discussion Meng 1/35 Whippet WW1 Light Tank

[Bigfoot57]

 

[Bigfoot57]

So onto the actual construction of this kit and first off after the body was built it was time to fill the gaps as you can see on the unpainted model All the bright white bits which are the filler followed by the first sets of painting again this plastic didn’t want to take paint despite having a grey primer coat being applied which seemed to sort out afterwards but it took three coats of green to actually cover the body anyway here’s what I’ve done so far

 

[Valeron]

I built this last year. Really enjoyed the build. Looking forward to seeing your progress.

 

[LeytonO]

I have one of these "in waiting" so I shall be keeping an eye on your progress.

One thing I noticed is that the angle of the exhaust tails are shown wrongly in the instructions and box art.
The photos below i took earlier this year shows them pointing more upwards.
Although the lighting was variable I'm hoping to get a good idea of the khaki/brown colour they were painted in.
This Whippet and the MK IV Male next to it are believed to still be in their original shades

 

[pjgtech]

Nice progress... looking good.

 

[flyjoe180]

That's certainly different, nice start

 

[Bigfoot57]

Well every days a school day as they say I think I’ll probably leave mine as it is because if I do up turn the exhaust then they’re gonna clash with the wooden blocks that are hanging off the side plus it would mean sawing off the entire exhaust system ends off and repositioning it and mine are really stuck on nice and firm and I’ve wrapped thread around them to represent the asbestos wrapping I think I’ll leave them but if I do another one, I’ll make sure that they are done the right way around thanks for the reference

 

[Bigfoot57]

So here’s where we’re at so far. I’ve now given it it’s 1st coat of grey primer followed by the 1 st green paint. of which there be many to give the subtle hues

 

[Bigfoot57]

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​​ So onto the next stage the running gear as most of the wheels Will be invisible once the side and inside parts are all joined together they’ve have minimal cleanup and just a like dusting of paint. Next the RH running gear was atrached to the hull and clamped into place using Rebble clamps I got from Scandavia having seen them on Nigels modelling bench they took about 7 months to recieve them but they are probabbly the best clamps i have used Next comes those tiny little hooks I can’t believe I actually got them all on without losing any then it was time for another coat of paint this time a different shade before moving onto the exhaust and the wooden blocks I also wrapped tbe exausts with white thread to represent the asbestos coating that they probably used

 

[Bigfoot57]

Next on the agenda is the wooden blocks as you can see these were stuck to a piece of Sellotape and then painted in various shades of brown and yellow to try and make them look like a bit of wood whether they were successful or not I don’t know they they look Woody to me so that will do after they were assembled onto the tank. The tank was in painted another shade of green mixed with khaki olive drab and a few other browns then the wooden blocks were attached and the red and white stripes added so we’ve got left to do now is the cables to go across those little Hooks and the tracks

 

[Steven000]

Nice progress, looking good so far, cheers

 

[flyjoe180]

Coming along nicely.

 

[Bigfoot57]

And now to the tracks, yes they clipped together and they should be workable unfortunately they don’t stay clipped together so I’m trying something totally out of the box and that is I attached them to a piece of Sellotape for painting and my understanding is that the Sellotape should hold them in place without any of them breaking and it’s flexible so I’m just gonna cut the Sellotape right to the edge of the tracks with the track still on the Sellotape and then attach it to the model yes I know that we won’t be any working tracks but they didn’t work in the first place
So far as far as I’m concerned not one manufacturer has come up with a full proof method for doing tracks we’ve had rubber tracks we’ve had linked tracks we’ve had tracks where you put pins through the joints so I’m trying my sticking the things to Sellotape and see what that does can’t be worse than any of the other methods have been tried
The paint used for the tracks is from a Galahri pen called dark steel applied with a brush after dabbing the pen tip on each of the tracks links and then spreading it with the brush

 

[LeytonO]

So far as far as I’m concerned not one manufacturer has come up with a full proof method for doing tracks we’ve had rubber tracks we’ve had linked tracks we’ve had tracks where you put pins through the joints so I’m trying my sticking the things to Sellotape and see what that does can’t be worse than any of the other methods have been tried

The Tamiya workable tracks on their MK IV Male Tank that i'm currently building are excellent.
Supplied individually, click together easily and stay together whilst remaining flexible.
Hardly any clean up required and by far the best kit supplied tracks i have ever seen.
Have a look at this video from about 12.40 to see just how good they are.

 

[Valeron]

I remember those hooks when I built this. Nightmare. I didn't lose any but broke quite a few.

 

[Valeron]

Looking good. I like the wrap around the exhausts. I should have done this

 

[geegad]

Looks a cracking little kit got to say meng is one of my top manufacturers.doing a superb job with yours as well

 

[pierreT]

Nice work so far. Looking forward to the next steps!

 

[Bigfoot57]

So I was wrong with the tracks upon wrapping them around the running gear links started breaking in the end after several attempts the tracks were superglued to tank hence in the pictures they are not in correct alignment but at least they stay on
Next was the towing cables and I had the broken hook syndrome and at least 4 of mine have been replaced with .5mm brass rod again superglued into place as the replacement hooks were now metal not plastic and the towing cable was braided wire as well

 

[Steven000]

Despite the problems it looks like it turned out well, cheers