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 by the Kiwi's.

From the Flames Of War website, no idea of the provenance.

"In November 1941, C Squadron became the envy of the New Zealand Divisional Cavalry when they obtained four Stuart ‘Honey’ tanks from the Afrika Korps, who had previously captured them from the British 4th Armoured Brigade [probably 3 RTR].  A special troop made up of surplus squadron personnel was set up, led by Sgt Charlie Mack DCM. This unit fought with panache and distinction, including a furious counterattack against German infantry who were assaulting the gun line of 8 Field Regiment Royal Artillery near Sidi Rezegh and then successfully defeating a number of heavier panzers in a defensive battle."

The Kit

This fully 3D printed kit is a collaboration between Japanese modeller Jun Temma and Mark Kerr (Flowfire Models).  From what I understand, Jun Temma  originally did the core design focusing on 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 Pegasus 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 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 other set the track shattered into 5 pieces. These were glued back together around the drive sprocket. In the future I'd consider breaking apart the tracks before fitting them.

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's 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 and is covered in so much raised detail, masking the scheme proved to be a pain, and took 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 groundwork 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

1/48 Hasegawa Nakajima B5N2 Carrier Attack Bomber (Kate) Model 3

Depicted as first attack wave commanders aircraft from the IJN Carrier Akagi Pearl harbour December 1941.  Crew: Captain Matsuzaki Mitsuo (pilot) Commander Fuchida Mitsuo (observer) and Airman First Class Mizuki Morinobu (radio operator)

Japanese World War 2 subjects are not something that I usually build. In fact I have only ever built one other, that being a Tamiya Zero . I picked the Kate up at the local hobby shop as it was in the 50% off rack to build as a quick palate cleanser.  

The Kit

• 1/48 Hasegawa Nakajima B5N2 Carrier Attack Bomber (Kate) Model 3 (Kit No 09076/JT76)

Aftermarket

• Eduard Self Adhesive PE set, Parts used -  Instrument panels and seal belt.

The Build

Hasegawa give you a magnificent cockpit straight from the box. I should have used the decals for the IP but was to lazy so went with an Eduard PE one.

 
I did find out I painted the cockpit the wrong colour (Tamiya IJN cockpit green XF71). I had matched it to the coloured PE (which I didn't end up using) rather than using the colour called out in the instructions (Mr Color 127) which is a light tan colour. But as this was a simple palette cleanser I decided to leave it and crack on.  Once you put the cockpit assembly into the fuselage not a lot can be seen anyway.

Fit on this kit is pretty good.  A few seams needed addressing as usual, but the only other filler needed was where the leading edge of one wing joined the fuselage. 

The main issue was the faint, in places Hasegawa engraving.  This needed re-scribing and this is a part of modelling I despise but as I'm always telling Gary from Scalespot.com, panel lines do need to be properly prepared.  Hasegawa's rock hard plastic does you no favours here.  Thankfully all the engraving that needed fixing were a 3 or 4 long straight lines.  

Markings

I wasn't so sure about the Hasegawa decals as this is an old kit, and as the markings are pretty straightforward I figured I'd paint them.  I usually like to do the markings after the main colours as I find I have less issues that way. But decided to do it first this time.

Masks were made by scanning the decal sheet and tracing with Corel Draw, then cut with my Silhouette Portrait.  

I prefer the tape over vinyl as it is much easier to burnish down.  The stripe on the tail is Tamiya tape for curves.  The red is Mr Color Red Madder, my favourite red.  Whilst it's way brighter than the Hasegawa markings I know it will darken under a sepia wash.

Painting and Finishing

Mr Colour 15 Dark Green Nakajima, as per the instructions was used for the upper green colour. Mr Color Super Silver and Tamiya AS12 were used on the underside. Other shades of greens were sprayed through various splatter masks to try and break up the solid colour.  I think I ended up using to much paint on this model.  The trick with the technique is knowing when to stop.

Once everything was dry I gave the model a rub with some paper towel to remove some roughness in the finish that resulted from not taking care when spraying. Once the surface was smooth enough I applied a wash of ABT 502 Sepia.

A gloss coat was sprayed over the tail prior to applying the Hasegawa decals.  These are very thin and  fragile but they settled down well just with Micro Sol. 

Mr Color GX114 flat was used to flatten everything down. After a couple of coats of GX114 the carrier film was still visible on certain angles. To fix this I applied a coat of VMS Flat, and the carrier film vanished.  Acrylic flats like VMS have some magic super power that makes stubborn carrier film disappear. 

Coloured pencils were used to add some scuffing and scratching. I didn't spend to much time on this as it was intended as palette cleanser.

Final Touches

As usual fitting the clear parts, undercarriage and remaining small bits took way longer than I wanted them to. Once I'd got everything on I wasn't happy with the flatness of the finish so I sprayed some semi-gloss over much of the model. I make my semi-gloss by mixing SMS gloss and flat to get the sheen I am after. 

Rather than use the kit pitot probe I made one from 2 sizes of brass tube.

Conclusion

Despite being first released in 2001 this kit still holds up well. Fit is excellent and detail is more than adequate. It is a great example of why Hasegawa kits were (and are) well regarded by modellers. 

The only issue, which, in my humble opinion, is typical of Hasegawa kits in general,  is that the panel lines can be a little faint/shallow in places.  This kit needed a couple of lines rescribed, but thankfully they were simple straight lines.

If I ever built another I'd do the canopy the closed. The stacked canopies fitted well enough but they do look a little out of scale. 

The Photos