N Africa GB - Crusader MkI

I'll be building this Crusader MkI as something a bit different as I know that the choice of a 6RTR tank on Op Battleaxe is being tackled by Michael Scarborough and I don't wish to tread on his toes. As the other N Africa options in the kit don't have an RTR theme I guess I'm going to have to look elsewhere for ideas.

In the period May to July 42 3RTR and 5RTR were so depleted after the battles at Gazala and immediately afterwards that they were temporarily merged into one regiment named 3/5RTR. They ended up with a collection of Stuarts, Grants and Crusaders gathered together from whatever sources were available.
A Sqn to their disgust were issued with 2pdr Crusaders instead of the Stuart "Honeys" they had become used to and bearing in mind that the 6pdr armed MkIII has yet to make an appearance in theatre, I reckon a battle weary MkI could well be one of those tanks.

I'll be using the Italeri Crusader 1 that I picked up on Ebay together with Eduard sets 35652 - Crusader Mk1 upgrade and 35661 - Crusader Mk1 Fenders. I also have a copy of Chris Meddings's Crusader tweeks list to refer to.

OK, first thing (and a good tip for anyone contemplating using any Eduard etch) is to visit the Eduard website and print off full A4 size pages of the instructions - they're much easier to work with. (Actually, saying that, check the instructions in your etch set first as some do come with full A4 pages.)
Having done that I then go through the Italeri instructions highlighting any areas that need attention either from the tweeks list or etch parts.

EG. Main hull:

Time to tackle the hull plastic before assembling anything.
Spare track bracket shaved off, front fender supports likewise.

And the double line of raised screws and rivets shaved off because they were actually a double line of counter-sunk screws. I've left a hint of their presence in place rather than try to drill out each individual location though.

The two white dots are the locations for the MkIII headlights now shaved off and filled with plastic rod. Italeri would have you attach some grab handles to these - dont do it as they didn't exist. Italeri invented something to fill the holes rather than cast a new upper hull for their MkI and MkII kits.

Well I got to be there to watch this. Always say good things Ken.

Johnny

Quite found of the Crusader so shall be peering over your shoulder for this.

And that is such an obvious tip for the Eduard instructions I feel a bit thick for not thinking of it myself, cheers for sharing.

Johnny, welcome along (and thanks).

Karl, it's a must-do once your eyes get to a certain age.

Nearly forgot to post a pic of the back decks.

The jack block brackets need shaving off to accept the etch replacements.

A point here - Eduard would have you shave off the handles on the rear decks and replace them with etch handles that stand proud. Leave them as they are though - the real things were round wire handles that retracted onto the deck and are quite accurately represented in the kit. As a matter of fact, the flat etch ones are wrong all across the back decks and I'll be using brass rod instead.

Pic for discussion purposes only.

Ooh, goody! He's started...sounds of chair being pulled up and the unmistakeable rustling of a bag of crisps being opened...

Hi Bones, get yourself comfy, it could be a bumpy ride...

The Italeri kit has no rivet detail on the hull sides. Normally this wouldn't matter as it's all hidden by the full length sand skirts, but I'll be fitting the shorter early skirts so I suppose I'd better add some rivets in the areas where they'll be visible. (No need to do the back half for example as that will be hidden.)

So it looks like I'll be cutting loads of rivets from rod lengths today.

To make it a bit easier for myself I've printed out Chris' diagram to scale. I'll tape it in place and mark the rivet positions through the paper.

Excellent stuff, that`s me glued to this from now on.

cheers, Pete.

Watching this new project Ken, you made such an excellent job of the Churchill.

Geoff

Count me in too Ken, I've always liked the Crusader and it'll be great to see you work your magic on it.

Andy