Challenger 2

[Paul Senter]

Just completed my first modern armour tank. The Tamiya Challenger 2 in 1/35. Let me know what you think.



Wanted to dirty it up a little but not too much, so I preshaded with German Grey and then mixed Tamiya Desert yellow with Vallejo Bright yellow and laid a few thin coats over the shading.

The colour scheme in real life is much more yellow than a standard sand colour.



After a couple of coats of Klear, I added the decals and then I ran a thin wash along the (want to say panel lines but they are not - you know what i mean) to give some depth. I also dragged a few dots of black oil paint down the sides to show rain streaks.



Last thing was to spray a light dusting of Tamiya Buff on the lower areas and even lighter on top.





I painted the transparencies from the inside before they were glued - sure this isn't news to most but a real revelation to me when I 'thought' of it. Vision ports in Tamiya Clear Blue and rear light clusters in vllejo Red and red/yellow mix for the orange.



The details were picked out using a varity of paints namely Vallejo, Games Workshop (Red) for the fire extinguishers, Tamiya various for the main cam scheme and the odd dab of Windsor Newton oils (Black and burnt Sienna)



Figures came out ok - not brilliant at them - but love the water bottles that come with the kit.



Enjoyable build and very straight forward.

[snowdog]

Wow, really nice! The paint job is really good and it reflects the wear and tear it would receive out in Iraq.
I love the Challenger, its an awesome beast. My son and I did a joint build of the Trumpeter kits last year. I did the standard European scheme, and he did the IOF version like yours. Kits not as good a fit as Tamiya, but still very good value for money.
Very nice model, well done!

[Fatty]

Looks fantastic

I think the weathering looks spot on, great job

[foxy]

Hi Paul.

I like the figures and the weathering is very good, nice job there matey.

A little bright on the white, but this is close up, so maybe ok from a distance.

[Paul Senter]

Thank you for your comments

I know what you mean about the white. The kit instructions called out matt white and when I was in Iraq the CR2 didn't have the panels fitted but I spoke to a mate of mine who was QRL and he says they were white however they soon became pretty dirty/dusty almost immediately.

I did dust them lightly with Buff and took a 'dirty thinners' brush to them to take the starkness away, but I dont think it really shows on the photo.

Enjoyed this build.

Paul

[foxy]

Like I said Paul an excellent build.

The white I assume is air recognition, so that our cousins across the water can see where friendly out there in the Desert.

[Paul Senter]

Hi Foxy

Not so much recognition from the air but more from the Ground. Interestingly the panels were only used during the 'warfighting' phase. Once the thrust of the operation turned inward on insurgents/terrorists etc the panels were removed, useful to know if you are modelling a vehicle from late 2003 onwards as the mounting brackets can still be seen as well as a discolouration in the paint.

Air recognition normally took the form of a flourescent orange panel which inavriably blew away. Again after the warfighting they were dispensed with.

Paul