The first in what seems to be a wave of Valentines coming up. To be honest, it did make me get going on this again.

Bandai's Valentine, obviously, Frog release, with the Frog PE set (thanks to Dave for that) which helped immensely. Some scratchbuilt, like the periscopes and hatch paddings. Painted to represent a vehicle of B Squadron, 40th RTR, 23 Armd Bde, after El Alamein during the drive to Tunisia.

Being B Sqn, the tank was named beginning with the letter B, and these chaps were probably "northerners" as they named their vehicle after the town of Bradford. It is, of course, also a tribute to our very own George Bradford who has always been a great help and inspiration. His book on colours and markings (incorrect though it may be, as he always points out himself) is a great source of information and inspiration.

The tracks are Techmod T70 tracks, for those who wonder.

I'll do a better write-up for the T48 article, with more pictures.

Wow!! Nik, I'm soooo glad I sent you that P/e set. Too bad there is no way to get them anymore. You sure used it to great advantage. I really like the final product!! Can't wait to see it on a base with some groundwork. I see it just cresting a sand dune in the search for Bad Guys!!!
Keep 'em coming!! See, being up at all hours with the new baby....HAS allowed you to find time to model....you're awake...might as wellwork on a model!!!

Thanks Dave! Yes, the PE was invaluable. And it's because the boy now goes to sleep at 7 pm that I can sit up and do this. I'm not allowed out if he's screaming.

Groundwork? Oh... Groundwork... Shudder... I'll see...

Also WoW here, that hardly looks like the kit I attempted in the past. The extra parts made a huge difference and great paint job. But, I think the figures do a lot to make this a letter 'A' model. Something quiet to do so you won't wake the baby. Great work! Greg

That is a great Valentine for all of us

Love the sand shields and the added figures - did you make those from the British figure set included in the kit (at least in Bandai issues)?

I think you may start an avalanche of Valentines - fortunately Frog and Fuman both reissued this kit IIRC, and Parabellum UK may still have some for those interested. Using the T-70 tracks was 'brill - they look just super

Konrad

Thanks Greg & Konrad. Really glad you like it. It's the first of my British desert force, so tried some new techniques on it.

The figures are GasoLine's. I thought about having the Bandai monkey-men peering out of the hatches but they didn't fit. That and they look horrible.

A great job, Nik - I have saved this article for guiding me when I tackle mine. Could you list the Frog PE pieces so I can try to determine where I'm going to have to scratchbuild my details? I can see some ovious extra pieces, but would like to know more about what the PE set included. TIA... The Techmod tracks are great also, and the Maquette T-40 tracks I got from Squadron are almost as good, though they have flat-sided guide horns without the recesses. But, for $5.00 a kit, I couldn't turn them down. Again, a wonderful job of building anf finishing. Congratulations!

Bruce: I'll try to scan the PE instructions for you over the weekend, that should help.

Thought I'd post this picture too that shows the name better:

Hi Nik,

That's a really nice Valentine!

Isamu

Hi Nik! If possible could you send me the scan of the PE as well! Thanks a bunch!

Ken Kolenovsky

Thanks, Nik. If I can see what the PE pieces looked like and where they went, I can scratch them from styrene or remnants of PE sets I've used already. Thanks again.

The Techmod tracks look excellent indeed. For what it's worth, and for those who want to try the really cheap Maquette T-40 kit from Squadron, I can attest that these Techmod tracks appear to be virtually identical to the Maquette tracks EXCEPT the Maquette tracks do not have any recesses in the guide horns, which should be there. For $5.00 a set, I felt I could find a way to cut or press the recesses into the guide horns myself.....

