nice this stuff is to use. Some Pigments were used for some texture.

I still need to add some rope and bit more dust textures.

The Base

The base is insulation foam skimmed with some AK terrain paste to protect it.  The ground work is sieved fine dirt from the bush where I walk most days.

 

The tank was secured to the base with more AK terrain paste and more dirt pushed around it. Some Mr weathering colour was also used to add some darker areas. I'm quite happy how this turned out. The rope was painted darning thread (cotton).

The Figures

I found a couple of free figures on cults3d. The Tank commander is a sample from Art of War (here) , the other figure is part of 35 Scale Canadian Sherman crew (here). These were printed out and painted, albeit badly. I designed and printed a cup for the guy on the ground. 

Conclusion

Once I figured out how to assemble the tank this was pretty straight forward project. The painting was the most time consuming part.  The detail on this kit is quite spectacular and that it is available for free is quite amazing (assuming you have access to a 3D printer.) Thanks to Jun Temma and Mark Kerr for doing that.  For other Jun Temma has a number of other free 3D designs available on his website.

The Photos