Hi guys , well this is my latest update with my progress so far on the Valentine tank,no it isn't some sort of Eastern front winter camo it is my attempt at pre shading, this isn't a technique I have practised much, as you can probably tell I have gone a bit wide on the black ,I think it will turn out O.K. though as I can just keep going with the desert yellow until it looks right.

As I have already said I intend to paint everything below the skirts including weathering and adding the finished tracks then mask up the whole area before completing the top of the hull and turret, I'm doing it this way because I can't see any other way of neatly painting the road tyres and tracks once the tracks are on, any tank guys might let me know how they get round this problem.

Cheers N.

4 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Really looks nice, Neil! Great headway!

Thanks for looking Bernard,it's been a pleasure up to now.
N.

I reckon that pre-shading will be very nice Neil - the shapes are interesting and the contrast is good - can't wait!

This is my progress so far on the Valentine tank ,as you can see I have the wheels and suspention finished and weathered and the rest of the tank built ready to mask off the finished area and paint/weather the rest, I am going to add some chipping ,rust and oil staining here and there but not go crazy, there are also the various bits and pieces to add to the deck ,these include a wooden box and some hand tools.

If you look carefully you will see I had to add a thin fillet between the deck and the side skirts ,this is because I went wrong somewhere along the way when building up the drive wheels (pic 5), I think I may have not closed up this assembly tight enough as both of them stick out 1 or 2 mm too far with the result that the skirts will not butt up to the deck sides, by the time I got this far along it was way too late to do anything about it so an alternative had to be found, once it is all painted no-one will see .

The next time you see this will be at the grand unveiling but I have a couple of ideas on the back burner for other additions to this group build.

Cheers for now N.

5 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Looking forward to see this done Neil, even with the hiccup with the drive wheels.

Thanks Dave, the weather has turned cold ,down to around 0c for the next couple of days so progress stops for a while as I do my spraying in the garage and it will be too cold in there to risk it...
N.

Hey Jeff , thanks for looking pal ,have you bitten the bullet and started that Crusader yet ?
N.