Club News:
At the end of September, four members of the club, ably assisted by “Otto” from Farnborough & Mathew Lane, were able to assist the Dorset & Wilts Wing ATC with their annual model competition.
There were a large number of entries; so judging was quite a long, but satisfying task. In some classes, picking out the top three was fairly easy, but in the dioramas at least, two of us had to revisit some, awarding or docking a half mark here & there in order to sort out the top three.
It was very pleasing to see the hobby flourishing well, with some future very good modellers in the making.
October saw Dave Berryman's slide show. This was a marvellous nostalgia evening, offering a mix of air shows from the 60's & early 70's, with a look at some of the scrap parks & private collections which used to exist. There were also a few AFV's thrown in as well. This was very well received by a very appreciative audience.
There were some lovely new models on display. A very nice 111 Sqn. Hunter – Big, black & beautiful, plus a range of AFV's on display.
But, where have all the aircraft gone? This comment, by a member could be echoed by many. We have had some marvellous AFV models on display lately, me included! But, what about the aircraft? Plus, what about the new purchases? Come on guys, bring something along!
Quote of the year!
“Seems like they had a awful lot of models on display, never realised how big the show was.
Is it 1/2 size of Telford? “
What were they talking about? Photos of our show on the Britmodeller website!
Gordon New 1925 – 2008
Sadly, I have to report the loss of our founding member, who died peacefully at home in October.
For those of you newer members of the club, Gordon founded the original Salisbury Model Club in the late seventies, when a group of like-minded friends used to meet every other Tuesday, first in his front room & later, moving to the back of the house, in order to share & enjoy their hobby. This small group welcomed new members, some of whom moved on & others who stayed to form the embryo from which the present IPMS Branch has grown.
Gordon was a very keen modeller, whose main interests were the RAF, trainers & biplanes. His knowledge of these was encyclopaedic! Here was a man who could literally tell the difference between a Tabloid & a Dolphin at a single glance! Models of other aircraft were always viewed with interest, although my Japanese aircraft were studied with a slightly quizzical eyebrow, whilst AFV modellers were often greeted with, “It is a very nice model, but what is it exactly?” But no matter what you built, he was a man who was always quick to both praise & encourage. Also, he was an expert at taking parts from several kits, adding the odd strut here & piece of poly-card there to produce yet another obscure biplane with which to tease us.
The small social circle in Harnham unfortunately outgrew Gordon’s generous accommodation & so the club was formed in rented premises. For a time, both groups flourished along side each other, with some modellers attending both venues. Then, it was decided to form a full branch of the IPMS & new, larger premises were needed. Once again, Gordon led the way, arranging for the club to rent Dennis Marsh House, where it still meets today.
Unfortunately, Gordon’s hearing started to deteriorate & he found the level of background noise rather too much in the main hall, so he tended to man the kitchen, providing hot drinks & quiet conversation away from the main throng.
At one club AGM, it was unanimously decided by the members that all Gordon’s efforts should be formally recognised & he was awarded Honorary Life Membership of IPMS Salisbury.
Sadly, deteriorating health & particularly hearing caused Gordon to cease attending the main meetings, though he remained interested in the doings of the club & continued to encourage modellers whenever he met them.
At Gordon’s funeral, three current members of the club were joined by one of the original founders, then a schoolboy, now an RAF Officer of some standing. We four representing the club, along with many senior scoutmasters were able at least to acknowledge Gordon’s life long devotion to encouraging both young & old in Salisbury to enjoy some wonderful hobbies & pastimes.
Gordon’s name will of course be added to our memorial shield.
Peter. Hon. Sec.
Trade News:
For those eagerly awaiting the Airfix TSR2, delivery is scheduled for January 2009. HOWEVER; Test shots show a greatly improved level of detail & fit of parts compared with the 1/72nd version. I might have to get one afterall!
Kinetic 1/48th.
K48002 - F-16A MLU Block 15
Decal options for Norway, Denmark, Belgium, The Netherlands Air Force.
Product highlights:
MLU (Mid-Life-Update)/ADF upgrade parts, NSI (small mouth) intake, PW engine nozzle. AGM-119 missiles, AAQ-28 Sniper Pod, AIM-9M, AIM-120B, AGM-65, GBU-24, GBU-31, GBU97, Mk.82, ALQ-131, AAQ-13, AAQ-14,AAQ-28,Sniper XR
K48005 - F-16DG/DJ Block 50 - USAF Viper 2-in-1
USAF 555FS “Triple Nickle” Aviano AB, Italy USAF 35th Fighter Wing/Pacific Air Forces (PACAF), Misawa AB, Japan.
