Tamiya British Chieftain MK5 Out Of The Box Build

Next up I’m going to have a go at a British Tank in fact the Tamiya British Chieftain MK5 to be precise. I think the biggest thing about this build is the paint scheme that I’m going to use, but I will come to that in due time.

This will be the first British Tank I will be building and of course, it is a Tamiya model. Furthermore, I have made a review video; you can check it out HERE.

Building The Tamiya British Chieftain MK5

Glueing The Barrel On The Chieftain Main Battle Tank Plastic Model Kit.

The barrel of the gun has a Thermal Sleeve, so firstly I join the 2 halves of the barrel as some more work might be needed later. I didn’t take nearly enough photos on this build but there is some more content in the build video.

Quite a bit of work on the Turret Has Been Completed — Quite A Bit Of Work On The Turret Has Been Completed.

Scale Model Cages For The Chieftain Turret.

Close Up Of The Details On The Chieftain Scale Model Kit.

The Turret Of The Tamiya Chieftain Model Kit.

Now that the turret has been completed on the Tamiya 135th British Chieftain Mk5 I can move on to the hull. Being an older kit there isn’t a ton of work to do on the model tank. It comes together quickly and easily.

Front Of The Tamiya 1/35th Scale Chieftain Hull.

The Rear Of The Lower Hull On The Tamiya 1/35th Scale Chieftain.

Painting And Weathering The Tamiya British Chieftain MK5

A Nice Coat Of Bright Green Tamiya XF-5 All Over The Chieftain.

Turret Hull And Side Skirts In Place Ready For The Second Colour.

Airbrushed The Second Camouflage Colour On The Tamiya Model Kit.

Quite a simple little paint job on this model tank kit. Firstly a coat of Tamiya XF 5 all over and then freehand with an airbrush with some Tamiya XXXXXX. After that, it was just a case of doing the detail work of the barrel cover, lights and windows.

Gun Barrel On The Chieftain Masked Off Ready For Painting.

Painted The Gun Barrel And Given It A Wash.

Painting The Detail Parts On The Turret Hatch.

The Gun Barrel On The Scale Model Chieftain Painted And Weathered.

The 1/35th Scale Tamiya Chieftain Full Painted And Assembled Ready For The Next Stage — The 1/35th Scale Tamiya Chieftain is Fully Painted And Assembled Ready For The Next Stage.

I have heard a lot of people using Pledge as a clearcoat, it is priced so much more reasonably than scale model varnish. It has seemed to go alright but I will need to test a few more times until I’m happy.

The Pledge Clear Coat Looks Quite Semi-Gloss.

Applying The Decals To The Chieftain Model Tank.

Final Stages Of Weathering

I have placed some water streaks along with some small rust streaks. Obviously, a lot of this detail will clearly be lost when applying the mud splatter. However, I did go to town with the mud and pigment weathering on this kit. Still, I feel that I missed an opportunity to add some weathering to the deck of the hull. Apart from this small detail, I have to say that I am delighted with the outcome. Last but not least with this being a Tamiya model kit It was a pleasure to build. I hope you guys have enjoyed this one and please check out the build video and finished model below.