Vickers Medium Mk.III (revisited)

I've been redesigning my old model of the Vickers Medium Mk.III to make it suitable for home FDM 3d printing. This is a job that I've been putting off for quite a while, mainly because I don't personally have a need for the physical model any more, so it hasn't been a very high priority for me.

Unfortunately, wargaming3d.com (where I put my STL files up for sale) is having issues at the moment, and I can't add any new products to my catalogue. Hopefully the problems will be resolved soon, but until then it will have to remain accessible to me alone.

Wargaming3d.com is back up (-ish) again, and the STLs for this model are at https://www.wargaming3d.com/product/vickers-medium-mk-iii/

Vickers Light Tank Mk.V (2 pdr)

In the latter half of the 1930s, experiments were made with mounting a 2 pounder anti-tank gun in an open-topped box turret on a Vickers Light Tank Mk.V, to create what would later be known as a tank destroyer.

It would have had the advantages of being relatively cheap, small and easily concealable, and quite fast for its time, and the 2 pounder was arguably the best ATG in existence then. However, it would have been very vulnerable to return fire from virtually anything heavier than a machine-gun.

It was not taken up by the British army, and never went into production. However, that’s no reason not to have a model of it, if only for “what if?” scenarios.

The model comes in separate STLs for three components: the turret and turret plug, and the hull. You can get it at https://www.wargaming3d.com/product/vickers-light-tank-mk-v-2-pdr/

If you don't have access to a 3d printer, you can get the model printed for you by Shapeways at http://shpws.me/Rn3m

The figure is a WW1 British officer from Peter Pig.

Vickers Medium Mk.II* (1:285)

Get it at http://shpws.me/Mv2T

Here's my 1/285 scale model of the Vickers Medium Mk.II*, printed by Shapeways in FUD resin.

It's available as a sprue of five vehicles at http://shpws.me/Mv2T.

WW1 Vickers Teams (15mm)

 These are Peter Pig's early WW1 British Vickers machine-gun teams.

They're supplied three guns to the pack, but for some reason, Peter Pig only include observers/gun-captains for two of them. At first I assumed it was a packing error, but the same occurs with the German Maxims pack, so I suppose it's company policy for some reason that I can't fathom. It's not a big deal I suppose, but it's an irritation.

I think that the Vickers used by the British army in this period would have had fluted barrel jackets, not smooth, as these ones are modelled.


They're based on 30 x 30 mm 3 mm hardboard. I've come around to using thicker bases for these sorts of things because it makes the groups so much easier to pick up and move around the wargames table than the thin steel I used to use.

Vickers Medium Mk.II*

This is my 1:100 scale Vickers Medium Mk.II*, 3d-printed in WSF by Shapeways.

I've painted it in the scheme used in the Middle East, but with no tactical markings (as yet).

Vickers "Dutchman", 1936

I've uploaded a model of the Vickers Commercial "Dutchman" of 1936, in 1/100 scale for 15mm gaming.

It wasn't taken up by the British army (a very short-sighted decision) but it was sold extensively around the world, especially to the Dutch East Indies, hence its nickname of "Dutchman".

It's available at http://shpws.me/MMB1

I've made it available in WSF, but because of issues with the running gear and exhaust, I can't guarantee that it will print in that material. The default material is FUD resin, and it should be fine in that.

Yet another Vickers

15mm version — http://shpws.me/MuYJ

I've modified my 3d-printed 1/100 scale (15mm) Vickers Medium Mk.II to the Mk.II* with turret bustle and enhanced ventilation for tropical deployment — e.g. India or Egypt.

It's available now at http://shpws.me/MuYJ

I've only recently learned that the Italian WWII 47mm anti-tank gun was a licence-built copy of an Austrian design with virtually identical performance to the 3pdr used in many interwar British tanks. That's handy, because while accuracy and penetration data is readily available for the Italian version, there's not a hell of a lot available for the 3pdr. In short... compared with the 40mm 2pdr, it really sucked.

6mm version — http://shpws.me/Mv2T

I've now also made it available in 1/285 scale, as a sprue of five vehicles.

That one's at http://shpws.me/Mv2T

Vickers Light

1/100 scale Vickers Light Tank Mk.I

Here's my 3d-printed Vickers Light Tank Mk.I, printed by Shapeways in BSF nylon, painted up.

The SF nylon printings are fairly crude, but adequate for gaming pieces. The model lost most of its rivet detail in the printing though, so I had to paint them on. It's not that the material is incapable of reproducing small details — some of the rivets were reproduced (those on the hull front, for example, and an occasional one here and there elsewhere) but it seems to be heavily dependent on the orientation of the model when it's printed.

Another Painted Vickers

Here's my 3d-printed Vickers Medium Mk.II all painted up and ready for some gaming.

Is there no end to them? Apparently not.

Yet another in the line of pre-WWII Vickers light tanks, this is the Mk.III. Different hull shape, different suspension, and various other changes in detail, yet clearly still very closely related to those that came before.

This one is 15mm (1:100) scale, and it's available from my Shapeways shop.

There's a 28mm version on its way right here.

This will be the last Vickers light tank I do for a while, because frankly I'v become kind of sick of them :)

Vickers in Paint

 I've painted my 3d-printed Vickers Medium Mk.III, and here it is with some 15mm WW1 Brits from Peter Pig.

The WSF material from Shapeways takes a bit of preparation before it's ready for painting.

The printing process is one of laser sintering in a bed of powdered resin, and when the model is cleaned up the excess powder is blown away with compressed air. That leaves quite a bit of powder still hiding in the various crevices and around detail elements, and that needs to be cleared away or else the paint will solidify it. The ideal tool for this would be a dentist's ultrasonic water pick, but since I don't have one of those, I use various steel modeling probes.