Product highlights: WAR HUD, AIM-120B and AIM-120C missiles, positionable slat/flaps, GBU-38 bombs included. 450+ Parts. "Rich" Weapons List included:AIM-9M, AIM-120B, AIM-120C,AGM-65, AGM-88, GBU-24, GBU-31, GBU-87,GBU-12,GBU-38,Mk.82, ALQ-131, ALQ-184, AAQ-13, AAQ-14,AAQ-28,Sniper XR.
They look fantastic, so I look forward to seeing one soon!
Hasegawa:
1/350th IJN Akagi aircraft carrier plus all the update & brass sets, all in one box.
The catch? £300.00 plus VAT, postage & UK retailers profit margin!
1/48th Isuzu IS40 fuel truck.
Ki45 Kai Koh (Nick)
F1M Pete
Loads of reissues in 1/72nd & 1/48th with new markings.
Tamiya:
1/48th Austin Tilley.
Pegasus Models (remember them?) along with Blue Max & Silver Cloud Models are now owned by Freight Dog Models.
Trumpeter:
1/16th Tiger II (Henschel turret.) This massive kit includes an optional clear hull & turret to show off the interior detail. Metal drive sprockets & ready assembled, fully working track.
Only £299.99! BUT, there are more parts to the engine alone than there probably are in the Tamiya 1/35th Tiger II!
Oz Mods:
1/144th Canberra B(I)8. RAAF & SAAF markings.
Stop Press:
Revell: 1/48th Mosquito BIV.
It looks as if further versions will follow as well.
The Nationals – Or Scale Model World 2008.
Well, that’s it for another twelve months! You have once again missed the largest model show in the world!
Club display first. Well-done chaps. Full tables, lots of variety & a much appreciative audience. Ben’s cars gained a great deal of interest, as did Steve’s “Bone”. Small models were not missed out either as several people commented on Dave Berryman’s 1/76th Green Goddess. Behind the tables there were the usual piles of shopping as well!
Don produced fliers for our show & there were numerous enquiries from traders & clubs alike.
Overall, I felt it was a good show, but nothing really leaped out at me this year as being really spectacular. It was all just a very nice display. Competition entries were once again up. I spoke to one of the judges & he commented that judging the winners was very difficult. It often came down to a magnifying glass to try & dock half a point so as to reach a final decision.
The traders I spoke to were all very happy & this was backed up by a report at the Branch Secretaries’ meeting. The new AFV Club Churchill was running out fast. I would give you a quick report, but Mrs. Santa Claus has fitted a modeller proof lock on it! Judging by the kit boxes leaving the show each day, the recession has yet to strike British modellers, or is this the new hedge fund I wonder? Rumour has it that a MkIV & “funnies” may well follow.
Airfix had a large crowd of visitors, examining test shots of the 1/48th TSR2 & 1/24th Mosquito. Revell also had some spectacular new models on show. At last we have a Battle of Britain Ju88, in 1/32nd as well! Tamiya/Dragon/Italeri by comparison seemed a little quiet this year.
News from the committee is that we are at Telford for the next five years. 2013 is the 50th Anniv. of the society as well, so plan on something spectacular. The biggest problem is space. Several braches & traders were turned away this year as there was no room for them, but this is hopefully being addressed for next year.
I took some photos of my favourites, so there may well be a slide show soon.
Peter.
Middle Wallop Hobbies Day:
A very good little show this. We had a good position, with plenty of light, next to a Scout (the aircraft – not a boy!).
Trade stands were very good. Nothing new though, probably due to being so close to SMC at Telford. There were plenty of second hand traders as well, not just plastic kits, but military memorabilia as well.
Members attending were; Mick H. bill, Roger D. “Speedy” & myself. Speedy’s Hip was probably the most photographed model on display in the hangar & it certainly raised quite a few eyebrows!
I think that we should definitely support this show if it takes place again in 2009.
Brian Rose.
Tank Museum news:
During an enforced wait at Studland the other week, I took the opportunity for a quick look at the Tank Museum.
