the ordinance quick-firing 6-pounder was the primary anti-tank gun used by the British Army during World War two it could be towed behind and supported by a Bren gun carrier which was a lightly armoured tracked vehicle join me in this video as I build and review the six pounder gun and Bren gun carrier plastic scale model kit from Airfix hello and welcome to model minutes this video is a building review of the airfix 176 gal Bren gun carrier and six pounder anti-tank guns scale model kit which has been released as part of the vintage classics range before I start the model as always remember that adult supervision may be required due to the use of sharp tools and toxic paints and chemicals Airfix recommends this kit to those aged 8 years old and over taking a look at the box it features some well drawn artwork which would be familiar to those who owned this model since its release in 1964 the rear of the box features the final painting and decal instructions which are in full color as is typical with Airfix kits this product also includes a flying hour token which can be redeemed against more kits if you're a member of the airfix club inside the box are the various components of the kit firstly I take a look at the decals these are up to the usual standard from Airfix and although there is only a small sheet with a few decals they are well printed the instructions consist of an a4 booklet which contains information about the real Bren gun carrier and 6 pounder gun as well as tips on how to construct the kit and some safety warnings a single page of exploded diagrams explains how to build the kit in 7 steps but you might notice an error where the paint number has not been correctly printed inside a plastic bag you'll find the 45 parts of the model kit moulded in green plastic they are held on four sprues and are surprisingly well moulded with only small amounts of flash being present despite the age of the tooling you could probably choose not to paint this kit as the plastic seems to be pretty close to the recommended paint color moving on to the construction of the kit the first step was to wash the plastic parts in warm soapy water which would help remove any oil and grease and provide a better surface for the paints and cement to stick to when the parts were dry and then began construction of the Bren gun carrier as per the instructions the two halves of the hull were cut from the sprue with a sharp knife and any burrs or flash were cleaned up with a nail file these were then followed by the side parts and they were all cemented in place the Bren gun carrier is not particularly difficult to assemble it is essentially a box on tracks each part fitting reasonably well in its respective place the small details help give the model some character but I did notice a distinct lack of a Bren gun I left the tracks off as I felt it would be easier to paint the carrier without them in place and they could then be added when painting was complete the 6 pounder gun was then assembled following the instructions again this is a fairly straightforward but some care needs to be taken as the gun can be swiveled and elevated if built properly cement should only be added in the correct places to allow this movement to happen this being said I feel that in order to allow this functionality some compromises have been made with some details being bigger than they should be for example the hubs of the wheel seem absolutely massive the gun is not particularly difficult to build but some care must be taken as the parts can be quite fiddly some care and patience will be required in order to get all the parts in the right place whilst you watch the completion of the construction I'll tell you a little bit about the real vehicles the 6 pounder gun became the standard infantry anti-tank gun for the British during World War two following its introduction in 1941 and having success in the North African theatre with a range of 1,500 yards it was capable of destroying all German tanks in use at that time the gun could be towed behind a Bren gun carrier also known as the universal carrier due to the variety of roles it could perform the carrier was a lightly armoured tracked vehicle that could be used as a transport or support vehicle and even as a field ambulance the markings in this kit depict a carrier and gun as used by the 51st Highland Infantry Division following the invasion of France in 1944 with the majority of construction completed I then began painting the model using Humbrol 159 matte olive drab enamel this paint was thinned with white spirit at a ratio of about two parts paint to one part thinner in order to improve the flow quality and prevent the appearance of brushstrokes this was repeated for both the Bren gun carrier and the six pounder gun the figures were given a base coat of humbrol 29 matte earth acrylic which I used straight out of the pot as I felt that one coat would be enough I used humbrol 93 matte desert yellow acrylic to pick out the details on the figures such as their belts and webbing I decided that the paint was too bright on its own so mixed in a little 29 matte earth in order to dull it down a bit the boots were painted using humbrol satin black number 85 faces in the flesh number 61 and the helmets were given a coat of 30 dark green I also picked out the shell which one of the figures was holding in humbrol 54 brass color when the figures were dry I gave them a quick wash using the Citadel known oil and removed the excess of a cotton bud with some acrylic thinners applied the wash helped to bring out the details in the figures by giving the appearance of shadows and creases in the recessed details off the models the tracks of the Bren gun carrier were then painted using humbrol 53 gunmetal gray acrylic which again I used straight from the pot with those stages complete I then applied a very thin coat of humbrol 135 satin varnish to the areas that were to receive the decals this satin base layer will help