Hi Johnny
Got that the 1st time, re-drilled the 8 holes & added1.5mm AL tube to each to represent the drains to the 6 lower bins, still to do the hidden 4…
Mal
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Check your 45’s!!
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Brings back memories of BATUS Red top safety stints lol … I hope Cowboys is till going in Calgary 
God know, it’s been so long since I was last there. I do remember Cheetahs on the trans Canada highway
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And the Silver Buckle lol … I’m sure they all got closed down as Med Hat got a very liberal Mayor elected and was very against them … dont know why …they were very educational places
Only a bit done, and put the front boz plate back on… going to start on some of the detail painting tomorrow night after work … And try and sort out these hessian rolls for the sides and front …
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Thanks Wade, sorry for the late reply 
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Started a bit of the detail painting…
The amber light orange part is Tamiya clear orange and the black is to show how we had the masking tape applied to shield the turret crew from a very annoying flashing light when they had to be used.
The tarpaulin cover will be olive green or similar.
GPMG is just flat black, will do the loading tray silver and highlight a few areas of it with graphite later. Comds spotlight is done with semi gloss black.
Ended up using LifeColor Graugrun for the thermal sleeve, it’s a bit shiny at the mo as it’s still damp. Once it’s fully dry I will use a thin NATO green wash on it.
Last one is the rear reflectors (sanded down the molded on kit ones and used spare CVRT ones) and tail lights - Tamiya clear red for these. Also did the resilient rail on the rear decks.
Not seen are the headlights and IR headlights and side lights - Tamiya semi gloss black for the IR bits and chrome silver for normal lights.
Will do a few more areas tomorrow after my training day at work.
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Nice lights John. It so sucks when work gets in the way of modeling.
Nice start on the details. I love the translation of Graugrun into Khaki brown.
Keep on the good work.
Olivier
enjoying the pop ins, just wish i had somewhere/time to do modelling, be back soon.
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Glad you’re able to pop in Frank, you still on the house move ?
Bit more detail painting tonight.
Did the inner mantlet cover in a lightened NATO green, the bellows in flat black, and I used a very thinned (possibly to thin 
) LifeColor Olivgrun on the main thermal sleeve. Probably need to do another wash tomorrow. The muzzle and MRS shroud were flat black. Everything will be getting some washes and filters then weathered …
Started the black D10 cable on the reel inside the RH basket, all the portable fire extinguishers have been done and the padlocks on the bins and the one for the loaders hatch are now painted.
The tarpaulin on the LH basket was done with the Tamiya Dark green 2, which actually isn’t very dark at all …but looks about right for the tarp green.
One of the 14 padlocks.
Here we have the lights, the mudflaps in Tamiya rubber, the fire extinguishers, tow hook pins in metallic grey and the 45 ton shackle in metallic grey. For the eagle eyes amount us you may of noticed the front LH mudguard is in NATO green… We ripped off the old one on one of the live fire battle runs and the Tech rep had a spare which we fitted in the colour they get delivered in…
Will crack on with more tomorrow after work
Forgot to mention I did the MBSGD pots in flat black, but will put in a thin wash of aluminium to brighten them a bit.
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Yes, unpacked the house, living in one room,
now painting / Cleaning the house to put on market to get a better value, will move onto canal boat for final room decorating, then hope it sells quick. Having a video inside and drone around house for location when Finnish.
Have not checked in on this in a while. Coming along excellent John. Love the camo job !
Thanks Richard and glad you were able to drop in and check up on it. The nice thing about the cam on BATUS wagons is they tend to fade nicely as the temp variations go from from one end of the spectrum to the other in the space of a month or so and the vehicles are constantly out in it …
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Yes it’s a nice break from the NATO and sand schemes we see on modern vehicles
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exactly … sand … or green … I may start white washing them from now lol
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Looking good Johnny. I’ve been working on the bins, added the ‘felt seals’ using Tamiya PLA Paper, the drains - no stoppers yet - hasps & latches, still need to do the antique padlocks
Not intending to produce this exact one, but right shape I think?
Also did you see this? - Worst tank in the world? - Armortek -
And would you agree with Stephen’s assessment?
Mal
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Right let me get this off my chest before I explode 
Firstly, Rob Bell may be a wonderful engineer but he is not tank crewman or commander, if he was to change his name he can change it to Rob Bell- End.
I totally agree with what this Stephen guy says expect not even on balance did Bell have a valid point. It is not anywhere near the worst tank in the world. For its time frame, it is probably the best tank by far. It out gunned everything, it had the best fire control system and I would not of wanted to go to war in any other tank at the time. What Stephen says about its peer tanks is spot on Leo 1 was fast , but let down by the gun, M60s were like blue whales on tracks, AMX 30 I won’t talk about and T54, 55, 62 and 64 were crap, the 64 being the best out the bunch for a short while until the 72 came out which would of been one to worry about but only because of numbers they had compared to what we could put up against them. It really hacks me off when an armchair tank expert decides he knows best. If I had gone to war against the 3rd Shock Army, I would happily put money on my wagon with a full bomb load (I think it was about low 60s split between FIN and HESH rounds) getting K kills or good mobility kills on 55 enemy tanks going out to 3 - 4kms and that’s not bragging… Its IFCS was that good and the 120mm was lethal. If you got hit by a Chieftain 120 FIN round it was game over.
The engine was sometimes and I will say sometimes unreliable but not like a lot of people make out, but these wagons on exercise were hammered continuously and the engine is probably the weakest area on any tank when it’s driven and used at 110% full on for long periods…Ok … I’m calm now … Rant over with… The field changer was when M1A1 came on the scene and Leo2 started, and they were all better than Chieftain and CH1.
Now, your pics of the bins look great and that is basically the correct shape of padlock, but ours for the bins were a tad smaller and the key hole cover was different. I have one in the garage and will try a dig it out to show you Mal.
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