1:35 LEP Up Armoured Scimitar CVR(T)

[Boldman]

My entry for this GB will be one of these:

© Andrew Chittock ( http://fineartamerica.com/featured/1-a-fv1...w-chittock.html ) Used here only for reference.

To do this I will be using these components:

AFV Club Scimitar

Castoff Models LEP resin upgrade

Eduard Etch for Scimitar

Fruijmodels tracks

Black Dog AFV Crew in Afghanistan

Accurate Armour AFC Crew (Modern)

and for the Bar Armour I will be using:

Photo etch bar armour from Accurate Armour Challenger 2 Iraq upgrade

My own scale plans for bar armour layout

Accurate Armour beer cans and water bottles and extra stowage

Echelon CRV(T) mirrors

Some of you may be holding your hands up in horror at what I plan to do with what is normally a very expensive accessory set - the AA Challenger 2 armour upgrade usually goes for £65, but I was very lucky to get this set off eBay for about £25 earlier this year since it has some of the resin armour for the chally missing. I didn't care about that all I wanted was the PE!

I haven't yet seen anyone build with the Castoff Models Resin set, but I doubt if I will be the first, but it looks good and should be interesting!

So that will be my simple little build... piece of cake!

 

[Centurion3RTR]

Been thinking of getting one of these in my stash, going to watch this very closely.

Have fun, John

 

[geegad]

This is going to be a good build and I will be certainly will be watching

Geegad

 

[yak face]

Great choice andrew, it looks like the P.E is going to be fun! , cheers tony

 

[mossiepilot]

I'll enjoy watching this one come together.

Tony.

 

[Ian M]

This should be worth watching.

How the Bar armour for a chally is going to fit a Scimitar is going to be interesting...

Ian M

 

[papa 695]

Will watch this one Andrew if its half as good as your Scorpion build it should be great

 

[tommy1drop]

Lots of nice goodies you have there Andrew:thumbs-up:

Looking forward to seeing this come together, nice subject by the way!

Tom

 

[Boldman]

Are you sitting comfortably? Then let us begin. Small steps as yet - starting on the bar armour as this is one of the critical parts of the model. If I can't get this right I will probably have to abandon it and just go for an earlier LEP Scimitar without bar armour, which would be a shame.

Onwards and upwards! First was to get a plan for the bar armour. For this I used a variety of photos and had to do some clever photoshopping to adjust for perspective on some to be abel to get measurements. I guess I could take a trip down to Bovington and actually measure the one they have on display there! Anyway, its possible to get a reasonably accurate layout from the photos I have found so here is the scale size for the various pieces:

Well thats a great start, so how about making it? As shown in the sprue shots, I've got the PE from the Accurate Armour Chally set. Now the first problem that appears is it looks like the vertical bars on the Chally are spaced further apart than on the Scimitar:

So I have a choice:

1) Fill existing holes and drill new ones for the closer spaced bars

2) Use the Challenger spacing and have a slightly less accurate representation of the bar armour.

I still haven't decided which to go for, however knowing my history (remember the missile pods on the Aliens Dropship?) I won't necessarily go for the easiest option... sigh

Anyway, that aside, lets start building some of the sections:

This is letting the CY dry while I give my eyes a rest. I've had to trim pieces to fit and add extra bends. The PE set comes with weak spots already set for bends, which I am using wherever its possible, but the Scimitar sections are of course different sizes so other bends and trims are required. In the photo you see the two spacer jigs the PE set supplies to help get the bar spacing correct.

This is the progress so far, going to take a break now. May sit down in front of the telly this evening and start on the Fruijmodel tracks as well. I've still got a few episodes of Mad Men to watch and of course there is always Leverage as well

 

[Ian M]

Oj! Rather you than me Andrew!!!

Ian M

 

[andygh]

I'm gonna be enjoying watching this bad-boy coming together, lot's of goodies :thumbs-up:

 

[Boldman]

Well made some progress yesterday and came to some uncomfortable conclusions...

First however, I did manage to complete the Fuilmodel tracks and had a very pleasant evening watching Mad Men and Leverage while doing so

Here is a photo:

So the uncomfortable conclusion... trying to make the Scimitar bar armour from the Challenger PE is not going to work for several reasons:

1) the spacing of the vertical bars - fixing that is going to require filling in the existing holes and redrilling the correct holes. I tried fitting the bars in the existing holes and it just doesn't look right - see the photo above.

