1/48 Fighting 48th Firefly

[Calum]

The Firefly is my favourite WW2 Tank, A typically British solution to the problem of the superior German armour - take a big gun and stuff it in the only thing we've got.

Years ago I secured one of Fighting 48ths excellent resin conversions, unfortunately these are no longer in production. This is my first resin kit but I'd been biding my time before starting it.



I'm doing I need 2 donor kits. I need the road wheels and Tools sprue from the M4A1 kit. The Firefly IC kit will supply the other parts



Some reference materials -no prizes for guessing what countries Firefly I'll be modelling



Some more reference, in particular Brett Greens Article in MMI will be helpful. Also the decals, Bisons Kiwi Armour in WW2. Plus some other stuff that may (or may not) be used



Here's all the resin that comes with the kit. I also grabbed a metal barrel



Some of the PE added to the rear, Bending the smoke emitters was quite easily but getting the handle to fit over them was a bit of challenge. I also had a go soldering these.



The tracks were reasonably easy to fit, although I chickened out and didn't replace the guides on top of the road wheels with the PE parts. I didn't think I could bend all 6 of them the same



I had to relocate the smoke emitters and towbar lower than what is on the instructions as the towbar fouled the upper hull.




I'm open to any suggestions or tips so please let me know.

[Calum]

Here's the next installment, actually I got a bit of this done before Christmas but never got around to posting these images

I added the PE Mud Guards. then the Extra metal plates on the front and the PE brackets for attaching stowage. I soldered the brackets before attaching with CA. stuffed up the mudguard brackets so replaced them with strips of aluminium tape.



Next was the PE parts along the side, these were easier to attach than I expected.



Then the rear stowage bin and Hauler extinguishers





Another front view

[Calum]

Continuing on from my blatant copying of Brett Greens VC build I added the big messy welds to the extra Armour plates using magi sculpt. Then used a knife to make the weld marks. They are a bit exaggerated now but under some primer and paint they should look OK





Top shot with all the tools on. I don't know if there was a standard way to lay these out. Again I copied the arrangement from Brett Greens build and the instructions. I ended up turning the shovel around because it fit better.



Rear deck. I used some strips of aluminium tape to make some straps.

I also wasn't happy with where I'd originally put the rear resin lifting (?) hooks. Breaking them off destroyed them so I had to scratch build some new ones. That said, on second thoughts, these ones are also probably in the wrong spots as well - but this time they are staying







I noticed from the reference photos of the tank I'm building that they welded some angle iron across the front. I had some evergreen angle that looked about the right size

[baz62]

Nice job Calum as always. I take my hat off to chaps like yourself who modify kits to make them more realistic. I was at Anthony Galbraith's house yesterday and I spied his 1/48th Mosquito build. He was showing me the large intakes that go under the engine nacelles. I thought he had modified them but he had made them from scratch!

[agalbraith]

Yep, stunning Calum as always!

Thanks Baz, it was actually 24th.

Cheers
Anthony

[baz62]

Feb 2, 2014 20:30:12 GMT 12 agalbraith said:

Thanks Baz, it was actually 24th.
Cheers
Anthony

Oops

[Calum]

Stowage time. There seemed to be a fair bit of stuff attached to these tanks.



I've used stuff from a Legend Stug set, (beige) Black Dog (Light Grey) and good old Tamiya Plastic Jerry cans (Dark Grey).



Finally got all the PE on the turret. I also stippled some Mr Surfacer 1000 to at a bit more texture to the Tamiya Plastic. The brass rods are to simulate hooks that the crew could tie things to the turret



I haven't decided which hatch I'll open so I'll do everything shut up for now.



Top Shot. The metal barrel is IMO worth the investment as is the time spent with the small PE parts



Hope I haven't over done the stowage.

[dewobz]

I only just saw this build. Great stuff Calum.
Your Firefly looks excellent. Love all the stowage.
Hopefully there is more to see soon.
Wally.

