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A39 Tortoise project

D

DBridges

Guest
Hello all!

The past several years haven't been too productive for me modeling-wise. In 2007, I began work on my Master's degree, and in 2008 I started a two year term as a union rep at my place of work. Fortunately, my term as union rep ended on January 1st, 2010, and I finished my degree back in March. So now, mercifully, I have time to continue with my hobbies. The last time I finished a model was back in November of 2008 - the AFV Club kit of the RAAC Centurion Mk. 5/1. I wasn't able to finish anything in 2009. However, I did start a number of kits last year, and among them was the Accurate Armour 1/35th scale kit of the British A39 Tortoise superheavy assault gun.

History
The A39 Tortoise can trace its origins back as early as April of 1943, when the British War Office realized a need for extremely heavily armored tanks in the coming battles in mainland Europe. Nuffield Mechanization Ltd. was tasked with coming up with ideas, and in February, 1944, their AT16 design proposal was approved. Later given the designation A39, the 6 Tortoise that were built were not completed until well after the war was over. A couple were sent to Germany for trials, were they were found to be reliable and hard hitting, but hard to transport at almost 80 tons weight and 10 feet in height.

The Tortoise weighed 77 tons and had a maximum armor thickness of 279mm. It mounted a 32-pounder cannon and also carried three 7.92mm BESA machine guns. It was powered by a Rolls-Royce Meteor V engine, had a top speed of 12mph, and a maximum range of 45 miles on hardball roads. The only surviving example now resides at the Tank Museum at Bovington Camp, Dorset.

The Model
The only available kit of the Tortoise is made by Accurate Armour of Scotland, in 1/35th scale. Having built their kit of the American cousin of the Tortoise, the T-28 superheavy tank, I was keen to have a go at this kit as well. The model is molded in various colors of resin, as well as a few white metal and photo-etch parts. It also comes with a small decal sheet. A few of the suspension parts, as well as the transmission cover housing, were broken when I got the kit, but the good people at Accurate Armour sent me replacements double-quick and at no charge. Other than that, the kit is very well cast with an absolute minimum of air bubbles.

Construction
Construction was relatively straight forward. Due to the number of parts, the suspension was a bit tedious, but not nearly as bad as some of DML's more complicated Panzer IV's. A bit of pre-planning was required to paint the suspension as well. Once the hull, all the suspension units (8 total assemblies) and drive components, and the side armor skirts were joined together, I went ahead and painted the suspension with and undercoat of ModelMaster flat black, and then with a base of olive drab. From there, I added the fenders and the superstructure.

I didn't feel that the cast texture of the superstructure had a heavy enough feel, so I used Gunze's Mr. Surfacer 500 to add texture. I applied two full coats over the superstructure, stippling it with a cheap paintbrush to add texture. After these coats, I then added a bit more in certain areas, and once everything was dry, I gave it a once over with some sandpaper to even things out a bit.
2ihl5j8.jpg


After this was done, I finished up with the rest of construction, which presented almost no difficulties. The only area I found where I had to do a little extra work was where the fenders and side skirts meet. The join here wasn't exactly even, and I used Squadron Green Stuff putty to fill the gap. Once this was done, I had to re-do a number of rivets along the side skirts, as well as build some new support structures for the fenders. Both of these tasks were completed using a punch and die set and a little bit of sheet styrene.
24xoxti.jpg


It should be mentioned that Accurate Armour, unlike many resin kit manufacturers, includes some very good instructions with their kits. The assembly pictures are clear, big enough to see well, and most are in color. The text instructions are also quite good, both in content and in grammar. On the whole, I really had no problems building this kit. I think it would be a decent first or second complete resin kit for someone who's built maybe a few small resin conversions or used some resin accessories in the past.

So far, this is where I'm at now:
vq2ii1.jpg


Today, I hope to be able to put down an undercoat of flat black on the rest of the model, and tomorrow I'll hopefully begin the painting process with the first of a few shades of green. I plan to use a sort of "color modulation" method of painting, so we'll have to see how that goes.

David
 
andyfettes wrote:
Wow David



Great work mate !!!

As a matter of interest what Punch and Die set do you use ?

Thanks, Andy!

I have two punch and die sets, a round one and a hex one, both from Historex Agents. I got them probably 11 or 12 years ago, so I'm not sure if they're still made.
 
Got the undercoat down, and all went well. First time using an airbrush in 19 months! Tomorrow, hopefully, I'll be able to start putting down some color.

David

14xw8l.jpg

9zxf03.jpg
 
Also, I just did a quick search. Indeed, Historex no longer makes either of their punch and die sets. Roll Models appears to still sell the old Waldron set, however.

David
 
More progress today. Put down the base color coats. All paints used were ModelMaster enamels. Started off with a mix of flat black and dark green. This was followed by olive drab light with a little Panzer Interior Buff. From there, I added a bit more of the Buff, as well as a good bit of Medium Green. Finally, some highlights were done by adding even more of the buff color to the O.D./Panzer Interior Buff/Medium Green mix.

2mczjgo.jpg

f23skl.jpg


It turned out fairly well, or at least I'm pleased with it so far. The shade of green is pretty much what I was going for. Once this has dried for several days, the next step will be to start airbrushing the black & white disruptive scheme to the forward half of the barrel. After that I'll touch up the roadwheels, and then on to detail painting and then filters.

David
 
Looking Great David!

I am near Fort Knox which has a T 28 sitting out front! I admit I never knew it had a British counterpart!

Really nice job on the casting texture, clean build all around!

Bob
 
SUPERB B)

Love it, have you got any pictures of the suspension, its hard to see how they were complex with the skirts on?
 
General Zod wrote:
David

That is one mean looking tank killer.What size in MM is a 32 ponder?

Hi there. it's 96mm and was derived from the British QF 3.7 in Anti-Aircraft gun.

Here's a link to a Wikipedia article about it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordnance_QF_32_pounder

Cheers from Peter
 
Chris ITA wrote:
SUPERB B)

Love it, have you got any pictures of the suspension, its hard to see how they were complex with the skirts on?

I don't have any pictures of the kit parts built up handy at the moment, but here are some technical drawings of the real deal:

25tkndw.jpg

2eq8iah.jpg

5dudkl.jpg


The kit depicts the suspension units pretty faithfully, so these pictures give you a very good idea of what the kit parts are like. I believe there are 10 parts per bogie unit, so about 80 parts total not counting the drive sprocket, idler assemblies, and tracks.

David

*EDIT*
If you want more info on the A39, this is the website where I got the drawings and most of my info:
http://chrisshillito.tripod.com/a39/a39txt.htm
 
Not too much progress this past week - rained a lot, so didn't get to use the ole' airbrush until yesterday. Painted the disruptive scheme on the forward half of the barrel...

2l8z3m9.jpg

6ny2jk.jpg


David
 
Made a little more progress on the Tortoise, getting most of the basic detail painting done. Wasn't really a whole lot to do on this model, to be honest. Next, I'll begin working on the initial stages of weathering.

9sbifo.jpg

jry49u.jpg

11wbhco.jpg


David
 
David,

This is wonderful work! I remember seen this beast at the Patton Museum in Kentucky when I was stationed at Ft. Knox back in the late 90's, and Ive always thought it would be awesome to see a build of this.

Well my wish just came true!! Thanks for sharing your build.

dave
 
What an interesting tank. Can you imagine if the war went on longer how big the tanks would finally be? This is one well done build.
James
 
The amazing project and fine execution!
Many decisions I will add to the arsenal. The invoice of an armored steel especially was pleasant. :woohoo:
 
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