Bronco 1/35 CV3/33 Tankette finished

I managed to finish the model last night but I have an idea for a small diorama so that explains the unpainted figure, anyway that was a lovely little kit and it went together very well. My only gripe was that the wrong clear sprue was included so I had to drop some watchmakers cement into the headlights to represent lenses but that's about it.
The amount of detail included for such a small model is pretty impressive and just needed some extra bits for the interior making from scratch. The fit of parts was really good including the tracks as being link and length they can go very wrong sometimes and you have to try and 'stretch' them to get them to join up.
Altogether an impressive little model and I really enjoyed building it.

Bronco 1/35 CV3/33 Tankette

Using an airbrush rather than a rattle can, I undercoated the model with Tamiya XF-1 black then sprayed the base coat with XF-59 desert yellow.
Using Vallejo 70892/087 yellow olive and a paint brush I applied the camouflage pattern with the intention of giving the model a highly thinned overspray to tone down the

yellow olive and make it look as though it was sprayed on....that's the plan anyway.

Bronco 1/35 CV3/33 Tankette

The model is built and ready for painting. I'll be giving it an undercoat of Tamiya XF-1 Matt Black rather than the usual Games Workshop Chaos Black as I'll be able to get into hard-to-reach areas better with an airbrush plus the rattle can will just blow the model all over the place.
The black undercoat will help with the tracks as painting them in place on the model instead of as sub assemblies is going to be tricky.

Bronco 1/35 CV3/33 Tankette

That's enough for the interior so the upper hull will be fitted next then with the addition of a few more bits the model will be ready for painting.
I had thought about making the missing ammo boxes but enough is enough and time to get it done. I based the interior colours on a set of Lifecolour paints for Axis tank interiors and it's good enough for me.

The ruler gives you an idea of just how small the model is ( with imperial measurements shown for those that haven't got a clue about the metric system lol).

Edit; Dammit! I couldn't leave the empty ammo racks so made some from scratch just to fill up the spaces;

Bronco 1/35 CV3/33 Tankette

The tracks are of the link and length type and usually I would do them as sub-assemblies to help with the painting however due to the small size of the model I decided to glue the tracks to the wheels and worry about painting them later on.
Doing one side at a time I removed the tracks from the sprue gluing the top run together first, the lower sections and individual links that go around the sprocket and rear idler were then glued together, leaving them all to set for about twenty minutes.
When ready the lengths were wrapped around the wheels using superglue to help secure them in place. Joining them together I have to say I barely made it as the fit is very precise, luckily I only have a small gap between two links so I'm pleased with that;

One thing to note is that a couple of lengths needed notches cutting out at the ends by the guide horns as these are moulded solid and will prevent the tracks mating together;

Bronco 1/35 CV3/33 Tankette

After salvaging the upper wing of the Airfix Tiger Moth and respraying it I'm now waiting for another decal sheet to show up, meantime just for shits and giggles I started a Bronco 1/35 kit of an Italian CV3/33 that I bought about three weeks ago.
I quite liked the look of it and when I got it I was surprised by the amount of interior detail included so this weekend has been spent putting it together.
It's a typical Bronco kit as it features some tiny details such as spark plugs for the engine and multipart assemblies however it is going together very nicely so far. I found some pictures on the net of a museum example so I've been using them to add a bit of extra detail such as leads for the spark plugs and some internal wiring but that's about it.
I'm actually getting near to painting the interior although rather unhelpfully Bronco do not give any clues to the colours so after a bit of searching I've decided it will have an off white interior, primer red floor and engine bay, transmission in silver and engine and gearbox in gun metal.

The gun mantlet was a bit of a sloppy fit and you could see into the interior so to give it a rougher finish and to hide the gaps it got a coat of Mr. Surfacer 500.
So far this has been very enjoyable even with all the fiddly bits.