Crusader Mk. I and Mk. III 1/72 IBG

The Crusader is a British medium (cruiser) tank produced since 1939 in several modernized versions as well as special anti-aircraft variants. The type played a significant role in the first part of the war in Africa, but it was soon replaced by heavier and more powerful types entering the arsenal of the Allies. Crusaders who survived the combat operations were withdrawn and used for training.

Last year I bought a couple kits from a colleague who was switching from the seven-two scale to the larger one. I happily expanded my stash with some interesting pieces and the Crusader Mk.I and Mk.III versions were among them. IBG offers the Crusader tank in six boxes, so you have a chance to build a nice collection. The model is simple, everything fits nicely. I had the assembly finished in three days. I just replaced the plastic gun barrel with a metal one from Master model, added a tube (wire) to the auxiliary tank and drilled out the headlight and glazed it with clear epoxy. The biggest test of my patience were the photo etched side skirts. Those on Mk.I were not as bad but the ones on the Mk.III were real pain… Well a high-quality photo etched bender might be a huge help here but this tool is still missing in my workshop. It would definitely be good to add some crates, tarpaulins and other stuff to the tank, but I admit that I don’t want to get too bogged down in the topic by buying all these accessories. OOB build works for me, at least for now.

For painting mainly AK 3gen acrylics from British sets for the Middle East and Africa were used. In the case of camouflage for the Mk.I I followed the instructions, for the Mk.III I wanted to have camouflage according to the original manual which differs from the kit instructions in some parts. The weathering is made by a combination of AK and AMMO products.

I had a lot of fun with IBG’s Crusader, and I currently have the AA version on my desk so this isn’t the last post on the Crusader theme 😉

Dave