Also, the printed surface is very granular, with a texture like fine sponge. That gives a fine tooth for paint, but it's not ideal for small-scale modeling purposes. It can be smoothed down to a certain extent by burnishing, but it can't feasibly be eliminated entirely.

Hopefully, the cost of higher-resolution printing will come down within the foreseeable future. This plastic is OK, but it's not the best option, and I only entertain it because it's the only material Shapeways offer that I can afford in this scale..

Yet another Vickers

I'm waiting on a book full of scale drawings of interwar military vehicles to arrive from bookdepository.com, and I thought while I wait, I'd whip up a quick Vickers Medium Mk.II. It would be simple and easy, I thought.

I was not entirely correct.

However, it's more or less done now; there are just a few more bits and bobs to add and then it'll be another one off to Shapeways.

It would be nice if I could actually afford to buy the stuff I'm designing. That would be really nice.

NOTE:
It's now available in 15mm (1:100) scale on Shapeways for a measly twenty yankee dollars.

Tiny Vickers

Now I've got some paint on to the 3d-printed 1:300 scale Vickers Medium Mk.III, and it's ready for its solitary lonesome duty on the tabletop battlefield.

Note that what looks like three tanks is actually only one, thanks to the magic of Photoshop trickery.

Now with added markings!

Leaving

It's really quite small.

My digital legions increase!

Since I'd already gone to all the effort of building the running gear for the Birch Gun, I thought I might as well make my next model the Vickers Medium Mk.C, from about 1925, which uses basically the same chassis.

I don't have scale drawings for this one, so I'm working by best guess from some very old, grainy photographs. This particular one is designed at 1:100 scale for 15mm; I'll probably do a redesigned version for 1:285 (6mm).

I don't believe it saw service with the British army, but Vickers supplied some to the Irish, and to  the Japanese who modified it and turned it into the Type 89.

Digital Modelling (again)

I finally figured out (with the aid of the internet) how to fix the issue that was preventing me from importing the running-gear file, so I could put together this mock-up assembly of all the components.

For 3d printing purposes, the colour is really irrelevant. I thought I'd give it some though, because why not? In the process, I discovered that the turret and sub-turret files really need a bit of refinement. They were my first attempts in Blender, and it does rather show.

Now it's on to 3d printing the thing. I don't have local access to a printer, unfortunately. Even a relatively low-resolution printer would be useful for testing purposes, since the alternative would be to get Shapeways or one of those companies to do it, which would likely end up costing me an arm and a leg before I get a successful product.

Vickers Medium Mk.II (1:300 scale)

This is a pretty awful model from Scotia; far below their general standard, which is normally actually not too bad. It's passable as far as profile goes, but it lacks most of the detail of the running gear (I had to paint in the drive wheel from scratch) and it has an odd grain in places that suggest the master was carved out of balsa wood or something. There is serious pitting in several places, especially on the top of the turret.

All this means that my usual painting technique of base colour, dry-brush and ink-wash wouldn't work.Everything had to be painted in from scratch, and details like hatches had to be created from thin air since they didn't exist, or had the merest suggestion, on the model itself. The edges are so soft that highlights had to be painted in to make the model look anything like as boxy as the original vehicle.

Scotia micros are cheap compared with GHQ or C-in-C, but you pay for that and more with the extra work you have to do to finish them.

Note: I thought I'd put these up here before, but couldn't find them when I went looking. So, here they are (possibly again), properly tagged so they can be found again.

Vickers Medium - painted

This is the 15mm Vickers Medium Mk.II from QRF that I reviewed in an earlier post, all painted up. I wanted it in the pre-war overall Deep Bronze Green, but dry-brushing to heighten the detail has lightened it over-much and I may have to re-do it.

Also, that nubbin to the rear of the hull side should have a machine-gun sticking out of it — a Vickers gun, in fact. That will need to be taken care of too.

Review: QRF 1:100 scale Vickers Medium Mk. II

I've been interested for a while in skirmish gaming the Inter-War period, and to that end I bought myself a troop of three of these Vickers Medium Mk.II tanks from QRF (£4.50 each plus about 5 quid postage to New Zealand). Inter-war tank models in 15mm scale (or any other scale really) are very, very thin on the ground.

These come in four white-metal parts each, the hull and turret being hollow. The turret is mounted by means of a long, sturdy peg through a hole in the hull top. In the model shown in the images above I've replaced the soft white-metal 3 pounder gun with a sturdier one turned down from a brass nail.

They're nominally 1:100 scale, for 15mm gaming, but the models are rather too small, measuring out at about 1:115 scale. That makes them too small for 15mm gaming and too large for 12mm.

Detail is fairly soft, but acceptable for wargaming purposes. Rivets are represented by indentations rather than standing proud of the surface, which is a pity but does at least give an indication of their presence. The exhaust pipe, which should run along the port-side track guard under the hull access hatch is missing, though the muffler cylinder is shown. All of the models suffer from a "slump" in the hull-top just forward of the turret, where the metal has not properly filled the mold. The gun is modelled with a reciprocator (or something similar) below it; that's not something I recall seeing in any photographs of the Mk.II.

A particular disappointment to me is the representation of the turret hatch. The semi-flush split disc shown here wasn't unknown by any means, but much more common was a raised "bishop's mitre" hatch, as seen in the photo to the right. It's not a difficult thing to scratch-build, but I would have much preferred not to have to.

In summary, the models are acceptable wargaming pieces but the scale issue alone makes them worthless from a scale modelling perspective. They're priced fairly competitively with models of the same scale from other manufacturers, though nobody else (that I know of) makes a Vickers Mk.II in this size.