Noted were;
Admission: £11.00
The new arena looks good, with grass embankments to sit / stand on so if you are not at the front, you still get a good view. There are some stone gabions on the corners for safety as well.
The new restaurant is upstairs, above a posh new entrance hall & shop. The shop had average kits, but good books as well as the usual mugs, t-shirts etc.
The restaurant has an outside veranda, overlooking the arena, also, a view down into the new hall. Prices for food were reasonable & the coffee was good!
The new hall is under layout at the moment. It has good lighting & a raised balcony allowing a view down into it. This is to be a story of the tank exhibition, so it is a very mixed gallery. There are to be a lot of subsidiary displays as well, but so far, only the tanks are in there. The layout looks good for study / photography. I noticed that the Panther has been repainted in a possible late war scheme, but wouldn't it be nice to copy an actual vehicle? The Tiger I & both Tiger IIs are to remain in the "old" museum due to their popularity.
With 31 "new" exhibits in this hall, I did ask what would be new in the rest of the museum, but they refused to be drawn on this subject. All the halls are to be drastically altered to make them more appealing (!), but other than that, the situation is rather fluid at the moment. In the reserve park there were three AVRE variants of Centurion / Chieftain / Challenger as well as a very shot up, but carefully repainted, Matilda 1 hull.
The collection is under serious review at the moment, with many possible disposals to other museums) &/or exchanges. The hope is to also present as many vehicles as possible as runners in future, so that they may be fully appreciated.
Partial opening will be in January, with full opening early April.
Peter.
Modelling gone mad.
OK Sherman superdetaillers! There is now a 25 part resin kit to enable you to construct an accurate British Commanders cupola for your 1/35th Sherman!
Did you know?
That Allied “Jerry cans” had shaped tags welded on to them so that users could identify the contents in the dark?
French Jerry cans even had a tag to identify the contents as wine, although whether red - sorry – rouge or blanc is not recorded, nor is a vintage chart!
Tales from the Warren: The Hon Sec’s Rabbit column.
It has been a long time since one of these, so…
The trouble with Decal Sheets:
No this is not a tale of silvering, or other usual modelling problems. This is far more fundamental.
Does anyone else out there admit to a reluctance to cut up a decal sheet? Not the ones which come with the kit, that's just like trimming the parts off of the sprue frames, but those commercial after market sheets which we all buy?
Well, I do! I also find it hard to dispose of the leftovers, or even worse, cut up a brand new sheet so as to keep the ones I want & pass on or sell / swap the rest!
I suppose it is the Philatelist (stamp collector if you insist!)* in me, which makes me want to keep these miniature art form sheets in pristine condition. I know of some people who just collect decal sheets as works of art. Others who buy two, one to use & one to keep & admire! But, I am not quite that bad. I only buy sheets with the intention of using them & I do (eventually) cut them up for use. Mind you, I then hang on to the bits I will never use as well! A sheet for the Mosquito comes to mind. I purchased this in order to build a particularly attractive FBVI. But there was another, almost as attractive, FBVI on the sheet as well, so, guess what, I purchased a second kit to go with it! The other two aircraft on the sheet were of no interest to me at all, but I had to be really firm with myself in order to cut the sheet in half & sell the other half to a fellow modeller, thus halving the cost of my original purchase. Yes, two of us benefited, but it came hard to do so!
Even worse, I buy a large number of the excellent Kagero books. Now, inside are often a sheet of decals in 1/32nd, 1/48th & 1/72nd scales. So, as a 1/48th modeller, why do I keep them intact & cherished?
Perhaps someone will put me out of my misery & offer cash for the two sets, which I will never use!
Oh well, it is only a hobby & one should always please oneself, but I do wonder at the psychology behind it all sometimes!
Peter. Hon. Sec.
* A "Philatelist" studies stamps & postal history, a "stamp collector" just collects them.
1/48 Grumman F9F-8 Cougar
Fonderie Miniatures
Like the Grumman F11F-1 Tiger previously reviewed, the Cougar has also been near the top of my wants list and , not having been totally disillusioned by my experience of the Tiger by the same company, I just had to have one. I purchased my example at the 2006 Bath show from Andy Pack, receiving the usual 10% discount he offers to Salisbury Club members. I had a quick look through the box at the show and seemed okay, but sometime later, on taking a closer look with a view to starting the build, I found there were no main wheels or ejection seat. Luckily, Fonderie Miniatures were at the 2006 Nationals, so I managed to obtain replacement parts.
