Making the Tamiya 1/48 Cromwell VI in... green

 Making a civil war general... 

Let's start putting the kit together.

As always, because I brush paint I'll give everything a base coat and I think I'll use green because... Well, allies.

Mr Colour 70 Dark green.

This is my go to Allies tank green. A splash for pretty much everything.

Picking out the tires and painting the tracks in black. As you can see, I am not a gatekeeper when it comes to paint shades.

Mr Colour 33 Black.

For all your black needs...

So, wheels...

For me, I'm happy with my universal knife. Everyone has their own baseline... I just remember to be careful as they will snap if asked to do too much.  (There is a rumour that I have treated myself to a cheep pair of side cutters...)

Putting the wheels together.

As usual, I have my two glue options, fine and ... not fine.

The suspension was of the Christie type, with long helical springs (in tension) angled back to keep the hull sides low. Of the five road wheels each side, four had shock absorbers. The tracks were driven by sprocketed wheels at the rear and tension adjusted at the front idler, this being standard British practice. Some variants were produced with 14-inch-wide (360 mm) tracks; later, 15.5-inch tracks were used. As with previous Christie-suspension cruiser tanks, there were no track return rollers, the track being supported instead on the tops of the road wheels, known as the "slack-track" design. The side of the hull was made up of two spaced plates, the suspension units between them, and the outer plate having cutouts for the movement of the road-wheel axles.

I'll weather it down a bit before adding the wheels.

Water paints from he local budget shop for the weathering.

I'll put the rear panel together now.

Adding the rear panel to the hull.

Touching up the black on the tires. 

Time for the tracks.

Just follow the order in the instructions.

The gearbox had five forward and one reverse gears. The first gear was for "confined spaces, on steep inclines or...sharp turns". The transmission was the new Merrit-Brown Z.5, which offered differential steering without clutching or braking, a major advance on previous designs. It gave the Cromwell superb manoeuvrability.

The Meteor engine delivered 540 hp at 2,250 rpm giving the Cromwell speed as well as manoeuvrability. This was the maximum rpm, which was limited by governors built into the magnetos. Fuel consumption on "pool" petrol (67 octane) was between 0.5 and 1.5 miles per gallon depending on terrain.

All done...

Constructing the hull.

The frame was of riveted construction, though welding was used later. The armour plate was then bolted to the frame; large bosses on the outside of the plate were used on the turret.
The armour on the Cromwell ranged from 8 mm (0.31 in) up to 76 mm (3.0 in) thick overall. On all-welded vehicles built by BRC&W, the weight saved by the welding allowed for the fitting of additional appliqué armour plates on the nose, vertical driver's plate and turret front, increasing the maximum thickness there to 102 mm (4.0 in). These vehicles are identified by their War Department numbers carrying the suffix W, e.g. T121710W. The armour compared well with that of the Sherman, although the Cromwell did not share the Sherman's sloped glacis plate. 

Two screws to secure upper and lower hull parts.

Furnishing the hull with little bits. I'll add the tools later after the painting.

I have a little gun now

Cromwell was the fastest British tank to serve in the Second World War, with a top speed of 40 mph (64 km/h). This speed was extremely beneficial in both attack and defence, outmanoeuvring opponents. At least one case is known of vehicle commanders using the vehicle's fast speed to jump large gaps. In the Netherlands, a troop of three Cromwells was able to leap a 20 ft (6.1 m) wide canal when surprised by enemy forces. 

Is it a bird, is it a plane...?

This speed proved too much for even the Christie suspension and in later models the final drive ratio was changed to lower the top speed to 32 mph (51 km/h), which was still fast for its time.

The Cromwell's speed and low profile gave an advantage over the Sherman however, giving the tank the element of surprise and making return fire more difficult. Cromwell crews in North-West Europe succeeded in outflanking the heavier and more sluggish German tanks with superior speed, manoeuvrability and reliability.

Storage boxes for storing things...

We'll put the hull to one side for now.

Take a front armour plate...

Turret and armament.
Following British tank doctrine of the time, the Cromwell was designed to fire on the move. The turret offered hydraulically powered turret traverse motors with proportional speed control. Later vehicles fitted an all-round view cupola for the commander to identify and track targets. Both gunner and commander had rotating and pivoting Vickers Gundlach tank periscopes, while fixed episcopes were fitted in the cupola. There was a 7.92 mm Besa machine gun mounted co-axially to the main armament, operated by the gunner. A second was gimbal mounted in the front of the hull, with 45 degrees horizontal and 25 degrees vertical movement. Sighting was by a No. 35 telescope, which was connected through a linkage to the mounting. In the top of the turret was a 2-inch "bomb thrower" angled to fire forward. Thirty smoke grenades were carried for it.

Add plastic and glue....

Adding the additional armour plate...

Shake together and... Hey presto!

As if by magic.

Putting it together and it's beginning to look like a tank now.

Turret accessories now.

Turret and armament.
Following British tank doctrine of the time, the vehicle was designed to fire on the move. The turret offered hydraulically powered turret traverse motors with proportional speed control. Later vehicles fitted an all-round view cupola for the commander to identify and track targets. Both gunner and commander had rotating and pivoting Vickers Gundlach tank periscopes, while fixed episcopes were fitted in the cupola. There was a 7.92 mm Besa machine gun mounted co-axially to the main armament, operated by the gunner. A second was gimbal mounted in the front of the hull, with 45 degrees horizontal and 25 degrees vertical movement. Sighting was by a No. 35 telescope, which was connected through a linkage to the mounting. In the top of the turret was a 2-inch "bomb thrower" angled to fire forward. Thirty smoke grenades were carried for it.

Notice the muddy appearance...

Early models of the Cromwell were equipped with the QF 6-pounder (57 mm). Using the new armour-piercing discarding sabot round, which became available in quantity in early 1944, this gun could penetrate over 100 mm of steel armour at ranges on the order of 1,000 yards (910 m), making it effective against all but the most heavily armoured tanks. However, British tankers had long complained about this weapon's lack of a useful high explosive (HE) round for attacking soft targets like trucks, anti-tank guns and infantry defences. 

This problem was eventually solved by the realisation that the 6-pounder could be bored out to 75 mm and fire unmodified US ammunition. While this would lead to less anti-tank performance, this was considered a reasonable trade-off in exchange for the rapid introduction of the HE rounds. The resulting ROQF 75 mm could be easily swapped out with the 6-pounder, and newly built models mounting the gun were known as the Mark V. 

Designed to be able to climb to toughest cardboard.

The driver sat on the right in the front of the hull, with the hull gunner on the left, separated by a bulkhead. The driver had two periscopes and a visor in the hull front. The visor could be opened fully or a small "gate" in it opened; in the latter case, a thick glass block protected the driver. A bulkhead with access holes separated the driver and hull gunner from the fighting compartment.

Let's have a little look at what we have done so far.

Heading West...

Heading East...

Heading West by South West...

One of those base things...

Picture frame with a plaster filling and sandy surface. Here it has a muddy brown base.

Drybrushing a lighter brown to give a little depth.

Darker tones and a little green...

Let's have a look over the result.

Adding a little dried green tea for a little vegetation...

Some command or OP tanks had the armament removed, leaving space in the turret for further radios. These were fitted with a dummy wooden gun, so as not to appear different to the enemy and attract hostile fire. This is obviously not one of those...

A little verticality with some dried moss and a barrel that was nearby looking for somewhere to hang out...

Throwing an old piccie for a little reference....

And we are finished.... Kind of. I still need to take finished photos but I'll post what I have done so far...