Finishing off
The mortar was undercoated with plastic primer and then sprayed with Alclad’s Engine Manifold (a generally dirty looking brown / metallic colour) followed by more graphite dust before being glued in place.
There is a large box on the back of the vehicle which looked like it was just crying out to be filled with stowage. I used items left over on the kit sprues including towing eyelets, track extensions and unused road wheels. I painted these in similar colours to the rest of the model apart from the track extensions. These were treated to some rust coloured pigment mixed to a thin slurry with lighter fluid in order to outline their recessed detail and rivets.
A length of chain (found in a craft shop) was primed, sprayed with several rusty brown shades and draped over and around the items in the box before being fixed in place with white glue. This gave the stowage an untidy multi-layered appearance.
Conclusion
Following a rather lengthy and tiresome house move, this kit represented a welcome return to modelling after an enforced hiatus and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it. The kit’s ‘flat pack’ nature might mean that extra care needs to be taken during part cleanup and construction, and the lining up of the myriad of road wheels and panels when fitting the outer hull halves might at first have seemed daunting. However, assembly was much easier than it first seemed. The Tadpole makes a large and eye catching model at almost a foot in length and I think that the Takom kit can be recommended to all those with an interest in early armour.
Gallery
Below are a series of images of the completed model. Click on a thumbnail to see the enlarged image.
