Tamiya 1/35 Challenger 1 Mk3 Desertised

[Bigfoot57]

So here is my next project Tamiya’s 1/35 Challenger 1 Mk3 Desertised
The kit itself looks fairly straightforward with no annoying track links to join together to fall apart this one’s got rubber tracks which are not everybody’s cup of tea but I quite like them Again this has Tamiya’s keylock system where a part will only fit one way because of the way the locating pins are done
The build has progressed quite smoothly so far and I’ve completed the lower hull and the running gear next we move onto the upper hull

[Bigfoot57]

Here’s the latest update the main hull has now been joined to the bottom of the tank and tracks have been installed. These were sewn together as opposed to glueing or hot welding.
What I have now is a question Tamiya have said paint the black parts seen along the top of the tank they look like sort of rubber buffers or something to do with the engine ventilation or something like that but the main one that runs along the whole width of the tank is left unpainted is that correct or was that also painted black

[Richard48]

Mighty fine model.Im like you and dont mind vinyl tracks.We managed in 1980s with them and can be made to look nice with some painting and weathering powders etc on them.
Watching with interest still.
Richard

[Bigfoot57]

So the result of last night‘s tinkering we’ve now added the skirts along with the water bottles on the sides and the extra armour. I’m now ready to start building the turret so far this has turned out to be an excellent model right out of the Tamiya stable with no problems with parts not fitting or anything like that and it has workable tracks which actually work and move the sprockets & idlers as do all the main wheels and I have a working gun storage cradle holder at the back as well to boot

[papa 695]

A very nice start.

[Bigfoot57]

Well we’re nearly there. turret is now done apart from adding one toolbox to the left-hand side and a basket to the front left which is the reason it’s not finished. I’ve been waiting for the basket to dry because I managed to snap the framework also the top section of the laser rangefinder pinged off the tweezers never to be seen again so I had to improvise and make one out of wood and card There’s also the machine gun to go on and which I find strange to say the least there are no mirrors so was this tank driven internally via VDU or something like that? Overall the kit has been brilliant typical Tamiya it literally fell together and you just had to add glue And as a first the tracks actually work the wheels rotate the turret rotates and elevates and the gun travel lock actually works as well oh and you can detach the water cans because they just drop into the container holders so overall I’ll get this a 10/10 thoroughly recommend this kit to people that want a reasonably accurate depiction of a tank used in the first desert wars Of the 90s

[Richard48]

Excellent Chally.Seeing your builds along with others has helped me start to get back into doing some modelling.
Richard

[Bigfoot57]

[Bigfoot57]

Well, here’s the finished Challenger 1 Mk3 the only criticism I can have with this is the decal placement. The actual instructions are utterly useless telling you where to put things. it says refer to the box art for additional details. Well that doesn’t work very well either because it’s a contradiction on the instruction sheet it shows Black decals for the 11C designation yet on the box they are white and they don’t appear in the same place so I can only assume that is a different outfit so all I’ve done is the bare minimum which is the black decals and half of them have been not used anyway because they were for the European NATO camouflage Tamiya you need to improve on the way you place your decals as this is quite an old kit, then I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt on that
Also the decals are rather thick and do not adhere well to the surface of the tank. In my opinion. Microsol decal setting solution is an absolute essential for proper decal application. but overall I would still give this kit a 10 out of 10 rating as there are a lot worse than this one out in the market. I can tell you having built several of them

[Bigfoot57]

Website timed out again, that’s why you’ve got the pictures first followed by the text. This is becoming a real pain this is

[Steven000]

That's a very nice result Bigfoot, well done ? cheers

[scottie3158]

That's a cracking result.

[Bigfoot57]

Thank you for your kind comments please note I do minimal weathering on the tanks as the plan is to display in way similar to the indoor museum at Bovington Also these are all brush painted as I do not own an airbrush having been used to the old style of model building when you used to buy the airfix kits in the plastic bags hung up in the local newsagent
Anyway enough of that waffle the next kit in the sequence is the Challenger 2 also desertised see my new post for this

Regards

Colin

[Richard48]

You do a great Job Colin.I have to handpaint as well.Im getting to the stage where i make out of the box.I think if i start trying to add too much detail i lose interest.As Mr Verlinden said keep things simple,Dont over complicate and keep it fun without mega detail.Its the finish that counts.Wise words i feel.
Richard

[pjgtech]

Wow, thats a really nice model, congrats. If any of mine end up half as good as that, I'll be very pleased. Cheers