belugawhaleman Posted September 10, 2022 Share Posted September 10, 2022 I've started this Tamiya Valentine Mk.II/IV yesterday. I posted on What's on your workbench but I'll put the rest of my build here. Yesterday I started on the lower hull and finished the suspension last night. Today did the road wheels ,sprockets, idler wheels , and some minor details. I can say the kit is a good one. It goes together well with excellent fit. Like I said in my earlier post..a small amount of Mr. Surfacer was used to fill minor gaps...very small gaps. This tank had an interesting suspension and drive train that I think the kit really captures well. I'll be building this kit out of sequence; I'll build the turret and fenders, then return to the tracks. So far an interesting build. I was surprised to see that this tank has its brake drums on the outside of its drive sprockets......to save space? Anyway, here are some pics. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted September 10, 2022 Share Posted September 10, 2022 I built the Miniart Valentine. The suspension system was a mess. I had to do it all at once, and while the glue was still soft, align the wheels and block them in place so that they could dry square. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belugawhaleman Posted September 10, 2022 Author Share Posted September 10, 2022 1 minute ago, GazzaS said: I built the Miniart Valentine. The suspension system was a mess. I had to do it all at once, and while the glue was still soft, align the wheels and block them in place so that they could dry square. Nice work. The suspension on the Tamiya kit went together well...and lines up well. I did place one part on back wards.....but caught it in time. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted September 10, 2022 Share Posted September 10, 2022 1 hour ago, belugawhaleman said: Nice work. The suspension on the Tamiya kit went together well...and lines up well. I did place one part on back wards.....but caught it in time. Thank you! I remember having a lot of confusion doing the suspension... it just seemed so weird to me compared to every other tank model I had done. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belugawhaleman Posted September 11, 2022 Author Share Posted September 11, 2022 Decided to do the turret tonight......no big problems. Features nice cast texture. Not a fan of the kit's cannon... Two pieces ; the barrel and a muzzle cap. I decided to use it anyway. Again, I'm liking this kit. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted September 11, 2022 Share Posted September 11, 2022 Looks good! Typical Tamiya brilliance! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spitfire Posted September 11, 2022 Share Posted September 11, 2022 Looks great, a million miles better than the Maquette Valentines (IV and XI) I built many moons ago, I used AM from Acurate Armour to detail those, tracks and a turret if I remember correctly. Cheers Dennis 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted September 11, 2022 Share Posted September 11, 2022 Paul Nice, steady progress on the Valentine, looking mighty good and well detailed. You just can't beat Tamiya engineering, where everything fits without having to figure out the assembly sequence and location. Not having built any armor, I never thought about where the brakes are and having them on the outside should save interior space. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted September 11, 2022 Share Posted September 11, 2022 14 hours ago, GazzaS said: I built the Miniart Valentine. The suspension system was a mess. I had to do it all at once, and while the glue was still soft, align the wheels and block them in place so that they could dry square. Gaz Awesome weathering - at first, I wasn't sure if it was the model or the real deal! 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belugawhaleman Posted September 13, 2022 Author Share Posted September 13, 2022 A little more progress.....built up the fenders...they are not permanently glued on yet. I added back a little texture on the turret with Mr. Surfacer after sanding a seam (not seen in photos). Next will be building up the link & length tracks. After that I'll see if I can add them to the kit with the fenders in place. In that case, I'll add them last after painting them separately..... Otherwise, things will be a little tricky....I'll have to add the fenders last. Anyway, We'll see.. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belugawhaleman Posted September 13, 2022 Author Share Posted September 13, 2022 A shot of the re-textured area of the turret. I stippled Mr. Surfacer on with a brush... I wonder if this can be done with a sponge? Might work better. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted September 14, 2022 Share Posted September 14, 2022 Paul, Looks good! I add texture with Mr. Surfacer and a old brush. I just keep mashing Mr. surfacer with the old brush still it starts to get tacky and makes a real rough finish. Then I give it a quick sand to knock off the highest points once dried. I have a 4 year old bottle of Mr. Surfacer that I keep reconstituting with lacquer thinner. It's pretty much all I use it for now. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted September 14, 2022 Share Posted September 14, 2022 Paul Nice progress and the Mr Surfacer texture looks spot on. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belugawhaleman Posted September 23, 2022 Author Share Posted September 23, 2022 Some more progress; been working on the tracks. I got one side done. I had some problems gluing together the tracks....there was a tiny gap i couldn't get together.... It turned out that there was a small chip of plastic between two teeth of the drive sprocket preventing the track to seat correctly on the sprocket. This prevented me getting the needed slack to join the ends. Removing that... Problem solved! The tracks Can be removed now as a complete unit from the tank making it possible to paint the wheels and track separately...... I put them on for the pictures. The front guard on the fender has not been glued on yet...it's there for the pics. Anyway, should be on the final approach soon with this kit. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted September 24, 2022 Share Posted September 24, 2022 Yay! Paint time! Looks good, man. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belugawhaleman Posted September 24, 2022 Author Share Posted September 24, 2022 43 minutes ago, GazzaS said: Yay! Paint time! Looks good, man. Thanks Gary......looking forward to that. Especially decaling....love decals, very satisfying! It won't be the expertly weathered masterpiece that one comes to expect on this forum..but I'm sure it will be an attractive model...done in my own style. I like to think of my models as coffee table-top recognition models. I do like the color modulation thing----I want to start doing that. I have an excellent Iwata airbrush and there's no reason I couldn't do it....at least give it a try. Thanks; Paul 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocRob Posted September 24, 2022 Share Posted September 24, 2022 Nice progress on the Valentine Paul. I like your cast texture. Under some paint it will blend perfectly. I was on and off for a Valentine build lots of times. It's a weird vehicle with that extremely space consuming drive parts. It's like the designer said 'make the hull as narrow as possible', strange. Cheers Rob 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomber_County Posted September 24, 2022 Share Posted September 24, 2022 Looking good Paul, pull that trigger on the weathering. Only built one British tank and that was the Tamiya Matilda. All my amour is predominantly Axis and US based………. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted September 24, 2022 Share Posted September 24, 2022 Paul Nice progress and glad you found the track of the track issue, that didn't require a lot of backtracking and fixing. She sure looks good and I'm right with Phil - pull the trigger on weathering, keeping it on the light side. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belugawhaleman Posted September 27, 2022 Author Share Posted September 27, 2022 A little more progress.... Finished the other side tracks.......let the "Extra thin" cure on both sides before removing the tracks as complete units.. This will make painting much easier. Cool! I think these new Tamiya tracks are great......they look very nice! I'll place the track sides in separate bags until painting and final assembly. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted September 27, 2022 Share Posted September 27, 2022 Paul, nice progress and your method of doing the tracks in preparation for painting and weathering seems to be the way to go. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belugawhaleman Posted October 3, 2022 Author Share Posted October 3, 2022 Some preliminary painting done.... Last night did up the wheels....lots of wheels. Had a little trouble last night ..while working on this I had a major drop in my blood sugar. Started sweating, shaking and suffered from confusion.... Scary! Got it sorted out soon however, and resumed work in about an hour...to my relief. Anyway, the tank hull was painted on Friday night. I had left the two front fender guards clipped in these sort of alligator clip things over the weekend.. And somehow, the vinyl protectors on the ends reacted with the paint...messing up the finish. I resprayed them , but one doesn't look right... The one seen on the tank in the picture. I may strip it and do it again. On the wheels.. I used a stencil on the smaller ones for the tires and hand brushed the tires on the larger ones. The color is an olive drab/ khaki mix, not sure if i got it right... it looks browner in person than in the pictures. Still got a lot to do. Got some needed paint arriving tomorrow. I added a picture of the offending alligator thing. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martinnfb Posted October 4, 2022 Share Posted October 4, 2022 Nice and clean work Paul, it's kinda cool that you can glue the tracks as a whole and paint it separately . 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belugawhaleman Posted October 4, 2022 Author Share Posted October 4, 2022 34 minutes ago, Martinnfb said: Nice and clean work Paul, it's kinda cool that you can glue the tracks as a whole and paint it separately . Thanks Martin. I really like the Tamiya link & length style tracks as well. Next, I'll paint the tracks. Tamiya always recommends a mix of their metallic grey and red brown. I'll do this, adding some thinned down track wash I have, then highlight with with graphite powder or drybrushed steel Metallizer. I may add some dust effects or "kursk soil" to the Hull, but as you know, I like "clean builds". But first, a clear gloss coat prior to decals and pin washing with Tamiya panel liners in black and brown. I always find that my pin wash efforts are lost when I flat coat......not sure what I'm doing wrong. Tonight, I've been working on the tools. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted October 4, 2022 Share Posted October 4, 2022 Looks good, Paul! Looking forward to the weathering. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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