2) there isn't enough bar armour in the PE to do all the armour on the Scimitar. The Chally only has the bar armour on the rear of the hull, whereas the Scimitar has it all the way around the hull and 2/3 round the turret. There is a lot more bar armour on a Scimitar.

So what do I do? Well I've been out onto the web and found that Evergreen do plastic strips 1.5mm wide and 0.25mm thick. This should work for the bars and some 0.5mm brass rod should be suitable for the vertical bars. Looks like I'm going to scratch build the whole lot... omfg I must be INSANE!!!!!!!!!!1111!!! :lala:

In the meantime, I will proceed with the rest of the build while the bar armour materials arrive. There is plenty of resin to play with for the main part of the build!

Onwards and sideways...

 

[homechild]

Oh dear, Andrew. Best of luck to you, I guess your screen name is correct!

I'm sure if anyone can do it though, you can.

 

[Ian M]

Those track look good. Would you say that they are worth the money?

Pitty about the bar armour, but I had a feeling that it was going to be a tough one... I am sure that the scratch built ones will be perfect.

Ian M

 

[Boldman]

Yes the tracks are great- this is the second set I've used recently. I used the early tracks for the Falklands Scorpion last month and they go together really well. You get into a rhythm putting them together, a small drill to open the holes in each side, slot them together, thread the wire hinge through and dab a tiny amount of CY on the end of the wire to seal it. I didn't bother with the extra bolt head over the end of the wire as it will not be seen on one track as it will be next to the hull and barely visible on the other side. I sat watching TV while doing it and it takes a while but its remarkably relaxing, although I did end up with sore fingers at the end

 

[Centurion3RTR]

I've got to give them fruil tracks a try someday, they do look the part.

Have fun, John

 

[Boldman]

Yesterday was spent working on the hull and roadwheels. The resin requires you to cut away the existing skirt from the lower hull:

I added a couple of strips of plasticard to give the joint with the resin upper hull a more positive location. The roadwheels were assembled but I didn't bother taking a photo and I began my research into the colour scheme to use (see another thread on the forum). Then today, several packages arrived, including the 1.5mm x 0.25mm Evergreen strip and the 0.5mm diam brass rod. This means I can have another go at the bar armour!

So I started cutting the strip and found that it is very difficult to handle since its so small. I realised that with the strips so narrow, getting the holes drilled in the right place on each piece might be a bit tricky. I also realised from experimentation that getting all the strips to be EXACTLY the same length was tricky and if they aren't all the same length, aligning and fixing the two side bars is very hard! So I decided to build myself a jig to hold all the strips for a particular piece of bar armour together and then build drilling templates for each piece as the spacing seems to vary!

So here it is:

What you see here is 16 strips which comprise all the horizontal bars for the sides of the turret, the same pieces I tried to make using the brass earlier. They are all stacked and I was able to use a sharp knife to trim the ends to make sure they are all the same length. Above it is the template for the drilling, made from two more strips that have been glues together to be a bit more robust. This then gets laid down above the stack and the drill applied. I've found that its not a good idea to try to do more than 8 at a time because the drill can go a bit astray the further down the stack it travels.

I'm going to have to get another pack of evergreen strips - this one came with 10 strips, each about 14" long, but in my experiments I've already used up 4 of them! It takes one complete strip to furnish the 8 horizontal bars in this pice and some of the other segments are longer and have more bars!

Well at least it isn't horrendously expensive stuff!

 

[Boldman]

Stopped off at Modelzone at lunchtime and picked up some 0.5mm thick strip to make the outer frames which seems to do the trick - makes the frame quite sturdy and is barely noticable. As a result, here is the first complete bar armour panel:

Sadly some for the bars are a bit wonkey, but this is my first attempt with this new technique. Had some issues getting the holes drilled in the right places as well. That will require some considerable car, as well as aligning the bars correctly in the first place. After this I beleive I can do it, but it will take time and patience... oh boy!

 

[phalinmegob]

andrew, a little suggestion which may or may not help, if you drill the outer holes the right size and all the intermediate holes a fraction bigger than the bar there would be a small amount of movement on the rails and they should stay straight as long as you glue the ends in the right spot. i know what i mean but i am not sure in type if that makes sense.

 

[Ian M]

Cut the strips for the panel and clamp them together and drill the holes in one go through the lot.

Or

drill a strip with the holes in one long strip. Cut to approx length and then insert the bars. Trim the length and the add the frame....?

Ian M