1/72 Caunter scheme AFV update 29/03/21 A10 construction

[PeteW]

I'm thinking of putting together a collection of the main British AFVs in the desert 1940-1941 - so the Mk6 Light tank through until the Crusader in effect. (just so I can paint the Caunter scheme really)

I'm doing this to paint as a collection rather than to game with so where I have a choice of Warlord vs Perrys / Blitzkrieg Miniatures which should I go with? There is little price difference so I guess it comes down to which are considered the better quality and will be the basis for an attractive model.

All thoughts welcome

P

[Westfalia Chris]

I'm thinking of putting together a collection of the main British AFVs in the desert 1940-1941 - so the Mk6 Light tank through until the Crusader in effect. (just so I can paint the Caunter scheme really)

I'm doing this to paint as a collection rather than to game with so where I have a choice of Warlord vs Perrys / Blitzkrieg Miniatures which should I go with. There is little price difference so I guess it comes down to which are considered the better quality and will be the basis for an attractive model.

All thoughts welcome

P

I recently painted up two of Warlord's Light MkVI for a friend and found them rather poor kits and not really worth the money. The castings were rather shabby in some areas, especially the running rear, and the overall look and detail is nowhere near as nice as the old Chieftain models, which are my only comparison regarding this vehicle, I'm afraid.

As part of the same commission, I also built and painted two Rubicon Crusaders, and those are excellent and build into very convincing replicas from a wargamer's perspective, although I cannot vouch for their accuracy. They look very much the part, though, the fit and detail is excellent. These I would recommend strongly.

[PeteW]

Rubicon Crusaders,

Cheers Chris - I'd forgotten about Rubicon, and see they offer the Crusader as you mention and a Valentine so that's a couple of extra options.

although I cannot vouch for their accuracy. They look very much the part, though, the fit and detail is excellent

That's what I'm after really, if I really wanted accuracy I'd go 1/35th. This is more about an attractive display.

Anybody else thoughts on this - please do chip in

P

[Will Bailie]

I'm a fan of JTFM/Die Waffenkamer.  I've got a brace of his Valentines, and I see he also has Crusader and will soon have a MkIII cruiser.

[Poiter50]

Personally I prefer Perry Miniatures for NA. When itcomes to AFVs, look at 3D printed resin vehicles. The resin printing should fix the issue of striations which plagues plastic 3D stuff. There is a greater range of gear available including some nice Armoured Cars as well as earlier British Light Tanks and trucks.

[PeteW]

Personally I prefer Perry Miniatures for NA. When itcomes to AFVs, look at 3D printed resin vehicles. The resin printing should fix the issue of striations which plagues plastic 3D stuff. There is a greater range of gear available including some nice Armoured Cars as well as earlier British Light Tanks and trucks.

@poiter50 - where is a good place to look for these. I can easily find badly printed stuff on ebay - where does the decent resin stuff hang out ?

thanks

P

[Poiter50]

I have purchased from OTP Terrain and Miniatures (local to me in Western Australia). Many of the others have started to produce in resin and many of the files from Wargaming 3D have been made suitable for resin printing. Some of the Ebay ones are pretty rough (lots of lines) but some have started to print in resin which is a great improvement. I'm also lucky to have at least 5 friends who have their own resin printers and just today I collected 2 Light Tank Mk IIb (Indian Pattern) that I plan to use in Malaya or Ethiopia based games. I think Paint and Glue Miniatures now offers resin vehicles at a slightly higher price compared to his 3D plastic versions but I believe they would be worth it for the quality improvement. Thingiverse has many files as well, I have over 300 that I have collected (will not live long enough to print them all).

@poiter50 - where is a good place to look for these. I can easily find badly printed stuff on ebay - where does the decent resin stuff hang out ?

thanks

P

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Definitely Perry for figures, and Rubicon for hardware.

The Crusader is a lovely kit.


They have, as mentioned, the Valentine as well. There are also various versions of the Sherman, including early model Sherman II.

There are also the forthcoming 25 pounder, Tilly, Bofors and Bedford lorries.
http://forum.rubiconmodels.com/index.php?board=4.0

Beyond the plastic kits, there are also some useful resins (including from a familiar name on this blog).

[carlos marighela]

If it’s a collection rather than a gaming project, you might want to look at the 1/48 options.

The Tamiya Matilda is the by far the best option and despite being a proper plastic kit, Tamiya engineering means it goes together very easily. Makes the Warlord resin version look like a carved lump of coal. They also do both early and late model Crusaders, Dingo scout cars and later model Humbers as well as a useful range of German opposition and soft skins. To be honest they aren’t that much more difficult to build than Rubicon, particularly Rubicon’s most recent, more part dense, kits. Locally they typically retail for a bit less than either Rubicon or Warlord/Italeri kits.

Blitzkrieg also have a 1/48 range that can fill in some of the gaps if you go down the 1/48 route. There’s also Quarter Kit/ Gasoline albeit a bit more pricey.

[PeteW]

Cheers all, in the end I went with 20mm - 1/72 as that seemed to offer a good blend of quality and coverage of the vehicles I want to model.

I've the IBG A9 & A10 cruisers on order along with some AB Miniatures crew figures and so we'll see how it goes. I can always scale up if need be, but I'm otherwise eyeing the S-Model range which look like good quality kits and great value.

Watch this space.

P

[PeteW]

Well I've got hold of the A9 & A10 from IBG and they are great little kits. From the wargaming stable in terms of construction but with a great level of detail and finess.

Progress so far on the A10.



I'm just pondering the choice of paints for the airbrush MRP vs Vallejo/AK.

P

[Hu Rhu]

That looks an excellent model. Looking forward to seeing how this project progresses.

[gamer Mac]

IBG???
Good looking model

[Fitz]

I bought the Vallejo ModelAir Caunter set, and have found them pretty good. I wrote a blog post about them here: http://mojobob.blogspot.com/2019/11/vallejo-caunter-set.html

This was my first use of them on a model. It's a 15mm 3d print, and not a great one at that, but the paints worked well.

[PeteW]

Cheers all

IBG???
Good looking model

Yep IBG, and these kits seem great value for money

I bought the Vallejo ModelAir Caunter set, and have found them pretty good

Thanks the Vallejo set seems to be my preferred option at the moment, just because I already use the brand

I've pretty much finished construction with just a few detail parts which I'm thinking of adding after I've sprayed the Caunter scheme just for ease of masking.



A few embellishments from plasticard and wire, but otherwise OOB.

P