As usual, construction started with the cockpit which was a mixture of resin and etched brass. Unlike the Tiger, this kit at least had a throttle quadrant, but, yet again, the instrument panel had no instrument faces, these once more being taken from the Reheat range. With reference to the appropriate Steve Ginter book, extra detailing was added to the cockpit with recourse to the Reheat range. Once completed, the main cockpit areas were painted interior green, switch consoles and instrument panels in matt black. Individual switches were painted in a variety of red, yellow and white, applied with a sharp toothpick. I have only recently started using this method and find it far superior to using a small brush. The cockpit was as usual treated to various washes to bring out the detail and oily steel dry-brushed in appropriate areas to simulate wear and tear. At this stage I also cleaned up the airbrake bay and once again painted it interior green. The jet pipe and rear bulkhead, after some dry fitting and sanding, was fitted into the rear fuselage. The locating holes for the four 20mm cannon were drilled out, cleaned up, the kit supplied cannon being consigned to the spares box, to be replaced by brass tube later in the construction. The nose area was filled with lead shot and superglue and locating pins were drilled and superglued into one half of the fuselage, the appropriate holes being drilled into the other half. The cockpit assembly and airbrake bay were superglued into the starboard fuselage half and once again, after lots of dry fitting, both the fuselage halves were glued together. The joints were filled with superglue, sanded smooth and detail was rescribed where necessary.
With the fuselage completed, I then tackled the wings. These comprise a complete lower half with two upper halves. The resin main wheel bay, after test fitting and some sanding was superglued into the lower half of the wing, as was the bulkhead attachment for the tail hook. The two upper halves were glued, once again after test fitting, to the lower half and when dry, the joints were sanded, filled and rescribing carried out where necessary. The engraved wingtip navigation lights were cut off and replaced with clear plastic sanded to shape. The etched brass wing fences were dry fitted to the locating grooves in the upper surface of the wings then superglue was run down the sides. When dry, the joint was filled then sanded. Vacuform intake trunking is supplied, but the fit is rather poor, requiring a fair amount of Milliput to achieve a good finish.
Test fitting the wings to the fuselage showed a propensity for error due to a rather inexact fit, so I started the process by attaching the tailplanes to the fin, in order to have something to align the wings with. The wings were then taped to a flat board and, after numerous checks to ensure they were level, the fuselage was placed into the wings, the line up was checked out with a laser spirit level and when happy, I fed some superglue into the joint. When that had set, the model was removed from the board and more superglue was fed into the joint. Lots of sanding was required to level the joints between wing and fuselage, remaining gaps were filled with Milliput and sanded down smooth. The intake leading edges were glued in place and yet again Milliput was applied to the joint. I added extra detailing with plaster strip and brass piping to the rear canopy shelf after reference to the Steve Ginter book.
The undercarriage legs and under-fuselage airbrake sub assemblies were constructed as per instruction though the location of some of the smaller etched brass eluded me due to the poor quality of the instruction sheet. The particular aircraft I had decided to model was fitted with a refuelling probe so I tidied this up and drilled a hole of sufficient size in the nose for attachment after decaling was complete. Air scoops and the tail bumper were glued into position to complete the mainframe assembly.
Two vacform canopies are supplied and, although slightly better than the ones for the Tiger, again a lot of work was required with Micromesh, plastic polish and Klear to obtain a reasonable result. The windshield and the canopy were separated. Thin plastic strip painted matt black was used to represent the canopy framing and to provide stiffeners to both of them. The aft canopy coaming was painted interior green then glued to the rear canopy.
The main airframe and ancillary components were washed and set aside to dry. The decal options provide for three aircraft – the inevitable Blue Angels scheme and two in overall glossy dark sea blue, one from VF13 with light blue markings and one from VF61 with yellow markings which is the one I chose to do.
