7TP |
| By James Tainton |
| Started: | Sep 15, 2003 | | Updated: | Mar 1, 2004 |
|
The 7TP tank was developed from the British Vickers-Armstrong Mark E and of which in 1931, Poland purchased 50 examples. The Polish military powers wanted to improve on the Mark E. It featured a better diesel engine, and a little thicker armor. Including the 4 iron prototypes 136 7TP's were made. Most were single turret versions however 24 were of the early twin turret type.
Armament: two 7.92mm wz.30 TMG's in twin turret variant
This kit depicts a Polish tank of the 1930's that uses a chassis from the British Vickers-Armstrong designed 6ton Tank Mark E and incorperates two turrets on top of the hull. This model from Mirage is a very crude and simple affair, far from "shake and bake". What can I say, I like a challenge. This will be built mainly straight out of the box with a few kit-bashing upgrades and the use of some extra photo-etch I have left over from when I built my Zveda T-26 (which is very similar to the Polish 7TP tank) earlier this past year. |
|
|
|
| Chapter 10 - Wash and Dry | Mar 1, 2004 |
| Here you can see the result of a process of basic weathing which began with me giving the whole tank a medium dark wash consisting of Atrists'oils ,(burnt umber and black),thinned with regular paint thinner. This was brushed on and allowed to dry over night. Then using a piece of a cotton rag with... more |
| Chapter 9 - The Future is Lookin' Bright... | Feb 27, 2004 |
| Future floor was airbrushed on to the painted surface in preparation of an oil wash. |
| Chapter 8 - Black Lines and Some Dirt | Feb 20, 2004 |
| I've added the solid black lines that border the patches of colour. I also have added some airbrushed dirt colour. |
| Chapter 7 - Camouflage | Feb 16, 2004 |
| Here are some images of the tri-colour hard edge scheme used by the Polish armoured units. I used the kit provided paint sheet as a guide. The base yellow colour is Humbrol #93. The green is Humbrol #117 and the red brown is Humbrol #160. The yellow was applied using the airbrush while the other two... more |
| Chapter 6 - Flat Black is My Favorite Colour | Feb 14, 2004 |
Priming out my models in flat black is a technique that I've fallen into over time. This step performs two duties:
1. Primes the surface for the top coat.
2. Provides a preshading for the top coat.
The kits rubber band tracks are horrible. I was going to use the slightly better vinyl tracks... more |
| Chapter 5 - Treatment with Mr.Surfacer | Feb 12, 2004 |
| I wanted to try out this Mr. Surfacer (Gunze) liquid putty I had heard about - to impart a little more character to the armour. Here you can see the results. I used #1000, but I think #500 would be a better choice to give some texture to the plastic. |
| Chapter 4 - Driver Wheel & Turret Additions | Feb 5, 2004 |
| The driver wheel and idler wheels went together with no major fit problems and the two turrets recieved some remaining parts. |
| Chapter 3 - Tale of Two Turrets | Feb 3, 2004 |
| The turrets are again, very crude slabs of plastic that don't exactly fit together seamlessly-some clean-up and putty are required,and lots of TLC.The photographs below show one just naked as it looks when just glued together. The inset shows one cleaned up and sprayed out in flat black. I opened... more |
| Chapter 2 - Wheels and Bogies | Jan 12, 2004 |
| The detail of the moulding is not up to the better standards of some companies. However it is adequate in the spirt of the build, which is to basically familiarize myself with this vehicle. The next one may be more detailed... The bogie wheels of the 7TP have a different look than a Russian T-26, the... more |
| Chapter 1- Body Parts | Sep 15, 2003 |
| This body/chassis is made up of 6 flat pieces glued together to make the basic hull.The lower piece was slightly warped but with proper clamping this was not a problem. |