The Frog P/e set came from, I think, Hobby Bounties in Hong Kong. If Nik still has the header card, you might get an address or stock number.....and maybe hook up with someone who might still have some. I bought that from a guy at the Dallas IPMS Nats....way up in the front nook, on the right. I think he was out of Texas...not sure. But he had a bunch of them. Anyone seeing this that might be able to contact the Vendor guy from that show...MIGHT be able to tell you who he was. I also got a Sherman set...with sand shields...that bears no resemblance to the Eduard set. Someone overseas had these done. If anyone finds one...I could have Fotocut reverse engineer it...and take off all the attachment sprues. We've been doing what MiG announced as a new breakthrough- sprueless P/e....since 1974.....!!
Hope this helps.....Dave

According to the P/e set for the Sherman...Kit #AFA10....which has NO sand channels, BTW.....I bought it from a place called Hobby Maker in Bedford, Texas(saddle up, Bruce!) and it was made by Hobby Bounties Limited, Business & Technolgy Centre, Bessermer Drive, Stevenage, Herts, SG1 2DX, U.K.(saddle up, Nik & Tim!!)
I guess it don't get much better than this. I'm off to see if this place in Tay-hass still is in business....
Bye 4 now, Dave

Okay, Hobby Maker went under in May of 2005...owner died...liquidated the stock...UNLESS, another local Hobby Shop bought some of it out. Any members near Dallas could call and check....
Hobby Bounties came up blank.....but back in the day, Tim was knee...no arse-deep in P/e....maybe he knows who they were, or where they went.??
I wish I had bought more back them...they had resin figures for the Bandai jeep...a detail set in resin...both to do an SAS version. I have them...somewhere...buried in an old box o' stuff. Also got a Sherman crew and Russian crew.....that look VERY much like the Gasoline stes...maybe a copy...or they sold their molds to Gasoline. There were several P/e sets....And the steel, not brass, tree says Eduard 28-002 Sherman....Eduard 1996. NONE of these sets were ever released by them...I think they did them as an outside job- when they first got started.. MAYBE, a letter to them might turn up the artwork, and they could be approached to do a limited run. With the kits surfacing at Parabellum...might be worth a try??
Phew!! I'm going to go lie down....too much thinkin' for one day....
Dave

Sorry, nothing on Hobby Bounties. The postcode is an industrial block, there are 14 businesses there according to the Applegate directory, and nothing remotely related to hobby products. So no, turned up a blank I'm afraid.

Tim

www.fighting48th.com

I guess they might surface at a MAFVA show...or other model venue....otherwise, we out of luck!! Thanks for looking them up.
Maybe someone at AMPS will have something...putting them on my "to look for" list for AMPS!!!

Look forward to seeing your article. I am sourcing various components before i build mine. The hardest thing to to get though is decent reference material to work from. Hopefully your article will be of enormous help on that front.
These pic`s should be shown to anyone who says these old Bandai gems are too long in the tooth and not up to today's standards.
I hope i can do my Bandai Valentines the same justice you have given them.

Thanks to all. Really glad you like it. Getting good feedback on here is about the only feedback I'll get. My girlfriend will look at it and go "Yeah, that's good, really like the... box thing."

Dave M: Yes, reference photos are scarce, the Valentine isn't as exciting as the Shermans and other tanks so good photos are rare. Most of my books only have one or two decent photos so it's been a bit of detective work to find things at times. On the upside, a lack of reference photos means there's more room for "creative modelling". I based this on quite a few presumptions from "British Tanks in N. Africa 1940-42" (Bryan Perrett, Osprey Vanguard 23), mainly that; one, 23rd Armd Bde was the main Valentine equipped brigade at Alamein (194 vehicles in all); two, a tank from C Squadron was named "Cheetah" and was painted in the scheme above, so a B Sqn vehicle could have names beginning with B. If they had the '40' and the Liver Bird on the front, I don't know, or if the sand shields are the correct ones, but "Culloden" again from C Sqn in July 1942 has them so could be right, but it has a different aerial mount, which I'm sure someone more talented will scratch on their's. There should also probably be another aerial on it.

On tip I just thought of is to replace the light fittings with wire as they're quite simplified. They're a straight U-shape instead of a U with the bottom bit bent forward. I then turned them inwards as was quite often done apparently, and covered the bottoms with the sandbags. I think with some plasticcard and plastic strip, most if not all of the improvements from the PE set can be done, such as the sand shields, hatches, those frame things on the sides holding the sand shields, etc.

Right, going up in the loft (aaaaahttic for you Yanks) to see if I can find the PE instruction sheet and the sprues. I KNOW where they are, question is if they'll be there...