The airframe, undercarriage and airbrake doors, undercarriage legs, arrester hook etc were sprayed with Humbrol grey primer. Any blemishes in the filler were repaired and another coat of primer was applied. When dry, the primer was sanded with Micromesh then the leading edges of the wings, tailplane and fin were hand painted with Humbrol gloss aluminium and then polished. The windscreen was attached with superglue and blended in with Milliput, the external framing being painted matt black. After the necessary masking, the topcoat of Xtracrylix glossy dark sea blue was airbrushed on and when dry, a couple of coats of Klear were applied. After my experience with the Tiger decals, I treated decal application with lots of circumspection and Klear. The yellow decals round the nose and tailplanes are in outline form and the centres of these were painted in with Humbrol yellow. The large yellow decals extending from ahead of the intakes to the jet exhaust were cut into two pieces to ease handling and , where appropriate, kit decals were replaced with ones from the decal bank. Once the decals were dry, Klear was airbrushed on to seal in the decals. All the sub assemblies were attached to the airframe, then some weathering was carried out. The rear cockpit canopy, arrester hook and refuelling probe were glued in position to complete the project. I had hoped the Cougar would be an improvement on the Tiger, but they were both much of a muchness. However, it’s another step to completing my US NAVY line-up, but when will Trumpeter announce a Banshee?
Bill Allan.
Revell 1/72 Hawker Hunter FGA9
This is my review of the Hawker Hunter offering from Revell. For those that know me, it has to be XE601 from Boscombe Down. I intended to model it in its traditional grey scheme; as personally I just don’t think it suited the ripple livery.
I purchased the kit immediately after it hit the shops. I remember having that ferocious feeling of I must get mine first – even though I had no intension of making it for some time!
The kit itself is a million miles apart from the Airfix & Matchbox offerings I have been used to over the years. The instructions and decals are “how it should be”, and from this I certainly get the impression that Revell have raised their game.
As always for us aircraft modellers we start with the cockpit (for the tank chaps – that’s where the crew sit). The ejection seat consists of 4 parts including the pull handle. Instrument panel is offered either as raised detail or if you’re a big girl you can use the decals. I painted mine, knowing that you probably wouldn’t see any of it, but you’ve just got to do it. The main body was clamped together and shortly after the wings. The wheel wells come complete with a mass of detail including piping and all the main ribs. The engraved detail really becomes apparent and its truly looks like a Hunter even at this early stage. Tail plane and airbrake soon followed, but I set the airbrake at a small angle to simulate a slight sagging, although the airbrake can be set open or closed; again all ribbing/bracing is engraved inside.
The undercarriage was attached and the flaps set at an angle. I masked the front canopy frame and primed the model using Halfords finest. This showed up only a couple of minor errors along the wing/body join. Then I airbrushed Light Aircraft Grey (Humbrol acrylics (little square pots)) and this set off the finish really quite nicely – no orange peel here. I followed this up with a gloss finish and started decaling. I elected to decal first then put on the red stripe and it was easier to keep everything in a straight line. The decals all came from the spares box, with just the common to both being taken from the kit. For the first time I actually used red decal for the stripe, as usually I paint/spray all day long. This made the job a lot easier and it came to light once the stripe was on. XE601 was alive.
I finished up with the details by adding the opened canopy and the little “bumps” which sit on the roundel. Various antennas were added. I then added on the fuel tanks. The smaller ones were taken straight from the kit and sprayed red. I wanted to do the “Porton Down” tanks, so cut the kits fuel tanks and extended them by using Airfix’s Alpha Jet cluster bombs. These, although very inaccurate, had just the right curvature for what I wanted. So after some surgery and some filling they were created. I added some plastic tube to the rear of each tank, to simulate the dispenser. Priming and spraying white finished them off nicely. The ladder was added from some old PP Aero parts I had lying around and at the same time I added intake guards, just to finish off the look.
I can recommend this kit to anybody. It is highly detailed for a 1/72 kit and anybody that can take the lid off a glue tube can build this.
Speedy.
Spot the Modeller:
No. 2 in a series of infinity.
On holiday in Belgium, a man is taking a very keen interest in building sites & road works.
An inspector perhaps? A builder, having a busman’s holiday & checking on the opposition?
No, a modeller, noting the colours of Belgian mud for a possible 1940’s diorama scene!
There were the odd raised eyebrow looks from my other half mind you!
Library Corner:
The German Battery at Longues-sur-Mer
Remy Desquesnes.
Orep Editions. 5 Euros (£4.95)
Offered by Casemate Publications, I ordered this little booklet to help satisfy my appetite for information on WWII defence bunkers.
35 pages, all with colour & a text, which whilst obviously translated directly from the French, is still very readable.
There is a brief illustrated history of the Atlantic Wall & the theory behind it, before this very important battery is then described in detail. Adequate technical information is given in the guide to the four casemates & the forward observation & control bunker.
