My Landship: Review and Naming Contest

[General M@yhem]

It's looking good Plynkes.I was following one on e bay but lost interest(that and I bought that Sub from Brigade games that I saw in your photos!)thanks for putting it where I could find it.

[fastolfrus]

Fray Bentos is great for a meat pie or corned beef fan, but you could always go for Plumrose (tinned ham ?) , Spam, or if you take a nautical turn how about John West (tinned fish).

I tried looking through Bruce Barnsfeather to see if there were any tank name inspirations in there, but the only tank I could see was a ko'd one.

[TadPortly]

What I love about the WW I tanks is the problems they had to solve.  Communications for example - flags and semaphor were found to be impracticle.  Then they tried an inboard telephone with a cable laying system which included a ploughing device to bury the cable. Finally a radio set was developed which was small enough to fit.

The "Tankphone" was invented in WW I allowing infantry to talk to crews inside.  Something that's only just been reinvented for tanks in Iraq.

[PeteMurray]

Most US tanks from the Sherman through the Patton series had phones for the infantry to talk to the tank crew. One of the major criticisms of the Abrams when it came out was that it eliminated the exterior phone.

I don't mean to be pedantic, but generally the military is pretty good about remembering what works, and our military contractors are very good at ignoring the people who have to use the gear.

[Plynkes]

The tank phones were removed because teenage female soldiers kept using them for pointless gossiping during battles, and it was distracting everyone from the fighting.

[fastolfrus]

Some of the early tanks carried pigeons too. They could be "launched" via a pistol port on one of the sponsons.

[Plynkes]

Next Stage:

After giving it what I call a "dirty wash." A quick way of making it look 'lived in' and also defining the shadows.


And later the same day:

After a round of drybrushing or two. I never quite know when to stop. It's easy to overdo these things. Also realised I'd need to mask the tracks, maybe I should have left them for later, but I wanted them included in the dirty wash. Decisions, decisions... You can tell I'm not really a proper modeller, can't you?

Next: The exhaust pipe. Rusty or not rusty?
Also picking out metallics on all the bits where the paint would get rubbed off. Then I'll have to think about rust streaks and trying to get the tracks looking less crap.

[Westfalia Chris]

Next: The exhaust pipe. Rusty or not rusty?
Also picking out metallics on all the bits where the paint would get rubbed off. Then I'll have to think about rust streaks and trying to get the tracks looking less crap.

I´d say, don´t overdo it. I´m a fan of the "rust-n-crusted" exhaust pod, but regularly get flak from those "in the know" that my vehicles wouldn´t run a mile in this condition...

Ah, screw that. I just love rusty pods. I use a mix of orange and brown paint, with some silver pigment and quartz sand for the crust.

On the tracks, I noted that you painted them metallics first. I usually do it the other way round, since, even more than with railway tracks, full-metal tracks which are not continuously kept clean appear to dull down and "soak up" the dirt... thus, I paint them black brown first, then drybrush using various browns. Then, a drybrush of dull metal (gunmetal, usually), followed either by a drybrush using silver or rubbing a soft pencil over the most exposed parts - the latter also looks good with heavily-used hatches and doors.

[Plynkes]

Thanks for the tips, Chris. Having seen your work you are someone who I definitely think is worth listening to. Unfortunately I pretty-much finished the beast last night (apart from a couple of things still to do).

But I shall surely take on board your hints for the next one. Yes, there is going to be a next one, as I really enjoyed making this one.

I'll put some pics up later.

[Westfalia Chris]

Don´t take my words for hewn in stone, though - I know a lot of first-rate modellers who prefer the "metal first" method.

But for our purposes, I´ve always found it beneficial to achieve the desired effect with less steps, and I, personally, found the "dirt first-metal later" method to look a bit more convincing, especially if the tracks are flat with some raised detail (ie, not of the "skeleton" type).

I like the beastie very much, though. You won´t do camouflage, will you? If so, I strongly suggest adding some "contrasting elements", such as a nicely-painted name in white, and maybe the Union Jack or those BEAUTIFUL white-red-white recognition stripes on the track horns.

[Plynkes]

No, wasn't planning on doing any camo. It's meant to be for Palestine, and while nobody really knows how the tanks were painted there, I don't think they would have had camo. The Brits had pretty-much stopped using camo patterns on their tanks by the time the Mk. IV came out, as the entire tank tended to get covered in mud at the front and anything painted on it was obscured, so it was not worth the effort involved. The colour scheme was just plain brown by this stage.

The red and white recognition stripes were a late-war idea to prevent British tanks from being confused with ones the Germans had captured  (as by this time the Germans had quite a lot of them). The Turks never captured and reused any tanks as far as I know (though they did knock out a few), so I'm not sure they would have been used out there.

But it does need something. Maybe I'll go with what looks good rather than what is strictly historical. I'm putting off the name-painting for now as firstly I haven't decided on a name yet, and secondly I'm terrible at painting letters and am too afraid to do it, as I don't want to muck up the look of the model!

[Hammers]

No, wasn't planning on doing any camo. It's meant to be for Palestine, and while nobody really knows how the tanks were painted there, I don't think they would have had camo. The Brits had pretty-much stopped using camo patterns on their tanks by the time the Mk. IV came out, as the entire tank tended to get covered in mud at the front and anything painted on it was obscured, so it was not worth the effort involved. The colour scheme was just plain brown by this stage.

Interesting. I guess "Spotted Dick" is out the window then.

[Plynkes]

Actually, they might have had camo, as it would be sand rather than mud for the most part in Palestine, and that wouldn't stick to the tank so much. So maybe they did?

But the Osprey's admit that nobody knows what colour the tanks in Palestine were, so one could go mad and paint them any way you like. But I think I'll leave mine plain.

But as a name, Spotted Dick is still very much in  the running, along with Fray Bentos and the original Plum Duff.

[Plynkes]

Okay, here we go. The metal beast at a 'nearly finished' stage:




The unditching beam would probably have been painted the same colour as the rest of the tank, but I wanted something to break up the monotony of colour, so opted for stained natural wood.


Come to think of it, would they have an unditching beam in Palestine? I suppose they have mud there some of the time, and I guess it would do the job just as well if the tank got stuck in soft sand as in sticky mud.


Going into action in a very green-looking part of the Holy Land. (Couldn't be bothered to change to my sand cloth. )
 

A Turk's-eye-view. This photo betrays my underbelly rust-streaks for the   rubbish that they are. Those have got to go! At least in normal use you can't see them, but they've still got to go. I will know they are there.

Right, now to get a female, just as soon as Great War Miniatures release her.

[Westfalia Chris]

Awwww, now ain´t it a cutie!  :love:

You´re right with the rust streaks. Maybe tone them down by dustbrushing over the bottom areas with some dust/sand tone?