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mjstubley

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  1. Hi Tank Maker So its you and your mates who are responsible for my interest in Tanks! I spent most of my breaktime at Austhorpe Primary School watching you lot driving Chieftains and the like around the test track (when I wasn't crawling through the fields at the back of Barrowby Woods to get a closer look :-D) Oh and the fun of hanging off the back of an Antar on my bike as it trundled down Selby Road - only to let go and overtake it!!! Gutted when they closed it :-(
  2. Looks like another cracker - I've got to get my ar$e in gear and buy the Ferret, and the Stally, and the Bedford, and the...... Quite a range you're building there Howard
  3. A friend of mine pulled the records - apparently she entered service 01/06/81. According to another friend in the know, she started life as prototype 06 SP 38 and was then re-turreted and passed to SEME as with the other prototypes, which were shared between SEME Bordon and Bovington. Finally disposed of 18/06/04. No doubt they will be along to confirm this so sorry of I stole their thunder Life events - SEME Bordon, Ludgershall, Malvern, RAC Centre Ashchurch and finally RMCS Shrivenham. His theory is that she was painted in gulf colours purely for gate guard duty but no one at Shriv is able to confirm this - also doubts it has the full Chobham fit, but not all Chally's had it anyway HTH
  4. As requested on the Accurate Armour thread, a quick 'how to' on making your own decals.... What I tend to do is create a new picture file in Photoshop using the dimensions of another set of decals - this ensures the decals will be in scale with the model. If you are using Windows, you can have a play around in 'Paint' which has many of the basic tools, albeit with more basic means of manipulating shapes text and images Another cheat (for things like VRN's etc.) is to scan a set of decals then tweak them by replacing letters, or making a whole new VRN using the paintbrush and text tools in Photoshop. Safe to say the most common tools are the paintbrush, clone stamp, layers (to create more complex designs where individual elements are overlayed) eye dropper, paint bucket and text tools. Easiest thing to do is have a play around with the different tools and see what happens - can't be more technical than that I'm afraid as there are so many tools to try in photoshop and to list them all here and how to use them would make for a VERY long post! The font I tend to use for VRN's is 'Lutz Headline' as this is the standard font for British vehicles (civvy and military) but I also have fonts for stencils and for things like roadsigns - I especially use the german standard fonts such as Mittleschrift DIN 1451 as these are very commonly used throughout Europe for warning placards etc. The most important items you need are a printer (obviously!), waterslide decal paper (clear and white backed depending on if your decal has white elements in it), and acrylic spray to waterproof the decals when they've been printed. The decal paper and spray can be bought on e-bay - I use this chap though other makes and brands are available http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/richardr2824/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686 I usually buy a mix of white and clear waterslide decal paper. The big difficulty of creating your own decals is this - inkjets can't print white. As a result, it is sometimes necessary to put white text on a coloured background using the white decal paper for the white elements. To get a close match to the background paint colour, I find a picture of the colour swatch (Humbrol, Tamiya, Valejo etc do these) and use the eye dropper to get the correct background colour from the swatch. I rarely mix paint colours so I can do this without fear of the background colour being too far off the colour of the model. What results is a decal sheet that looks something like this.... Before I even commit to putting some of the precious decal paper in the printer I print the decal sheet off on glossy photo paper to ensure the designs are in the correct scale, have the correct colours, and that there are no problems with fuzzing or bleeding of the ink. I also print a copy that I can cut up and hold against the model to make sure they are right. I then cut a piece of the decal paper and stick it to the photo paper directly over the printed decal, as a decal sheet is rarely the size of a piece of A4 paper and it's pointless using 1 sheet of paper costing a couple of quid just to print on 1/8 of its surface! Once the decal is finally printed on the decal sheet, leave it to dry for about 20 minutes. When the decal sheet is dry, I spray it with Clear Acrylic spray - I tend to use either Car Plan clear glossy spray if the surface of the model is glossy, or Humbrol Matt Varnish of the surface is Matt - it just helps them blend in better. I leave the decal to dry a full 24 hours When the decal is ready for use, it can be applied just like a normal waterslide decal using tepid water until it separates from the backing paper but remember, if using white decal paper, you need to trim as close around the decal as possible so no white background shows Any questions - or clarifications - let me know
  5. I'll do a separate thread when I'm back home tonight
  6. 5 Skins But I'm biased. Just made a MK2 X/Y from the Tamiya kit with lots of modifications (upgraded NBC pack, drinks bins on the turret bustle etc.) for the guy who commanded 00EB57 (Afghan Rebel) in A Sqn in 1980 and they have all sorts of lovely Call Signs and Tac Markings. It's my first attempt at making my own decals in Photoshop and I'm pretty happy with the results For my MK11, I did 4RTR with Chinese Eyes
  7. I took this video about 6 weeks ago at Bovvy where they were doing the QDG Instructor course Looks a doozy bit of kit and I reckon the height will help for looking over the compounds (and give a bot of added oomph to the locals) Something went wrong...
  8. The Conq, Chieftain and FV4211 parked next to each other are my favorites. I spent ages pawing over them when I was down there a few weeks ago
  9. Here's a couple of pics of a fully restored Vampire (This is forum member Peterb110's truck) complete with mast and internals I had the pleasure of crawling all over this vehicle at Halifax Piece Hall a couple of years ago. Heck of a restoration. The 'back door' is more of a fold up access panel Oh to have the time space and money to do it justice
  10. Inspirational stuff - I'll have to invest in one of these KFS kits soon. Quality looks amazing. Looking forward to the Pig Pics
  11. Coming along very nicely. Has it been an easy-ish conversion to do? I'd love to see one of these in plastic or resin..
  12. It means 'a bit' of a rebuild for sure but at least I'll really get my moneys worth out of the kit :-D
  13. As recovery from my recent operation, I had plenty of time for model making, so here are the latest additions to the Brigade Foden EKA Wrecker Scammell Commander Commander and Antar for comparison The Scammell is going to need a complete strip and re-spray. I used Humbrol spray cans for the first time (and last!) as 3 days after I completed the model, I noticed the paint was peeling away and lifting from various parts of the body work and trailer as if the primer was off Not sure what has happened to Humbrol paints the last couple of years but they are crap! I'll post more detailed pics when I'm fully recovered Anyways - enjoy ;D
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