[Calum]

I started by priming with Tamiya Surface primer



Next was the primer coat. I used Tamiya Dark Green. Copying Brett Greens article again I decided to the the counter shading of the barrel out of the way. I first painted the area Tamiya Deck Tan, then I cut out some wavy lines with Tamiya Tape, applied that and used Gunze RAF Dark green for the top part.



The ring was done in white and then I masked it up and started to paint the rest of the model. I tried Bretts suggested mix for the SCC 15 Olive Drab but it looked way to brown to me. After studying a few online builds I came to the conclusion that trying to pick a colour for SCC 15 OD is the road to madness, so in the end I mixed some Tamiya IF 62 OD with with some RAF dark green.

After 2 hours of airbrushing various colours I decided to call it quit. I'm not sure I'm happy though, I can't decide if the model is to dark and perhaps not green enough? All opinions greatly appreciated

[Calum]

I wasn't really happy with the colour so I took it back to the paint shop to lighten it a bit









Happier with this. Now to paint the stowage

[Dave Homewood]

That looks great Calum.

[planecrazy]

Bit of a fan of military armour and a fan of your Firefly,
great detailing and paint job, well done!

[Calum]

A couple of nights spent painting the stowage / tools etc.

This is only the first round, I'll revisit these with some dry brushing etc after the washes are done. I used various Vallejo paints for this as they brush paint really well.



Some are a bit bright now but various washes and dust should darken them down







I also applied some Filters to bits of the tank, I'm still figuring this armour modelling out, so I'm not sure if this was the best time but I figured what harm can it do



The filters were also used to some some additional streaking.



I base coated the tracks a dusty brown because I'm going with a dusty finish

[Calum]

You guys are but behind so I'm catching up


I had some decal issues having to replace the decals on the right hand side which resulted in a a major touch up.
Anyway here are the photos









I'm thinking of adding a figure but haven't decided where as yet. I have issues with the sizes of the 1/48 Figures I have. The resin one is from Art of War, the Grey one is from the Tamiya set. There is a good thread over on missing Lynx on these figures.



With the gloss coat on I applied a pin wash using the Black and Brown Tamiya enamel washes. The were mixed together in places as well.

I then applied a flat coat (Testors Dullocate) followed by some Filters from Mig (Allied Filter Set) and a other filers/washes.

I also did a bit of chipping along some high points using a sponge and Vallejo grey green

Usually Dullcoate is imperious to enamels but during his process I had a few troubles in places (maybe I didn't get good coverage) so the next flat coat was from Tamiya










At this stage I was quite unhappy as the model had lost a lot of it's colour and looked quite dark, much darker than I'd expected. So I reapplied a bright green filter (Green one from the Mig Allied filter set) which has restored a bit of the green tinge to the model.



Now onto the tracks - if anyone can offer some hints on how to weather/paint these don't hold back

[Dave Homewood]

Wow that looks awesome, a great result. Well done Calum!

[Calum]

Thanks Dave

[flyjoe180]

Yes, very impressive work Calum

[dewobz]

Looks really good Calum. Well done.

[Calum]

I applied a couple more filters, made from low odour turps and Humbrol enamels to green it up slightly more.



I'm going for the dusty look. I spent a few evenings doing some weathering with oil paints. First time I've used oils so extensively, not sure I'm convinced I did it right. But I'm happy with how it looks now. Might try some pigments next.

[Calum]

Nearly done.


This is the base I've made for the Firefly, the street is a silicone sheet you buy and cut out. The dirt is paster with some dirt from one of the fossils that kids dig apart. The Foliage is some of little tufts I bought from BNA



Here's the Tank , with figure on the base. I think the base might need a bit more dust/dirt....



I've made a new photo box

I've done some more work on the base to dirty the road up a bit




Unfortunately the pigments have exposed lots of little holes in the silicon I think it's a flaw in the moulding.

Not much I can do about this (I'm not filling all those holes) so it is what it is.