1/35 NZ Army M41 Walker Bulldog tank

[ZacYates]

Hi all,
This is my first-ever 1/35 armour build, the old and light-on-parts Tamiya M41 Walker Bulldog. After finding out this is one of the tanks New Zealand operated I decided to build one, but the multicolour MERDC paint scheme does nothing for me on the type. Finding out that ours started out in green made me happy, and thanks to everyone who helped me by supplying/sharing photos.

Onto the build!


I did the first coat of paint before deciding that, yes, I should close up the massive amount of holes on the belly.


After sanding the first lot of filler I was feeling good about this decision.


Yeah, filling the holes was a good idea. Who puts holes in the bottom of a tank anyway?! (even without reading about it online, the + and - signs in the hull would've told me this kit was once motorised)


The tracks are the one-piece vinyl "rubber band type", as I've come to understand is the norm for older kits. Based on my experience with the little Airfix Sherman I expect to do some touch-ups thanks to paint flaking off once I've fitted them to the wheels..


I've also been painting various bits on the sprue. I'm leaning towards overall Deep Bronze Green and am using a Mike Starmer mix for the paint, but I got the ratios wrong and this is probably a bit bright...I'm off to New Plymouth this weekend for wedding stuff but will make a side trip to Toyworld to get some more Flat Green and Olive Drab, as well as some kind of satin varnish, to do it right.

I don't know which individual one of the ten this will be, but I hope to add some stowage and various bits around the place. I have an AFV Club Centurion on the way so I'll make a resin copy of the cable reel to whack on the turret, too.

[ZacYates]

There doesn't seem to be terribly much interest in this build here - understandable given this is an aviation forum - but, as much of my reference material came from a thread here, it seems only fair to share my progress.

I've opted for Humbrol Satincote over the main colour which seems to replicate the finish rather nicely. But even with that on it, the Mike Starmer Deep Bronze Green mix I was using was far too light compared to photos of the real deal. So I've shelved that mix in favour of Tamiya's XF-11 JN Green, which from the bottle top looked pretty good and once on the model - and under Satincote, look at the hull - seems a pretty good match:


The hull in my pic above has one coat of Satincote over it and, for me, looks about right compared to a real one:


It's making me feel very positive about the build!

I've decided against having any hatches open but did drill out the viewports for the commander's cupola, that way I can use some Clearfix to simulate some glass, likewise on the driver's already-open ones. I've relocated the 50cal mount on the turret and need to work on the auxiliary generator thingy.

I'm getting married on Saturday and having Honeymoon 1.0 in Wellington afterward so don't expect any progress for a wee while!

[camtech]

Best wishes for your wedding. I trust the prospective Mrs Zac is well schooled in your extra curricular activities.

You're probably right in that the lack of interest for this build is due to the fact that it is not non aviation related, but is still a fascinating look at the world of modelling in all its facets.

[John L]

I built a Renwall Walker Bulldog kit, about 50 years ago. Yes - the Tamiya kit was motorized - like most kits from that are.

[ZacYates]

I was bidding on a Tamiya motorized Centurion kit but it went for more than I was willing to spend...I ended up spending $20 more to get a more modern AFV club kit. This is a lovely little kit with loads of scope for improvement, a great first 1/35 armour kit for this boy!

[ZacYates]

Over the last few days it's come together nicely, but man oh man do I hate vinyl tracks. Flakes of copper paint EVERYWHERE!!! And although I'm very reliably informed they should be black worn to silver, I just can't be bothered to repaint them!

Of course no-one seems to make post-war NZ armour decals so I improvised. Hardest was the prancing horse...luckily I had one that was the right sort of size:

And then I painted over the white bits with XF-11, and the horse with XF-2 Flat White.

It'll do for me



I've added a scratchbuilt auxiliary generator exhaust and made a resin copy of the AFV Club Centurion's cable reel and glued that on, and tomorrow I'll add some stowage from Tamiya's SAS Land Rover kit. So helpful that my plans for it don't involve all those tarps and jerry cans!

[Ian Warren]

I jumped on the ole M-41 at Waiouru Museum just to have a look, pretty looking tanks, they really look the part, a more powerful version of the M-24 .. good movie to see the type would be 'The Bridge at Remagen' .. the M-41 was so similar .. just a bigger brother.

[Ian Warren]

I'm guessing the next would have to been the Centurion MkIII .. the Wanaka Transport Museum gate guardian and also another Waiouru as you would know, I saw the Wanaka Centurion get crash started by two steam traction engines .. one the front and one on the back, that was a friggen site to see, then to see this 50 ton tank ripping across the paddocks was double amazing to see!