Although done mostly out of the box, this offering
by Italeri is notable insofar as what is missing in the kit. Most, if not all, photos
of Crusaders in the North African desert show them sporting sand shields which cover
the top half of the road wheels. However, Italeri only provides the small angled shields
for the front idler and rear sprocket. These were usually only seen on Home Guard vehicles
and not in combat. Therefore, the Eduard photo etched sand shields are a must.
Construction was overall pretty straightforward. I also used an Eduard detail set for the
Crusader. This set provided lots of details for the turret interior, most
notably an extremely nice radio set. Other details for the exterior of the
model included grab handles, tool clasps, and radio antenna mounts. The
photo-etched sand shields are very nicely rendered as well and give a good
scale, i.e. thin appearance.
A Jordi Rubio gun barrel was used in place of the kit tube, which was of the wrong
diameter for a 2 pounder (40mm) gun.
For painting, the tank was base-coated using Tamiya Khaki
Drab, a dark brownish color. In depicting a sand blasted veteran of the North
African campaigns, I decided to use the salt masking technique first described
in an article in Fine Scale Modeler about a year or so ago. Using a combination
of table salt mixed with a little bit of water, I masked off the areas of the tank
where I wanted the base coat to show through. After this dried, the tank was
sprayed with Tamiya Buff, a light tan. When this topcoat dried, I used a stiff
brush and whisked off the salt masks, revealing the darker undercoat of Khaki
Drab.
Now that I had the worn look I was after, it was time for weathering, which was done using
an oil wash of burnt umber and thinner. Like the Sherman, a pin wash followed
to pop out the finer details.
Markings represent a vehicle of the British 1st Armored Division in the
Libyan Desert in late 1941.
Thanks to every one who voted for my kits. I hope you all
had as much fun looking at them as I had building them!