This was the only battery to actually fire on the Allies on D-Day, finally being dealt with by HMS Ajax, assisted by both US & French warships. Today, the position has been preserved, complete with the guns, by the French. I visited it some 30 years ago & was amazed at what I could explore. It looks as if this has been improved upon by the French & if you are visiting Normandy, this is a must see site.
A very good little booklet, which is part history, part guidebook. I thought it excellent value for money.
Peter. Hon. Sec.
Focke Wulf FW200 Condor
Marek J. Murawski
Kagero No. 32 £16.95
Latest from this prolific author comes the Condor. Now, not a lot has been published on this important aircraft & this volume certainly doubles my library & knowledge of it!
The usual format applies. Written entirely in English, with photos new & old, some colour, technical manual extracts & drawings make up the book. There is also a set of transparency masks included.
The civilian versions, operating both with DLH & the Luftwaffe are described, before the main part of the book covers the wartime service.
There are some excellent photos for the super detailer, as well as some interesting extracts from official publications. For some strange reason, the German censor did not like ears, as these are nearly always blacked out whenever a figure appears in the photo!
On the down side, there are no details of the Hs293 missiles carried by the beast, but the rest of the book is very readable & informative. The colour illustrations are also well chosen, showing a small variety of schemes, which can be applied to the Condor.
Finally, Condor or Kurier? Well, it was the Condor! Kurier was a code name applied to the military version by one Adolph Hitler, to conceal the fact that he had a possible long-range bomber. But, surprisingly for a Fuhrerbefhel, it did not catch on & was quietly ignored!
Once again, a highly recommended read for any Luftwaffe man.
Peter. Hon. Sec.
German Secret Panzer Projects.
Waldemar Trojca.
With all the late war Panzer funnies appearing, when I saw this second-hand in Endless Models, I snapped it up, if only to get educated!
The book starts with a very good historical & technical description of “Maus”. This includes lots of technical drawings, to 1/35th scale with 1/17.5th scale details as well as a load of photographs illustrating construction & testing, as well as a list of the various colour schemes which the two (or possibly three) vehicles wore.
This takes up the first 58 pages of the book. Then comes E-100, which has a brief description, excellent technical drawings & some photographs. Rumour has it that this still exists at Bovington, but a man can dream perhaps!
To follow are brief details & drawings of Bar, Lowe, P-1000 (initially 1000 tonnes & later 1500 tonnes in weight!) These too get a series of engineering drawings.
Finally, we come to the colour schemes. Maus gets four pages – did you know that it carried a red star & an inverted hammer & sickle? This was a security ruse to make it appear to be a captured Russian tank under test! There are also possible schemes for E-100, Lowe & Bar as well as PzKpfw X!
A good read, OK, little text, but a lot of info, mostly factual & some pipe dreams. Well worth considering if you like armour.
Finally, a few Maus statistics for you;
Weight:
Maus 188 tonnes (turret 55 tons!)
[Challenger II 62.5 tonnes (inc. turret)]
Fuel consumption:
Maus 15 gallons to the mile!
Range: 40 miles.
Top speed: 20 kph. (12 mph.)
Currently out of print & retailing on Amazon for £30.00, at £9.99 it was a bargain!
Peter. Hon. Sec. (Gradually sinking into the dark side!)
Paint your wagon
I have often stated in my articles how research prompted by the latest build often leads to some very interesting discoveries, many of which I have passed on through the newsletter. Whilst building a Gulf War Challenger 2 for a friend who commanded one in 2003 I turned up some surprises when it came to the subject of painting British AFVs deployed in sand coloured schemes.
You will no doubt be familiar with the standard British finish, living as we do near Salisbury plain. To recap most vehicles are finished in NATO Green. Black is applied in disruptive patterns at central depots from spray guns, but once at unit locations usually by brush, any thought of keeping to regulation patterns is then lost till the next major overhaul. You may have noticed a lessoning in the number of vehicles seen with the black patterning. Many new vehicles coming into service are painted green at the factory and because they arrive with a warranty there are many restrictions on what can be done by the receiving unit, hence no over spray with black stripes. Look at the latest fleet of Landrovers next time you pass a convoy. Landrover Defenders (usually TA) will have black while newer Landrover Wolf will not.