the decal stick to the surface of the model and prevent the silvering that can occur on a matte base color before applying the decals I decided to highlight the seats inside the Bren gun carrier using humbrol 29 matte earth brown next the decals were soaked in warm water and the correct areas of the model given a coat of humbrol decal fix the decals were then slid off the backing paper and applied to the model in the relevant position a further coat of decal fix was then applied which will help the decal soften into the surface of the model and appear painted on for more details on how to apply decals have a look for my tutorial video on this topic on my channel when the decals had cured I finally cemented the tracks into place hum brought matte varnish number 49 enamel was then thinned with white spirits at an even greater ratio about one part paint to three parts thinner and this was applied to both models in order to give an overall matte finish and blend the decals into the surface paint finish using humbrol 11 silver enamel I dry brush both models in order to help highlight the raised details and give a slight metallic effect to dry brush a small amount of paint is applied to the brush then removed on a paper towel the brush is then rubbed over the surface of the model and the residual paint collects on only the raised details helping to make them appear worn or chipped the Citadelle known oil wash was then applied to both models again to help highlight the details and give the appearance of shadows the excess wash was then removed using some Tamiya acrylic thinner on a cotton but which ensured it only remained in the recessed areas the previous enamel coat of paint will help protect the initial acrylic paint layers from being removed at this stage humbrol twenty-nine matter–the brown was then dry brushed in the areas I felt that any mud or grime would have collected such as on the tracks guards and wills I then removed a little paint from the driver's seat and the back of the driver and this figure was then cemented into position in the driving seat I felt that the Bren gun carrier was missing something at this stage so decided to add a tarpaulin to the rear of the machine I started by mixing some humbrol 30 dark green paint with some clear craft glue a scrap piece of paper was then crumpled up and glued inside one of the rear storage bins on the model I used a clear general purpose glue for this another piece of scrap paper was then crumpled up and flattened out it was then cut to size and glued on top this was then painted with the glue and acrylic mix the glue was added to the paint so that the paper would dry hard and maintain its shape and it's at this stage that the models are complete but I decided that they needed somewhere to be displayed for my base I decided to recycle an old box that I was no longer using and I played a round of different positions of the vehicles when I had an idea of what I wanted to do i spray-painted the box with a gloss black spray-paint and when it was dry I then gave the top surface a coat of humbrol 29 acrylic which would represent mud when that layer was dry I covered the base of some general-purpose white craft glue and then positioned a few clusters of small rocks in that glue I then sprinkled woodland scenic green foam scat material over the base passing it through a tea strainer in order to give a fine and even coat the XS scatter material was then gently tapped off and saved for use in another project I had a couple of small model trees left over from a previous project and these were installed by making a small hole in the base of a craft knife applying some general-purpose glue and then pushing the bottom of the tree into the hole I scraped away a little of the grass scatter material from under the tree as in real life grass doesn't always grow right up to the base of trees some woodland Scenic's clump foliage was then added to represent bushes these were glued in place using the same general purpose glue the Bren gun carrier six pounder gun and figures were then glued onto the base and that's as far as I went with the construction of this kit so here is the finished model proudly displayed as part of a diorama the kit is quite easy to construct and I found I didn't struggle with any areas of the build despite being an old model I think it still has a reasonable detail and the fit is quite good too the instructions are easy to follow but we're let down by the misprint of the paint number on my version with a little work this model can be finished in about five or six hours and the display base only probably added about an hour of construction time onto my build this product retails for five pounds ninety-nine in the UK which is an OK price but I feel that a cheaper price would be better as you do end up with very small models at the end of construction and it's a similar price to some of the more recent models in the airfix range which you would think would be more expensive at the time of this video this kit is available as part of the vintage classic range and I'll add the link to the product under the video so in conclusion this is a great little kit that despite its age still results in a great looking model with the addition of my diorama base I'm really pleased with the results I've achieved with my 6 pounder gun and Bren gun carrier from ethics as always let me know what you think of my build techniques and Finnish model in the comments below I'm also keen to hear your suggestions as to other videos and models that you'd like to see me feature on my channel so feel free to post that too all that's left to say is thanks for watching this video and don't forget to leave a like if you enjoyed it subscribe and click that notification button in order to see more content and help support the channel and feel free to share this video with your family and friends don't forget that you can also connect with me on 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