Do you have a hobby? : Airfix

Hasegawa 1/72 Crusader mark III.Going on crusade. 1/72 Hasegawa Cruiser tank. Crusader mark III. What's in the box?

1/72 Hasegawa Cruiser tank. Crusader mark III. Putting the stuff in the box together.

Welcome to another of my modeling moments. Today I'm looking at 1/72 armour with the Cruiser tank Crusader mark III..

Last time I made one, things were all black and white. This time it will be in colour.

Coming back into the hobby after twenty years, the first two featured models on the block are the F4U-1D Corsair and the Cruiser tank Crusader mark III.

You can see my Corsair construction here. Just click on the image.

Let's go on crusade.

Cruiser tank (1940-43) United Kingdom.

- about 5300 built.

Lineage

The Cruiser tank family started in 1936, when Vickers proposed to the War Office a new medium tank. 125 were ordered and delivered as the Tank, Cruiser Mk.I.

It proved very effective, especially in the early part of the war in Libya. It was replaced by the Mk.II (A10), as an improvement of the latter, heavier and better protected, with 175 units built in 1939. But the real game changer was the Cruiser, Mark III, featuring the new Christie suspension, coupled with a more powerful engine, which allowed greater speeds, especially on a flat terrain, like the North African landscape.

The Cruiser tank Crusader mark III. 31126 (Also listed as MT26)

We have a rigid box (Top opener). There is a nice picture on the box. A couple of mark III's in the desert. Just what you'd expect on a Crusader mark III model box. So far so good.

All the useful information on the end panels. It's usually the view we see on the shelf after all.

I have a gripe.

Now the box is all informationy and all that but the box is secured with strong tape so we can't see the information inside.

Question. How do we know what paints we need? I'm standing in the shop. I'm ready to buy paint but what do I need? Well, I did a search and found lots of colour codes, but they were not for the brand of paint being sold in the shop. Wonderful.

So, because I don't worry about it as much as I should, I grabbed a best guess and went home. (I have done this before but not for many years and I would have been fun... I would have had trouble if I had been a real beginner.

My extensive paint collection. Oh, I have brushes and a few other bits too.

Let's cut that tape and see what is inside the box.

Crusader Mark III: first to bear the six-pounder.
Prior to the climactic battle of El Alamein, most Crusaders had been retired from regular frontline units, replaced by much more effective M3 Lee/Grant medium tanks. The Crusaders were relegated, with M3 Stuarts, to screening and scouting forces, to exploit breakthroughs, or relegated to secondary sectors. However, when the need for a new heavy cruiser tank, expressed since 1940, appeared compromised, a stopgap measure was taken in March 1941.

Now where did I put those scissors....

A bag, some plastic and some paper. Nice.

So far so good. We seem to have the parts needed to make a Crusader mark III. Released in 1991 or should I say re-released in 1991 as the scalemates site suggests that it is originally a 1975 release.

Timeline for Crusader Mk.III Cruiser Tank, Hasegawa 31126 (1991) - Timeline (scalemates.com)

Two sprues of grey plastic containing tank. One of rubber band tracks, and a sheet of decals.

Crusader Mk.III paint schemes.

British Army

1 Arm. Div., 9 Queen's Lancers North Africa T126709
1 Force 6 Armed Div. T123647

1. Instructions.

As you can see a leaflet style sheet has all the info we need. Shame about the paint information lacking on the box. Yeah, I'm still salty about that.

2. Sprues.

There are two grey plastic sprues of tank.

There is also a floppy plastic sprue with the tracks and decals. They look like this...

Theoretically, if we put all that together, we should get a Crusader mark III.

Spoilers.

'I'm ready for my close-up Mr DeMille...'

It's all done. What do you think folks?

I remember walking down to the local newsagents one day. I was about seven or eight at the time and I wanted to buy a model. I forget which one I chose but I don't think that's vital to the story.

It would have been and old series one Airfix model. One of those in the bags like this.

I loved this one as a child because... guns.

Back to the story.

The drama. Oh no, I was a penny short. I only had thirteen pence and I needed fourteen.

The price alone shows how far back in history we are going.

The drama continues... The kind lady behind the counter let me off the missing penny. An angel of mercy indeed, not something that would happen these days of unmoving cold hearted digital registers, and I stammered many thanks and returned home with my treasure.

Over the next thirty years I made many a model.

Small planes.