The standard NATO Green paint is a permanent coating and is chemical agent resistant as well as being Infra Red reflective, as is most black paint (though the odd wrong tin may find its way onto the vehicle park). Before moving on to the sand colour schemes, a point for modellers. You’ll all no doubt never use pure black on your AFV’s preferring a very dark grey, Good: however you may wish to add a little green to the mix too as throughout my career I have never seen soldiers care too much about cleaning their issued paint brushes, The result is darker green touch ups against black touch ups that have a green hue. The Saxon fleet in Bulford in 1996 had some very varied tones displayed.
Many of you will be familiar with NATO Tan a sandy coloured paint also used as a permanent paint on the vehicles in BATUS, Canada. I believe this was used on Challenger 1 in the first Gulf conflict, 1991. A shortage of paint meant some strange home brews were also applied, notably the ‘Banana custards’, the Scammel Commander tank transporters seen in a bright yellow as well as a few ‘ Pink’ RAF Landrovers.
However as the locations of conflict involving British forces seems more and more varied newer types of paint have become available and it was only when applying a desert finish to my Challenger 2 did I realise there was more than one choice and that it had significant differences when it came to applying weathering effects to a model.
Firstly we have a semi-permanent finish which is known as Temporary Camouflage Coating (TCC) and second the Temporary Camouflage Peelable (TCP) and as I list the differences you will appreciate how different the portrayal of weathering and of paint chips will be.
In application TCC is normally sprayed on at high pressure. In Telic 1, the second Gulf war, civilian contractors painted most of the Challengers in Kuwait in specially constructed protective tents, though the troops assisted in masking and marking. It goes on as thinly as possible.
TCP on the other hand is meant to be applied by brush (or roller!) and can be done in unit barracks or the field. It is designed to coat a vehicle 4 to 8 times thicker than TCC in order to give it the ability to be peeled off the vehicle surface when the colour is no longer required.
Both paints are give an application life of 12 months though can last longer. TCC will weather down and due to the thinness of coating, sand and grit will abrade the surfaces like sandpaper letting the under colour slowly show through (like dry brushing). The thicker TCP will resist sand abrasion but will still chip. Chips will have a tendency to extend as the raised edges of the thick coating catch and peel off (use masking fluid to simulate). In fact the surface is so strong that no masking is undertaken by soldiers applying TCP. Once a vehicle is fully painted, windscreen and all, a blade is run around the window and the painted area peeled off like old wallpaper. This method is used to remove the coating while TCC is washed of with Alkaline solvent delivered through a jet-wash. TCC is generally not touched up by a unit, while TCP can be removed from a certain area such as a wing panel and reapplied locally. In hot areas TCP can be dry in 1 hour though temperate climates will need 7 days to cure fully in order to be peelable.
Both TCC and TCP come in various colours but desert yellow would appear to be the current favourite, no surprises there but white TCP will also replace the old fashioned Norway whitewash.
I invite club members to submit anecdotes regarding British vehicles in unusual finish whether caused by design or the effects of the environment. For me the most interesting so far was a RE officers SWB hardtop Landrover deployed to Kosovo in 2003. It was basic NATO green over which TCC desert yellow had been applied. It was in a very heavily worn state, about 40% chipped and worn, scratched and rubbed away. The doors were however newly replaced direct from Landrover ltd so in a semi matt black finish having never been painted at all since leaving the production line. Green chevrons adorned the hardtop sides where the black tape Gulf war markings had been removed taking the paint with it. The tape’s glue residue on body sides and around the light fittings had turned white just to add to the tardy look. The Engineer officer was embarrassed by the poor turnout of his Landy but it does undermine the tempo of Operations now and the difficulty of ‘Whole fleet management’ where there is no time between deployments to return vehicles for deep cleaning and re-spraying.
Sibo
Club Events:
2/12/08 Martin Baker – Brian Rose
16/12/08 Mince Pies night.
Theme: "My favourite subject."
Of all the models you have built, or might build, which is your favourite subject – not model. Bring it along, built or unbuilt or on a wish list.
2009
Model Shows:
1/2/09 Milton Keynes
Sat. 14/2/09 Yeovilton
Sat. 4/4/09 IPMS Abingdon
Sat. 18/4/09 Poole Vikings
Other Events:
27-28/6/09 Tankfest Bovington
Above, E100 & Swimmwagen.
Below, Challenger 2, Operation Telic.
