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jim wasley
18 articles

1/35 Valentine Tank

May 20, 2017 · in Armor · · 17 · 3.2K

Hot off the spray booth this morning,burnt my fingers on the exhaust still that hot.It`s a model kit,I saw this kit in a mag sometime back,and I like anything with a fuel tank on the outside,it went together quite well,nice interior but none of it is seen,has a great radio set that I never fitted to good to hide away lots of p.e that I always find a pain but that said it always looks good on the finished model,the tracks were fiddly and tiny about 101 per side so much waist that I hate to throw away as seen by pic(bad guys),did not over do the rust as all I found on line were more damaged from sand and sun,This model is a Infantry tank MK.III"Valentine" MK.IX,colour scheme is the 22nd armoured brigade at Palestine 1943 could not find any reference to this so I painted as per colour guide that came with kit,I used my own paints as my trade was spray painting I mix all my own.I made the wiring for the back tail lights from scratch also the fuel line for the tank and the bed role is tissue with white glue then painted.can anyone tell me what the cans on the back would have carried,my guess is water,these could be left off or fitted as I have think they add to it.ENJOY Thanks.

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17 responses

  1. Jim, I like it, really nice build, great looking scheme. I had never heard of this tank until I just recently happen to notice the Tamiya offering of it. I'm strictly an airplane guy, but I'm getting interesting in armor, especially after seeing nice work like this.

  2. Thanks Terry,great maybe another armour convert more the merrier Ive seen your work and Im sure you would surpass me.cheers

  3. Nice convincing finish on this tank, Jim. I'm sure those cans are for water, what else could they contain?

  4. Individual links for the tracks...?! You must be ready for the rubber modeling room by now. 🙂

  5. Looking nice. The flimsies contained petrol, oil & water.

  6. I like this. I keep looking at it thinking that it's an oddball build, but then remembered, "It's a Valentine" ?

    My own take on Bronco kits is that they're first-rate. Bronco figure!?! Don't recall that before. Anyway, nice to see some British armour.

    • Yes Rob the Bronco kits do a nice finish,it is my first Bronco kit,have not seen many,sorry the figure is from MiniArt British tank crew.I have said Im not a figure painter but this one fitted the tank fine just left off the bottom 1/2 legs cant see them.I quite like the Valentines the detail around the engine cover is great,there are a lot of model variants to choose from,could build up a nice set from early to late,Thanks Rob for the comments,go well cheers.

  7. Very nice build of a tank that doesn't get seen often. Or often enough to me!
    I also suspected that those cans could carry water & petrol, etc. but it was nice to learn from Stellan that they're known as "flimsies." Makes sense; they look as if they're pretty thin sheet metal, perhaps tin. Thanks for sharing!

    • Yes always nice to know what these things are,they look like a throw away item,recon the desert would have been riddled with them,thanks Jeffry.

  8. Very neat looking tank. It has a neat story behind it as well with the "flimsies" This is the first time I had heard them called that, but it does make sense. I knew the story behind the "Jerry" can. Good stuff Sir.
    As a former Army tank crewman in real life, I can say that you have captured the look of how any tank appeared while operating in the desert very well. Two thumbs up Sir ! 🙂 🙂

    • Thanks Louis coming from a real tank man that is high praise indeed,I have seen a few builds of this tank on line and I have a few tank books,yes they all seemed more weathered than rusty,did read an article about a man whose father was a tanker in ww2 and he said that there was not that much rust on tanks because when they were not in combat they were always cleaning the tanks,but I still like some rust its all up to the modeler to use as much artistic licence as they like after all it is just a hobby and its all about you enjoying that and not getting to bogged down in what is correct or not,There is a site on line called (themworkshop.com) out of Singapore and these guys are masters at model work,sorry Im rattling on to much old mans ravings Thanks again for the encouragement Cheers.

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